A SaaS Ecosystem Overview for MSPs
When Datto acquired Backupify last year, we did so because we knew the technology landscape was shifting for MSPs. Data on-premise isn’t going away, but it isn’t the only place data exists. As more data is moved to the cloud, and to SaaS apps in particular, we realized that to build a Total Data Protection platform we needed expertise in SaaS data protection.
As a result of the acquisition, Datto now has more than 2 million Google Apps end users protected, and is scheduled to launch an Microsoft Office 365 backup at our partner conference in June. Building these products required us to get deeply embedded in both the Microsoft and Google ecosystems. We now know both companies well, know their key partners, and know the technical road maps of both organizations. So for those MSPs who may be considering whether to invest time in one of these products, here is our view from the trenches about the things you should consider.
Adoption
If you had asked me in 2012 about my view on Google vs. Microsoft, I would have told you that Google was pounding Microsoft. While I don’t know the true numbers of either company, it appeared that very few companies took Office 365 seriously. In 2014 that changed, and it seems that Microsoft caught up. At the moment, it appears that Microsoft has a slight edge in adoption, particularly in larger deals, but I believe both companies’ products will be highly successful in the long term. Expect to see a back and forth over the next few years until each settles in to their stable long-term market share. My prediction is that Microsoft will have the higher market share on a dollar basis, but Google will be similar if you measure market share by seats.
Technology
Google is a great technology company, and the improvements I have seen from working closely with them over the past few years is incredibly impressive. Both companies’ technologies work well at this point, and have very few outages or problems. Both of their road maps are incredibly interesting, and whichever one you choose will serve you well. I give a slight edge to Google’s collaboration piece. It seems to be better at the moment. Expect to see Google more widely deployed in companies with lots of distributed offices–like franchises and real estate companies.
Partnership
Microsoft started with a deep partnership ecosystem and lots of experience in this area. Google has had to build that from the ground up. While Google has made major strides, Microsoft is still winning here. Both provide great technical resources, and sales and marketing resources. The biggest difference is that Microsoft is doing a better job of embracing a solution sale. Google seems more focused on just selling Google Apps, and letting partners sell other pieces that a customer may need at a later date. Microsoft is more focused on pulling in all the pieces a customer needs at the time of sale. Microsoft thus has slower sales cycles, but higher price points and partners making more margins.
Ecosystem
The ecosystems of both are a reflection of where they got started. Many of the O365 partners are long-term Microsoft partners adapting their business to the cloud. Google, on the other hand, has more “born in the cloud” partners, who started cloud-first. The top resellers and ISVs in the Google ecosystem are mostly starting to adopt Microsoft, as well, but their approach is very different than the reseller and ISV partners that came over from the legacy Microsoft world.
My advice to you as a managed service provider is to sell both. Neither of these products is going away, and both are committed to this market in the long term. The competition between the two is resulting in tremendous innovation that ultimately benefits your end users. By selling both, your customers will have choice, and you will be able to take advantage of the differentiation between the two products, offering the best product for each customer’s specific use case. And, of course, if you want to sell data protection for Office 365 or Google Apps, or any other SaaS application, Datto has you covered. The cloud is the future, and the sooner you can adapt your business to it, the sooner you can lay the groundwork to thrive in the new world order.
Rob May is senior vice president, Business Development, Datto. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.
