ConnectWise to Buy Continuum in Mega-Deal for MSPs

IT NATION CONNECT — ConnectWise delivered some big news Wednesday to kick off its IT Nation Connect conference, announcing the acquisitions of Continuum and ITBoost, as well as a strategic partnership with Webinfinity. This is a big deal for several reasons.

ConnectWise’s Jason Magee

“With the growing need around cybersecurity talent and skills, this is going to be a game-changer for the MSP and TSP space,” said ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee. “This will still allow the ConnectWise partners the power of choice. If you look at what this brings to the table, there are two mindsets in the industry. There are those who want to invest the time, talent and treasure and build it themselves, versus what Continuum has perfected over the years around the “hire a general contractor/managed offering” mindset. Bringing these two together will allow the flexibility of an MSP or TSP, regardless of business maturity and where they are in their business life cycle and mindset.”

Essentially, snapping up these companies is designed to put more problem-solving resources, tools for efficiency, and fuel for growth in the hands of partners while transforming ConnectWise into a technology and services platform for the entire technology channel.

“These transformational moves are centered around our partners’ pain points and solving for their needs around increasing inefficiencies, and how they’re striving to be more productive,” said Magee.

In addition, the company announced it is launching a security initiative, calling for the entire industry to fight back against cybersecurity threats.

The resulting solution suite is set to shake up business automation. The convergence of ConnectWise’s platform (PSA, RMM, CPQ) with the service-enabled RMM, security and NOC/SOC and help desk from Continuum, automated IT documentation from ITBoost, and partner relationship management (PRM) from Webinfinity, considerably beefs up the value to TSPs.

With all of this, ConnectWise says it becomes the only software platform that connects the TSP upstream to its suppliers and downstream to its customers, creating a unified business operating environment to accelerate TSPs success.

Jason Magee assumed the ConnectWise helm as CEO in February, succeeding co-founder Arnie Bellini. When Magee came on, he made it clear that unlike other RMM/PSA providers post acquisition, ConnectWise wouldn’t take their infusion of cash to head in the direction of backup and disaster recovery (BDR), and that it would remain focused on what the company does best — backend business management solutions for MSPs. With this announcement, it’s clear that he has stayed true to that.

All four announcements are designed to boost efficiencies for partners while mitigating their risk, and rocket ConnectWise into a position where it can offer a holistic technology and services platform as it enters 2020:

• The partnership with PRM tool provider Webinfinity will simplify the relationships TSPs have with their technology suppliers, centralizing touch points for areas such as deal registration, co-marketing, training and enablement, communication and more.
• The acquisition of ITBoost increases efficiencies for TSPs with a next-generation IT documentation system.
• The union with Continuum allows ConnectWise partners to use Continuum’s AI-enabled services model to grow and scale in the critical areas of remote monitoring and management, security and data protection without the requirement of increasing headcount.
• Finally, since security is not a problem to be solved, but a risk to be managed, ConnectWise is launching a new security initiative — calling on the entire industry to fight back against cybersecurity threats. No matter its role, each and every company needs to do its part to help make the entire industry more secure.