Kaseya CEO Issues ‘Rebuttal’ to Open Letter From ConnectWise
In a statement, Fred Voccola offered more thoughts in the debate between Kaseya and ConnectWise over the firms' approaches to developing the ideal professional services automation platform for IT solution providers.
We agree that our industry should focus on the customer first. That is the entire point of Kaseya speaking out against the practices of other vendors that claim to be putting the customer first, but who, in reality are not. What "putting the customer first" means to Kaseya is:
- Aligning our business model 100% with our customer's business model — i.e. Our customers ONLY pay Kaseya when they generate revenue with our products — so there is perfect alignment between their success and ours. Unlike companies like Connectiwse and others who charge substantial fees for their products and those fees are NOT correlated with how well the MSP is doing. The Majority of Connectwise revenue is NOT directly associated with delivering an MSP’s managed service.
- Expanding the openness and inter-operability of our solution with ALL vendors’ products, including our competitors’ products, for the benefit of the customer. Unlike competitors such as ConnectWise (and others), who are trying to lock their customer base into a dead-end closed PSA/RMM solution, we announced and shipped a new PSA/RMM integration module that enables Kaseya VSA customers to integrate with all of our competitor's PSAs as well as or better than their own RMMs do — and we're committed to continuing this. Contrast this with ConnectWise who recently EOL'd their Kaseya integration module. This is done IN SPITE of Kaseya owning and offering a superior PSA solution to the market at a fraction of the price.
- Providing a superior value proposition with a PSA that is focused only on MSPs. Instead of unbundling and charging a premium for each bit of functionality (quoting, remote control, marketing, etc.) as ConnectWise does to maximize the money extracted from their customers — Kaseya has optimized our PSA to include everything a MSP needs and nothing they don't at one low price.
Our mission for our customers is broader than a "suite of solutions that run their businesses" — it's about being a true partner that helps them grow their revenues AND margins and remain relevant to their customers — and being the partner that fully aligns their business model with their customers to help them free the capital required to fund their growth.
— Fred Voccola
As the CEO of a growing MSP,
As the CEO of a growing MSP, I will gladly continue to pay Connectwise more than I would Kaseya for a superior business management solution. Integrating their suite of products into my business has been vital to our success, efficiency, and ability to scale as we evolved from breakfix to managed services.
Regarding the integration stance – Aside from Kaseya, any other products that have a shred of relevance to our industry are going to integrate with Connectwise. Probably sooner and better than they will with Kaseya. This active network of vendor integrations is snowballing the service stack, revenue and margins of MSPs like mine.
I think the only real value prop Kaseya has in their favor is price. If you’re just starting up, a one man show, or just existing in the commoditized MSP business model of the past, I can see where PSA/RMM solution cost could factor into your decision. Congrats, you pay less than I do for your PSA/RMM.
The alternative is to align your MSP with the Cadillac of the industry, pay a little more, grow your network of IT pros exponentially and fill your MSP’s gas tank with rocket fuel. Then build your practice off a best-in-class pricing model using best-in-class products. That’s the route I’ve chosen and it’s working out pretty damn well. Fred’s probably a little salty every year after Automnation Nation. I spoke with several hosted guests at the event last week, many from Kaseya.
Invest in your business. What you pay for is what you get.
Wow. About all I can say.
Oh,
Wow. About all I can say.
Oh, wait, but there’s more. Kaseya: no product is perfect nor are all business models the same. We’ve been a CW customer for about 4 1/2 years. Not always happy, either. Yet what I’m reading here would leave me very hard pressed to consider Kaseya as an alternative solution. Listed in related articles below shows “Kaseya Chief Attacks SolarWinds Acquisition of LogicNow”–along with your attack on ConnectWise.
Here’s what you’re showing: a definite insecurity towards Kaseya and the MSP market.
Given our associations w other MSP’s across the country (and internationally), I’ve yet to hear a compelling story to suggest we try Kaseya. This is from YOUR user base and has covered a period of over 2 years. When I hear MSP’s rave about your product, it may be a different story. Until then, please stop the vitriol.
Dan
Fred really needs to lay off
Fred really needs to lay off the red meat! I agree with you that this abrasiveness surely does not endear his company to prospective customers.
I’m sure many folks have
I’m sure many folks have found the recent exchanges between Mr. Voccola and Connectwise fascinating. But to be honest, I’m not sure how educational it is to actual potential PSA or RMM customers to listen to senior executives at both companies talk past each other issuing marketing positioning statements.
What would be a lot more interesting and valuable, would be actual Kaseya/Vorex customer testimonials, quantifying exactly how Kaseya/Vorex helped those customers grow their revenues and margins. I did a quick internet search on the software review web sites and didn’t find any, but I did find several for Promys PSA and Connectwise (as well as a few interesting reviews about Vorex, before they were acquired).
It would also be interesting to hear from any Kaseya VSA customers who have successfully used the Kaseya PSA/RMM integration module mentioned in the article, to successfully integrate with any other PSA solution (or even with Vorex for that matter).
Finally, if the focus for the Kaseya/Vorex solution is to reduce the cost of the PSA/RMM software to “free up capital to fund their growth,” then I’m not sure I understand the margins that Kaseya/Vorex customers are operating on. Promys PSA customers for example generate hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in margin, and the cost of the Promys PSA software is insignificant in comparison.
Kudo’s again to Mr. Voccola for generating a ton of press about the Kaseya/Vorex acquisition, but I for one would find some actual Kaseya/Vorex customer feedback/success stories a lot more interesting.
Jim Barnet
PROMYS PSA
Director Sales & Marketing
Tel: 905-847-6539, ext. 2972
jbarnet@promys.com
t: @PROMYS_PSA
Nice one Jim…but expect an
Nice one Jim…but expect an “Open” letter in the near future from angry Fred!