Kaseya’s Voccola Fires Back at Criticism of PSA
Call it “a tale of two strategies.”
After SolarWinds announced the acquisition of LOGICnow on June 1, leaders of some of the top vendors of toolsets for managed services providers (MSPs) weighed in on the implications of the purchase and the state of the market.
In recent days, MSPmentor caught up with Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola to talk about his company’s professional services automation (PSA) software, and why his firm’s market strategy is ideal for MSPs.
“We have the richest portfolio of managed service-ready software products available,” he said.
Voccola was responding to criticism from ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini, who recently described Kaseya’s PSA as inadequate for today’s technology solution providers and asserted that Voccola’s strategy represents a misunderstanding of the MSP industry.
“The customer needs a platform to run their entire business, and he’ll find that out,” Bellini told MSPmentor. “Kaseya has bought a very light professional service automation solution and, of course, he’s going to position it such that it is all that anybody needs; but it’s not.”
“It doesn’t accommodate a real technology solution provider and it doesn’t accommodate all of their practice areas,” he said. “It’s a partial solution.”
Voccola, however, insisted that Kaseya’s PSA-RMM platform is precisely what MSPs require and that solution providers are wasting money by paying for PSA software, which doesn’t directly contribute to generating revenue.
In February, Kaseya unveiled the purchase of PSA vendor Vorex and the integration of the acquired technology into its Business Management Solution (BMS).
The BMS provides essential features that solution providers need for cloud services offerings, security, compliance, and endpoint and network management.
Kaseya priced the platform at $25 per user, per month, and announced it would be made available for free to current customers of ConnectWise, Autotask and Tigerpaw Software.
The aggressive pricing – which Voccola said essentially amounts to a give-away of the PSA – means Kaseya earns money only when its customers sign up new customers.
“We just don’t believe that that should be the primary investment of an MSP because it doesn’t generate revenue,” Voccola said of the PSA.
“If our products are not generating revenue for our clients, then we don’t make any money,” he said. “Our success is directly correlated with that of our MSPs.”
Voccola contrasted Kaseya’s approach to the ConnectWise business model, which he said relies on the sale of $100 per month subscriptions for its PSA.
That, he argued, is not the best investment for an MSP.
“No customer of an MSP pays them a single penny for a managed service based on a PSA product,” Voccola said. “The PSA is an internally facing system that is used to administer various parts of your business.”
“If you look at ConnectWise’s company…Arnie’s built a great company,” Voccola said. “(But) a majority of ConnectWise’s revenue as a company is not connected to the success of its customers.”
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Ballsy move! I don’t know of
Ballsy move! I don’t know of any successful business that doesn’t have a comprehensive LOB system (Could be why SAP, Oracle, etc still exist and make money). Maybe K will find success with pure play Cloud providers, but the fact is the whole industry is built on the backs of Hybrid MSP/VAR/DEV shops all moving in different directions – and having a package with depth has allowed us to pivot many times in the past while changing practice area mixes. The pure play MSP or Cloud provider in the SMB/Mid-market space is rare.
Over the recent months,
Over the recent months, Kaseya has taken to verbally attacking us and making bold statements that are not accurate.. This is unfortunate as we do share many partners, and these partners rely on us to provide solutions that they truly require to run their businesses.
ConnectWise has always been about its community’s wellbeing; we have always put their success first. It is our #1 core value that every ConnectWise colleague is committed to. And our suite of integrated solutions that include ConnectWise, LabTech, Quosal & ScreenConnect help our partners maintain operational control of their business & create efficiencies that allow them to be very profitable – and deliver a fantastic experience to their clients.
In regards to your comments about the importance of a PSA: I think you need to get close to the community that ConnectWise and Kaseya both service and support. When your comments come up, even in casual conversation with mutual partners, these partners have strongly disagreed with your assessments.
I do agree it is not about point solutions; it is about a suite of solutions that our partners leverage to run their businesses that support so many small and medium businesses across the globe. We at ConnectWise are very proud of the suite we have worked very hard to perfect the last 7 years. You are beginning the journey of building a true suite. You will learn much as you progress in perfecting yours. And the community as a whole will benefit as it will make all of us better. And the IT service provider community will choose the path that best meets their company’s needs.
In the meantime, I think it is imperative that we eliminate the fist pumping rhetoric and focus on the wellbeing of the IT service provider community. We are obligated and indebted to them.
Thanks,
Adam Slutskin
EVP & Chief Revenue Officer
ConnectWise
For us, transitioning out of
For us, transitioning out of the MSP space, the ConnectWise PSA has supported our changing business model just fine.
As a line of business system with crm, project management and commercial project billing support, we have come to rely on CW for our business beyond being an MSP.
While the goal (marketing
While the goal (marketing spin or real) is laudable for K, it shows a clear lack of understanding of the real challenges that providers are facing. A business operating framework that isn’t one size fits all and allows for diversity and individual process and product decisions has never been more critical than now. Perhaps the smallest providers looking to get started will find some benefit from the strategy K is outlining, but to differentiate and provide compelling value, even they would find that they would need to pivot away from having someone else define the vision for their success.
I’m not sure Voccola has
I’m not sure Voccola has given this enough thought or closely examined exactly how successful MSPs manage service delivery, billing, quoting, purchasing, and reporting. ConnectWise, while still imperfect, allows us to take better care of our customers AND better manage our businesses. To argue that CW does not directly – and positievly – impact the IT outcomes we generate for our clients is silly.
We are a Kaseya and
We are a Kaseya and Connectwise user so we can see where both products fit. One thing that bothers me is ‘loose roadmap’ for product development with Kaseya. This is effectively their third attempt at a HelpDesk ticketing component. 2 Attempts within the Kaseya product and now this 3rd attempt at a Service Desk within a seperate PSA product. If Kaseya think their PSA product is ‘up to par’, then please explain why they don’t use it internally for ticketing.