Liongard Hires Former Star2Star Exec, Logically CEO, to Grow Cybersecurity Sales via MSPs

Liongard, the SaaS platform that helps MSPs mitigate customers’ security risks and enable compliance, has hired Michelle Accardi, a former MSP, as its CEO. She replaces Joe Alapat, who is now the company’s CTO.

Liongard’s Michelle Accardi

Accardi will initially focus on growing company sales through MSPs and distribution, as well as educating partners on deriving more value from the platform’s different components. The platform integrates systems across the stack for clear visibility of customer systems. It aims to automate workflows and documentation, accelerate onboarding, reconcile billing, and reduce troubleshooting and resolution times.

“It’s a very broad platform that provides deep data analytics,” Accardi said. “I think there’s an opportunity for us to home in on those value propositions, deliver even more capability to MSPs and go deep in what we offer them.  Our opportunity is to make sure that we’re articulating very clearly what all of those opportunities are so our partners can realize the ROI.”

Cybersecurity Sales Aren’t Always Easy

Some MSPs have been reluctant to offer advanced cybersecurity solutions because of their complexity. Customer pushback against paying for something they don’t think they need also dampens sales. Liongard makes the implementation and monitoring processes less complex by providing a clear and consolidated view of a client’s assets, security configuration and critical security controls, Accardi and Alapat said. The documentation and reporting tools make it easier for clients to gain compliance and obtain insurance coverage.

Liongard’s Joe Alapat

“That’s where we make a strong impact in terms of giving visibility into more of those areas so MSPs can assess what state their clients are at,” Alapat said, adding that Liongard’s education team will continue to develop content for MSPs around cybersecurity best practices and processes. “We’re all trying to do even more in being prescriptive and helping to move MSPs down the path a little bit quicker.”

Today’s Necessity

Advanced cybersecurity tools and solutions are essential, given the channel’s maturity and the proliferation of attacks, Accardi said. She speaks from experience. Accardi worked as CEO of Logically, an MSP with a dedicated cybersecurity practice, prior to joining Liongard. Joshua Skeens became CEO of Logically in January.

Moreover, the traditional agent channel knows Accardi well from her role as president and CRO at Star2Star Communications.

“Security is a must. It’s not something that can be an afterthought anymore,” she said. “It’s also a huge risk to MSPs who don’t execute correctly. The tools and capabilities that Liongard has helps MSPs to ensure that their configurations are correct and up to date.”