OMAHA, Neb. — Claims of treating employees and partners like family might carry a little more weight than usual at professional services automation (PSA) vendor Tigerpaw Software.

President and CEO James Foxall was 15 years old when he started his career at the company his father founded, working in sales, technical writing, software development and even a stint swapping out data tapes by hand.

“I was the automated backup system,” he said.

As 400 of the Bellevue, Nebraska firm’s partners gathered in nearby Omaha this week, Foxall sat down with MSPmentor and described how targeting converged businesses and managed service providers, beyond traditional IT, has been key to remaining competitive in the crowded PSA space.

“I think the PSA market, as it relates to pure play MSPs, it’s very crowded,” he said. “Us, we think we’re bigger than that.”

“We find a lot of breathing room in convergence; we are absolutely committed to ‘the power of one’ to help these converged businesses,” he said, citing a company tagline.

An author of more than a dozen books on software development, Foxall described his company’s product as “the most complete PSA” and said the toolset is ideally suited for an environment in which the lines between telcos, and providers of managed IT and print services are increasingly blurred.

A major theme of this week’s Tigerpaw User Conference revolved around Tigerpaw One, an all-in-one bundle that allows users to receive all Tigerpaw modules and add-ons for a single price.

“We tie together every aspect of a business,” Foxall said.

Conference attendees were offered special pricing, allowing them to pick up all of the bells and whistles for the same $20 per user, per month subscription fee they’re already paying for the Livebridge maintenance package.

A new client can pick up the package for an $89 monthly fee per user.

Tigerpaw officials hoped to convert about half of the attendees to the new program during the conference. With half a day to go in the event, about 60 percent of the visiting partners had signed up for the plan, Foxall said.

“I am so excited at the idea of being able to give our clients everything we have,” he said. “I want them to have it and be productive.”

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