Kaseya Sales Up 30% in First Half, On Track to Top $250 Million in FY18

Kaseya sales growth is accelerating, says CEO Fred Voccola, thanks to competitive knockouts, new products, clever pricing and more. 

In a wide-ranging interview with Channel Futures, Voccola talks about the company’s 2018 sales momentum, the competitive landscape, new product introductions and internal development. He also hints at some big news from the company in the weeks ahead.

First up: sales growth.

For the first half of the year, sales at Kaseya are up 30 percent. That puts the company on track to generate $250 million in revenue for fiscal 2018.

The Dublin, Ireland-based company, which provides solutions to both end customers and channel companies, has enjoyed particularly strong growth among managed service providers (MSPs). In the first half of 2018, revenue generated with MSPs grew 50 percent year-over-year. In all, Kaseya signed 300 new MSPs to its core RMM platform.

“We are growing; we are rocking. And I would love to take credit for this. But the reality is that the marketplace we are competing in is exploding. SMBs are spending more on IT and IT infrastructure than ever before,” says Voccola.

Fred Voccola

A Kaseya study indicates that the rate of increase in IT spending among SMBs between 2010 and now is roughly six times more than overall growth of GDP in the U.S. A local dental office, for example, is typically spending 40 percent more on IT per dollar of revenue than just four years ago, says Kaseya.

What’s more, small business are asking for more than simple network monitoring and patch management services from their local trusted adviser. Today, they are just as likely to ask for help with regulatory compliance, data analytics and competitive differentiation from their local MSP.

In addition to the increased spending on IT among small businesses, MSPs are also benefiting from the increased appetite among midsize enterprises to outsource discrete portions of their IT management to trusted MSPs. Add it all up and you see why Kaseya, Autotask, ConnectWise and others are enjoying such strong growth.

“We picked the right wave to surf,” Voccola says.

MSPs, he believes, are rapidly coming to grips with two things: They need a comprehensive platform to help them grow, and strategies to help their customers who want more of their IT needs delivered via managed services. If an MSP doesn’t offer these critical things, then another MSP will come and take their customers away, Voccola says.

What does this mean in practical terms to Kaseya? Several things. For starters, it validates the company’s decision to move aggressively into backup and data recovery. This culminated with the blockbuster acquisition of Unitrends in May. Unitrends, of course, is a global player that provides enterprise backup and continuity solutions. By combining Unitrends’ business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) technologies with Kaseya’s suite of IT management solutions, the merger provides MSPs and midmarket enterprises with a single solution that meets all their critical IT needs, according to Kaseya.

Thanks to the deal and other measures, Kaseya believes it has put itself in a more competitive position that before. As evidence, the company points to the number of competitive knockouts that it has enjoyed thus far in 2018. In the first half of the year, Kaseya has closed approximately 250 “competitor displacement sales” for BMS, Kaseya’s PSA solution.

While PSA sales account for no more than 5 percent of the company’s business, the product’s relatively low sales price and integration with Kaseya’s overall product portfolio have drawn new adherents, says Voccola. A mere few years ago, he concedes that his company’s PSA “was new in the market” and not as feature-rich as its rivals. But today, he believes Kaseya’s BMS is not only as good as its competitors, but better in many instances. It’s far cheaper, too, he adds.

“If you’re an MSP and are paying $15,000-$20,000 to Autotask or ConnectWise, you could pay $5,000 to Kaseya and get a product that is natively integrated with your RMM and your backup and security and compliance [solution]; you could save $10,000-$15,000 a year,” says Voccola.

In addition to sales momentum and customer growth, Kaseya is quick to tout its other achievement this year: the introduction of the Kaseya One platform, which debuted in May. Kaseya One provides a single-pane-of-glass, unified interface and entry point for the Kaseya IT Complete platform that “delivers a role-based, bird’s-eye view for infrastructure monitoring.”

Also this year, Kaseya expanded its management team with the addition of two new individuals, including CJ Wimley, who now serves as president and chief customer officer (CCO), and John Durant, who was named chief technical officer (CTO).

Looking ahead, Voccola expects the company to remain very active in the market. In fact, he hinted that the company is preparing to announce another acquisition in the next few weeks. The company, he adds, is a recognizable name in the MSP market and will shake up the competitive landscape yet again.

Stay tuned!