Continuum's expansion beyond U.S.-based MSPs continues to accelerate -- with multiple moves planned for Europe and Australia, Chief Revenue Officer Robert Kocis confirmed to ChannelE2E today.
Continuum offers RMM (remote monitoring and management), BDR (backup and disaster recovery) and NOC (network operations center) services to MSPs. The twist: Continuum manages all the systems, potentially freeing up the MSPs to focus on sales, marketing and business development. The company has major office footprints in the U.S. (Boston and Pittsburgh) and India.
But the efforts don't stop there. Continuum now has 10 employees in Europe and localized BDR on that continent. Those employees initially focused on the United Kingdom and Ireland, but the company plans to expand into Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). Also on tap is a new office in Sydney, Australia.
To spotlight the efforts, Continuum plans to host a European Partner Day on March 8 in London. A similar partner event is set for March 16 in Australia, Kocis says. The company's global conference, Continuum Navigate 2017, is set for September in Las Vegas.
Global MSP Software Push
Continuum isn't the first MSP-centric software company with global ambitions. Autotask began to localize its software for multiple markets back in 2011 or so. Also, rivals like Kaseya and SolarWinds MSP have extensive international experience. And more recently, ConnectWise has been expanding its European presence while also doubling down on Australia. And in the BDR sector, Datto leveraged venture capital dollars to rapidly expand across Europe and Australia.
Still, the MSP software sector involves more than U.S. companies going global. Poke around the PSA (professional services automation) and RMM (remote monitoring and management) markets, and you'll see dozens of companies from multiple countries striving to maintain local footholds while expanding internationally. Just this morning, ChannelE2E heard from Computicate CEO Martijn van der Schaaf, who is extending his PSA company into the U.S. sector (we'll share more details soon).
What Makes Continuum Unique?
Amid all that local and international competition, Continuum has several unique selling points. For starters, the company essentially is an IT outsourcing firm for MSPs. Much in the way that IBM Global Services freed up Fortune 500 companies to focus on their core business expertise, Continuum seeks to free up MSPs to focus on sales, marketing and customer relationships -- rather than endless technology hires.
Also, Continuum has closely connected the dots between its RMM, BDR and NOC offerings. That means Continuum's NOC can monitor RMM and BDR information for the MSPs, and respond accordingly. Plus, Chief Revenue Officer Robert Kocis has international experience to take the company into new markets.
Amid the international push, Continuum plans to extend into new services for its MSPs. Among the potential next moves: Launching a SOC (security operations center) to safeguard customers for MSPs. CEO Michael George has briefly mentioned the emerging effort at recent conferences, and an official SOC launch seems likely for 2017.
In the meantime, Kocis and the Continuum team sound plenty busy with the international push.
