Kaseya is preparing to release Kaseya Cloud Manager, which apparently allows MSPs and customers to cost-optimize their public cloud services, according to a report.
I suspect details about the tool will emerge at the Kaseya Connect User Conference 2017, which is set for next week in Las Vegas. On a potentially related note, former MSP Jim Lippie is listed as GM, cloud computing, Kaseya, on the conference agenda. I was not aware of his apparent move to the MSP-centric software company.
ChannelE2E has not independently confirmed the new tool's existence. But this morning (May 3) ChannelE2E confirmed Lippie has indeed joined Kaseya. We're checking to see what that means for Lippie's affiliation with MSPmentor, a media site for MSPs. Last I heard, Lippie's software platform has gathered and managed the MSPmentor 501 survey data and associated MSP financial information since 2016. (My business partner and I co-founded MSPmentor in 2008 and exited in 2014.)
The other big questions: Where does Kaseya Cloud Manager fit between existing products like VSA, Traverse and 365 Command? So far I'm not sure.
CEO Fred Voccola briefly mentioned the new tool in an interview with ChannePro UK. According to the interview, the new tool:
"...allows customers to manage their infrastructure behind the public cloud firewall. It also integrates with the APIs of cloud providers and gives a report that says what you’re spending and what you’re actually utilizing. They can potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars. We have 30 early adopter MSPs, and they’re crushing it."
Kaseya Cloud Manager vs. Rivals
I don't know when the tool will officially launch. But it sounds like Kaseya Cloud Manager will potentially complete in the crowded market for cost management tools. Key third-party offerings currently include Cloudyn, CloudMGR, CloudCheckr, CloudAbility and Unigma.
Kaseya must also effectively position the new cloud management tool vs. the company's existing product portfolio, which includes:
- VSA, the company's flagship RMM (remote monitoring and management) platform for MSPs.
- Traverse, which already is positioned for cloud monitoring and management.
- Command 365, an Office 365 service management platform.
Microsoft also could be a potential competitor. Indeed, the software giant reportedly is looking to acquire Cloudyn.
Entrenched Rivals
Kaseya and the company's traditional MSP software rivals have been looking for new ways to push beyond server and PC management -- especially as more SMB workloads float off to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
In response, ConnectWise CloudConsole, for one, has expanded from Office 365 management to Azure management. Similarly Autotask released CSP Boss, a Microsoft cloud management tool built atop MessageOps.
