Several hundred MSPs are set to attend Kaseya Connect 2017, which kicks off May 9 in Las Vegas. Anecdotal evidence suggests Kaseya is back in growth mode. But where are Kaseya and its MSP partner community heading next? Here are five questions existing and potential partners should ask.
1. Existing Products -- The Integration Strategy?: Kaseya's core product portfolio includes VSA (for remote monitoring and management), BMS (for professional services automation), AuthAnvil (identity and access management), Traverse (cloud monitoring and management) and 365 Command (Microsoft Office 365 management).
Each application certainly fills a specific MSP need. CEO Fred Voccola has specifically focused on products that drive potential revenues for MSPs, though he positions PSA as a low-cost option that frees up money for MSPs to invest elsewhere. The big questions:
- How are those individual Kaseya products and services potentially coming together into a bigger suite -- especially as rivals like Autotask, ConnectWise, Continuum and SolarWinds MSP increasingly preach product integration across their platforms? Is Kaseya focused on one dashboard for all -- or would such a move not make sense for the partner base?
- What are the latest BMS adoption figures?
2. New Products and Cloud Management?: It sounds like roughly 30 MSPs are testing a new tool called Kaseya Cloud Manager. But I concede: I don't know if this is truly new code; something that leverages existing code from an OEM; or a product that somehow leverage's Kaseya's existing Traverse product -- which has some cloud management capabilities.
I suspect answers will surface at the conference but I don't know for sure. Among the features to ask about: Does Kaseya Cloud Manager help MSPs to manage customers' cloud costs -- a big issue that has even attracted Microsoft's attention.
Key People and Technologies
3. New Leaders and Cloud Management?: Former MSP Jim Lippie has joined Kaseya as GM, cloud computing, the company confirmed to ChannelE2E earlier this week. Lippie is set to speak at the conference. We'll be watching to see if Lippie is focused on a single product (say, Kaseya Cloud Manager); all Kaseya products and their cloud capabilities; or perhaps he's focused more on assisting MSPs with their cloud transitions.
4. Managed Security Services?: In addition to Kaseya's own AuthAnvil, what types of security products and services are emerging in Kaseya's ecosystem? Security-centric companies like Bitdefender, Cisco Umbrella, ESET, Kaspersky Lab, Malwarebytes, Trend Micro and Webroot will be on hand. How are those security companies helping MSPs to further address the security threat landscape? Related Podcast: Cisco Umbrella's Monika Gupta explains MSP partner strategy.
5. Product Integrations -- Big Data Analytics, IoT?: Familiar data analytics names like BrightGauge will be on hand. Co-founders Brian and Eric Dosal were first-movers when MSPs started searching for better data gathering and analysis tools to run their businesses. But who's coming next -- especially when it comes to gathering and managing IoT sensor data from all sorts of new devices?
Kaseya Connect 2017: Two Bonus Questions
We promised you five questions. But we're in a writing mood. So here are two bonus questions MSPs should be asking...
6. Acquisitions?: Amid 70 percent bookings growth in 2016, CEO Fred Voccola has spent recent months scouring the market for potential acquisitions. The potential targets, Voccola told ChannelE2E in November 2016, will involve purpose-built products that help MSPs to generate more revenues. So is Kaseya ready to announce any acquisitions? If so I suspect they'd surface at this conference.
7. BONUS Two - Private Equity Ownership?: Next month marks four years since Insight Venture Partners acquired Kaseya in June 2013. The first couple of years were a bumpy ride amid executive turnover. CEO Fred Voccola's arrival in June 2015 began to stabilize the business, and revenues apparently showed strong growth in 2016. Generally speaking, private equity firms have seven-year time horizons before they sell off an investment. But in Kaseya's case, there have been rumors from time to time that Insight wants to sell the company within a five-year window of the original purchase.
That's it for now. We look forward to potentially covering Kaseya Connect 2017 as additional news and trends emerge.
