Windows desktops and notebooks still dominate the PC market, but Apple Macs can't be ignored in the managed services provider (MSP) market. Indeed, Mac unit shipments jumped 10 percent and revenues surged 25 percent in Apple's Q4 2017 -- and they remain particularly popular with SMB entrepreneurs -- especially those who carry iPhones and iPads.
Amid that reality, Addigy -- which develops cloud-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) for Macs -- appears to be carving quite a niche for itself. Addigy's deployments apparently grew by more than a factor of 10 in 2017 vs. 2016. The company's full-stack, cloud-based Mac management platform keeps Apple's devices secure, up-to-date, and running without issues, Addigy asserts.
MSPs and businesses alike typically have Windows-based management tools in place, but Macs often remain a blind spot. “They’ve had Microsoft in place for 15 years and people have been in there managing that infrastructure for a long time but with Mac, they don’t have anything,” Jason Dettbarn, CEO of Miami-based Addigy, explains to ChannelE2E. “Once they add our tools and they gain confidence in being able to secure and manage the Macs, they add them as assets available for employees. We see huge adoption rates.”
The privately held company is already attracting big names with a number of Fortune 500 companies adopting Addigy’s platform -- a feat even more impressive given Addigy's 13 employee headcount, says Dettbarn.
“There’s definitely demand for it from the employees, but IT doesn’t really have the tools to manage ,” Dettbarn asserts. “So that’s been a really great area of growth for us and we expect it’s going to be a long-term one for us.”
Usually, most service providers will have to manage at least a few Macs from any given customer -- but are reluctant because their background is in Windows environments. But Dettbarn says there are a lot of opportunities to be had. To that end, Addigy partners with MSPs looking to offer Mac-based solutions to their customers. “There’s a lot less competition out there that can show they can actually do Mac services,” he explains.
Cloud-based Licensing
One way Addigy is attracting partners is by changing its licensing model. Most MSPs have to sign an annual contract, but Addigy has taken a page from the AWS playbook. MSPs are only billed for the days that a machine is on the platform.
“When they stop making money, we’re not making money,” says Dattburn. “Removing the floor of that has really allowed to be a lot more aggressive in putting our products out there early and reducing their own barriers to entry with their clients, which means they have higher growth rates. So overall, by doing this very simple thing, our MSPs are growing. They’re tripling their Mac portfolio size.”
Since most MSPs tend to work with PCs, Addigy has made its platform simple to work with. “We built our platform so it wasn’t like they had to be an Apple engineer at all. It’s all simple stuff,” Dattburn says. “They can onboard with us very quickly. Especially if they’re Windows-focused.”
Future Plans
The CEO says the company has no plans of adding Windows support to its portfolio. For one, according to Dettbarn, the Windows-centric sector is just too crowded. Vendors are lowering their prices across the board, he assert. Secondly, there isn’t a lot of competition out there in the Mac management sector. As Dattburn tells it, there’s only Addigy and their competitor JAMF (recently acquired by Vista Equity Partners) vying for space. “So we bring on huge deals that we wouldn’t typically be doing if we were a Windows shop,” he says.
Looking ahead, Addigy will be pushing a number of items in the first quarter of 2018. The company will unveil its new solution set in January 2018 which will increase users ability to manage their Macs, iOS devices, Apple TVs and more.
The company will also be hosting its first ever user conference in March in Miami. And Dettbarn says he expects Addigy will be scaling at a similar rate to 2017.
Remaining Questions
It certainly sounds like Addigy has found a market niche. But since the company is privately held, we don't know actaul revenue or profit figures. Nor do we have specific, named Fortune 500 accounts to check in on.
Moreover, new types of competition could emerge in 2018. For instance, Vista Equity recently acquired Datto and merged the company with Autotask. And while Autotask has RMM products, we're curious to see if new parent Datto will ever reach out to sister company JAMF for potential Mac management capabilities.
Still, Dettbarn has credibility in the MSP software sector. He previously spent severn years at Kaseya, driving sales in various capacities. Now, he's seeking to make the most of this encore at Addigy.
