Kaseya has updated its auto-renewal software process after some MSPs expressed concerns about the company's licensing policies, deal terms and associated communications.
The Kaseya auto-renewal policy updates, revealed in letter from company President C.J. Wimley, surface at a time of intense scrutiny for Kaseya, Datto and the overall MSP software market. The updated terms are welcome news. But do they go far enough -- especially in the age of monthly scale up/scale down subscriptions from multiple MSP software upstarts?
Below is the Kaseya letter in its entirety...
To Our Valued Customers:
C.J. Wimley, president and chief customer officer, Kaseya
Kaseya has received feedback from several customers about our auto-renewal process, and the desire to make some changes to the mechanics, while maintaining the core elements of the policy:
Always receive the lowest possible price,
Do not discontinue service. In the event of an error or oversight on the part of the customer, we do not want to discontinue service without it being the full desire of the customer.
In order to address some of the mechanics of the process while ensuring that the two core elements are maintained, moving forward, the following adjustments are being made, effective immediately:
All auto-renew agreements are renewed at the same number of months as the previous agreement.
Customers may opt out of our auto-renewal process during the term of their agreement simply by contacting their Kaseya account manager.
Customers are now notified 90 days before the renewal date. The frequency of calls and emails during this 90-day notification period has increased 100%.
The Kaseya EULA has been modified to reflect these changes.
As always, Kaseya is first and foremost a customer-centric company, and we will always listen to our customers and work with them with the goal of ensuring Kaseya customers achieve the highest levels of success possible.
Sincerely,
C.J. Wimley
President and Chief Customer Officer
Kaseya
Kaseya, Datto and the MSP Software Market: Subscription Models Under Scrutiny
The letter surfaces less than two months after Kaseya completed the $6.2 billion buyout of Datto. Ahead of that deal, some MSPs were complaining about Kaseya's various licensing terms and renewal policies. More recently, some Datto partners have been watching their licensing terms closely to see if Kaseya would make modifications.
Meanwhile, multiple MSP software startups have introduced radically simple subscription services -- allowing MSPs to try, scale up or scale down their subscriptions on a monthly basis. Examples include cloud-based RMM (remote monitoring and management) and PSA (professional services automation) platforms like Atera, SuperOps.ai and Syncro. Also, Halo PSA has also drawn attention.
Some of those upstarts are gaining momentum with MSPs. But in some cases, the upstarts lack the overall product portfolio, mind share and feature sets of larger providers such as Kaseya, ConnectWise, N-able and NinjaOne, among others.
For its part, Kaseya appears to be introducing more flexible terms and better communications for its renewal process. The move is well timed -- arriving one month before the DattoCon 2022 conference in Washington, D.C.
Also ahead of the conference, Kaseya promoted Dan Tomaszewski to executive VP of channel. Among his key priorities: Extending the Kaseya Powered Services learnings to the Datto partner base, according to a brief e-mail interview with ChannelE2E.
Opinion: Why Scale Up/Scale Down Subscriptions are Critically Important
But, back to the point of this blog: Kaseya and many of the entrenched MSP software giants still have complex licensing terms that make it difficult for service providers to scale up or scale down their services -- and associated delivery costs -- on the fly.
That reality could be especially painful for some MSPs... if (actually, when) we eventually run into a recession and some end-customers want to cut the number of seats under management. In that scenario, some MSPs could face profit margin squeezes -- especially if their software providers don't offer monthly scale-down options.
Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.
