In the highly fragmented professional services automation software market, Promys PSA is growing 35 percent to 40 percent per year, according to Director of Sales and Marketing Jim Barnet.
The company, which spun off from a Cisco Systems Gold Partner in 2003, has spent recent years rewriting and then polishing its cloud-based software platform. This wasn't your traditional shift from client-server code base to SaaS. Promys has a lengthy history in the cloud. But the company moved to a modern HTML5 design around 2015, and spent 2016 migrating customers to the new platform.
The heavy lifting, in terms of a platform rewrite and customer migrations, is done. Now, Promys is out to onboard more MSPs, IT consultants and service providers onto the platform.
Admittedly, rival PSA platforms like Autotask and ConnectWise Manage have more mind share and market share in the IT service provider sector. Plus, both Autotask and ConnectWise now offer comprehensive suites that extend from PSA to RMM (remote monitoring and management) capabilities. Autotask also has endpoint backup, while ConnectWise extends into the sales quoting and proposal software.
Promys: Multiple Use Cases
Still, Promys isn't a one-product wonder. Rather, Promys is a full-blown platform -- extending from PSA to help desk management, project management, time and billing, CRM & quoting, service contracts and more, Barnet asserts.
The software has a long history addressing systems integrator needs. More recent enhancements address subscription and recurring billing, MSP profitability tracking and more. Instead of creating silos of information, the enhancements ensure information flows logically across MSP contracts, subscription services and project-oriented tasks to measure a company's true profitability in real time.
Integrations are also surfacing. It sounds like a Continuum RMM connection is imminent, and a Ninja integration may surface this year, pundits suggest. Also, keep an eye on Promys's work with Microsoft Power BI, which could make for some interesting business intelligence and user-defined, self-service reporting capabilities.
Expanding its Niche
Promys doesn't claim to be a powerhouse. The 35-person company will need to pick its fights and target markets carefully. Aside from the usual rivals, upstarts and giants also pose potential threats. Names like Atera (cloud-based PSA and RMM) and ServiceNow (IT service management) are popping up from below and above. And the are dozens of additional PSA options for IT service providers. Pure-play PSA upstarts like Computicate also are on the scene.
Promys doesn't disclose financials. But the business, now about 20 years old, sounds like it's growing 35 to 40 percent per year. And that suggests the HTML5 release has, indeed, been catching on.
