Kaseya is hosting its Connect IT 2020 conference online this year, as could be expected, and just unveiled a number of new capabilities and integrations following an acquisition announcement yesterday of email security and phishing defense platform Graphus.
Kaseya is laser-focused on MSPs and the SMB/mid-market space and has developed a very powerful platform that spans multiple disciplines, including broad capabilities for IT management, cybersecurity, compliance, and backup/recovery. In the space of data protection, Unitrends and Spanning were the foundational components for the offering and came through acquisitions.
New capabilities for the BC/DR space and other technology “buckets” were announced at the conference, as well as some roadmap items. Please check this complete list here.
Kaseya’s CEO Fred Voccola focused his excellent keynote on the theme of “Opportunity.” It’s good to hear a CEO who cuts the marketing BS out of the equation. I really liked his approach, which was a data-driven, “face reality” type of presentation. Fred’s view is that digital transformation is here to stay – it was just accelerated recently. We won’t go back to the old way…Remember that Kaseya’s focus is SMBs – not the largest organizations which have been transforming for a while. (ESG research actually tracks this every year in our IT Spending Intentions Survey.)
Therein lies the opportunity for MSPs and SMBs. IT empowerment. Kaseya is seeing the same thing happening in their market segment in the next 10 years, with COVID-19 being the accelerator. Many examples were provided from medical offices, professional services, and restaurants. The democratization of digital transformation is what Kaseya is doubling down on. I am not a betting man, but I will place some money on it too.
Easier said than done when IT budgets and business profit are under attack in the current economic climate. At the same time, this actually drives MSPs and and internal IT teams to become even more efficient. Business demands are evolving, and budgets are tight, generating an opportunity for MSPs to help smaller IT shops to improve their efficiency and costs. The biggest challenge is the fragmentation and the multiplicity of tools.
Technologically, Kaseya’s strategy is very clear: success, or opportunity, can only happen with a comprehensive unified (software) platform that truly delivers across the many technologies to meet business demands. Again, I really liked Fred’s dose of realism about what it takes to build true integration and how the market can be confused by the overselling and “marketing” that too often obfuscate poorly integrated solutions.
Looking at the spectrum of capabilities and the integration work that has happened to date on the platform (IT Glue, Compliance, Unitrends, a pretty cool iphone app, etc.), it is obvious that the company has very convincingly executed on its vision and plan so far, and is clearly committed to further integrating its technology portfolio as it is injecting more AI and automation into the mix. I noted the keen focus on compliance, the confluence of cybersecurity and (SaaS) data protection, and generally the richness of the automation possibilities (and its community-driven technology exchange market place where MSPs can find existing automation scripts and best practices).
The competition for MSPs’ business is very real, placing a significant burden on vendors like Kaseya to deliver on multiple fronts simultaneously: IP/Technology, Marketing/Incentives, and community development. Based on what I am seeing at the very well executed Connect IT conference, Kaseya should be in good shape!
