IT Nation 2017: ConnectWise Marketplace builds out vendor integrations

In conjunction with last week’s IT Nation 2017 conference, hosted by PSA vendor ConnectWise, numerous vendors in the MSP software space launched integrations with the ConnectWise platform.

The integrations support ConnectWise’s vision of building an expansive ecosystem of third-party integrations with its professional services automation (PSA) tools. At the conference, the company revealed plans to release ConnectWise Developer Kit, a means for vendors and partners to easily integrate products with ConnectWise products. Developer Kit is slated for availability in the second quarter of 2018. In the meantime, ConnectWise has accumulated more than 200 vendor integrations available through the ConnectWise Marketplace. That number is set to increase significantly, ConnectWise executives said.

On the security front, AlienVault integrated its unified security management product, USM Anywhere, with ConnectWise Manage PSA software. A security monitoring platform, USM Anywhere provides asset discovery, vulnerability assessment, intrusion detection, behavioral monitoring, and security information and event management capabilities. Using USM Anywhere within ConnectWise Manage, partners can offer customers security services that include threat detection, incident response and compliance management for cloud and on-premises environments, AlienVault said. USM Anywhere is available as a monthly subscription.

AppRiver, a provider of cloud-based security and productivity services, also revealed a ConnectWise integration. According to the company, which works with managed services providers (MSPs), the new integration lets partners automate updates to their ConnectWise agreements for any usage changes initiated via the AppRiver Partner Portal. Additionally, MSPs can now access automated support of prorated charges and detailed auditing of billing-related events, among other features, the vendor said.

IT Nation 2017 attendees saw a new integration with Arctic Wolf Networks’ security operations center as a service offering, AWN CyberSOC. Arctic Wolf said the AWN CyberSOC-ConnectWise combination enables the ability to automate notifications and assignments of ticketed security incidents to ConnectWise Manage.

Apart from security, ConnectWise expanded the backup and disaster recovery offerings available in the ConnectWise Marketplace. In a new partnership with Infrascale, a disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) vendor, MSPs that provide Infrascale DRaaS can access ticketing support, invoicing and billing, and inventory and reporting capabilities within ConnectWise Manage.

Additionally, Barracuda MSP linked its Intronis Backup product to Connectwise’s remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform, ConnectWise Automate. The integration simplifies Intronis Backup deployment and management, according to Chris Crellin, senior director of product management at Barracuda MSP, in a blog post.

On the distribution side, value-added cloud distributor Pax8 augmented its integration with ConnectWise Manage, creating what the company described as more seamless capabilities for placing orders, managing seat counts and adding vendor licenses through the ConnectWise platform. Pax8 said it also introduced capabilities to support billing and provisioning of consumption-based offerings, including Microsoft Azure and ProfitBricks.

Ryan Walsh, chief channel officer at Pax8, said the distributor last year introduced its first ConnectWise integration that synced the respective platforms. Partners, however, said they wanted to access Pax8’s platform without having to “swivel chair” from ConnectWise software. The new integration enables partners to do that.

“This [new integration] creates a completely different experience,” Walsh said. “Partners are saying … ‘This is seamless. … This really saves me time.’ And that’s golden to us.”

Finally, in the RMM space, IT management platform provider Kaseya said it will bolster its PSA connector for ConnectWise Manage. The Kaseya PSA Connector plugin lets MSPs integrate ConnectWise PSA software with Kaseya’s VSA RMM product.

In addition to several new enhancements to increase efficiency, the connector will feature Kaseya’s remote control technology within ConnectWise Manage tickets. Kasaya will also launch a ConnectWise integration for its software-as-a-service VSA RMM platform. Partners can expect these enhancements to roll out in the first quarter of 2018, Kaseya said.