Kaseya ramps up managed compliance services focus
Kaseya has invested $10 million into growing its managed compliance software business, citing a massive opportunity in compliance services for MSPs; other news from the week.
MSP software vendor Kaseya revealed it has invested $10 million into a newly formed business unit dedicated to managed compliance services.
The division focuses on Kaseya Compliance Manager, a platform the vendor developed after acquiring RapidFire Tools in 2018. Kaseya Compliance Manager lets MSPs assess and monitor customers' compliance posture within a number of regulatory frameworks, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Payment Card Industry Security Standard, and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The platform can also help MSPs and their customers demonstrate compliance with cyberinsurance policies. Kaseya recently appointed Max Pruger, formerly chief revenue officer at CloudJumper, to lead the unit as senior vice president and general manager of compliance.
"We as a company believe that compliance is the next big managed service. It is a close cousin to security … [and] a fantastic opportunity for MSPs to expand their business and monetize a very low-touch type of offering," said Fred Voccola, CEO of Kaseya.
What Kaseya Compliance Manager does
Fred Voccola
According to Voccola, Kaseya's compliance management platform scans a customer's networks and infrastructure to gather about 70% to 90% of the data required by regulators. The remaining 10% to 30% of information can't be obtained through automated processes, so the software generates a checklist to guide that information's collection.
"What our product does is it automates everything that can be automated and then it lists the 50 to 100 items that have to be 'manually' proven," Voccola said.
HIPAA, for example, states that a medical provider must physically store patient files in a room with secure locks on the doors. In this case, Kaseya Compliance Manager would direct the MSP and its customer to take photos of the door locks and load the photos into the software, he said.
Once the information is collected, MSPs can then generate documentation and reports to show the customer has met compliance requirements.
In addition, Voccola said the software lets MSPs continually monitor customers' compliance status. MSPs can receive alerts if changes in a customer's network or infrastructure cause a compliance issue.
Enabling managed compliance services
A portion of Kaseya's $10 million investment will go into developing resources to help MSPs establish managed compliance practices. Resources include a content library to learn about how to price, sell and deliver the services. "MSPs don't have to be an expert in the compliance framework with this offering. That's the biggest part of it," Voccola said.
Max Pruger
Kaseya is also encouraging MSPs to use the platform internally. Under certain regulatory frameworks, such as HIPAA, MSPs must demonstrate internal compliance before they can touch customer data. Voccola said Kaseya gives MSPs the license for their own internal usage for free when they purchase Kaseya Compliance Manager.
Pruger added that MSPs can also benefit from using the software internally for showing continual compliance with cyberinsurance policies. "Every MSP out there should have cyberinsurance," Pruger noted.
Voccola said that regulatory compliance will soon become a common part of doing business for all MSPs in the U.S., especially as states roll out localized privacy legislation. He cited the California Consumer Privacy Act introduced in 2018, as an example.
Pruger agreed. "I will say that in the next 24 months, every single MSP will have to have a compliance practice, because every single state in the United States is going to have specific compliance rules that they are going to have to follow," Pruger said.
In the next quarter, Pruger said he aims to bring Kaseya Compliance Manager to market across GDPR, cyberinsurance, HIPAA and NIST frameworks. "As far as cyberinsurance, HIPAA and NIST go within the U.S., every single MSP has to be [compliant with] at least one of those," he said. He noted that he will look to add more compliance standards on the platform.
Only about 400 MSPs are currently using Kaseya Compliance Manager, Voccola noted -- a number the company hopes to greatly increase in the coming months.
SADA offers flat-rate GCP services
SADA, a business and technology consultancy based in Los Angeles, launched four flat-rate packaged offers for Google Cloud Platform adopters.
The packaged services include Anthos First Step, Anthos Flat-Rate, Database Migration Flat-Rate and VM Migration Flat-Rate. SADA delivers the services for a flat price and according to a fixed time. Miles Ward, CTO at SADA, said the GCP services address customers' uncertainty and risk when moving to the cloud. An organization may balk at a cloud migration service if the service provider can't cite a definitive delivery schedule or set a fixed price.
"The ability to have a flat-rate offer lets the conversation start," Ward said. He noted customers are more likely to greenlight a project if the service is prescriptive, time-bound and available at a specific price point.
The Anthos First Step package provides the first phase of setting up and using Google Anthos. The offering includes x86 portable or rack-mounted infrastructure and Google Anthos, VMware vCenter 6.5 and F5 Big-IP Virtual Addition. SADA provides on-site hardware and software installation, a hands-on lab and a help desk trained on Anthos/Kubernetes.
Anthos Flat-Rate covers the second phase of an Anthos implementation. The package includes everything in the first-step package as well as additional items including a review of the initial implementation, identification of production goals and stakeholders for readiness reviews, and any additional equipment delivery and validation, according to SADA.
The Database Migration Flat-Rate package includes migration of a customer's database to GCP, while VM Migration Flat-Rate migrates a customer's virtual machines to GCP.
Hostway, Hosting rebrand as Ntirety
Emil Sayegh
Hostway Services Inc. and Hosting, which merged in January, have rebranded as Ntirety.
The managed cloud services company is based in Austin, Texas, and has vendor certifications with companies such as AWS, Microsoft and Oracle. Emil Sayegh, president and CEO at Ntirety, cited "strong synergy" between the companies' offerings and no overlap between their customer bases. On the IT side, the companies had both been using ScienceLogic to run their businesses. The consolidation of those instances has generated cost savings, Sayegh noted.
No additional acquisitions are in the offing this year, but Sayegh noted the potential for merger and acquisition activity in 2020.
Other news
Christian Alvarez
- Nutanix has appointed Christian Alvarez as vice president, Americas Channel. Alvarez was previously worldwide head of channels and distribution at Juniper Networks. He has also held positions at Cyan, a Ciena company; Avaya; eLandia Group; Connexion Technologies and Terremark Worldwide, a Verizon company. Nutanix said its partners include value-added resellers, distributors, system integrators, OEM partners and technology alliances.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise launched HPE ML Ops, a container-based software product to support the machine-learning model lifecycle, according the company. An HPE spokesperson said the vendor believes the product presents an opportunity for partners. "Channel partners need to build a practice in this area and develop expertise in data science, AI [and machine learning], and advanced analytics. It's an opportunity for them to … provide a strategic advisory role for their customers as they look to deliver game-changing business innovation with AI," the spokesperson said.
- NYI, a hybrid IT solutions provider based in New York, has acquired a data center in Chicago. The former Navisite facility is geared toward edge and IoT requirements, according to the company.
- In distribution news, Ingram Micro inked a deal with CoreKinect to provide its IoT sensors to U.S. channel partners. Meanwhile, Tech Data signed an agreement with OPAQ to provide its network-security-as-a-service cloud platform to U.S. service providers.
- Mission, an MSP based in Los Angeles, said it obtained AWS APN Premier Consulting Partner status.
- Axcient, a business availability and cloud migration company, unveiled a lead generation program that it said is free for all Axcient partners.
- Opengear, which specializes in enterprise automation, network resilience and security, will host its first channel partner conference Sept. 16-17 in Dallas.
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