DattoCon Now points to profit in SaaS defense, continuity

A cybersecurity journey

MSPs can boost their margins through cybersecurity, according to Weller. He said MSPs have reported doubling their margin from Microsoft 365 seats after adding Datto SaaS Protection to their offerings. "Now we aim to triple your margin by adding SaaS Defense to this bundle," Weller added.

Continuity, meanwhile, may represent MSPs' largest margin opportunity in security, Weller said. He noted that companies use BC/DR technology to recover from ransomware attacks.

Cybersecurity offerings also boost an MSP's revenue per customer. Weller described a "journey to higher dollars" in which an MSP that adds antivirus could expect to generate an extra dollar or two in revenue above its standard RMM services. However, adding ransomware detection and endpoint detection and response products results in a more meaningful upsell, while managed response could net an MSP an additional $10 to $20 per seat. Increasingly advanced offerings could eventually generate an extra $100, he suggested.

Weller pointed to partnering as the way forward for most MSPs to grow their cybersecurity businesses, especially when it comes to acquiring human talent. Few MSPs will be able to hire in-house staff to offer customers 24/7 access to security experts and ready-to-deploy incident response teams, he said.

"I think it is more likely that most of you will end up outsourcing to an MSSP [managed security service provider] for those particular needs," Weller said. "It seems fairly unrealistic that more than a tiny fraction of MSPs will ultimately succeed in building full-fledged MSSPs."

Security hub

More security developments are expected to emerge from Datto's acquisition of BitDam, which will run a cyber hub for Datto in Tel Aviv, Israel. That hub will provide MSP and SMB technology with features such as ease of installation and management as well as analysis and reporting capabilities, said Liron Barak, co-founder of BitDam and senior director of product at Datto.

SaaS Defense, for example, provides basic features such as spam filtering in addition to more advanced security to combat phishing and ransomware, Barak said. As a result, MSPs can consolidate tools and reduce management tasks. SaaS Defense also offers threat analysis and reporting that lets MSPs observe trends across their customers, she said.

The product covers Zoom's communications platform as well as Microsoft 365, Barak noted.

Datto CISO Ryan Weeks said BitDam supplies a base of cybersecurity skills. BitDam can continue to hire security expertise to drive not only the company's product strategy but also its internal security program.

As for the latter, Datto now allows its internal red team to pursue "gloves-off pen tests" to emulate attackers, Weeks noted. "We have let them entirely loose," he said. "Nothing is off limits."

Google Cloud Next: Tech of interest

Partners expressed interest in several technology developments at Google Cloud Next 21, an online event that wrapped up Oct. 14.

Among those developments is BigQuery Omni, a multi-cloud analytics offering. Google said the product will be available to all customers on AWS and for select customers on Microsoft Azure later in October. 

"We know that data is created and consumed in multiple locations by hundreds or thousands of applications," said Paul Lewis, CTO at Pythian, an IT consultancy and MSP based in Ottawa. Pythian is a Google Cloud Premier and Specialization Partner. "The difficult part of creating organizational insights is to discover and mobilize the data that might be closely coupled with those applications, hidden within the cloud services."

BigQuery Omni, however, lets Pythian's clients use a single API, command-line interface or user interface for cross-cloud analytics, Lewis noted.

Miles Ward, CTO at SADA, a Los Angeles-based business and technology consultancy and Google Cloud Premier Partner, cited the PostgreSQL interface for Google's Cloud Spanner database as "hugely impactful" technology coming out of Google Cloud Next.

Organizations with applications that talk to PostgreSQL can now link up with Google's self-healing, globally scalable database, Ward said. The interface saves developers from having to rewrite interfaces in order to have their PostgreSQL applications communicate with Spanner. The development is particularly helpful for companies with thousands of PostgreSQL applications, which would prove prohibitively expensive to migrate to Spanner, he noted.

In sustainability, Google Cloud Carbon Footprint reporting "will be an essential part of a CIO's ESG [environmental, social and corporate governance] program," Lewis said. In addition, Carbon Footprint, launched at Google Cloud Next, can serve as an extension to Pythian's FinOps capability, he said. With that augmentation, "clients will be able to identify the environmental impact of out-of-control user-initiated consumption," he added.

Lewis also noted security integrations and partnerships featured at Google Cloud Next, such as Google's relationship with Cybereason. Google and Cybereason will collaborate on an extended detection and response service. Investment in integrations becomes a critical requirement for data loss prevention, detection and response, and even corporate education "as we see more bad actors … becoming much better at what they do," Lewis said.

Partners also pointed to Google Distributed Cloud as a key technology unveiled at Google Cloud Next. The offering addresses customers with low-latency demands and strict regulatory requirements, according to Google Cloud.

Crayon set to wrap up Rhipe transaction

Crayon, an IT services company based in Oslo, Norway, moved closer to completing its purchase of Rhipe, a cloud and licensing specialist.

The acquisition became legally effective this week, with Crayon scheduled to pay the purchase price on Nov. 3. Crayon's CFO, Jon Birger Syvertsen, called the Rhipe transaction a "massive opportunity" for Crayon. Sydney-based Rhipe focuses on wholesale provisioning of subscription-based cloud licenses and infrastructure.

"Cloud is already integral to the services we provide our customers," Syvertsen said.

Customers' maturity in shifting to the cloud has improved alongside the continuing improvement of cloud platforms' capabilities and cost efficiencies, he noted. "This results in growth that shifts spending away from traditional on-premises hardware and software sales models into software and cloud-based models," he added.

Partner roster update

• OpsRamp, an AIOps vendor, partnered with TietoEVRY, an MSP and systems integrator based in Finland. The relationship expands the company's reach in the Nordic countries, said OpsRamp vice president of EMEA George Bonser. TietoEVRY will include OpsRamp as part of its Next-Gen Enterprise Services offering. "As an MSP, they are looking to provide new services to their existing customers," Bonser said. "[TietoEVRY has] seen interest from its customers in applying AI to IT operations."
• IBM will team up with Deloitte on an AI-based managed analytics offering. DAPPER brings together the Deloitte Analytics Platform with IBM Cloud Pak for Data on Red Hat OpenShift. Deloitte runs DAPPER as a managed service hosted in the IBM Cloud.
• CloudBlue, an Ingram Micro business, launched its Global Vendor Roadshow, which lets ISVs pitch their offerings to cloud service providers. Participants included Acronis, AvePoint, Confiva, ContractZen, CWS, Cypherdog, Fractalia, FreshBooks, Hostopia, Netsweeper, Nord Security, Odix, Rushfiles, Sertifi and TeamViewer.
• Distributor TD Synnex partnered with Elisity, an identity and behavior-based enterprise cybersecurity platform vendor. Under the partnership, TD Synnex will add Elisity's platform to its cybersecurity portfolio.

Channel program launches and updates

• SCADAfence, a cybersecurity company focused on operational technology and IoT, launched a partner program for channel and technology companies. The Alliance Partner Program consists of three tiers: Gold, Platinum and Diamond. All partners have access to a partner portal, which provides demo resources, technical resources, sales and marketing collateral, sales enablement materials and quarterly training sessions. The program spans resellers and MSSPs as well as technology partners.
• AI, a security investigations platform provider, unveiled a partner program for solutions partners and technical integration partners. The program offers go-to-market strategy and support, technical support, sales enablement resources and co-marketing support. The Brookings, S.D., company's solutions partners include Optiv and Presidio.
• Private network company Federated Wireless, based in Arlington, Va., rolled out a channel program for wireless internet service providers (WISPs). The program aims to help WISPs take advantage of internet connectivity options available through the Citizens Broadband Radio Services

Other news

• Nearly 70% of C-level executives expect their cybersecurity spending to increase in 2022, according to PwC's Global Digital Trust Insights survey. The 69% expecting a spending boost is an uptick from the 55% of respondents who expected increased cyber investment in 2021. More than half of the respondents anticipate the number of reportable incidents to rise above 2021 levels next year. PwC polled 3,602 business, technology and security executives.
• NinjaRMM, a provider of RMM software for MSPs and internal IT departments, will set its sights on geographic expansion in 2022. The company will look to build a further presence in EMEA and APAC markets, according to Dean Yeck, chief revenue officer at NinjaRMM, headquartered in Austin, Texas. Additionally, the company will continue to develop resources for serving the North American state and local government and education (SLED) market, Yeck said. He noted that NinjaRMM has seen increasing demand among SLED customers, such as cities and universities, which use the company's software for IT monitoring and management. In addition, the company, which has about 320 employees, aims to hire about 200 more employees by the end of 2022, he said.
• MSP360, a backup and IT management solutions provider for MSPs, launched a flat-rate pricing structure for backups with MSP360's Managed Backup Service, which runs on AWS. The pricing approach lets customers pay a single fixed monthly fee when using the product, according to the Pittsburgh-based company.

Executive appointments

• Logically, an MSP and cybersecurity services provider based in Portland, Maine, named Michelle Accardi as its CEO. She succeeds Mike Cowles. Accardi, a Logically board member, was most recently president and CRO at Star2Star, a Sangoma company.
• Upstack, a web platform that sells cloud services through sales agents, hired Danielle DeCosta as vice president of supplier development. DeCosta was previously director of partner enablement at cloud distributor Pax8.
• Otava, a hybrid cloud solutions provider based in Ann Arbor, Mich., promoted Cyndi Lyon to chief experience officer and T.J. Houske to vice president of operations and solutions engineering.
• Ingram Micro appointed Curtiz Gangi as director of global partner engagement for the distributor's Advanced Solutions organization. Gangi joins Ingram Micro from Eaton, where Gangi was vice president of U.S. channels for the data center sales segment.

Additional reporting by Spencer Smith.

Market Share is a news roundup published every Friday.