Technology Reseller - v25

MANAGED SERVICES 01732 759725 28 ...continued Backupify) was a new product for us. With 365 becoming the dominant email system as businesses move away from on-site Exchange, you have to have something in place. When we sell 365, we give a price for SaaS Protection. It’s kind of mandatory, especially with GDPR. Finally, Autotask and RMM are replacing ConnectWise solutions. TR : Is that transition easy to make? DT: It’s been easier than I expected it to be, I’ll be honest with you. Because they are two core systems, I did think it was going to be an issue. Datto said ‘Don’t worry, it’s all going to be fine’ and the cynic in me said ‘Yeeeah, OK’. But, actually, it was. Datto RMM went live in September and Autotask goes live today (October 23). TR : Are you interested in everything Datto brings out, if only for the potential efficiency gains? DT: We will be interested, but we won’t automatically adopt it. Datto’s product range is great, but we have to make sure it suits us and suits our clients. TR : Are there any areas you would like Datto to move into? DT: Security. I got excited yesterday when Tim Weller (Datto CEO) said ‘There is one more thing I want to talk about: security’. I thought he was going to announce a security suite that is geared for an MSP to sell to an SME. TR : What are the particular requirements for an MSP? DT: The vast majority of security providers sell products to MSPs and the public. It’s a confused process because they have customers who will go into a shop or buy their product over the phone, so their focus isn’t on the MSP marketplace. Datto doesn’t deal with the end customer: they get what it’s like for an MSP; they understand what an MSP wants; they understand the challenges we have in selling whatever it might be. up their data effectively. And it’s not just companies that don’t have a server; there are some individuals in businesses, typically senior staff, who have a lot of data sitting on their laptops that they are not synchronising. To be able to cover them, to give them peace of mind is really critical. One of the things I say to our engineers is that if you are not monitoring our clients’ back-ups you are stopping me from sleeping, because the buck stops with me. Having all this continuity in place means I can sleep easily. It’s scary when you can’t recover somebody after they’ve had a ransomware attack. TR : Have the services you have taken from Datto replaced an existing offering or are they an extension of what you provide? DT: That depends. Business recovery was a replacement; and networking, which includes switching and wireless access points, is replacing what we sold previously. So, we are standardising on Datto products. The more standardisation we have, the more efficient it makes the engineers, because they only have to learn about one vendor’s products. There’s a phrase I hate – pane of glass. Basically, that gives you everything on one screen and enables the engineer to fix things from a desk rather than having to travel. We don’t charge our clients mileage or travel time (it’s part of what they pay), so the more we can keep our engineers in the office, the more efficient we become and the quicker the client gets a result. So, those are replacements. When it comes to SaaS Protection, as far as we are concerned there is nothing else like it on the market. There is a clause in the Microsoft Office 365 agreement that basically says it is your data, you back it up. But they don’t tell anybody that; it’s buried in pages and pages. As a business owner, I would assume Microsoft were going to take care of my data, but they’re not. We have been selling it for a couple of years now, but SaaS Protection (originally TR : Do you want Datto to offer a security suite just because of its MSP focus? DT: It’s not just that. We run something called Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW). The first was in 2017 and we are in the process of planning the fourth, CSAW 2020. The purpose of CSAW is to educate businesses in cybersecurity and data protection, because many SMEs hear about British Airways and Talk Talk and the NHS and think it’s not going to happen to them because they are not big enough. In fact, cyber criminals don’t care about size; their focus is targeting weaknesses. CSAW is a week-long series of free events to educate businesses. Datto has been our sponsor right from the start and is the lead sponsor for 2020 as well, which starts on March 9. We have a really good tie-in with them, which is why a security suite would be great. TR : Have you seen a big increase in revenue and customer numbers since starting with Datto? DT: Yes, we have. If we go back to the data protection products, the BCDR; when we ask an existing client or a prospective client if they have lost data in the past, they invariably say ‘Yes’. We then point out that with this product they don’t have to worry about that. Then, it’s just a question of finding the right price point, because Datto is not a cheap product. And I don’t think it should be – if you want a cracking service you should be prepared to pay for it. That has helped us. Then you add networking, where you can get monthly recurring revenue, and SaaS Protection. So, yes, our revenues have gone up. TR : So you provide networking as a service? DT: Yes. We provide the equipment and there’s a very small monthly fee. At the moment, we are going through a change and have started to include that within our managed service offering. Arguably, that is going to lead to a reduction in revenue, but it means the client will get a better service. You have to think long-term. If they stay long- term, you will get back what you invest. TR : What are the big things customers are asking you for right now? DT: Their main priority is keeping their systems up and running efficiently. Business is not easy, and if you have inefficient staff and your systems are down and you can’t send out a proposal, you can’t process an order, it will impact your business. They say to us ‘Keep my business running please, and when we have an issue get it fixed as fast as possible’. That for them is the key. https://bluegrass-group.com/ Exeter