MSP 01732 759725 42 Future attractions N-able has just launched a new podcast series (see box). That apart, what can MSPs look forward to from N-able in the future? “You're about to see what we call Nerds Eye View, where our Nerds talk about their specialties and what they're learning from working with different MSPs around the world. We are also just launching a new customer portal called N-able Me, which is going to have a massive amount of resources, forums and peer-to-peer collaboration for our partners to enable them to be more efficient in the way they interact with us as a company,” explained Weeks. “Starting in the first week of September, we’ll be taking a roadshow to 19 cities around the world (including Manchester on October 10). We'll be explaining our roadmap to prospects and partners; we’ll have talks from industry experts; above all, MSPs will have the opportunity to hear from their peers. We did a test run of Five Cities earlier this year and it was extremely successful. Having 75 or 100 MSPs sitting in a room all helping each other out is what it's all about. “Then watch for what we're doing on the product side. We've got very aggressive roadmaps on our products and there'll be news throughout the rest of this year on updates around security, cloud management, our RMM platforms and backup and data protection. There's a lot happening, and it is all driven by customer requests. It's our partners who guide us.” www.n-able.com along with the capability of the product.” Other big growth areas cited by Weeks include cloud management, as more and more MSPs move customers from physical to cloud-based devices, and a growing professional services role for MSPs as they become more involved in customers’ growth strategies and planning for future expansion. “A lot of that came from COVID, when MSPs moved almost a global workforce to work from home. That made a lot of business owners realise just how much technology impacts their revenue streams. I think the perception and the willingness to work more and deeper with MSPs has dramatically improved over the last two years,” he said. Growth drivers For N-able itself, MSP acquisition activity remains a key growth driver. “Our growth comes from new MSPs entering the market and from MSPs that continue to scale and grow their businesses. M&A is a big part of that – partners acquiring other businesses and standardising on our tech stack. M&A activity has slowed a bit since Covid but we still have partners that are very active in M&A and today acquisitions are more strategic, which tends to mean that they're larger.” He adds that from a product perspective, most of N-able’s growth is coming from its security and data management offerings and their evolving cloud management capabilities, rather than from its two RMMs, which he describes as ‘very steady’ business. marketing opportunity and sales opportunity is that upper level of the market.” Weeks says that while co-managed is a big opportunity for UK MSPs, it does require a different approach. “One of the things that we talk about with a lot of service providers is patch management. We all know this is the baseline of security, but how you patch a small and medium-sized business is very different to how you patch an enterprise-level business with multiple or global locations. A lot more planning and consulting goes into the initial engagement to baseline the environment and ensure the MSP really understands what the end customer is looking for. It's not a case of saying ‘Hey, we're the experts, let us do it’ because you have two teams of experts that want to work together. There's a lot more collaboration. MSPs sometimes go in thinking their traditional offering will work and it doesn't; with Co-managed you need more of an à la carte menu.” Scalability Weeks adds that the scalability of N-able’s product offering is a big attraction for MSPs addressing a Co-managed opportunity. “A product like N-central, which is one of our main platforms, scales extremely well to the mid-enterprise and enterprise market, as well as working extremely well in the SME and SMB space. Then there’s our partnerships with companies that are well known in the enterprise space, like Sentinel One for our endpoint detection and response. That gives us name recognition ...continued Talking shop In May, N-able launched a new podcast series, Now That’s IT: Stories of MSP Success, in which industry leaders share their stories of success and how they have used their passion for technology to help turn managed services into the thriving sector it is today. “The idea behind the podcast is to let industry leaders share their knowledge and personal experiences with their peers,” explained Kevin Bury, Chief Customer Officer at N-able. “Our goal is to provide educational information about issues that may be relevant and help other businesses learn, be inspired and thrive. This new avenue of sharing voices has been a great tool and we look forward to continuing this valuable resource. MSPs’ time is scarce, and with this platform they can tune in while at the office, working from home or while they are on the go.” Current episodes of the podcast include how to make the transition to managed services; advice on how to grow your MSP at scale and overcome challenges; how to prioritise the enduser to transform your business; tips for success; and how to navigate change. Dan Kitchen, Founder and CEO of razorblue and guest on Episode 4, said: “It’s a great opportunity to share my story – and the story of razorblue – in a different way. A lot of us across this industry face similar challenges and it’s valuable to hear how different leaders are overcoming those challenges in unique ways.” Now That’s IT: Stories of MSP Success is available on Apple, Spotify, Podcast Index, Overcast, Amazon Music, Podcast Addict and Castro, as well as via N-able’s social media accounts, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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