THINK IT Services

I was invited to attend the fifth annual ConnectWise Partner Summit in Orlando this past week and was surprised to discover that it has become one of the premier meeting places for aspiring Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and industry enablers.

I was also impressed with the amount of attention ConnectWise’s executives, other event speakers and sponsors, and the conference attendees gave to the convergence of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), managed services and cloud computing.

ConnectWise may not be a household name in the SaaS or cloud computing markets, but it is a key player in the managed services arena. Although ConnectWise calls itself a professional services automation (PSA) provider for IT professionals, its software also helps them manage their helpdesk operations and sales processes. 

ConnectWise’s solutions are typically used by IT service providers, including VARs and MSPs, and it has built its success on a highly leveraged partner strategy. Its software is enhanced by and embedded with nearly 3000 third-party developers, vendors and service providers. In fact, the company’s partner strategy has succeeded in permitting ConnectWise’s solutions to support over 32,000 organizations via these partners, with a staff of less than 200. Approximately 40 companies were on display at the Partner Summit, ranging from small, niche players to Cisco, Intel, Xerox and Google.

Google’s presence at this event was particularly interesting. Although the Google representatives were primarily promoting its current Apps capabilities, it was obvious that they were also laying the groundwork for a broader array of cloud-services aimed at MSPs in the future. The attendees I spoke with already see Google affecting their businesses, most notably the organic growth of Gmail which is threatening to commoditize their managed email services.

The treat of commoditization was high on everyone’s agenda and to ConnectWise’s credit they scheduled Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine and the author of the Long Tail and Free, as one of the keynote speakers to discuss the strategies to survive the ‘freemium’ phenomenon.

The company’s co-founder and CEO, Arnie Bellini, has also become an evangelist for the power of the ‘cloud’ and opportunity to leverage SaaS solutions to permit VARs to migrate their businesses to managed services and enable MSPs to survive in an increasingly competitive market. He gave a convincing opening presentation about how rapidly changing customer needs are dictating a migration to the cloud and driving ConnectWise’s SaaS strategy.

He has not only positioned ConnectWise as a partner-friendly vendor, but as a facilitator of industry best practices via a combination of online resources and regional user groups.

He also demonstrated during his opening talk the company’s willingness to admit to its shortcomings by showing the results of a recent customer satisfaction survey which identified areas where it could clearly improve.

It was obvious that his candor and the company’s efforts to improve the quality of its products and services, along with its partnership approach, have won it tremendous good-will in the industry.

As a result, ConnectWise has succeeded in putting itself at the epicenter of the managed services industry and its Partner Summit has become the ‘go-to’ event for many of the attendees I met.

The energy at the Summit reminded me of Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce conference. And like Salesforce.com, ConnectWise is rapidly increasing its partner network by opening up its application program interfaces (APIs) to third-parties. The importance of the partner network as an influential channel to market was reiterated by the company executives who I met from HTG Peer Group, CoreConnex, SonicWall and Reflexion Networks.

Both companies also have bold and candid evangelistic CEOs who see themselves leading a revolution. Marc Benioff has become the poster-child for SaaS and the Cloud. In ConnectWise’s case, Arnie Bellini is becoming the spiritual leader of the “IT Nation” and MSP community.

For me, this event represented the convergence of the SaaS, cloud computing and managed services worlds. The Summit was also further proof that the world is moving rapidly in this direction because these on-demand alternatives are increasingly generating tangible and measurable business benefits for customers and providers alike.

Happy New Year!

Let me be the first to offer predictions for the on-demand services market on this first day of 2009. These predictions are based on THINKstrategies’ latest survey research and ongoing consulting work with IT/business decision-makers, IT solution providers and various technology investors.

I recognize that plenty of predictions have been made already, but hope mine offer a different perspective on the future direction of the on-demand services market.

Contact me if you’d like to discuss or debate any of these predictions.

1. On-Demand Services Move From Why To How - Now that SaaS has achieved widespread market penetration and the idea of cloud computing has become popularized in the business as well as trade press, the discussion will shift in 2009 from why organizations should adopt SaaS/cloud computing services to how to do it effectively. This shift will also encompass the best ways to adopt managed services to optimize IT operations. IT/business decision-makers will seek help evaluating the functionality and financial viability of the various vendors; better understanding the integration and security requirements; monitoring vendor performance and service level compliance; and measuring the economic impact and business benefits of these services.
2. New Hybrid Models - The technological evolution of on-demand services will enable SaaS and cloud computing vendors to offer customers the choice between on-premise and off-site hosted versions of their solutions without compromising the operational and financial efficiencies of the multi-tenant architecture that underlies these services. SaaS/cloud computing vendors will be able to ‘shrink-wrap’ their solutions into appliances or ‘applets’ which can be deployed behind the customer’s firewall and synchronized with the vendor’s primary service delivery infrastructure.
3. Short-Term Slowdown, Long-Term Growth - Although SaaS proved to be recession proof for most of 2008 as I predicted, SaaS vendors have not been able to avoid the speed-bump caused by the deepening economic crisis. IT/business decision-makers in organizations have been instructed to put a hold on all procurements until the economic uncertainty subsides. They are especially hesitant to make acquire solutions from new vendors who they believe won’t survive the current crisis. However, when the dust settles, organizations of all sizes will adopt SaaS and cloud computing services because the business case for these web-based alternatives is too strong and compelling. Click here to see my video recording on this topic.
4. VC/PE Retrenchment - The credit crunch and devastation of the financial markets has had a tremendous impact on the venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) sectors. With limited IPO exit opportunities available and their limited partners (LPs) either unable to fulfill their funding commitments or demanding better returns from their investments, the VCs and PE firms are setting higher standards for performance from prospective and portfolio companies, and holding back on additional investments. Many VCs and PE firms may even shut their doors, leaving fewer funding sources available for SaaS/cloud computing companies.
5. Industry Shakeout and Consolidation – The past year may have been the peek of the ‘cloud-rush’ that produced a proliferation of SaaS and cloud computing players. The new year will see a shakeout of many of these players and consolidation of the market. IT/business decision-makers in user organizations of all sizes will shift their procurement strategies from best-of-breed vendors to strategic suppliers who they believe have a better chance of surviving today’s economic crisis. This will make it hard for niche vendors to compete against more prominent players with broader portfolios and stronger brands.
6. Acquisitions/Alliances – With the valuation of SaaS/cloud computing companies going down, the buying power of incumbent software vendors (iSVs) will rise. Companies like Microsoft, Oracle and SAP will acquire a series of SaaS/cloud computing players to accelerate their migration to the on-demand services world. Hardware vendors such as Dell, HP and IBM, as well as offshore companies like Infosys, Tata and Wipro will also make acquisitions to enhance their systems and automate their services respectively. With traditional funding sources drying up, many SaaS/cloud computing companies will seek corporate alliances which can provide alternative financing options and strengthen their positions in the market.
7. Focus On The Channel - The changing economic climate and rising costs of sales will drive a growing number of SaaS/cloud computing companies to seek new channels to market. At the same time, a growing number of traditional systems integrators, value-added resellers, hosting companies and other service providers will seek to add SaaS/cloud computing capabilities to their corporate portfolios. In some cases, this will blur the line of demarcation between SaaS/cloud computing and managed services companies.
8. The Google Generation Becomes Mainstream - The Google affect on the market will expand from eCommerce to the enterprise. Google Apps will gain acceptance in businesses of all sizes as a result of broader adoption among individuals, better support services aimed at corporate users, and broader alliances with companies like Salesforce.com. An indication of this trend can be found in primary schools and universities where use of Google Apps is expanding from individuals to the entire institutions in a systematic fashion. Just as Apple succeeded in building a new generation of users via schools and universities, Google is taking the same path to permeate the market.
9. Software/Business/Information/Managed Services Convergence - The line of demarcation is not only fading between software services, such as SaaS and cloud computing, and managed services, but also with business and information services. Business services companies, such as ADP and AmEx, are adding software services, such as Centive’s sales compensation management and Concur’s expense management capabilities their service portfolios, respectively. Thomson Reuters has teamed with Salesforce.com to deliver its information services via Salesforce.com’s SaaS solutions. It has also recently acquired Paisley—a governance, risk and compliance SaaS vendor—to broaden its capabilities. Meanwhile, managed service providers (MSPs), such as mindSHIFT, are adding a layer of SaaS solutions to their IT management capabilities.
10. Obama Economic Policies Promote the Web - President-elect, Barak Obama, has made it clear that he views the Internet as an important incubator of new business opportunities and jobs, and as a mechanism for better government services and more effective education programs, as well as a clean-tech alternative that can reduce people’s carbon-footprint. The Obama administration has promised to create a program, much like the Work Projects Administration (WPA) during the New Deal, which will fund public initiatives that encourage the growth and broader adoption of web-based services. This program will increase the visibility and viability of on-demand services.