DattoCon22 Epic Vendor Meltdown: Part B
“Wow!”
That’s what many MSPs had to say when asked about their DattoCon 2022 experience, followed not too far behind with, “That was certainly different, but not as different as I feared.”
Hard to argue with that as DattoCon will never be the same. Neither was Autotask Community Live after 2017, for that matter. This show had so much of a difference compared to DattoCon 18, 19, and DattoCon Paris. It clearly is now the Kaseya/DattoCon experience, which may not be the end of the world.
One of the first things I noticed about the conference was the number of Vendors. It was good to see ConnectWise, N-Able, and others. But it is clearly not Connect IT, and it is also clear that both conferences will continue in 2023 with DattoCon finding a home in Miami. Beyond that, even Fred V. does not know.
Let’s get right to it…here are our thoughts on Part B of the vendors that caught our eye at the conference:
Section: PSA
Matt’s Comments:
ConnectWise seems like it has been around since the dawn of time – first as a PSA and then adding/acquiring a cornucopia of MSP tools like Labtech and hosted NOC/helpdesk from Continuum. Many CW PSA users love the integration with Datto RMM.
While I love Autotask, I have to admit that if you want on-premises PSA and RMM, CW is the first place to look. ConnectWise is known for The IT Nation user conference and industry education.
Section: PSA/RMM:
Steve’s Comments:
Syncro, Halo, BMS, and others are great stripped-down PSA/RMMs compared to the powerhouse full-feature PSA tools of Autotask and ConnectWise. Both Syncro and Halo get rave reviews in the forums for being streamlined, well-supported products that do the job. Halo was not in the exhibit hall but is coming on strong with a great report writer, calendar scheduling, and it was mentioned the most at DattoCon when it came to full integrations.
BMS (based on a conversation with a Datto Executive) is being positioned as the entrance product for a small MSP with an easy upgrade path to Autotask once the additional horsepower of Proactive, Dynamic Dashboards, Contract Automation, Live Report scheduler, and other advanced features are needed.
The streamlined PSA tools will be a very tight market in the years to come, and it will be fun to watch as they jockey for market share.
Section: RMM
Matt’s Comments:
NinjaOne used to be known as Ninja RMM. They are a mature RMM tool used by many smaller MSPs with a pretty good set of integrations. They are the only RMM that integrates with SherpaDesk PSA. They were fun to talk to at a show booth and are in the top 5 of RMMs. A new MSP should check them out.
Matt’s Comments:
N-Able split from Solarwinds and both of the offered RMMs have a long and rich history. Both RMMs are also probably in the top 5 RMMs. A new MSP should look at them. Some MSPs really like the design and flow of the software, while others… not so much.
Matt’s Comments:
ScalePad’s (formerly WarrantyMaster) strength lies in its reporting. While you can look up all the warranty information for your assets and utilize Autotask features to monitor, alert, and report on them, ScalePad has very pretty reporting and automatically pulls from your RMM/PSA and updates the warranties.
The platform assigns a score you can use to usually show your clients the status of their hardware. You can also purchase 3rd party warranties for that 9-year-old server your client insists on keeping. The warranty provider and the ScalePad leadership team are solid.
Matt’s Comments:
Auvik is well known for its EXCELLENT network monitoring and management. And the purple polar bears. Those who use it have great things to say about it. Some MSPs have complained that the value isn’t there for the cost and that other products can perform much of the tasks of Audit. They’re kind of like the A-Team of the 80’s – if you need them and can afford them – call Auvik.
Section Billing/Invoicing:
Steve’s Comments:
Brendon, the Owner of Sync 365, is a personal friend going back to Autotask Community Live 2010. We have both presented at Community Live and stayed very good friends over the years. Talking with him about his product was exciting. He gets it. He is an MSP that knows what he is talking about, and in this product, he nailed it.
Not only updating license counts, but also managing the License Renewals. I know this hype talks about MS products, but he is working on expanding the reach into other renewal products. You go, Dude. The Industry needs you.
Matt’s Comments:
Gradient’s founder is a former MSP owner and founder of PassPortal, so you can assume Gradient is designed to actually solve the problems that an MSP has. They were pretty busy in their booth, so my team didn’t get a chance to do more than say hi and get one of their cool pastel shirts.
Matt’s Comments:
While many have been concerned about the strategic investment by Kaseya, it’s hard to deny that ConnectBooster is well-known and well-respected for their ability to automate payments and save an MSP time.
Section: Backup Solution:
Steve’s Comments:
A Backup Solution at DattoCon. Did they ever check to see who Datto is and what Datto does? Or do they think that Datto still thinks Secured Storage is a rack of equipment sitting in the basement with a padlock on the door?
Seriously, though Dropsuite is an excellent backup solution for Microsoft 365 that you can buy from Pax8 (for those of you who only use Autotask/DRMM say) and just the fact that they were there (close competitor to SaasBackup) shows that Datto’s commitment to an open playing field is still in force.
Section: Backups
Steve’s Comments:
A Backup Solution at DattoCon, go figure. In addition to Mailprotector and Datto veteran Matt Scully being Channel Chief, what makes this unique is that it was started by Paul Evans, who is the same person that developed CenterStage before Autotask changed the name to AEM, before Datto changed the name to Datto RMM, and before Kaseya changed the name to ... (TBD)
Section: Marketing
Matt’s Comments:
Marketopia, like its competitors, has mixed reviews and some very nice marketing. Definitely worth talking to, but like anything you outsource, ask your associations and peer groups for references (and how about the weekly free Advanced Global Ask the Experts meetings?)
Steve’s Comments:
There are days when I think the Robin Robins community is bigger than Datto’s. We have looked at her stuff and it is top notch. We are part of the TMT Community and rely on her Marketing ideas to drive our business.
We don’t use her services because they are tailored for MSPs and are focused on a geographic area reach – which we do not have. In other words, our Target Audiences are very different, and Robin would be the first to tell you that everything starts with knowing who your Target Audience is.
Matt’s Comments:
Okay…with all the money I spent with them I could write a novel….even though a lot didn’t work, I still have a very positive opinion of Robin….how weird is that?
Section: Sales CRM
Steve’s Comments:
We use Zomentum and Love it. Especially how the Zomentum integration ties into and drives our Dynamic, Proactive Sales dashboards. If you would like a Live Working Demo, of either Zomentum or Autotask, please let me know.
Section: Sales Related:
Steve’s Comments:
We looked at Zen Contract within the last year. We need to improve our proposal writing and were looking for a new Proposal Writing tool. Zen Contract looked good, but when they were a no show for the demo we booked off their Website, it left a sour taste in our mouth. When they did not respond to our rescheduled reach outs, we moved on. I talked with them briefly at the conference but was still not impressed.
Section: Hardware
Matt’s Comments:
It’s Seagate. They make good drives and NAS units. Since I was at Dattocon looking at things involving Autotask and Datto (go figure) I gave them only a quick walk by, but I didn’t see any signs for an Autotask-integrated NAS or BYO BCDR drives. Kudos for showing up.
Matt’s Comments:
Only skimmed the Cisco booth, but Meraki, Duo, and Umbrella are pretty popular in the MSP space, so odds are they are at least worth checking out. A client said they had a good conversation about Meraki certification and learned some stuff they didn’t know.
Matt’s Comments:
So, what was a hardware vendor doing at a software and security conference? You’d think the only hardware would be the Datto BCDRs. I wasn’t looking for a new laptop and neither was anyone else on the team, so we gave it a quick glance.
In hindsight, being a rare hardware vendor at a primarily software show means you get pretty good access to those interested, so good for them. With everything going on in the KaseyaDattoTask world and the last few years, it was just nice to see all those vendors. If they had an Autotask enabled ThinkPad with BIOS installed Datto RMM, please let me know.
Matt’s Comments:
It was interesting to see HP here with Lenovo and Dell. Since this was such a packed show and I wanted to spend as much as I could with clients and the Gladiator Community, I didn’t stop. Please email me if I missed a server that automatically adds itself to IT Glue.
Matt’s Comments:
The Dell booth was about getting MSPs enrolled in the Dell Expert Network. The main deal here (as described above) is some partner discounts and better access to Tech Support. Not for you if you resell Dell hardware, as some MSPs sadly found out.
Matt’s Comments:
Barracuda bought Managed Workplace RMM from Avast, which acquired it from AVG, which acquired Level Platforms. Barracuda, of course, is also well known from their airport wall advertising campaign. One of those vendors that work well for you…or maybe not so much. A current Datto RMM client who had been a Managed Workplace user told me they were pushing RMM, so he left.
Matt’s Comments:
Again, it was cool to see so many traditionally hardware vendors at Dattocon. Didn’t see any signs talking about BYO drives to BCDR and they wouldn’t give me a free 20 TB Red drive, so I waved and moved along.
Steve’s Comments:
This is kinda the Un-Hardware product for MSPs. Not sure if you have struggled to dispose of hardware, but it can be a pain. If so, give MSP Disposal a shout. My guess this only works in Major Cities due to the cost of shipping (which is another way of disposing it – just ship it via USPS and never see it again).
The MSP that I worked for finally started giving everything to a Service Organization that repurposed them for non-profit organizations. We pulled the drives and gave them the rest. We did have a service that would crush the drives and take them away.
Section: Distributors:
Matt’s Comments:
Pax8 came into the MSP industry like a storm and has never let up. They are some pretty cool people used by a lot of our Client’s for license purchases and support. They’ve got some pretty good all-day training, too.
Bonus: They also had some pretty cool socks they gave away in the booth. Nice, friendly folks, but another very popular vendor the Advanced Global Team didn’t get to chat with too much (other than grabbing some cool giveaways). If you don’t understand Microsoft NCE, these are the people to talk to.
Matt’s Comments:
Sherweb has been around for quite a while. You either like them or you don’t. If you’re looking for a marketplace vendor, they are worth talking to.
Matt’s Comments:
Amazing the vendors that this Dattocon has brought out in 2022. IT Pro has a generally positive reputation in the Channel and compared to CBT Nuggets and Pluralsight. If you’re looking for a way to get your Team some training, they are definitely worth checking out.
Matt’s Comments:
Nerdio has been building a great reputation as the place to go when you want to go into Azure and you don’t have an Azure Certified architect in your back pocket. With the Pax8 partnership, they’ve been doing a lot of training and helping a lot of MSPs save money. If nothing else, I am told they give away great socks.
Matt’s Comments:
A merger of Tech Data and Synnex distribution powerhouses, the jury is still out on whether the MSP community will benefit from the combination. If you’re an MSP looking for a distribution partner, you almost have to talk to these guys. I wasn’t, so I didn’t. 😊
Section: VOIP
Steve’s Comments:
Bvoip is an established VOIP provider known for having great partner events ( i.e. parties). Good people. In 2022 every VOIP vendor gets you a dial-tone, so you need to talk to them to see if their model fits.
Matt’s Comments:
As I mentioned before, in 2022, every VOIP vendor better be giving a quality dial-tone. Cytracom has a model that includes everything in one price and is channel only with a good reputation. Cytracom was bought in 2020, and in 2021 bought Omninet and entered into security. For many, the jury is still out on where they are going. It’s rare to see a phone vendor actually get the concept of security being designed into their products, so definitely worth a conversation.
Whew. With that, we are done have only begun. For the full list of Vendors and Datto’s Conference bios on each, here is a link to our DattoCon 22 Epic Vendor Meltdown eBook.
And if there is anything left to say, or if we have just begun the conversation, feel free to Schedule a Call with me and we will strategize over what vendor is best for your situation.
