One of the trending news in the world of MSPs and IT solutions is the ConnectWise acquisition by private equity company, Thoma Bravo for approximately $1.5 billion. The new ownership and management of the IT software automation and business management company garnered different reactions by industry players. The pressing concern is what this acquisition would mean to the MSPs in the new ecosystem of ConnectWise.
In 2007, we bought into Kaseya and ConnectWise and before this happened, we were operating on an inefficient system. At the time of our partnership, Kaseya founders were still in the front line of operations. Private equity, later on, acquired Kaseya and a new management team comes with it. The replacement of the management team followed suit, paving the way for the current management.
Some of the concerns after the Kaseya acquisition centered around support, quality, and roadmap yet the company stayed with them amid the changes that took place.
ConnectWise Acquisition in Context
The operations of ConnectWise continued until about two weeks following its acquisition. Questions were asked particularly any changes in the management of ConnectWise just like what happened with Kaseya.
ConnectWise presented the company’s new published 5-year plan, which demonstrated the guidelines and roadmap of the company after the acquisition:
Cybersecurity
First, ConnectWise highlights its new frontier, cybersecurity, and will capitalize on building its line of security offerings, ensuring that both ConnectWise and its partners can grow with every business opportunity. The company will continue to focus on MSP and MSP that offers cybersecurity solutions. ConnectWise values the trust of partners by keeping them along with their customers safe from the different forms of cyber-attacks.
One-Click Ecosystem
ConnectWise concentrates on a unified or one-click ecosystem that consolidates overlapping platforms from Continuum and Legacy ConnectWise. It also aims to provide a cohesive experience for its partners by unifying other platforms, integrating them onto the Juno platform.
Technology
Second, ConnectWise considers technology as the movement and service by providing a flexible system that can shift and scale into different business choices and models. The company continues with its innovations to create transformational partnerships and come up with an advanced technology that delivers services and success.
Partner Success
Also, ConnectWise emphasizes that the success of the customer is everyone’s job and responsibility. The company aims to provide delightful interactions with partners ensuring quality partner experience through quality services, solutions, and results. ConnectWise introduces the Success Pyramid model as the operating guide to assist partners to prosper and grow.
The changes in the ConnectWise ecosystem due to the new owners may have brought about a lot of panic and concern. Some of these were falsely created while others are perhaps reasonable. The Robin Robins event in Nashville became a venue where several vendors and MSPs expressed their opinions in varying degrees.
The ConnectWise acquisition resulted in different reactions. While others cannot wait to “jump ship” and consider other options out there, other partners are quite welcoming and excited about the acquisition deal. As for me, I am leaning towards the “wait and see” side. What do you think?
