Arnie Bellini: To Understand ConnectWise, Look to Iron Man

If you’ve ever talked to anyone who’s owned the first issue of a comic book series like Iron Man or X-Men, you know they can tell you everything there is to know about that series. They can tell you who created it, who drew it, and who’s authored every storyline. They know the plot twists, the double timelines, and every surprise ending. There’s no expert like the one who has been there from the beginning and is invested in knowing the ins and outs of a story.

If the Iron Man series is the evolution of PSA and RMM, ConnectWise is that first-edition owner. So says Arnie Bellini, ConnectWise CEO.

“We watched Al Gore create the internet!,” Bellini laughs. “Then we asked what we could do with this amazing creation. We saw that you could actually connect two computers together, and they could share an application, and they could share a database. We were at every one of these ‘aha!’ moments.”

Bellini says that when it comes to professional service automation (PSA) and remote monitoring and management software, ConnectWise’s biggest advantage is being able to see where the industry has come from in order to predict what’s coming next. In 2018, the company is betting big on security services and “managed everything.”

It’s the same Digital Transformation song and dance, only a little further up the stack. Every company is a tech company, and every industry is being redefined by an always-connected, service-based economy. The explosion in business technology opportunities has created a skills gap, where there aren’t enough tech workers to meet demand. It creates a perfect storm for channel partners, who are primed to fill that gap.

Bellini says that ConnectWise, with its mission of connecting the entire channel ecosystem, is the solution that’s going to enable those IT channel shops to leverage that opportunity this year–if it can keep being able to predict where Iron Man is going next, so to speak.

“All of us, all channel partners, are going to be asked to do a whole lot more than just remotely monitor and manage onsite computing,” says Bellini. “Just as RMM is now indispensable, management of all different types of solutions has to be connected to where you’re doing your job every day. If it’s not, then it’s too many clicks away.”

Bellini posits that this next phase of ConnectWise’s mission may be even more transformative than the advent of PSA and RMM. The end goal is the same: How can you do more with the same people you already have? But because of the advanced nature of the technology, and the sheer breadth of applications needing to be managed, it’s an even bigger opportunity.

That opportunity is top-of-mind for ConnectWise as it plans for 2018, particularly when it comes to security.

“We’re going to be delivering a lot on security this year. Managed security is the biggest growth opportunity for the future, and this is the year to get in on it.”