Image Gallery: IT Glue's GlueCon Featuring Datto, TruMethods
The conference styled itself as a vendor-neutral event designed to help MSPs reach the next level.
![IT Glue GlueCon conference room IT Glue GlueCon conference room](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt5e907130373dc975/65245d7d7a0cbd7adb54d6c0/IT-Glue-GlueCon-Conference-Wide-Shot-2018.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
IT Glue held the event at the Phoenician in Scottsdale, Arizona. Hosting the event during the same week as SolarWinds MSP‘s Empower conference made Arizona a prime destination spot for MSPs.
IT Glue’s developers were hard at work during the conference, and their company showcased the fruits of their labor.
IT Glue on Sept. 18 announced several new products and features, including integration with Office 365, a flagging feature, and RMM integration with Cisco Meraki.
CEO Chris Day told Channel Futures that an overwhelming number of MSPs had been asking for the Office 365 integration.
Luis Giraldo, IT Glue’s vice president of product, kicked off the conference keynote session on Sept. 17.
Giraldo has been at the company for a year, and has worked in multiple areas of business during his career. He’s worked at MSPs and served as COO for a candy shop. IT Glue acquired his MSP, Monkey Box App, last year.
IT Glue CEO Chris Day laid down data on day one.
Day explained findings from the 2018 Global MSP Benchmark Report, which interviewed 600 MSPs about their growth and challenges.
One of the biggest developments in the industry is that SMBs are more interested than ever in having someone run their IT for them.
“That’s a big change from when you just had to explain to people what it was,” Day said. “You no longer have to explain what it is. Now you have to actually differentiate.”
Read our recap of the report.
Verne Harnish, CEO of strategic insights company Gazelles, gave the second keynote on Sept. 17. Varnish, who is known for his 2014 “Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It … and Why the Rest Don’t,” offered praise and feedback to the MSP audience.
“The reality is, you guys have a hot market. You have the winds to your back. It is absolutely up to you to screw this up,” he said.
And as you can see above, his keynote was quite humorous.
Attendees ate lunch inside the vendor pavilion. The conference drew approximately 450 MSPs and a diverse assortment of suppliers.
TruMethods owner Gary Pica shared a concern that multiple speakers mentioned this week: competing on price.
The adviser for MSPs argued that differentiating your business via a lower price literally devalues the services you offer. According to Pica, such a strategy also devalues the customer’s need.
Pica and Channel Futures participated in a webinar on pricing strategies for MSPs last year.
Rob Rae, Datto’s vice president of business development, gave his observations and predictions for what the “MSP of the Future” looks like.
One interesting category he introduced was the growing challenging of remote workers. More and more businesses hope their employees will be more productive working from home. Can MSPs enable this?
Rob Rae, Datto’s vice president of business development, gave his observations and predictions for what the “MSP of the Future” looks like.
One interesting category he introduced was the growing challenging of remote workers. More and more businesses hope their employees will be more productive working from home. Can MSPs enable this?
It’s a great time to be an MSP.
That was a continual refrain from partners and vendors alike this week at the IT Glue GlueCon event in Scottsdale, Arizona. Approximately 450 managed service providers came from across the country to watch vendor-neutral presentations about how to grow their businesses.
IT Glue shared the numbers from its recent MSP survey, and several experts spoke to Channel Futures at the event. While most praised the success of the industry, they cautioned partners to fix a few specific parts of their businesses. On-boarding, marketing, pricing and customer targeting were major areas of concern.
IT Glue provides a documentation platform to 5,000 MSP customers.
Check out this slide show and read our wrap-up from the event.
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