Quoting and Proposal Software Surface at Autotask Community Live

Sales quoting  software — which helps VARs and MSPs to develop proposals for customers — will grab a piece of the spotlight during the Autotask Community Live conference (May 22-24, Miami, Fla.). Software companies like QuoteWerks and Quosal will be on hand at the conference. That’s particularly interesting since Autotask itself is building quoting capabilities into the VARStreet platform. Here’s the update.

No doubt, QuoteWerks and Quosal have strong followings in the IT channel. Generally speaking, the software allows VARs and MSPs to more rapidly generate sales proposals for end-customers. Most of the major sales quoting software integrates with PSA (professional services automation) software from Autotask, ConnectWise and Tigerpaw Software.

But here’s the interesting twist, especially for the Autotask community of VARs and MSPs. Over the past year, Autotask has been busy polishing VARStreet, a SaaS-based product sourcing system that will include more and more quoting capabilities. Autotask acquired VARStreet in early 2010. As VARStreet ramps up, it could potentially compete with QuoteWerks and Quosal in some selected areas.

As plans for Autotask Community Live began to take shape, Autotask at some point made the strategic decision to welcome QuoteWerks and Quosal into the conference as sponsors. Call it a prime example of coopetition (cooperation and competition) in the managed services software market.

Another prime example: IT Nation, an annual conference hosted by ConnectWise, welcomes a range of RMM (remote monitoring and management) software providers as sponsors. ConnectWise Capital, an investment arm of ConnectWise, has a stake in LabTech Software, an emerging RMM software provider.

But back to the story at hand: Quoting software. It will be a key topic of discussion at Autotask Community Live. I wonder what percentage of attendees already leverage such software. For those who don’t, I wonder what they’re using to generate customer proposals?

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