Schnizzfest 2023: TruMethods Getting New Resources from Kaseya for MSPs
MSPs must make big changes in the years ahead.
Gary Pica at Schnizzfest 2023
Customer support is already changing in enterprise, said TruMethod‘s Gary Pica. And artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), robotic process automation (RPA) and Chat GPT 3 are technologies that are here.
“Our role in support will not be the same as it is today,” he said. “So much money is being poured into tools and automation. This is where enterprise is so far ahead.”
What will stay the same is SMBs will need tech strategy and guidance, “we own the customer relationship, and well-run businesses usually prevail,” Pica said.
MSPs need to understand their customers’ changing technology needs, Pica said. Customers have data “all over the place,” and MSPs can help not only with backup, but also managing data and more.
In addition, MSPs need to meet growing demand for process automation, he said.
Moreover, current services will become technology solutions, Pica said.
“Be aware and knowledgeable about trends,” he said.
Dan Tomaszewski is Kaseya‘s executive vice president of channel. He outlined TruMethods’ new benefits for MSPs from the Kaseya acquisition.
“We’re working with our partners and we created a program called VIPeer, and it’s really to work with our peer members to help them,” he said. “TruMethods is designed to help our MSPs grow their business, be operationally sound, drive better profitability, and really being able to do more with less. And so one of the things we’re trying to do from a Kaseya side is give them everything that
they need and kind of roll out the red carpet for them. We want to support them with premium support, that VIP support for their technical issues. We want to help them not just with not-for-resale (NFR) licenses. We just did a special project in our peer groups around compliance. We said look, install the compliance manager and run it on your business. We went through business cases with them, talked to them about how to go to market (GTM) with it. They integrated with their pods and went through things. So it’s really helping them see the different tools that are available out there and the business case to it, how to actually do it, not just say here’s an NFR license, have fun. We’re talking through everything around it from a business standpoint, profitability to it, customer challenges, all of those things.”
TruMethods wants to get more MSPs enrolled in VIPeer so they can leverage it in their businesses.
One of the biggest investments is in a concierge approach to simplifying problem solving for MSPs, Tomaszewsk said.
“We know issues are going to happen,” he said. “It’s a natural cause of any business. But we want to make it to where when you have an issue, you’ve got one person that can guide you through it from the peer side. They understand what we’re talking about and we’ll take from start to finish anything you have and work with your account manager, whoever we need to, to make sure that you’re fully supported and that you have one of the best experiences out there. And that’s something we’ve worked really hard on. I would say in the last 12 months we’ve rolled all this out and we’re investing even more into it in 2023 with more resources, more head count, more offers. We added Datto Networking into the NFR because we know networking is a big thing and we want to help our peer members succeed with that this year.”
TruMethods has also unveiled a new onboarding process to make sure MSPs are grouped with other likeminded individuals and ensure they are gaining knowledge from each other.
TruMethods is introducing an all-new peer portal, Tomaszewski (pictured with Winners Circle belt) said.
“It’s taking all of the TruMethods framework, taking everything that we’ve come to know and love about TruMethods, and simplifying it in an easy way for our customers to be able to digest it quickly and easily,” he said. “We’re creating and adding more content. So if you’re someone that doesn’t like to watch videos, now you’ve got a guidebook to go with it or vice versa. So the portal be able to do their meetings in there, all of our quarterly special projects, just anything and everything that breathes peer will be in one centralized place, neatly organized, allowing them to be able to maximize the potential of the program.”
Peter Briden, TruMethods‘ certified operations coach, outlined numerous resources to help MSP members achieve success with the company. That includes office hours in which TruMethods can share information on current events, and field questions and answer them in real time.
In addition, TruMethods is focused on special products, with over 20 special projects to assist MSPs, such as workshops every month. It’s also providing smart numbers live once a quarter, and a smart number benchmarking system, with goals, tools and metrics.
“And our salary survey is something unique to our industry,” Briden said.
Steven Butler is CIO of Hits Tech, a North Carolina-based MSP. This his first Schnizzfest.
“We’ve been a TruPeer member for eight months and the program has helped our company immensely with organizing and getting us marching in the right direction,” he said. “When they mentioned this event, we wanted to see what the big deal was about.”
TruMethods has been promoting MSP benefits for the last six months and Hits Tech has taken advantage of a lot of the benefits brought forth, Butler said.
“We’re very appreciative of the efforts they’ve put forward,” he said. “It not only helps us internally with our internal business, but also brings us some products that we can turn around and market to our customers as well.”
Kaseya’s acquisition of TruMethods “intrigued us,” Butler said.
“The fact that they’ve come together has turned out to be a really good thing for us,” he said.
Olena Glazunova is director of operations at Manawa Networks, a Toronto-based MSP. This is her second Schnizzfest and she’s attending for business development and community.
“It is a great opportunity to aspire for something bigger than yourself,” she said. “You can always find people here who are going through the same things in business, and you can find support and exchange of ideas. You just suddenly realize you’re not alone. There’s a healthy competition. You’re not just inspired to do something else, but you also kind of compete with your peers. Although you are geographically far away from each other, you’re not really competitors so it’s a healthy way. And because the groups have different maturity levels, there’s always the more mature companies that help others to grow.”
Glazunova said she agrees with Pica’s directive that MSPs need to change in the years ahead.
“Technology is one of the most evolving industries,” she said. “It changes literally month to month, something new comes up. A new threat comes up and a new solution comes up. People need to learn and adaptation is important. And you have to change from inside out.”
Aaron Chernin is CEO and founder of Rewst, an automation platform in language. He talked about how MSPs can do more for their customers and their own operations via automation.
“We’ve been meeting with your partners and learning more about MSPs, and teaching them about automation,” he said. “The most direct impact is you’ll see more and more of your ticket load … what percentage closed via automation, and what percentage of tickets opened and closed via automation. Over the next one, two, three years, this will be increasing. Take these learnings and apply to customers.”
MSPs need to start documenting things they do daily and identify things to automate, Chernin said. Don’t try to determine what can be automated when making the list because things will be left off that could end up being automated.
“And we need to teach our folks to not be afraid of automation,” he said. “It’s not here to get rid of any jobs. It’s here to take care of the mundane (tasks). Find someone within your organization to run the charge on automation. Someone needs to own it.”
Aaron Chernin is CEO and founder of Rewst, an automation platform in language. He talked about how MSPs can do more for their customers and their own operations via automation.
“We’ve been meeting with your partners and learning more about MSPs, and teaching them about automation,” he said. “The most direct impact is you’ll see more and more of your ticket load … what percentage closed via automation, and what percentage of tickets opened and closed via automation. Over the next one, two, three years, this will be increasing. Take these learnings and apply to customers.”
MSPs need to start documenting things they do daily and identify things to automate, Chernin said. Don’t try to determine what can be automated when making the list because things will be left off that could end up being automated.
“And we need to teach our folks to not be afraid of automation,” he said. “It’s not here to get rid of any jobs. It’s here to take care of the mundane (tasks). Find someone within your organization to run the charge on automation. Someone needs to own it.”
Kaseya is focused on adding new resources to TruMethods to ensure a better experience and better outcomes for MSPs.
That’s what Gary Pica (pictured above onstage at Schnizzfest), owner of TruMethods, a Kaseya company, told attendees at this week’s Schnizzfest in Phoenix. This is the 11th Schnizzfest and the first live Schnizzfest since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
TruMethods’ members represent the top MSPs and cloud providers in the industry.
Here’s our most recent list of important channel-program changes you should know. |
IT Glue, a Kaseya company, acquired TruMethods in 2021. The acquisition of TruMethods and integration of myITprocess with IT Glue delivered a virtual CIO (vCIO) software module for MSPs.
Pica said a lot is changing in the MSP industry. That includes a historically expanding total addressable market (TAM).
“The number of SMBs outsourcing to the people in this room is increasing,” he said. “Any company with 250 or less employees will outsource some or all of their IT to the people in this room. And they’re spending more money. More customers spending more money is a really good market to be in.”
Private equity investment is chasing this market because it’s growing, Pica said.
Other changes include an exploding security landscape, a labor market that probably “will never be the same again” and macro economics, he said.
MSPs will need to change sooner than later to fully take advantage of increasing demand for their services, he said.
Many things have changed for MSPs, but the core of what they do hasn’t changed, Pica said.
“Our business models have evolved, but not really changed,” he said. “The core of support, projects and security, more has remained the same. But I think we’re at a turning point.”
That business model will need to change over the next few years, Pica said.
“People will always need support, projects and security, until they don’t,” he said.
Scroll through our slideshow above for more from Schnizzfest.
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