Continuum Buys BrightGauge, MSP Management Software Consolidation Continues

Continuum, the MSP-management solution provider, on Tuesday announced that it has acquired advanced business intelligence capabilities by buying BrightGauge, which offers data management and reporting solutions for small and midsize IT service providers. The move gives Continuum partners access to BrightGauge solutions and supplements Continuum’s own R&D in reporting and analytics.

BrightGauge, which will continue to operate as a standalone business under the Continuum umbrella, already offered integrations with Continuum and says the eventual goal is to add more default dashboards, gauges and reporting capabilities.

BrightGauge also offers integrations with Continuum competitors, but both companies have asserted that BrightGauge’s solutions will continue to be vendor-neutral. In a blog on its website, BrightGauge said that the data sources it offers will “absolutely not” change.

“We currently offer 40+ integrations and plan to continue adding to that list,” reads the post. “We have a range of PSA, RMM, CSAT, backup, security, financial,and other solutions you can connect with, and it’s totally up to you to choose the one that makes most sense to your business.”

But partners aren’t so sure. In a reddit thread Tuesday discussing the deal, users lamented the changes they believe will accompany it.

“There goes their innovation and great support,” said one commenter.

There’s worry that the consolidation happening in the channel will mean fewer independent and innovative players like BrightGauge in the market, and that partners will suffer as a result.

2018 saw the RMM/PSA space engage in an M&A arms race to see who would acquire their way to market dominance. ConnectWise acquired MSSP Sienna Group and software developer HashInclude Computech. SolarWinds added threat monitoring capabilities to its offerings when it bought Trusted Metrics and access rights management chops with the purchase of 8MAN. Kaseya’s 2018 acquisitions are enough to make anyone’s head spin, bringing on security and compliance solution provider RapidFire; Spanning for Office 365 BDR capabilities; IT documentation provider IT Glue; and a massive acquisition of backup and disaster recovery firm Unitrends. Continuum snapped up managed security provider CARVIR last summer, but otherwise had a quiet 2018.

“Today’s MSP doesn’t just need the solutions to serve their end-clients, but also the technology to better understand their business,” said Michael George, CEO of Continuum in a statement. “Our goal has always been to give MSPs the confidence to scale dynamically and the acquisition of BrightGauge fits perfectly with this strategy.”

BrightGauge founder and CEO Brian Dosal has left the company to pursue another opportunity, according to the BrightGauge post.