3 RMM-Agnostic PSA Tools for Managed Service Providers

ConnectWise and Autotask have clearly enjoyed a first movers’ advantage in the managed services market for professional services automation. And maybe they haven’t felt much external pressure to innovate or differentiate. But the market seems to be heating up with some new players, now.

If you haven’t had the chance to attend a any channel conferences this year, do yourself a favor: plan on blocking out some time to get out on the road next year. There are PSA vendors out there asking for your business, and you might be surprised by what they can offer you and your customers.

And what you should also know is remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools will continue to play a big role in this space. ConnectWise and Autotask have each added a RMM player into their respective portfolios, which may be a concern for some MSPs. Will these top PSA vendors push MSP partners to switch RMM vendors?

If that’s a concern, here are a few RMM-agnostic PSA tools that MSPs may want to take into consideration.

TigerPaw Software

Besides Autotask and Connectwise, TigerPaw Software, a Bellevue, Nebraska-based PSA company, has also been a popular choice. Tigerpaw’s RMM strategy involves working with existing vendors in the space, not competing with them, said James Foxall, CEO of TigerPaw, in a September interview with MSPmentor.

“While the relationship was publicly touted as benign, it wasn’t long before Connectwise aggressively targeted all of their clients to move them to Labtech from their existing RMM solution,” Foxall said in our conversation with him. “I would expect to see the exact same strategy from Autotask. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.”

The company showcased its new mobile customer relationship management (CRM) offering at the Tigerpaw Partner Conference in Chicago in August.

Vorex

Vorex has been out demoing its new MSP module to the channel since September. Its module includes features such as billing, integrated customer relationship management (CRM), ticketing and contracts. MSPmentor first introduced the Dallas-based PSA platform provider to the channel earlier in the year.

“We have been hearing some really great things from the industry,” said Stuart Selbst, COO at Vorex, in an interview with MSPmentor at ASCII Atlantic City 2014. “One of the people I spoke to said it is good to see a company have a PSA product that we can use right away. Many have said to me that the industry needs a product like Vorex PSA.”

AffinityLive

Another upcoming PSA tool called AffinityLive has also been in the PSA space for a while, since 2011. It began targeting the channel, however, a few months ago. Led by Geoff McQueen, the company’s CEO, the San Francisco-based company has attended almost every channel-focused show these past few months.

“We found that we were starting to get pulled into the MSP space,” McQueen said in an interview with MSPmentor. According to him, the company jumped into the channel when MSPs began asking questions about integrations with RMM tools.

One ASCII Atlantic City 2014 attendee told MSPmentor that he won’t be jumping ship from one of the top vendors immediately, mainly because he has a lot of money already invested with the company. He added that even though this is a concern of his, it won’t prevent him from switching over to a new PSA solution if it can resolve all of his issues.

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