ConnectWise Accuses Kaseya of Lying to Partners in Poaching Calls

Two of the largest makers of toolsets for managed services providers (MSP) appear to again be taking off the gloves, with Kaseya publicly celebrating the poaching of a ConnectWise MSP, and the latter accusing Kaseya of lying in sales calls to ConnectWise partners.

The software vendors have publicly traded barbs before but the acrimony saw a bump in intensity last week when Kaseya issued a news release during its annual Kaseya Connect conference in Las Vegas, touting the move of MSP The 20 from ConnectWise to Kaseya’s BMS professional services automation (PSA) suite.

That statement, entitled “Leading MSP Organization, The 20, Moves from ConnectWise to Kaseya” was openly critical of ConnectWise’s solution, mentioning the competitor four separate times.

“The partnership comes as Kaseya launches the latest version of BMS with enhanced multi-tenancy capabilities and advanced features that led The 20 to make the switch from ConnectWise,” the statement said, adding later that: “BMS rectifies the mistakes of first-generation PSA solutions, such as ConnectWise, by delivering a cloud-based solution that is fast and easy to deploy, and intuitive to use.”

Kaseya also referenced its rival when discussing a new migration tool.

“Our PSA Migrator solution with BMS Express makes it so easy to migrate data and seamlessly transition to BMS from ConnectWise or any other PSA solution,” Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola is quoted as saying. “It really becomes a no brainer to make the switch.”

Today, ConnectWise vice president and chief revenue officer Adam Slutskin fired back.

“As you likely know, one of ConnectWise’s competitors has been quite vocal in the media recently as it repeatedly denounced ConnectWise solutions and denigrated its reputation,” Slutskin said in a statement that doesn’t actually mention Kaseya by name.

He accused the competitor of unethical practices.

“A representative from the same company also is leaving voice messages with ConnectWise partners stating that ConnectWise will be shutting down ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech), that it will be raising prices, and that a mass customer defection is underway,” Slutskin said. “The voice message has no truth to it.”

Slutskin’s statement offers the following bullet points:

ConnectWise welcomes healthy competition but the recent activities cross a line, the statement said.

“Spreading lies and starting rumors such as the ones being circulated by one of our competitors is a despicable marketing practice and goes beyond the realm of healthy competition,” Slutskin said.

“At ConnectWise, we don’t believe in scare tactics to win new business,” the statement continued. “We earn business by constantly innovating and listening to our partners’ needs, building up our community, and providing networking and training opportunities across the globe.”

Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola said the ConnectWise statement misrepresents his company’s sales activity and that the vendor won’t apologize for aggressively making its case to potential customers.

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