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Continuum CEO: 'We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat'
Continuum CEO Michael George explained how his company strives to help managed service providers (MSPs) "transform their business model" in his keynote address today at the Navigate user conference in Boston.
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Continuum CEO Michael George
Michael George, CEO of Boston-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) technology provider Continuum, channeled “Jaws” star Roy Scheider to describe the managed services space: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
George shared his thoughts on “Jaws,” Continuum and the managed services sector during his keynote address today at the Navigate user conference in Boston.
Continuum is traveling “true north,” George said, and has embraced a paradigm shift that was last seen with the “Year 2000 problem.”
While many companies “hit the rocks” due to Y2K, George pointed out this problem ultimately led to innovation.
“[Y2K] was the birth and cradle of some of the greatest technology companies of our time,” he told attendees.
George pointed out the managed services market is expected to be worth $241 billion by 2020, and his company wants to give MSPs the “instruments” they need to succeed in this sector for years to come.
“We’re in the midst of a major paradigm shift, and we need all of the great instruments of our time available,” he said. “We intend to provide you with enough instruments and enough information to chart your own course to true north.”
George commented on numerous topics during his keynote, including:
Cloud opportunities — The cloud is not a niche market, George said, and Continuum wants to provide enterprise-grade software to ensure its customers can compete with Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and other cloud services providers (CSPs) that want to serve as a single source for all things IT: “Size matters in this market, in these times and with this kind of paradigm shift … and we need to do everything we can to make sure we are not disintermediated from that market. We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Continuum’s growth — While Continuum has grown over the past few years, George said his company has plenty of work ahead: “We’ve improved our services over the last three years, but we have a long way to go.”
Elastic computing — “IT demands are episodic; they don’t happen when you want them to,” George said. He pointed out, however, that having an elastic infrastructure ensures an MSP can “smart-source” its IT resources and support its customers any time an IT issue arises.
The importance of SMBs — George noted the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market will be a key segment for MSPs: “There’s no denying the SMBs provide a major opportunity. The big guys don’t chase niche markets, so you know [the SMB market] is really, really big for them.”
The new SaaS — George said Continuum prioritizes “service-as-a-service,” not software-as-a-service: “The idea of SaaS for us is service-as-a-service — IT services when you need them, when you want them, on-demand.”
Continuum will continue to “chart a course for true north,” George added, and collect customer feedback to ensure MSPs can optimize its software.
“Tell us what we need to do, and we will execute it,” he said. “This is our opportunity, this is our time to think out of the box, and now together, we need to embrace it.”
Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].
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