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Kaseya 365 :
Can ’ t Afford Not To — Or Too Good To Be True ?
The new all-in-one subscription debuted to a lot of fanfare , and then the critics weighed in . Here ’ s a look at the pros and cons — straight from MSP business owners , and they don ’ t hold back .
BY COLLEEN FRYE
Shake , rattle , and roll .
That ’ s what Kaseya hopes to do with the new Kaseya 365 — an all-in-one subscription to the essential tools MSPs need in their stack , offered at an eyepoppingly low price . The goal is to :
• Shake up the MSP economic model to make MSPs more profitable and get them paid what they deserve ,
• Rattle the notion that MSPs must manage disparate tools from various vendors , and
• Roll as many MSP partners as possible into Kaseya 365 to transform the industry in the same way Microsoft Office did and make Kaseya clients the best MSPs in the industry .
Choosing tools and vendors is critical and potentially dangerous for MSPs . Deals that seem too good to be true often come with hidden costs . We asked MSPs to weigh in on the pros and cons of Kaseya 365 .
Does The Math Add Up ?
Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola unveiled the new Kaseya 365 subscription in April at the Kaseya Connect Global conference , promising a boost in profits
by up to 50 % and increased efficiency through automation and integration . The license includes remote monitoring and management ( RMM ), antivirus protection , endpoint detection and response ( EDR ), managed detection and response ( MDR ), patch management , ransomware rollback , and endpoint backup , plus 20 core automations . The introductory price was $ 3.99 per endpoint per month for Kaseya 365 Pro and $ 1.75 for Kaseya 365 Express ( without the MDR ). After June 23 , the price went to $ 5.25 for Pro and $ 2.25 for Express — still significantly lower than competitors ’ individual products .
Dawn Disher , CFO of Southwest Networks , an MSP based in Palm Desert , California , says they were already using most of the tools in the bundle , except for antivirus and EDR , so they signed up . However , she notes , getting the deal required them to increase their overall spend with Kaseya by 25 %. But now that they don ’ t need their previous antivirus product , their costs will go down , she says . “ Basically , I ’ m spending more with Kaseya , but less overall .”
That ’ s also the case for Brian Smith , president of IT Now ! Technology Group , an MSP in Clarklake , Michigan . He had most of the products in the bundle and wanted to sign up immediately but didn ’ t want to spend more money on the Kaseya products . “ It kind of felt like they didn ’ t want to give it to me [ the introductory pricing ] at first ,” he says , but after some back and forth with his rep , he settled on upping his spend with Kaseya about 10 % for additional licenses . Overall , he says , it cut his cost per goods for those individual products by a little more than 50 % but he ’ s spending about the same .
However , he says , “ I have more products and I have more licenses to give out in the future too , and I ’ m locked into that price . I believe I ’ ll save money over what I would have been spending before .”
Kaseya ’ s Partner First Pledge , an initiative introduced at Connect , includes a price lock guarantee capping any increase in current customers ’ product pricing to a maximum of 5 %, plus adjustments for inflation upon contract renewal .
For Tito Huynh , vice president of Business Data Services , an MSP in Overland Park , Kansas , “ The pricing was a no-brainer . The price is less than the cost of some of the tools that we had by themselves .” The timing made sense for him , too , since they have outgrown their current RMM and were looking to make a switch .
Business Data Services is currently testing Kaseya 365 internally before rolling it out to customers . Says Huynh , “ If everything
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