LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The Serenity Prayer
A favorite piece of wisdom that hangs on the wall in my office : God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change , the courage to change the things I can , and the wisdom to know the difference .
When Kaseya announced the acquisition of Datto , there was much gnashing of teeth and unhappiness with a relatively small group of MSPs . And yes , it is a small number IF you don ’ t just look at the hate feeds and actually count the numbers . Datto has roughly 18,500 clients , and Kaseya has 17,500 ( as told to me direct from each organization ). If we estimate about a 20 % crossover ( another number provided to me ), that ’ s an aggregate total of 28,800 . Stay with me , there are a few key lessons in this … While I have better things to do than count the individuals who posted their unhappiness with the acquisition , I would safely estimate it ’ s well under 500 , and more like 100 – 150 if you consider that those individuals posted multiple times on multiple feeds , AND you take out all direct competition chiming in . But if we wanted to use 500 to ensure we were NOT shooting low , that means a grand total of 3 % of Datto clients and 1.7 % of the total for both organizations posted about their unhappiness . If you estimate there are 144,000 MSPs out there , then that ’ s 0.3 % of the entire universe of clients for them . Folks , that ’ s a very tiny minority . A loud one for sure , but a minority all the same . Of course , social media would have you think there ’ s far more of it than there is due to their algorithms promoting “ heated ” debates and automatically showing more of what is getting interactions ( more on this in a minute ).
That said , I do think Kaseya has a PR problem that needs to be addressed . It ’ s never a good thing to get this kind of passionate disapproval for all to see , and it ought not be shrugged off . It is my understanding that Fred Voccola , CEO of Kaseya , is personally taking phone calls from MSPs who were extremely unhappy , and I can bear witness that he was the “ last man standing ” talking to a long line of MSPs after taking the stage at my Boot Camp back in April . So , what to make of all of this ?
For starters , if you allowed this to get you angry , distract you , and put you in a bad mood , I ’ d suggest a rereading of the serenity prayer . There ’ s nothing you are going to do or say to change this acquisition or any others that will surely follow , so why waste any time on it ?
Several years ago , I bought Salesforce and was flat out lied to in the demo about the software ’ s capabilities and the costs associated with getting it to work . Was I angry ? You bet . But I had to come to the point of just letting it go , paying out the contract , and pouring my energy into a new system ( Infusionsoft , now Keap ). You can ’ t saw sawdust , and allowing yourself to waste even a minute online posting about how irritated you are , reading and responding to comments about the acquisition , or otherwise engaging in the online “ mob ” ONLY makes you angrier and distracts you from far more important things you HAVE control over and WILL impact you more directly .
Second , I would caution any entrepreneur with honest ambition running an MSP to stay OFF social media as much as possible . Yes , I use social media myself and don ’ t feel it ’ s ALL bad — but , if you are not careful , it can burn up a lot of hours that could be put to much better use , including nonwork activities such as getting some much-needed exercise , reading something truly educational , spending time with your family , or simply relaxing away from the screens .
Founder And CEO , Technology Marketing Toolkit , Inc .
Social media is engineered to fuel hate and negativity , divide us instead of unify us , and give a voice and platform to every malicious , narcissistic arsehole in the world — and , like it or not , you ARE a product of your environment and what you pay attention to . No one , including you , is strong enough to avoid social media ’ s influence .
MULTIPLE studies have found a strong link between social media and increased depression , anxiety , loneliness , self-harm , and even suicidal thoughts , not to mention sleep deprivation , addiction ( to the platform ), and distractions to the point of being unable to focus . Clearly , this is not good for anyone , but considering the need for you , the entrepreneur or high-performance individual , to focus and manage your state of mind and energy , you really need to be careful to avoid addiction to social media at all costs . And when a “ news ” item like this hits ( or ANY news item ), it ’ s natural to run to the feeds to see what others are saying and chime in .
Finally , my feeling is that Kaseya will NOT destroy what is great about Datto . You don ’ t acquire a company for $ 6.2 billion with the goal of destroying what made it worth buying in the first place . What will change and how it will change remain to be seen , and I personally feel that if Fred can pull off his vision for IT Complete , all MSPs in our industry will greatly benefit , either by becoming an IT Complete customer or by raising the bar for ALL vendors in this industry to solve two of the biggest problems all MSPs face — vendor fatigue and operational complexity .
To see the interview I had onstage with Fred at the opening night of Boot Camp , go online to MSPSuccessMagazine . com / Fred-Robin-BC . n
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