Looking to Brighter Days Ahead
December 22, 2020
SolarWinds anticipates good things, growth in 2021
By Channelnomics Staff
This is part 2 of a 2-parter based on a conversation with SolarWinds MSP’s John Pagliuca at the vendor’s All Partners Meeting earlier this month.
For SolarWinds MSP, the formula for success in the new year will be simple: Give partners more of the same – more technology alliances, more enablement tools, more investment in security, cloud management, and automation.
For one thing, the company has enjoyed tremendous success by forging partnerships with OEMs and other vendors so that platforms can be tied together and data can be leveraged across them by MSPs.
“For our tech alliance program, we’ve added over 25 vendors just this year alone – companies like Huntress, Kaspersky, and ConnectWise,” said John Pagliuca, MSP president at SolarWinds. “We have APIs and connectors so that data can flow from one [platform] to another, and I’m really proud of what we’ve done in 2020. It was our biggest push in terms of attaching other technologies to our RMM.”
SolarWinds goes even deeper into those integrations with its OEM arrangements, teaming up with the likes of Bitdefender, SentinelOne, and TeamViewer to give managed service providers access to enterprise-grade offerings that are purpose-built just for them.
The third prong of the vendor’s alliance strategy is to work with enterprise players such as Apple, Cisco, and Microsoft to help MSPs monitor and manage today’s heterogeneous technology environments. “We’ve got Apple devices, Linux machines, apps in the cloud, and Microsoft OS-based devices, all residing on the same networks,” Pagliuca said. “We want to help our partners become more efficient at managing all that so they, in turn, can help their clients do their jobs successfully.”
But SolarWinds knows that creating, integrating, and delivering technology isn’t enough. To succeed, partners need enablement tools that help them apply that tech to their businesses. That’s why the company has rolled out a number of initiatives aimed at educating and training MSPs.
Through MSP Institute, a comprehensive learning platform with webinars, videos, podcasts, and downloadable content, service providers around the globe have access to useful tips and proven strategies. “We have over 48,000 course completions. Technicians and business owners are logging in, interacting with the curriculums, and learning how to make their businesses better,” Pagliuca said. “We tell our team and partners to focus both in the business and on it. MSP Institute, which helps them do that, gets an average rating of 4.7 stars out of 5. That’s better than Netflix.”
Earlier this year, SolarWinds also rolled out Head Nerds, a team of subject-matter experts who work with MSPs to help them demonstrate their value propositions and create and sell services – all with the aim of maximizing their growth. “These are experts in the industry who have sat in the seat of MSPs,” said Pagliuca. “They’re helping with automation, helping with backup, helping with security. We have 4,500 boot camp attendees going deep, and it’s bespoke to the MSPs, whether novice or expert. There’s a little bit of something for everyone.”
Best of all, the training is free for MSPs.
Amid a dynamic managed service space, SolarWinds continues to invest in its MSP partners, especially in the areas of security, cloud management, and automation. “What’s fueling the growth of this market is how our MSPs continue to adapt and be part of the landscape of small and midsize enterprises, and of bigger enterprises as well,” Pagliuca said. “We’re seeing this co-managed IT model – companies using MSPs for help desk, for assistance with security and cloud management. The future is bright for these managed service providers.”
He adds that SolarWinds’ mission is simple – to empower MSPs for success so they can help their own clients. “This has been true for almost 20 years now, and it will continue to be true.”
For SolarWinds MSP, the formula for success in the new year will be simple: Give partners more of the same – more technology alliances, more enablement tools, more investment in security, cloud management, and automation.
For one thing, the company has enjoyed tremendous success by forging partnerships with OEMs and other vendors so that platforms can be tied together and data can be leveraged across them by MSPs.
“For our tech alliance program, we’ve added over 25 vendors just this year alone – companies like Huntress, Kaspersky, and ConnectWise,” said John Pagliuca, MSP president at SolarWinds. “We have APIs and connectors so that data can flow from one [platform] to another, and I’m really proud of what we’ve done in 2020. It was our biggest push in terms of attaching other technologies to our RMM.”
SolarWinds goes even deeper into those integrations with its OEM arrangements, teaming up with the likes of Bitdefender, SentinelOne, and TeamViewer to give managed service providers access to enterprise-grade offerings that are purpose-built just for them.
The third prong of the vendor’s alliance strategy is to work with enterprise players such as Apple, Cisco, and Microsoft to help MSPs monitor and manage today’s heterogeneous technology environments. “We’ve got Apple devices, Linux machines, apps in the cloud, and Microsoft OS-based devices, all residing on the same networks,” Pagliuca said. “We want to help our partners become more efficient at managing all that so they, in turn, can help their clients do their jobs successfully.”
But SolarWinds knows that creating, integrating, and delivering technology isn’t enough. To succeed, partners need enablement tools that help them apply that tech to their businesses. That’s why the company has rolled out a number of initiatives aimed at educating and training MSPs.
Through MSP Institute, a comprehensive learning platform with webinars, videos, podcasts, and downloadable content, service providers around the globe have access to useful tips and proven strategies. “We have over 48,000 course completions. Technicians and business owners are logging in, interacting with the curriculums, and learning how to make their businesses better,” Pagliuca said. “We tell our team and partners to focus both in the business and on it. MSP Institute, which helps them do that, gets an average rating of 4.7 stars out of 5. That’s better than Netflix.”
Earlier this year, SolarWinds also rolled out Head Nerds, a team of subject-matter experts who work with MSPs to help them demonstrate their value propositions and create and sell services – all with the aim of maximizing their growth. “These are experts in the industry who have sat in the seat of MSPs,” said Pagliuca. “They’re helping with automation, helping with backup, helping with security. We have 4,500 boot camp attendees going deep, and it’s bespoke to the MSPs, whether novice or expert. There’s a little bit of something for everyone.”
Best of all, the training is free for MSPs.
Amid a dynamic managed service space, SolarWinds continues to invest in its MSP partners, especially in the areas of security, cloud management, and automation. “What’s fueling the growth of this market is how our MSPs continue to adapt and be part of the landscape of small and midsize enterprises, and of bigger enterprises as well,” Pagliuca said. “We’re seeing this co-managed IT model – companies using MSPs for help desk, for assistance with security and cloud management. The future is bright for these managed service providers.”
He adds that SolarWinds’ mission is simple – to empower MSPs for success so they can help their own clients. “This has been true for almost 20 years now, and it will continue to be true.”
