While some pundits see slowing growth in the managed services market, Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford (photo, right) is not one of them. In an email to MSPmentor, Sandiford on April 6 said his company is “seeing continued growth in all markets and no delay in purchasing decisions.” Here’s what else Sandiford had to say.
First, some background: In recent days, MSPmentor has heard from multiple sources who say the North American MSP market is experiencing slowing growth. The latest evidence surfaced when Nimsoft disclosed solid but not spectacular financial results on April 6.
But Sandiford says Level Platforms and Nimsoft serve different MSP market segments. In his email to me, Sandiford wrote…
“our product is much lower priced than Nimsoft and designed for a different market. Nimsoft sells to established MSPs serving the mid market. This segment is all about replacing an incumbent. That’s a tough challenge in this economy. We very seldom compete with Nimsoft as our Partners principally focus on the SMB market.”
Sandiford’s enthusiam didn’t stop there. Among the additional pieces of info he offered: MSPs remain highly motivated, the US market remains strong even among larger MSPs, and international growth is good.
Sandiford also pointed to agentless technology, the launch of Managed Workplace 2009 and a true recurring revenue model (rather than perpetual licenses) as three factors assisting Level Platforms’ growth.
I’m mobile at a conference Tuesday, but checking in with out MSP industry executives for their perspectives.
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Tags: | Level Platforms | Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford | Managed Services Slowdown | Managed Workplace 2009 | NimSoft
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Joe and Peter
I need to clarify something because Nimsoft’s business is much more diverse than that of Level Platforms.
Our new bookings from MSPs was up 49% in Q1, and the number of new MSPs that we signed was up by 110%.
Not quite as spectacular as the past and I absolutely agree that the MSP market is not immune from the economy – but I’m not sure that I agree with the comments that replacing an incumbent is more difficult because of the economy.
The reason that we replace other, lower-end MSP monitoring platforms is normally because the MSP has hit the wall in terms of scalability and functionality and their customers are asking them to do more.
“We’re not normally the first monitoring solution an MSP will use, but we are the last”.
Gary: Always good to get the additional perspective. Thanks for opening up a bit more about your financials. I know as the CEO of a privately held company you’re not required to do so. Our readers appreciate the info.
In recent days, I’ve spoken/traded email with ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini and N-able CEO Gavin Garbutt. Both of them reinforced an increasingly common message: The best MSPs are managing to grow in this economy, but that doesn’t mean managed services lifts all boats…
The other big challenge I have covering the MSP market: Most of the software providers are privately held, so there’s no reality check involving net income, earnings per share, etc. Nimsoft is one of the rare privately held firms sharing financial data points in the MSP space.
Generally speaking, I think the majority of MSP software providers are performing better than traditional IT software providers. But that’s an educated guess based on my own experience speaking with industry sources.