Tigerpaw Software, which competes with Autotask and ConnectWise in the PSA (professional services automation) market, is taking its training efforts on the road. Admittedly, we rarely blog about vendor-led road shows on MSPmentor. But Tigerpaw’s decision to hit the road caught my attention. Here’s why.
In the PSA market, Tigerpaw is well-respected by many customers. But generally speaking, entrenched rivals like ConnectWise and Autotask have better-known brands. And, I believe, larger MSP user bases. Further complicating matters, the PSA market is both contracting and expanding in new areas. For example:
- CoreConnex plans to exit the PSA industry to focus on a financial dashboard
- Severa is a European PSA company that has North American ambitions
To have its voice heard, Tigerpaw plans to hold a regional training event Nov. 3 and 4 in Dallas, Texas. The event will focus on sales and marketing strategies. A Tigerpaw press statement indicates “Additional regional training sessions are in the planning stages.”
Smart move. Generally speaking, Autotask and ConnectWise both have been working hard to educate customers through online communities, face-to-face events and conferences. Some examples:
- The upcoming ConnectWise Partner Summit (Nov. 4-6, Orlando, Fla.) is sold out and expected to attract roughly 900 MSPs, arguably the largest annual dedicated event for MSPs.
- Autotask is planning its second-annual Autotask Community Live (April 18-20, 2010, Miami, Fla.; details pending).
- ConnectWise and Autotask also have been hosting events in Australia as part of their respective global expansion strategies.
Improving Our Own Coverage
Now it’s time for me to eat some humble pie. In recent months, Tigerpaw has reached out to me several times to brief me on several announcements. On a couple of occasions, I didn’t come through for the briefing because of 11th hour business or family commitments that popped up.
MSPmentor strives to cover the entire managed services ecosystem. As this site and our sister sites have grown, I’ve become a little stretched for time. But we’re taking steps to correct that. Stay tuned for some fall 2009 surprises.
In the meantime, I’ll be watching to see where else Tigerpaw takes its regional training efforts. In my mind, hitting the road and getting in front of people is one of the best ways to reinforce existing customer relationships and build new ones.
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Posted In: Events | Professional Services Automation (PSA)
Tags: Autotask Community Live! | ConnectWise Partner Summit | Tigerpaw PSA | Tigerpaw Software | Tigerpaw vs. Autotask | Tigerpaw vs. ConnectWise
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Joe –
Talking about eating some humble pie… CommitCRM is already being used by thousands of IT professionals worldwide…
Maayan: Thanks for the tip. But with all due respect, you’ve got to crank up your communications and PR strategy to compete in the rapidly moving MSP, PSA and CRM worlds…
I look forward to hearing more from CommitCRM as news surfaces. And you can reach me directly (joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com) for future news/info sharing.
Best wishes for a successful Q4.
-jp
Thanks Joe.
True. We’ve been busy keeping our users happy and much less focused on working with the media.
I’ll keep you updated.
Maayan
Hi Joe,
We’ve met on numerous occasions and I’m a fan of your site. I appreciate the comments you made in this article and I look forward to working with you more closely in the future.
Maayan, I appreciate the difficulties in getting your word out – I really do. However, your comment insinuates that Tigerpaw doesn’t have such a client base yet. In fact, we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, and we have over 25,000 users in 28 countries. CRM is a piece of what we do, as is PSA, quoting and proposal generation, inventory control, purchasing, marketing, and so much more. I wish you well in your endeavors to get your word out, but Tigerpaw has a considerable presence in this space. We’ve spent the year being visible in the industry and speaking at key events. We have robust integrations with N-able, Kaseya, and Level Platforms, and we are about to ship our Zenith integration. I was a peer group moderator at CompTIA’s recent event, and I’ll be speaking at N-able shortly. The list goes on and on…
James Foxall
Senior Vice President, Tigerpaw Software
Hi Readers: I just deleted a comment from an anonymous reader who bashed a software provider. We try our best to keep the comment board wide open. But if you want to offer constructive criticism about software providers and others in the MSP industry, please be sure to include your name and company affiliation. That way, we can all understand the merits and motivations of your statements.
Thanks.
Joe Panettieri
Editorial Director
MSPmentor
James, CommitCRM was built from the ground up specifically for IT professionals and already has a substantial customer base of which 99.9% are indeed IT providers…
Maayan: Can you be a bit more specific?
1. What is a “substantial customer base” (numbers, please) and how many MSPs does the figure include?
2. Where are the MSPs mostly located? North America? EMEA? Asia?
We welcome reader comments on MSPmentor. But we push hard for specific metrics and data points rather than vague statements.
If you’d like to brief me about CommitCRM, I’d welcome the conversation.
Joe Panettieri
joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com
Joe,
The majority of our customers come from North America. Others come from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe.
Sure, I’ll be happy to brief you directly with additional information on CommitCRM.
It seems to me that the PSA market, like many others, is waxing and waning to the shifting tides of busiess. Those that survive do so with good people driving the ship. Since the SMB market continues to expand on a global level, I believe there is plenty of growth for all of us. So let’s not take pot shots at each other, lets work together to make positive changes. Competition is not only good it’s essential to the creation of new ideas and new opportunities.
I know that if I don’t work hard for my customers they’re going to go some where else.
Keep the ideas coming Joe.
Evan Siegel
VP of Business Development
Karisoft Corporation