Kaseya threw a surprise punch at N-able in Australia. But was it really a significant blow — or just a PR stunt? At first glance, the “story” involves Kaseya recruiting an “instrumental” employee away from N-able. But I think the real story involves intensifying competition between the two companies in the land down under.
Here’s the background: On Dec. 9, Kaseya issued a media statement with a rather strong headline that stated: ”Kaseya Snags Top N-able Sales Representative”
So who is this mystery person? A hot shot executive VP? A regional business director? Actually, the “news” involved former N-able Australia account representative Jered Seivenpiper jumping to Kaseya as a senior sales executive. According to a Kaseya press statement:
“Prior to joining Kaseya, Seivenpiper was N-able’s local Account Representative, responsible for sales and account management in Australia and New Zealand. During his tenure with N-able, he was instrumental in building the company’s market presence in the region. He also planned and executed several marketing campaigns.”
Now for the flip side of the “story.” Seivenpiper was basically a telesales specialist, according to N-able VP of Sales Mike Cullen, who thinks the Kaseya media statement essentially confirms N-able’s own momentum in Australia.
I tend to agree.
No disrespect toward Seivenpiper, but I don’t think a mid-level employee making the move from one company to another warrants a big press alert.
Competition Intensifies
Still, the press alert does reinforce a key point: For more than a year, Kaseya and N-able have been locked in a managed services ground war in Australia. I sense that Kaseya has a market share lead in Australia, but N-able has also gained critical mass. Cullen says sales in the region are exceeding N-able’s internal goals.
Meanwhile, plenty of other MSP software companies are moving in — which means competition will further intensify… That’s great news for VARs and aspiring MSPs who are looking for hand holding from their software providers.
If you read this blog regularly, you know I respect Kaseya Australia and New Zealand Regional Director Tim Dickinson. I spoke at a series of Kaseya- and Intel-hosted Australia events in 2008. I certainly respect Cullen’s efforts at N-able as well. Regular MSPmentor readers know Cullen has made a series of business trips to Australia — engaging with hundreds of VARs and MSPs.
If Dickinson ever jumps from Kaseya to N-able, or if Cullen ever jumps from N-able to Kaseya: Somebody please alert MSPmentor. But in the meantime, I’m curious to see if Seivenpiper makes an instrumental impact at Kaseya.
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Posted In: Australia | HR | Remote Monitoring & Management Software
Tags: Australia managed services | Jered Sievenpiper | Kaseya | Kaseya Tim Dickinson | N-able | N-able Mike Cullen
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Take a look at our 
I feel that snagging competition’s employee and doing a PR on it is one of the cheap ways of doing marketing . Having said that, nothing can be taken away from Kaseya and I believe that they are the leaders in the MSP market. I just wish they come up with some decent material for PR next time .
Raja: Somes PR is warranted. Example: Lotus Notes inventor Ray Ozzie joining Microsoft… That’s the type of news that can change an industry. And we certainly cover career moves regularly on MSPmentor. (More are coming… …)
But if I was writing a career move press release, I’d be careful not to pump up the drama…
-jp
Joe, thanks for pointing this out and I agree it’s a non-story that seemed to get more press than the common-practice ‘new hire release’ that it was meant to be. Most companies regularly release news about recent hires (and yes, especially if they come from a competitor), but more importantly if it’s one that will have direct contact with partners and customers.
PRs job is to keep the news flowing and keep our brand in mind. The use of words like ‘snag,’ ‘top,’ ‘responsible for’ or ‘instrumental’ is more persuasive copywriting than pumping up the drama. What really makes it a ‘story’ is the exposure and response from outside news/blog sites.
As Tim said, we’re excited about Jered’s addition to the team. That’s based on how we believe he’ll help Kaseya, not because of where he came from or whether that company believes he was integral now that he’s left.
I once read an article (http://bit.ly/7jcqJw) that said, “finding and hiring the right talent is the most difficult part of building a business” and that “every hire counts — big time” – We agree.
Rob: If Kaseya cares enough to write a press release and send it to me (and other media), Kaseya obviously thinks it’s a “story.” A press release, after all, is a story pitch.
In this case, I wasn’t really buying the pitch. And I called Kaseya out on it.
But I know Kaseya has some big efforts that will surface soon. I look forward to that news.
-jp
What should be considered is the fact that Kaseya released a dishonest and inappropriate press release regarding the position their new hire actually held is truly misleading and indicative of their sincerity and integrity to their clients and prospects.
Joe,
We’ve seen and heard more of this competition while signing up members for our new peer group starting in Sydney in January. We are excited to enter the market and be an integral part of this growth period.
Two of our strong promoters are big Kaseya advocates and conduct successful events with Kaseya in Australia and New Zealand. Recently I’ve heard about N-able’s efforts and know Mike Cullen will grow the business.
I look forward to learning about partners, vendors and the culture at our meetings and the ConnectWise User Group meetings…and yes, we have a non-solicitation clause.
Scott Scrogin
HTG Peer Groups
Dirk@5: I don’t think Kaseya was dishonest. They were just over ambitious while looking for some press…
Scott@6: Looks like you’re going to benefit from the competition. Let us know how the peer groups go in Australia.
-jp
Hi Joe,
Kaseya forgot to mention the 5 local staff who have exited from the Australian office this year.
AB
Thankfully business people in Australia like those everywhere purchase inexpensive software like Managed Workplce over the web and telephone, relying on 24/7 global support to address support and training requirements.
This has allowed us to be come a market leader in the US as well as Australia, New Zealnd and 30 other countries without needing to burden our product costs with outdated and expensive low value sales strategies. We sell and support customers in Ottawa the same way we do in Sydney. In fact there are many home town partners that we have never met face to face – except in our regular all-partner web meetings.
In fact here is our new Australian tag line. “While our competitors steal each other’s sales reps we steal their customers”. Sorry, I just had to put that in as a tongue-in-cheek comment and certainly intend no disrespect for very worthy companies like Kaseya and N-able who share our desire to serve these fast growing markets, each in our own ways.
Peter Sandiford
http://www.levelplatforms.com
Joe,
The position of the person they described in their release was innacurate and misleading. Although maybe over ambitious for PR but fact is fact.
All aside, these companies have made significant investments in the the region to drive personal and not just virtual relationships to the MSP community.
Dirk Vanderwal
VP WW Sales
Xandros / Scalix / BridgeWays
http://www.xandros.com
http://www.scalix.com
http://www.bridgeways.ca
What should also be considered is that Dirk was Regional Sales Manager for N-Able for 5 years and now is VP of World Wide Sales for a company that develops Cross Platform Management Packs for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager.
Hi Peter
Just out of curiosity how do you determine Level Platforms to be the market leader in 30 countries? What figures do you use?
Hi Jon,
I did say “a” market leader, which to me means in the top three. The “market” represents businesses benefiting from remote monitoring and management from external service providers. “Leader” is based on a combination of number of servces providers using the product, number of end customers and devices/services managed, revenues and strategic partners. Since there is little formal research on any of this, we maintain our own estimates from a combination of public and private sources. The “30 countries” is based on our own sales data.
World market RMM adoption in customer sites of 2-250 desktops is less than .1% of the total addressable market so there is lots of opportunity for everyone, particularly given the radically different product architectures and business models now offered by the leading vendors.
Level Platforms will be increasingly proactive in Australia and New Zealand in 2010 ensuring that we are actively considered in all buying decisions and addressing the preference for a local presence where this is considered important.
Peter
http://www.levelplatforms.com
Joe– your headline asks the question: “Story or no story?” The length of your post and all the following comments is the answer.