MSPmentor

Our fourth-annual MSPmentor 250 list debuted last week. Now, we’re busy profiling many of the managed services experts, executives and entrepreneurs who landed on the list. Today, we turn our attention to Australia and New Zealand, where Rob Anderson and Clint Bratton – co-Founders of Winning New Clients – are teaching MSPs an invaluable lesson: talking tech works behind the servers, but talking finance works in front of customers.

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Over the past two or three years, most of the major managed services software providers have made the leap from North America to Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). But if you take a closer look at the story, Kaseya was one of the companies that enjoyed first-mover advantage in the ANZ market, thanks to executives like Martin Ashby and Tim Dickinson. Now, IBM veteran Dermot McCann is joining the Kaseya team to drive further expansion in ANZ.

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In the Australia managed services market, anecdotal evidence suggests first mover advantage is over — especially as MSP software vendors begin to turn their attention to larger growth opportunities in Asia. Yes, the Australia managed services market continues to grow, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. But recent moves by Kaseya and Level Platforms, among others, suggest the biggest managed services opportunities ahead are in Asia. Here’s why.

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Amicus ITS, a European-based managed services provider, is building a partner network across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Southampton-based  company expects the international network to generate £10 million in first year revenues. Here’s a closer look at the strategy, which includes a close working relationship with N-able.

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Across Australia and New Zealand, hundreds — perhaps thousands — of IT service providers are joining managed services user groups and attending local MSP-centric conferences. The latest examples involve Autotask and Kaseya. But the examples don’t end there. Here’s an update.

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The managed services land grab continues in Australia, where many North American software providers are reaching out to VARs and MSPs down under. The latest example involves N-able VP of Sales Mike Cullen (pictured) hosting an MSP event series in Australia. But this time around there could be growing competition from MSP software providers that were funded and launched in Australia and New Zealand. Here are the details.

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I’ve been promising this story for a few weeks. Here it is, at long last: An Australia managed services provider is acquiring four peer MSPs to form a national managed services provider. One of the MSPs involved in the deal — Tim Brewer from Accord — sat down for a FastChat video interview to explain the deal. Here’s the discussion plus some quick details about the five companies involved.

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The MSPmentor 100 consumed most of our team’s efforts this week. There were numerous MSP-oriented blog entries we would have written — if only there were more hours in the day. Here are seven managed services blog posts we didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Feb. 12, 2010.

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When the third-annual MSPmentor 100 report debuts later today, you’ll notice that the list includes numerous managed services providers outside of North America. More than 25 percent of survey participants represented MSPs from Europe and Australia, among other regions. So, how will we put the spotlight on MSPs outside of North America? Here are some quick thoughts.

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As Australia’s managed services market continues to grow, VARs and managed service providers are recruiting key talent to help accelerate their business operations. The latest example comes from Accucom, which apparently has hired several former Synergy employees. Here are the details.

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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.

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In the U.S., this is a short work week for many readers because of the Thanksgiving Holiday (Nov. 25). We’ll continue to update MSPmentor daily for our international readers. But in the meantime — for U.S. readers who are unplugging soon — here are seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have a chance to write for the business week ending Nov. 25.

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MSPmentor is hosting a Webcast for Australia and New Zealand solutions providers that are seeking to master managed services. Join us November 25 at 11:00am EDT New South Wales for “How To Build Recurring Revenue for Your Managed Services Company.” Here’s a look at the content and our guest speakers.

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MSPmentor has been tracking Australia’s managed services market for about a year now. Overall, I suspect the Australia MSP opportunity is about one-tenth the size of the North American opportunity. But that’s still a big chunk of revenue up for grabs — which explains why Nimsoft is evangalizing a big managed services win in Australia.

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During two conversations this week, I heard and read reassuring statements about the Australian managed services market. While most managed services pundits see slowing growth in the North American market, anecdotal evidence suggests the Australian market is accelerating.

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Australia and New Zealand remain hotbeds for managed services activity. The latest example: Autotask Go! — an entry-level professional services automation tool — is now available in the region as a hosted service. Autotask isn’t alone in its Australia moves. Here’s a look at some of the regional trends, and a potential remaining challenge.

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Talk about a small world. On November 13 I traded email with Mathew Dickerson, a managed service provider in Australia. He and I were discussing how Telstra — one of Australia’s top telecom service providers — may promote managed services and SaaS (software as a service) across the country.

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What an amazing week. After meeting more than 150 VARs and managed service providers in Australia, I’ve got a much better feel for the emerging managed services market in the land down under. Here’s a recap of my trip, along with some key trends from Australia’s managed services industry.

• The Market Opportunity: Estimates vary greatly, but I’d say there’s somewhere between 5,000 and 12,000 VARs in the Austalia market. I realize that’s a broad range, but companies come and go. And there are surely thousands of one-man shops that consider themselves VARs.
• Also of note: Since Australia has so many remote rural towns, it’s a good bet remote managed services will be even more popular (on a per capita basis) than in the United States.

• MSP Installed Base: I’d estimate Australia has roughly 500 MSPs running a range of remote monitoring and management systems and charging fixed monthly fees for their services. That figure might be a bit inflated, since many of the MSPs have moved to managed services platforms in the past 12 months and are still ramping up their fixed managed services models.

• Mergers and Acquisitions: Yes, MSPs are buying one another in Australia. In fact, I’ve got details on a recent deal but I still need to double-check a few facts before posting a blog on that one.

• Smart MSP: Mathew Dickerson from Axxis Technologies and the author of Slam ranks among the best MSP-centric public speakers I’ve met. During the events I attended, Dickerson described his own transition from VAR to MSP, the errors he made, and his tireless focus on customer service. He’s the real-deal.

• Vendor Perspectives: I spent the week speaking at a series of Kaseya-Intel events in Melbourne, Sidney and Brisbane. My content offered a vendor-neutral view of the US market, but I also got a heavy dose of Kaseya and Intel perspectives all week. Admittedly, I need to reach out to other platform providers to make sure I have the complete picture on the country.
• With those disclaimers in mind, I did hear some compelling sales data. Tim Dickinson, Kaseya country manager for Australia and New Zealand, says the company has roughly 250 to 300 MSP customers in Australia.
• I know other MSP software companies are doing business in Australia. Just last week, N-able said 25 percent of their revenue comes from outside the United States — with a portion of that revenue coming from Australia.
• Still, Kaseya seems to be the most aggressive, most established platform provider in the country. If I’m wrong — or if someone would care to debate me on that claim — I’m all ears.

To reiterate: I do need to make sure I offer full vendor-neutral coverage of Australia. If you’re an MSP software company or customer doing business in Australia, and you have different perspectives to share, I’m all ears.

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