ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee: Partner Growth Is The Most Important

‘Make no mistake about it, we are 100 percent committed and I can‘t think of any other company that is more committed and provides more comprehensively the tools, resources and services to help us secure your business, secure your customers and to help you grow your cybersecurity practice,’ says Jason Magee, CEO of ConnectWise.

ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee told partners this week that the team at ConnectWise strives every day to continue to live up to its promises, “and we‘re not even close to being done.”

Magee (pictured) spoke to a room full of 1,200 MSPs this week at ConnectWise’s IT Nation Secure event in Orlando, Fla., about the work it’s been doing and the promises it strives to keep for its partners.

“We’re here at IT Nation Secure with a relentless focus on cybersecurity as you all are,” he said. “Make no mistake about it, we are 100 percent committed and I can‘t think of any other company that is more committed and provides more comprehensively the tools, resources and services to help us secure your business, secure your customers and to help you grow your cybersecurity practice.”

At the show, ConnectWise announced the launch of two integrated partnerships that will take the guesswork out of cyber insurance for MSPs and their customers.

Its newest partnerships with ControlCase, a compliance-as-a-service provider, and FifthWall, a cyber insurance broker, provide education, automation and assistance to help MSPs prepare for and procure insurance, eliminating dozens of steps they and their customers would otherwise have to take.

Magee said about a month after ConnectWise IT Connect in November 2021, the Tampa, Fla.-based vendor welcomed SmileBack, a customer experience solution provider, into the fold.

“[SmileBack is] designed exclusively to help MSPs gauge and improve the customer experience,” he said. “SmileBack surveying and reporting tools make feedback and actionable feedback possible. It provides that instant feedback that allows businesses to improve their service, save time and, most importantly, improve that overall client experience.”

In February, ConnectWise also formed new business units led by individual general managers. A new chief information security officer, Patrick Beggs, also joined ConnectWise with the intent to speed innovation and to improve partners’ overall experience.

Here are Magee’s key statements from the IT Nation Secure event and how ConnectWise plans to help its partners going forward.

On dealing with supply chain, talent and other challenges across the IT industry:

“We‘ve seen the supply chain crisis impacting small businesses like we’ve never seen or experienced before. The industry talent shortage, specifically cybersecurity talent across the board, continues to grow. We‘ve all seen, including ConnectWise, challenging situations. But make no mistake about it, all of you are here this week and are up for taking these challenges head on. That’s what coming to any IT Nation event is really about. It‘s time for us to connect with each other, to discuss the challenges we’re all facing and to learn how others have overcome these challenges and come out on top.”

On the ConnectWise virtual community:

“After the new year, we launched the ConnectWise virtual community. This allowed us to continue these valuable conversations and discussions that we‘re all here this week for and allow that to happen all year long. This is our commitment to help deliver a more meaningful partner experience. But not only that, it allows you all to increase your opportunity to network with the ConnectWise experts. It helps create a safe environment for partners to come network and learn from their peers.”

On the ConnectWise MSP Threat Report:

“This past April we released the third annual MSP Threat Report. This, without a doubt, is the MSP industry‘s most comprehensive guide and focus on cybersecurity. The report includes analysis of MSP-focused security events and trends in 2021 but also the top predictions for 2022.

We do a lot of work so you all can benefit and even provide some of that to your customers.”

On promises to partners:

“This past November at IT Nation Connect, we made some promises to our partners. The first is more innovation faster. Since we made the announcement of the new Asio platform, and ConnectWise RMM being the first platform on top of that, we have released over 400 new releases since that announcement. [We promised to] invest even more in your growth. I‘m happy to say as of last week we approved the budget for additional market resources to invest in your growth for those that are in the ConnectWise partner program.

We are about growth and we‘re about your growth, the most important growth that there is to be concerned about. [We want] to make it easier to do business with ConnectWise.”