ConnectWise’s recently rumored acquisition of long-time partner Axcient, first reported in CRN, was made official yesterday afternoon, with the IT platform management vendor announcing that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the data protection and disaster recovery solutions vendor. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, according to ConnectWise. ConnectWise also announced the acquisition of SkyKick, a cloud backup and management software provider. These acquisitions significantly enhance ConnectWise’s cybersecurity and data protection offerings.
With Axcient and SkyKick, ConnectWise adds another pillar to its MSP tech stack, which already includes ConnectWise PSA, ConnectWise RMM and ConnectWise Automate, and ConnectWise cybersecurity solutions.
The goal of the acquisitions, according to ConnectWise, is “to enhance our Asio platform with industry-leading BCDR and Cloud Backup solutions, expand our international presence, and leverage the robust distribution networks of both Axcient and SkyKick.” The company said its intent “is to seamlessly incorporate all these solutions into ConnectWise Asio to leverage the benefits of a purpose-built platform beyond just integrations.”
Jason Magee, CEO of ConnectWise (pictured above), in a press statement, said, “By integrating Axcient and SkyKick into the ConnectWise portfolio, we are offering MSPs a complete technology stack that improves both data protection and cybersecurity. This integration empowers MSPs to safeguard clients with confidence and scale their businesses.”
ConnectWise also said there may be changes to pricing and product offerings in the future. However, all existing warranties, service level agreements (SLAs), and statements of work (SOWs) will remain in effect, according to the company. Axcient and SkyKick customers will continue to receive full support for their deployments, while existing ConnectWise partners can seamlessly integrate these solutions into their technology stack, according to the company.
What MSPs Have To Say
“It’s exciting to see the move with Axcient; I was surprised to see the acquisition of Skykick,” says ConnectWise user Lawrence Cruciana, CEO of Corporate Information Technologies, an MSP in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Overall, I believe that these acquisitions will provide ConnectWise’s partner-MSPs with needed capabilities, if integrated into the ConnectWise stack properly. … Both provide critically valuable capabilities needed by MSPs and SMBs alike. From my perspective, ConnectWise is continuing to reduce transactional and technical (implementation) friction while simultaneously lowering the barriers for MSPs to deliver world-class services using their integrated platform with these acquisitions.”
Sean Fullerton, CEO at NSN Management, an MSP in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has a different perspective. He has used Axcient previously, when it was still called eFolder, and had been using ConnectWise’s RMM and PSA, before moving to Kaseya products about a year and half ago. He says he was frustrated by the pace of innovation at ConnectWise. “They weren’t doing any innovation and I think that was what was disappointing to me on the Axcient [acquisition] is [they’re] still not doing anything to their core products. They’re just, ‘let’s buy somebody else.’”
He says he was unhappy with the ConnectWise RMM, and “the PSA kind of just got really stagnant. The Asio platform was more of a marketing name then. I know they’ve started doing more stuff on the RMM and I guess that’s been better, but I kind of got tired of waiting.”
So far, Fullerton says he has benefited from going “all in” with Kaseya, upgrading to Kasey 365 as well, even though he’s still locked in to paying the remaining time on his contract with ConnectWise.
Robert Cioffi, CTO and cofounder of Progressive Computing, an MSP in Yonkers, New York, currently uses both Axcient and ConnectWise. He points to the additional resources ConnectWise can bring to strengthen Axcient, which he uses exclusively for BCDR. “It’s not just about making two products talk to each other or share information between each other, but it’s also strengthening the technology so that in the future, the partner base, like my company, has an even more reliable and an even stronger partner to work with.”
SkyKick, which he has some experience with, “really complements the Axcient acquisition and strengthens ConnectWise’s portfolio in a very interesting way.”
Ed Correia, president and CEO of Sagacent Technologies, an MSP in Santa Clara, Calf., moved to Axcient after Kaseya acquired Datto. He says he’s hopeful ConnectWise will continue what he calls Axcient’s “great support” and that key people stay with the company.
He also hopes ConnectWise builds a backup management console similar to Datto’s in its Asio platform. “If ConnectWise built that into Asio I would be thrilled because right now it’s my big pet peeve about Axcient… I always want to see a top-level status lights of backups for all my clients.”
Correia is a longtime user of ConnectWise solutions. “I like the way they treat their partners.
I think they do a better job than most in looking out for their partners. I feel like they try to anticipate their partner’s needs and work on those.”
Neal Juern, CEO of 7tech, an MSP/MSSP in San Antonio, Texas, is a big fan of SkyKick technology for cloud migration, but found them difficult to work with, especially getting support. He’s hopeful ConnectWise, of which he’s been a longtime partner, will bring both resources and services “to make it a really standout product” for SkyKick partners.
Juern, Correia, and Cioffi feel the acquisitions were a reaction to competitive pressure. “It might be that they’re feeling the pressure from Kaseya,” Juern says. “When you buy someone like Axcient that makes me think that they’re worried about losing market share, especially if you look at what Kaseya is doing with [Kaseya] 365. … I think they’re trying to catch up a little bit.”
At the same time, he hopes ConnectWise will continue to support an open ecosystem. “They’re a really great vendor and I think their strategy’s always been good. For example, some of the tools we’ll want to work with, Kaseya [doesn’t] integrate with them, so Kaseya is unfortunately getting a little more closed and Connectwise is still remaining pretty open,” Juern says. “We’ll see how it plays out.”
“I think the platform companies are definitely trying to rope in as many solutions as they can,” Correia says, “but Axcient is a direct, in my opinion, attempt to kind of balance the scales here where Kaseya now has Datto and now ConnectWise has Axcient.”
Cioffi calls it an “obvious competitive move, what ConnectWise is doing here against their main rival Kaseya [which] has also been embarking on a path for years to build tighter integrations between applications. I heard [Kaseya CEO] Fred Voccola on stage at Kaseya Connect many years ago where he said one of the reasons why integrations don’t work well is because when you’re trying to integrate systems between two independent companies, there’s always going to be some fault or friction or something. And so I think he clearly signaled years ago, before they went on their acquisition shopping spree, that was the problem that he was trying to solve. …And I think ConnectWise, whether they saw that vision at the same time or not, I think they’ve now followed suit.”
Image courtesy of ConnectWise
