From The Expert Feature Article
July 29, 2013

LabTech Reaches 3,250 Partners


Recently, I’ve been writing a lot about LabTech, new products, new MSP programs, and new partnerships in particular.

This has led to a bit of a pen pal relationship with LabTech CEO Matt Nachtrab, who alerted me to some channel news – the fact that LabTech now counts 3,250 MSPs as partners, partners who make use of the vendor’s remote monitoring and management (RMM) software.

LabTech this month released LabTech 2013, which the company said was designed based on MSP feedback. CEO Nachtrab went into more detail with MSP Today. “One thing that you will see with this release is that we worked a lot on existing feature areas. We improved scripting, patching, and fixed lots of little bugs. My partners frequently call LabTech ugly and they are right.  We built LabTech to be functional for Nemsys (my MSP in Toledo OH),” Nachtrab told us. “We focused on making it so my system administrators could be more productive.  In LabTech we do that with two key functional areas. First, a workspace that allows them to see everything and actually kick off actions on that computer from the LabTech GUI. We make it so they can do so many things behind the scenes without interrupting the user of the computer. The reason we do this is because coordinating a time to take over a user’s computer with remote control is time consuming, and frankly, annoying. The other major productivity booster is our scripting. There is no limit to how much scale an MSP can achieve with our automation. We took that automation to the next level with this release.”

Nachtrab also says that for the past three years LabTech has grown every quarter, and has continued to add staff and partners.

LabTech points to other milestones, such as:

  • Over 1600 of the company's partners converted from a competing RMM tool;
  • Over 400 partners are now served through the LabTech Cloud;
  • Over 200 partners now manage 2,500+ endpoints;
  • 1,000 partners now run their MSP with the ModernOffice Suite; and
  • LabTech partners support 125,000 small businesses.



 LabTech’s Nachtrab

LabTech a Haven for Partners?

Right after SolarWinds (News - Alert) sealed the deal on its $120 million acquisition of remote monitoring and management (RMM) maker N-able, LabTech launched a major push for SolarWinds/N-able (News - Alert) MSPs.

Like any good marketer (or politician) LabTech is planting seeds of doubt. “The acquisition has also created uncertainty. Will N-able’s focus shift away from MSPs? Where is the vision headed? How will N-able’s software change without an RMM pioneer at the helm?” LabTech asks.

In fact, Nachtrab continues to argue that LabTech is a safe haven in a sea of RMM change, and just last week argued “With recent acquisitions such as SolarWinds buying N-able and AVG buying Level Platforms, many MSPs are questioning the stability of RMM providers. We're in a solid position for continued growth and stability, however, and we challenge organizations using other products to test out us.”

LabTech MSP Play

LabTech is right in arguing that it was built by MSPs for MSPs. To solidify its MSP play, the company this past March announced the Partner Innovation Network (PIN). This MSP channel program isn’t just for new partners, but is also built to deepen relationships with current associates.

“The Partner Innovation Network is our way of creating a deeper connection to our global community of talented IT professionals, collaborating with them in an exchange of knowledge and expertise about what it takes to provide superior managed services,” Nachtrab said in announcing PIN.

Partners can now have “access to upcoming strategies and technologies, including participation in quarterly business reviews, focus groups and councils that are designed to promote partner-driven innovation and test emerging technologies via LabTech Software's pilot program,” LabTech explained.

Partner Letter

Nachtrab recently reached out to partners with a letter

Here are some highlights:

  • “We’ve really turned the corner on support. We’re currently seeing a 97 percent satisfaction on our support surveys”
  • “We’ve launched a scripting consulting initiative to help you maximize automation in your business.”
  •  “I will close with a best practice I’m hearing from interacting with MSPs who are experiencing huge success automating their business with LabTech. They’re managing 2-4 times the users per technician than before LabTech. The story of success follows the same path every time.  Check it out:
    • Assign a LabTech Automation Owner. Does not have to be full time, but must fall asleep thinking about how to improve your company with automation.
    • Build an automation culture by making everyone in the business think about how to remove redundant tasks with LabTech automation.
    • Collect all the automation ideas in one area, so the LabTech Automation Owner can prioritize and slowly engineer an Automation engine in your IT business. Great MSPs are not Born, they’re Engineered.”                      ‘ 



Edited by Rich Steeves


Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]