It’s finally here! MSP Expo 2024 kicked off February 13 and continues through February 15 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. MSP Expo, part of the #TECHSUPERSHOW , is where the MSP/channel community meets to discuss opportunities, security and business growth. This is a chance to drive more recurring revenue, increase the valuation of MSPs, generate more inbound inquiries and win more deals and deliver better customer service, evaluate today's most sought-after technologies.
As attendees gathered into the convention center’s ballroom for lunch, they were treated to a fireside chat with TMC CEO Rich Tehrani and Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola.
After introducing Voccola to the audience, Tehrani asked the first question, asking what changes have been seen in the tech space in the past decade.
SMBs are digitally transforming, and technology is becoming the most important thing to them.
“Ten years ago, we were lucky to see a computer inside a dentist office,” said Voccola. “Today, dentists are becoming all digital and are spending more money on technology than any other industry. Now they are at a point where if technology is not working, they lose revenue. For example, they rely on those digital scopes to do a root canal.”
Another example Voccola used to back up how SMBs are digitally transforming are construction companies and how they fly drones and use robots to take measurements to design structures, or pools even.
“A few years ago, companies put their toes in tech,” said Voccola. “Now, they are fully emerged in tech.”
The next couple of questions asked by Tehrani dove a little into what Kaseya offers. So here is some background on Kaseya.
Kaseya, a Diamond sponsor of MSP Expo, specializes in IT management and security solutions for businesses. Their IT Complete platform caters to SMBs and MSPs and offers tools for network monitoring, system management, data protection and security.
The company manages millions of endpoints, and Tehrani wanted to know what Kaseya and Voccola do to keep security evolving.
“Our job is to provide the kit,” said Voccola. “MSPs have the most advanced cyber security defensive weapons to combat the bad folks, and they have them at the lowest price possible. We have 800 engineers working on cybersecurity products.”
TMC CEO RichTehrani and
However, there is a challenge MSPs face when it comes to SMB customers and their mindset.
“Most SMBs do not like to spend a lot of money, and they have this mindset that cyber threats are not real until they happen to you. So, it is not always easy for MSPs to sell to their customers,” said Voccola. “That is why we must keep our price down. It allows our MSPs to sell and deliver a truly protect solution even if that customer is not sold on paying for it yet.”
A trend seen in a few conferences at MSP Expo and the rest of the #TECHSUPERSHOW has been AI being mentioned in the discussion at some point – whether it was about helping business outcomes or how it can be maliciously used to carry out attacks. It was no surprise that Tehrani introduced AI in his next question. But it was a question that had a clever analogy within.
The question asked “How do you look at AI as something to defend against, and how do you implement it to defend against attacks – it’s like an arms race.
“Arms race” was a clever touch by Tehrani. AI can help businesses achieve successful outcomes. It’s a tool that can make anyone more efficient. But what is a good tool for businesses is also a good tool for malicious actors. It makes attackers smarter and faster, and the volume of attacks are increasing.”
This is where companies like Kaseya need to step in.
“For companies like Kaseya, it is our responsibility to provide the weapons to defend against those attacks. AI helps us defend,” said Voccola. We are leveraging the tools in the best way we can. We are using AI to increase the output and quality of our solutions and get those into the hands of our customers. It is an arms race, and we will see changes in the next several years regarding government regulations.”
As Tehrani made his closing remarks and thanked Voccola for his time, the audience applauded and went back to finishing their lunches before enjoying the rest of the panel sessions at MSP Expo and the rest of the #TECHSUPERSHOW .
Greg Tavarez
