In a year filled with uncertainty due to the global coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn, ConnectWise partners knew they could trust our rock-solid, unwavering commitment to their continued success and well-being.
That’s because behind the ConnectWise logo is a team of individuals who are deeply committed to our technology solution provider (TSP) partners. And while the team at ConnectWise has always embraced our partners’ unique sets of challenges that push us to think outside of the box, test our limits, and inspire us to work harder to continue to be a valued asset for them now and into the future, we doubled down on that effort in 2020.
To help TSPs rapidly implement work-from-home solutions for their SMB customers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we offered a slate of discounts:
- We offered a free remote workforce license to our existing partners for 90+ days.
- For partners of our Control product, we upgraded those with lower-tier support licenses to top-tier licenses free for 90+ days.
- We provided 100 free licenses to our Fortify product.
- We created the MSP+ Foundation Pack, which bundled our products into a low monthly price ($6,700 month value for $600).
In addition, we worked to make sure our TSP partners had everything they needed to get through this turbulent time. We built and continue to enhance a COVID Resource Center on our website, which includes technology resources, COVID-19 updates, legal resources, webinars on how partners can navigate COVID challenges, and a variety of thought leadership assets. For example, we collaborated with Paul Dippell of Service Leadership to create a series of Rapid Recovery assets that cover best practices for survival, how to effectively cut costs and keep a positive net income, and how to calculate financial risk. There are also resources for optimizing and securing a remote workforce along with cybersecurity education.
At the same time, we recognized the struggles of the many TSPs, managed service providers (MSPs), and others in the channel who have been directly affected by the economic downturn, so the ConnectWise Foundation established the COVID-19 Relief Fund to provide financial assistance to qualified applicants, who do not need to be current or past ConnectWise partners. The ConnectWise Foundation raised money for the relief fund via direct donations; our vendor-partners’ contributions; the IT Nation Evolve Hands That Give Emergency Response Fund; 40% of ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee’s salary for six weeks; and the “”hand wash karaoke”” social media campaign, a fun challenge to the channel that involved participants posting a video of themselves washing their hands for the CDC-recommended 20 seconds while belting out the lyrics to a favorite song, then making a donation and tagging others to do the same.
As always, it’s our partners’ ambitions and goals that motivate our team to continuously innovate to not only meet the challenge at hand, as we’ve done with our COVID-19 efforts, but also to create technology solutions that help pave the way for their lasting legacy. In turn, our partners’ success has led to our success and notoriety within the industry. This year, ChannelPro Network readers voted ConnectWise Manage® as the Best PSA Vendor and ConnectWise Automate® as the Best RMM Vendor, with both solutions receiving Gold in these categories.
We are grateful, and credit these and all our achievements to our partners. And now as we head into 2021, we remind our partners to continue to set high standards and strive for even bigger goals. We’ll be here to offer the necessary support, the solutions to drive those achievements, and the expertise to get through tough decisions—and tough times. Together, we can make 2021 a record-setting year that will continue to build our partners’ legacy.
