JUMPCLOUD IS THE FIRST to admit that employing directories to manage users, privileges, and devices isn’t exactly a newfangled concept for channel pros.
“Having one single open directory platform where they’re going to manage all their identities, all their devices, all their applications—that’s new,” says Katie Braband Clouse (pictured), the company’s vice president of Global MSP sales.
It’s also more relevant than ever, she continues. Go back five, or even three, years and MSPs spent most of their time managing networks and endpoints. In the present age of remote and hybrid work, however, much of what SMBs do never touches a network, and what channel pros need to monitor, manage, and secure is much more about identities and access rights than hardware.
“The world’s entirely changed. The way we work [has] entirely changed,” Clouse says.
“MSPs’ tools really haven’t changed. They’re still approaching things from this device-centric approach.”
Research JumpCloud published two months ago illustrates how big an impact that fact has on IT professionals within and beyond the channel: Nearly 60% of respondents to the study declared themselves overwhelmed by managing remote workers.
The JumpCloud Directory Platform is purpose-built for tackling that problem. Unlike RMM solutions, vendor-specific SaaS management consoles, and tools like Microsoft Active Directory and Azure Active Directory, the system provides a consolidated, multitenant repository for managing both cloud and on-premises applications, networks, and infrastructure, plus Windows, MacOS, and Linux devices, all from a user-centric point of view.
“It’s about managing those users and making sure they have access to what they need, they don’t have access to what they don’t need, and they can work from anywhere,” Clouse says.
Core capabilities include lifecycle management features for provisioning and single sign-on, zero-trust security features for enforcing MFA and password complexity rules, and a cloud-based RADIUS tool for managing access to VPN and Wi-Fi networks.
All of that is designed to supplement rather than replace an MSP’s current management stack. “JumpCloud is going to play nicely with an MSP’s existing toolset,” Clouse says. The platform integrates with Active Directory, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365, as well as managed services solutions from ConnectWise and Kaseya’s Datto unit, and there are more such back-end connections coming.
“We have a quite extensive roadmap through the rest of the year around adding more integrations,” Clouse notes.
Founded in 2012, JumpCloud has over 1,800 MSP partners at present even though it’s only been working with the channel for the last few years. The partner program it launched earlier this year acknowledges the degree to which an all-in, user-oriented directory solution is still a novel concept for most channel pros by emphasizing user education.
“When you think of a partner program, you’re going to have sales support, you’re going to probably have a partner manager, you’re going to have some marketing materials that you can co-brand, but we really are differentiating this program by the emphasis that we’re placing on enablement and technical support and training,” Clouse says.
Among other benefits, membership at the entry-level Embark tier, which is open to anyone, unlocks an extensive library of recorded webinars, tutorial videos, and “guided simulations” on business and technical topics via the JumpCloud University website, as well as live Q&As with JumpCloud engineers every Friday.
Partners who subsequently clear the necessary certification and revenue requirements can ascend into the Summit tier, where they’ll get access to additional training resources, one-on-one support from JumpCloud’s implementation engineering team, market development funds, in-person events, and more. They’ll also be eligible for a seat on the first-ever partner advisory council the company plans to launch soon.
According to Clouse, MSPs struggling to manage remote workers at cloud-focused businesses need benefits like that and more. “We really are helping MSPs get to this new way of work and more efficiently and more securely manage their clients,” she says.
