IT By Design (ITBD) has introduced outsourced system administrator and technology expert services for users of the ConnectWise Automate RMM platform.
The new offering was developed in direct collaboration with Tampa, Fla.-based ConnectWise, which trained and certified all of ITBD’s contract engineers, and is now a SKU on the ConnectWise line card. It’s designed to help MSPs that rely on ConnectWise Automate increase both their in-house knowledge of the system and their ability to handle higher-order support requests.
“Now MSPs have access to resources that can not only manage and administer [ConnectWise Automate], but can also work on level two or level three ticketing issues,” says Kam Attwal-Kaila, Jersey City, N.J.-based ITBD’s chief revenue officer and president.
ITBD, which has been ConnectWise’s official NOC and help desk partner since last November, has also added an outsourced dispatcher service, and plans to open a 24/7 outsourced security operations center in January. The company timed its latest announcements to coincide with IT Nation, the annual ConnectWise partner event, which is currently underway in Orlando.
ITBD positions its new team of offsite ConnectWise contractors, who operate out of two network operations facilities in India, as a way for MSPs to get more value out of a strategically critical but complex tool.
“I always refer to it like the Tesla of RMMs,” Attwal-Kaila says of ConnectWise Automate. “The challenge is often driving it and knowing where all of the bells and whistles are.”
Hiring provisional technical personnel from ITBD is also a fast and affordable way to staff up at a time when experienced technicians are in desperately short supply, she continues.
“A lot of parts of our country right now have .1% employment rate in technology,” Attwal-Kaila observes. ITBD’s engineers are not only available on demand but trained in advance.
Pricing for the new service is based on a flat monthly fee. Though ITBD is officially each contract technician’s employer of record, its MSP customers handle day-to-day management directly.
“This is their employee for all intents and purposes,” Attwal-Kaila says, noting that its contractors work five eight-hour shifts a week and are fully dedicated to a single MSP.
Buyers of the new service must sign a one-year agreement, but can get their money back, no questions asked, if they cancel within 30 days. They can back out of the contract any time in the first 90 days with 30-days advance notice as well.
MSPs unhappy with a contract tech can exchange them for someone else at no additional cost at any time. The outgoing and incoming engineers work simultaneously for two weeks in that scenario to reduce disruption during the transition process.
Though ITBD delivers its new administrator and expert offering itself, it conceived and developed the service in close collaboration with ConnectWise.
“They saw the need in the market, they also understood where their partners were struggling, and found that this was a very strong and viable solution for it,” Attwal-Kaila says. “It was a significant investment by both organizations.”
ITBD’s new contract dispatcher service, which also officially debuts this week, is designed to help MSPs without a full-time service coordinator utilize costly technical staff more efficiently.
“A lot of time engineers, who are probably your most highly paid resources, are stuck doing small low-level tasks that are repetitive in nature,” Attwal-Kaila notes. Letting a less expensive outsourced employee handle rote tasks like assigning tickets and fielding customer satisfaction surveys frees up skilled administrators for more profitable work.
ITBD dispatchers are ConnectWise certified, but unlike the new administrators and technology experts receive their training from ITBD itself rather ConnectWise.
According to Attwal-Kaila, ITBD’s forthcoming SOC responds to persistent pleas for help from MSP customers struggling to stay on top of ever-multiplying dangers.
“Finding security experts that are experienced and certified to be able to manage that threat landscape is a challenge,” she says. “Many of our partners have come to us over the years and said ‘we need a SOC.'”
Other vendors have heard the same requests. Last month, Boston-based ConnectWise competitor Continuum introduced a contract SOC service of its own that it delivers from facilities in India. Distributor Tech Data Corp., of Clearwater, Fla., offers a SOC to its partners too, as does CARVIR, the Cumming, Ga.-based next-generation security provider. CARVIR plans to introduce an outsourced security information and event management service as well in December.
ITBD’s SOC will be an all-inclusive 24/7 operation priced on a flat per-device, per-month basis. Users will be required to sign an annual agreement.
Originally a managed service provider, ITBD has offered contract staffing support to fellow MSPs since late 2013. The company exited the managed services market last year to focus exclusively on helping ConnectWise users augment their service delivery capabilities.
Earlier this year, ITBD introduced short-term professional consulting engagements for ConnectWise users looking for implementation, integration, and automation assistance.
It also now operates operations centers in Manila and Vancouver, British Columbia, for customers who want technical support from native English speakers. Though fully certified on ConnectWise technologies, those resources are trained by ITBD versus ConnectWise.
The IT Nation conference concludes on Friday.
