MSP Solutions

[boatasiaus]

I am considering moving my consultant business model from the traditional break/fix to a more proactive monthly maintenance/Managed Service model.

A quick search of the major players in this arena turned up Kaseya, n-Able, Advennet and Level Platforms.

Have spoken to Kaseya, and searched the forums here. It seems very robust in terms of capabilities. My only concern is pricing: seems a bit steep. (I don't want to show pricing/not sure of confidentiality). Will install over the next few weeks to assess

Have contacted the others, waiting for a response.

My questions:

Any other consultants thinking the MSP model/approach? Pro's/Cons?

Any experiences with these products? Are there others not on the list?

Is this worthwhile as a worklog for others?

 

[Captain Colonoscopy]

the consulting company I work for uses level. we like it so far.

Zenith InfoTech also has an MSP deal that they host and you stick youur name on it and resell.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[vertices]

A bit late to the thread but I would recommend Zenith. We made the move from basic consulting to MSP plus consulting about 4 years ago. Originally used home grown solutions, then used Level Platforms for a year, now we are on Zenith. I would not recommend Level Platforms, or anything that uses an agentless model. It's just to problematic.

They all have their ups and downs, but Zenith is very easy to get into both techniclaly and monetarily. Plus their BDR solution is fabulous and a real money maker.

Zenith will give you a free 30 day trial, you should check them out.

You also need to look into running ConnectWise if you aren't already.

Zenith + ConnectWise + QuoteWerks + QuickBooks = Win.

The ConnectWise and Zenith Forums are loaded with good info for you.

 

[Protoform-X]

We're using Kaseya + ConnectWise. Kaseya has limitless power if you're willing to learn the scripting.

The new(er) offsite synthetic backups are pretty kickass too. Basically you never have to upload a full backup because it can stitch together the incrementals from the last set to create the full backup on the offsite server. I think Zenith can do that too, but I've never used it.

Level Platforms feels clunky and outdated compared to Kaseya.

 

[vertices]

Kaseya had that scripting functionality over Zenith, up until Zenith provided Automise with all managed hosts. You can now do whatever you want with Automise.

I honeslty see no reason to purchase Kaseya over Zenith anymore, Automise killed it. Add the BDRs to it and damn, backup is now a serious profit maker.

 

[vertices]

Oh and if you haven't been to a ConnectWise Summit, GO. Next ones coming up in November. Went 2 years ago and it bloew my mind. Anyone who is serious about becoming an MSP needs to hit it up. I'm definitely going again this year. (Also had a great time blowing $1,000 on dinner between 3 of us the first night at a local steak joint, DAMN that was good!)

 

[Protoform-X]

I'd love to try Zenith, but the company I work for has already invested a great deal into Kaseya. We have over a thousand agents and many other licenses purchased from them. The latest version of Kaseya is incredibly powerful and the new release coming looks to be several times more powerful, so I'm content.

 

[vertices]

Yeah I understand. IMO, most people using Kaseya are so heavily invested in it that the idea of siwtching to anythign else is out of the question. But for newcomers, they can get into Zenith without having to make lal that investment. get tired of it and want to switch later? No big deal, it's just your time, not your money as well.

What I really love about Zenith is how they bring together different solutions form different companies that work really well. LogMeIn IT Reach, CounterSpy, Spybot, Automise, plus their own monitoring agents on every node. End users can even use a Client Portal to also use LogMeIn which is great for really small shops with no remote access. Only $2.25 per deskop per month as well (over 500 desktops). Storagecraft ShadowProtect is also incredibly powerful. We backup the servers every 15 minutes with incremental forever tech, then all of those incrementals collapse to a synthetic daily which goes off site every night. We can also virtualize failed servers nearly instantly right on the BDR itself. It's really quite increbible.