A Look Back At Kaseya Connect 2008
Last year, I joined 283 other attendees at Kaseya's second annual user conference in Las Vegas. Kaseya Connect provides an important opportunity for MSPs (managed services providers) and IT professionals to meet and network with other individuals in the industry. This type of event is especially important for an emerging profession such as managed services. The conference offered numerous educational seminars run by successful IT solutions providers and industry leaders.
I spoke with many attendees that openly discussed industry pitfalls and best practices with their peers. In many cases, MSPs were actively engaged with IT department managers to understand the challenges for both sides of managed services - the MSPs and enterprises. The seminar tracks featured discussions regarding everything from how to transition managed services to how to effectively market offerings to customers.
I also had an opportunity to sit down with Gerald Blackie, the CEO for Kaseya. A 'serial entrepreneur' by his own definition, Blackie briefly discussed some of Kaseya's successes, such as its strong cash position, product improvements, and continued sales growth. He also delivered some candid admissions of struggles over the last year. For example, he admitted the company has been late getting new products to market, the difficulty some customers had when dealing with Kaseya, and the struggles with the recent release of the latest edition of the Kaseya platform. However, he outlined specific plans the company has in place to correct each of those problem areas.
Connect 2008 event featured keynote speaker Craig Newmark, founder of the popular Internet phenomenon Craigslist. "I'm excited to be a part of Kaseya Connect," said Newmark. "As a software engineer by training, I have witnessed how technology can fundamentally transform organizations and impact the routines of individuals' daily lives." His advice to MSPs was, "Listen to what your customers want and adjust your business models accordingly."
Kaseya Connect 2009 will be held May 26 - 28 in Las Vegas. The keynote speaker is Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an earlystage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. General sessions include education on forecasting and measuring ROI, virtualization management, advanced device & network monitoring & endpoint/network security, and benchmarking automation among many others.
Managed Services Editor Gennifer Biggs will be at the event, providing breaking news, daily recaps, and exclusive interviews with key executives.
You can learn more about Kaseya and managed services at www.kaseya.com.