Free PSA Tool Enters The Managed Services Fray

By Gennifer Biggs, security, storage, and managed services editor

OwnWebNow CEO Vlad Mazek unveiled a new professional services automation (PSA) option for MSPs at CompTIA Breakaway — a free, web-based tool that he says provides the simple, intuitive ticketing and invoicing many new MSPs need. Vlad, whose company offers Exchange Defender, a network security service, as well as hosted Exchange, Sharepoint, and other web services, rolled out Shockey Monkey during CompTIA's event.

The goal, says Vlad, is to help OWN's partners work their way through customer management and invoicing more easily. Two major competitors rule the managed services PSA space today — Autotask and ConnectWise — and their tools offer deep integrations, a full range of automation tools, and more. But Vlad says he feels that many new MSPs are simply overwhelmed by those massive tools, so his goal was to provide a simple PSA that would get MSPs moving in the right direction in terms of ticketing, customer relationships, and invoicing, almost like a starter version. In fact, the PSA tool includes an easy export button that allows users to upload their data to Autotask when they grow to the point they want to upgrade to a more complex tool. In addition, the Shockey Monkey tool is free. "We didn't want anyone to think of costs, we just want our partners to be able to manage their accounts, and anyone else who thinks this is a good fit for them at this time," says Vlad. "We're not interested in making money, we're interested in our partners having what they need to sell and make money."

Shockey Monkey is hosted, and provides a clear Web 2.0 user interface with tabs for such items as contacts, reminders, etc. The new PSA will be integrated with Level Platforms, Kaseya, and LabTech — those efforts are in beta. To learn more, visitors to the Shockey Monkey website can click and watch a 60-minute video that walks users through the new product.