Reflecting On Autotask CommunITy Live

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

It had been a long three days, that was clear as I walked with Autotask CEO Bob Godgart through the remnants of the crowd that had just listened to the closing Q&A session on the last day of CommunITy Live in Miami. As Godgart paused to shake hands and thank people for attending, the overall message he heard back was thanks, this has been a great experience. With more than 500 partners at the sold-out event, the second annual Autotask partner summit was a success for the vendor, and I asked Godgart to talk about that as we sat down to reflect on the partner summit.

"I really enjoyed the camaraderie at this event," says Godgart, using as an example the first gathering of the VARs at Large group just kicking off over lunch on Tuesday. "This group of large VARs had never met, but they started talking over the lunch, and solving problems, they had worked stuff out before they were even done today. We often talk about networking, but at this event, we really mean it. And I think our partners get it."

Godgart says he really wants Autotask partners to understand the goals of the partner summit. "We are utterly focused on programs, product, and partnerships," he explained. "This last year we really tried to change our company so we can better push our partners toward success. That meant there is so much to absorb, we had to not just develop these initiatives but also provide our partners with ways to understand them."

With so many changed to the Autotask product line, including those slated for this year and covered in the roadmap session on Monday, Autotask is developing user groups (they have 12 now, and expect 40 by years end), developed Autotask Academy, served up online answer sessions (sort of mini-town hall meetings), and will attend more than 150 industry events this year. To goal, provide a myriad of ways for partners to understand and learn to leverage Autotask products.

Complicating the product learning curve — but in a good way — are the increasing number of partnerships growing about the vendor's open API. Not only are partners building modules to meet their own needs (those will start to be available online through a marketplace similar to the iStore) but other vendor partners are getting increasingly involved. "We have more than 50 apps integrating with our PSA; we are seeing a real developer community grow around our API," says Godgart. All that means better choices and more automation for partners, a theme heard throughout the event.

Click here to listen to Dan Wensley, Level Platforms, talk about his presentation on collaboration and its impact on the channel.

Of course, the event included heavy talk about the acquisition of VARstreet by Autotask and the importance of balance in an IT business. "You can't have just services, you can't have just product," explains Godgart. "We call got caught up in services, services, services, but there is a downside for that." Not only does leaving product sales on the table equate to lost revenue, it opens the door for competitors to swoop in and steal MSPs' customers. But with low margins and a high hassle factor surrounding hardware sales, many MSPs have moved down the path to services only. Autotask wants to lure them back to the middle ground. In fact, Godgart presented research that supports the idea that hybrid IT organizations that tackle both services and hardware/software sales, are the most profitable.

So what about next year's summit? Godgart grins when he talks about the third annual CommunITy Live, despite his obvious exhaustion. But the vendor is taking a quick break before planning starts for that gathering.