MSPAlliance recently had the opportunity to ask AccelOps CEO, Flint Brenton, some questions about his views on the channel, managed services, and security. Here is our interview with Mr. Brenton.
What is the history and purpose of AccelOps?
AccelOps was founded to develop a robust, carrier-class monitoring platform that would set a new standard for integration of security, performance and availability across all elements in the infrastructure – servers, network, security, storage, applications and users. In 2007, it was clear that trying to identify the root causes of performance, availability and security incidents using a multitude of tools was not working, and there was no way that these tools had the ability to scale to meet the needs of managed service providers (MSPs) who were beginning to gain real momentum. That is why we built AccelOps from the ground up, using patented distributed real-time analytics, to provide a single pane of glass that provides visibility across every aspect of the infrastructure and eliminate the blind spots and problems associated with correlating data across the multitude of single-silo tools.
Since our first shipment in 2009, we have focused on the needs of managed service providers, cloud and virtualization. We developed a secure, SaaS-enabled platform that scales and enables MSPs to manage service-level agreements even in the most complex, multi-tenant environments. Unlike traditional SIEM and monitoring tools, AccelOps delivers real-time discovery, event correlation, analysis and alert capabilities that enable MSPs to identify the root cause of a problem and take immediate remedial action. Because we have not had to deal with legacy code, dedicated hardware appliances or 1990s technology, we’ve been able to take advantage of virtualization to create a platform that is quick to install and easy to manage. MSPs can use one-click customer on-boarding and deliver valuable reports to customers within four hours.
How do managed service providers fit into your overall channel strategy?
AccelOps is committed to providing MSPs with a multi-tenant cost-effective and efficient platform that enables them to offer value-added services. AccelOps offers a platform that enables a number of flexible deployment options that range from support as a managed service or SaaS to IT outsourcing. For example, we do not go-to-market with a SaaS business delivery model, but we have architected that capability into our platform so that MSPs can offer SaaS to their customers. We also make it very easy for MSPs to package AccelOps’ capabilities, including dashboards and reports, with their name and logo so that they can maintain a deep relationship with customers. Growth in the managed services sector is definitely fuelling our ability to double on a quarterly basis. Today, MSPs account for more than 30 percent of our business. So it’s fair to say that the success of our MSP partners is the cornerstone of our success.
What types of MSPs make the best use of AccelOps’ monitoring platform?
MSPs looking to differentiate themselves by offering high value-add services and want to expand the range of the services they offer are having tremendous success with AccelOps. We have some very successful MSP partners with hundreds of customers who are servicing mid-tier enterprises as well as SMBs. Financial services, healthcare and government organizations are all industries in which AccelOps is helping MSPs and MSSPs bridge the gaps between business services, security and compliance for their customers. AccelOps allows MSPs to help customers who are struggling to integrate public and hybrid clouds under a single management umbrella. Service providers who offer hosting or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), as well as IT and security service providers can all benefit from AccelOps’ platform. The platform allows service providers to eliminate blindspots, reduce costs and improve efficiency through tools consolidation and add new services around security, performance and availability monitoring.
What are some of the services that MSPs can build on top of AccelOps?
There are many opportunities for MSPs to leverage AccelOps’s security and monitoring platform and their specific skill sets to build value-added services for their target customers, such as:
- Remote monitoring and alerting
- IT event correlation and analysis
- Private and hybrid cloud monitoring
- Uptime and availability monitoring
- Critical business services monitoring (e.g. financial trading operations)
- Managed network services
- Managed hosting services
- Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and desktop management
- Security monitoring
- Cloud security management
- Compliance reporting
- User activity management
- Digital asset protection
- Security risk assessment and consulting
What are some of the more challenging issues facing your MSP partners?
I would say that differentiation, cloud and operational efficiency are all top-of-mind issues challenging MSPs today.
New players and the competitive nature of the MSP business are making it harder for MSPs to avoid becoming commoditized. To stay ahead of margin pressure, MSPs have to be very clear about who their target customers are, their needs and what they value. For instance, healthcare providers do not have the same needs as financial services organizations, so offering a one-size-fits-all solution will not work. We are seeing MSPs be more successful and preserve margins when they tailor their offerings to meet the performance, reporting and service needs of their target customers. The deeper the engagement with a customer, the more secure and long-term the relationship is, and this reduces downward margin pressure. We have seen this work effectively for our MSP partners who have branched out to offer additional security and infrastructure monitoring capabilities to their customers based on what they can accomplish with AccelOps’ integrated platform. They have increased revenue without having to overextend on sales outreach.
Repeatedly we hear how organizations are struggling to retain visibility and control of their data in public and hybrid clouds. Although companies are increasing their reliance on cloud and MSPs, we found in a survey we conducted earlier this year that 78 percent of organizations still retain responsibility for cloud security using internal IT staff. This is a challenge for MSPs who remain a piece of the IT pie for their customers. However, it represents a huge opportunity for MSPs who can provide their customers with the integrated visibility needed to manage private, public and cloud infrastructures and ensure compliance across the board. MSPs are in a great position to deliver granular, more integrated monitoring using AccelOps’ agentless cloud collectors than organizations can achieve using public cloud APIs, and they can provide customized dashboards, reports and value-add monitoring services that span all resources while supporting customer’s security responsibilities.
From an operational standpoint it is, and always will be, incumbent on MSPs to provide their services more efficiently than their customers could do themselves. By fully leveraging the power of virtualization and consolidating tools and processes using a single but powerful integrated monitoring solution such as AccelOps, MSPs can achieve superior efficiencies. They can reduce their expenditure on software, maintenance, staff training and ensure faster response and remediation than would be possible if they had to manage and cross-correlate data from multiple sources.