Ever heard of Atera? Neither had I until this week. The company is based in Israel and has developed an all in one RMM, PSA, and remote control technology for MSPs. While this may not seem out of the ordinary, there are a couple of things which struck me as interesting. I spoke with their marketing manager, Adam Yosilewitz.
In a market already saturated with plenty of options, it is undeniable the RMM and PSA community has been going through a rather disruptive period over the last 5 years. The merger and acquisition activity alone suggests a need for RMM and PSA technologies to innovate and really push aggressively into the “cloud” MSP era.
In my opinion, not a lot of the RMM vendors have been innovating. This opinion is informed largely through my conversations with MSPs who express dissatisfaction with their technology vendors and the lack of new features and outdated pricing models. The reasons for this could be many but my thought is the established RMM and PSA companies have too many entrenched partners to risk radical ideas. This leads to safe, incremental, and perhaps dangerously slow adoption of new ideas and advancements.
Atera Highlights
Back to Atera. I have no idea how they are funded, what the technology looks like, nor have I spoken to any MSP using them. But, here are the conversation highlights.
- Launched 2 months ago on January 1, 2016.
- 300 customers are using the product
- It is SaaS based, no on premise versions
- Multi-function RMM, PSA, and remote control technology suite, purpose built for MSPs.
- Pricing is based on technician, not device or end user seats.
- No need to integrate with other vendors
Disruptive Pricing?
The most interesting feature Atera brings to the community is its approach to pricing. In a world where most PSA and RMM companies charge by the device, Atera seeks to disrupt the status quo by offering its technician based pricing model. If this model succeeds, it could wreak havoc with existing RMM companies, even of the MSPs only use it as a negotiating tactic during their contract renewal.
Another outcome from such a pricing model could be a benefit to the smaller MSPs. As a young MSP, adding new customers typically means increasing your RMM cost each month. Atera’s approach to pricing means growth oriented MSPs don’t have to increase their RMM cost. In fact, it would mean MSPs placing greater emphasis on scalability and service efficiency to maintain effective staffing levels without throwing too many technicians into the NOC/help desk.
Proceed with Caution
I must add my obligatory words of caution. This is a new company and without knowing more about their funding it is difficult to make any predictions about their longevity in the market. Anyone remember Oculan? I’m not saying they will end up like the “purple box company”, which lost its funding despite a modest growth trend and adoption rate amongst MSPs, but any new MSP should be aware of these issues and ask a lot of questions.
Regardless, I like the idea of of RMM vendors changing their pricing strategies. It challenges accepted ways of doing things and prompts re-evaluation of how vendors interact with their MSPs. This is always a good thing.
If you have any thoughts on this new approach to RMM let me know.