Several hundred MSPs are in attendance for N-able Empower 2022, a partner conference this week in Las Vegas. The event surfaces at a key time for N-able and its managed IT service provider (MSP) partners.
Indeed, N-able continues to grow, the MSP market remains healthy, and MSP valuations have generally held up well despite rising interest rates and inflation concerns. Still, N-able continues to scale its business for cloud and cybersecurity opportunities — especially amid potential economic turbulence, CEO John Pagliuca noted during his keynote on October 4, 2022.
Later, Pagliuca shared the stage with RMM Managing Director Mike Cullen and Chief Security Officer Dave MacKinnon (all pictured above) to outline the opportunities and challenges facing MSPs.
David Weeks
mike cullen
N-able’s key milestones ahead of Empower 2022 included:
Tied to Empower 2022: N-able plans a cloud asset management tool to help MSPs manage Microsoft Azure.
Keynote speech by N-able CEO, John Pagliuca
During the opening session, Pagliuca described the tailwinds that continue to propel the MSPs and N-able forward. But it also provided a reality check to ensure MSPs can navigate a potential recession.
John Pagliuca, CEO, Nable
“How recession proof is the MSP community? asked Pagliuca. “Nothing is recession proof. But the MSP market is recession proof.
Among the reasons, he noted: Customer demand for cloud, digital transformation and cybersecurity services continues to grow. At the same time, these customers have to deal with the labor shortage. The overall result is a growing Total Addressable Market (TAM) for MSPs, Pagliuca affirmed.
Nevertheless, MSPs must take proactive steps to protect their businesses from potential economic turbulence. His five-step advice included:
- Hit the books – literally – and really study/understand your finances.
- Think about getting more debt. As the old saying goes: the easiest time to find and secure more money is to chase it. before You need it.
- Plan now for 2023 and beyond. As former GE CEO Jack Welch often said: To fail to plan is to plan to fail.
- Standardize, optimize and automate your stack.
- Be an expert, not a commodity.
N-able, Pagliuca said, will align with MSPs to help:
- Manage everything;
- Secure everything; and
- respond to their individual definition of a successful professional and personal journey.
On the cloud front, Pagliuca called on MSPs to move beyond reselling SaaS to truly managing all components of the cloud, including cloud infrastructure, SaaS application proliferation, cybersecurity and more.
Risk Management for MSPs
Dave MacKinnon, Security Manager, N-able
The panel consisting of Cullen, MacKinnon and Pagliuca finally had a conversation about cybersecurity, incident response and risk management. Participants asked how much cyber insurance N-able carried – and if the figure was enough. MacKinnon provided an answer in dollars and cents (I don’t know if it was recorded for the media), and he admitted that any kind of cyber insurance probably isn’t enough to cover a major breach.
Indeed, MacKinnon pointed to an RSA violation that ultimately cost that company approximately $200 million in commercial, technological and trademark damages.
To help mitigate the risk, N-able is gearing up to help MSPs with incident response strategies. Upcoming Movement: A tabletop exercise that allows every MSP in the conference to participate in an incidental war game (details to come). Additionally, MacKinnon pointed out that MSPs should report incidents to N-able by emailing [email protected]. This inbox is more than a general destination. Indeed, it actually alerts the N-able security team to ensure the right eyes verify the problem quickly and efficiently, MacKinnon noted.
N-able Empower 2022: Expected Updates on Cybersecurity, Cloud, and MSP M&A
So what’s the next step? Over the next 48 hours, we’ll be meeting with N-able CEO John Pagliuca, Senior Director of Partner Experience David Weeks, and an array of MSP market experts who focus on cybersecurity, mergers and acquisitions, automation, etc.
Stay tuned to this live blog for regular updates throughout the conference.
