GFI MAX Customer Conference: Day 1 Recap

By The Business Solutions Network

Day one of GFI's annual partner conference kicked off today in Orlando. Approximately 400 partners are in attendance, making this GFI's largest conference to date. Not only are there more people, but the education agenda appears to be hitting new heights as well. Following are my notes from the first part of the day. Notes from the breakout sessions will follow in the coming days.

• Let’s get this announcement out of the way first. Dr. Alistair Forbes took the stage to announce that GFI Software has restructured to create LogicNow and GFI. According to the press release:

“LogicNow, which includes GFI MAX, IASO cloud back-up and other cloud-based products, will focus on SaaS technologies under a subscription model. GFI will focus on private cloud solutions delivered to IT administrators in end-user organizations.”

• Forbes spoke a lot about key industry trends. One the biggest is in managed security. The amount of malware in the wild is growing like crazy. 2013 saw more than double the malware of 2012. Thus far, 2014 has already surpassed 2013. This creates a great opportunity for MSPs as security is something most companies are happy to outsource. “The complexity of the task in securing a business and the diversity of threats mean organizations can’t handle threats by themselves,” says Forbes. “One MSP I spoke with says his security services will outpace the rest of his MSP business in the next two years.” Good opportunity indeed!
   
• BYOD is a great opportunity. Some stats Forbes shared: 79 percent of SMBs have not yet implemented BYOD policies, processes, and infrastructure. 24 percent don’t even have a policy. Get on this!
   
• Dave Sobel, director of partner community for LogicNow, shared three traits of successful MSPs worth noting if you fancy your company successful or aspire to greatness.

1. Operating process discipline. Sobel recommends says the best MSPs are built on a foundation of repeatable processes. The more disciplined you are, the better your execution will in solving customer IT problems.
2. Deep understanding of customer requirements. Sobel was quick to point out that he’s not talking about technology, per se, but rather how customers use technology to get meaningful outcomes. Great MSPs figure out how customer operations can be improved with IT.
3. Have insights in market developments and progress. Leading MSPs keep in touch with developing trends and validate that products do what they say they will. This ensures the technologies you and your customers are betting on are safe.

• Various LogicNow-related announcements:
  • A complete refresh of the MAXfocus (previously GFI MAX) UI is underway. It will be rolled out in phases.
  • Last week saw the completed integration of MAX Mail into the platform to allow MSPs to more easily deploy, manage, and report.
  • Launching this month are four new sales playbooks used to educate your sales team to take new solutions to market. This material was developed with CompTIA.
  • A slew of educational Webinars are planned
  • A new white paper will be launched on Oct. 1
  • A community portal is in beta and will be launched some time in next few months.
     
• Rob Rae, VP of business development for Datto, took the stage to talk about a paradigm shift in how MSPs sell BDR.
  • Rae urges MSPs to stop selling BDR based on the threat of a natural disaster. Rather, he points to more imminent threats that any business can appreciate: people.
  • Rae shared a comment from Chinese hackers when asked how they get past all the layers of security at giant corporations: “At least one employee will click on anything.”
  • Instead of disasters that may never happen, sell business continuity.
  • Rae’s components of a good continuity solution: hybrid cloud, image-based, and delivers RTO and RPO.
  • Datto launched a sweet recovery time calculator you can use to sell continuity solutions to your customers. Go to dattobackup.com/rto.

Day 2 notes tomorrow.