MSP, Security Staff Acquisition & Development

Former Kaseya CEO Set to Lead Progress (PRGS)

Yogesh Gupta

Former Kaseya CEO and CA Technologies veteran Yogesh Gupta has been named CEO of Progress (NASDAQ: PRGS), which specializes in enterprise integration, data interoperability and application development tools. Gupta succeeds former Progress CEO Phil Pead, who is retiring.

Gupta arrives as Progress attempts to put the finishing touches on a company transformation. Like many classic software companies, Progress has spent recent years repositioning its brand and refining its software offerings. The company in 2012 began to sell off selected brands as FuseSource, Sonic, Savvion, Actional and DataXtend. By 2013 and 2014, Progress was buying up assets -- including Rollbase Inc. (platform as a service), Modulus (Node.js and MongoDB cloud platform) and Telerik (development tools). The company also spent recent years formalizing its channel partner program. Another major shift arrived in May 2016, when Progress dropped "Software" from its name.

Pardon the pun, but Progress appears to be making progress on its transformation. For its Q3 ended Aug. 31, 2016, revenue was $102 million -- up about 8 percent. Amid the CEO change from Pead to Gupta, Progress today reiterated that the company's current quarter performance remains on track with the Progress's expectations.

Gupta: Two Big Successes, One Incomplete

The big question: Can Gupta further accelerate the company's customer and channel partner growth? No doubt, Gupta has had some big successes -- including building FatWire Software, which Oracle acquired in 2011. He also was widely respected within the halls of CA Technologies (1987-2007), where he rose to the ranks of chief technology officer and chief strategist. Poke around Long Island and the U.S. east coast, and you'll find that Gupta has mentored and/or influenced a range of IT entrepreneurs as well.

More recently, Gupta led Kaseya from 2013 until 2015. That tour of duty included multiple challenging transitions. Insight Venture Partners acquired Kaseya in 2013. Although Kaseya enjoyed a strong installed base of MSPs at the time, the company was struggling to (A) evolve its software licensing models, (B) integrate a range of acquisitions, (C) straddle the line between corporate and MSP sales and (D) counter intensifying RMM (remote monitoring and management) competition. Gupta exited in 2015, and Kaseya is now led by Fred Voccola, who has doubled-down on the company's MSP base.

Fast forward to present day and Progress is celebrating Gupta's arrival.  The company's board considered internal and external candidates as part of its annual succession planning activities. Chairman John R. Egan says Gupta is the "right leader" to drive Progress's future.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.