Governance, Risk and Compliance, MSP, Content

Kaseya’s European MSP Strategy: GDPR Compliance, RapidFire Tools Take Center Stage

Roughly 40 percent of Kaseya's revenues come from outside North America. And the IT software management company generates about $75 million in annual recurring revenue across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), according to Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola.

Fred Voccola, CEO, Kaseya
Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola

So where is the company heading next on the international front -- especially as it relates to MSPs and midmarket IT departments? The answer involves GDPR compliance and Kaseya's recently acquired RapidFire Tools offering. During the Kaseya Connect Europe 2018 conference next week, the company will emphasize RapidFire Tools' as a key offering for MSPs that support GDPR-minded customers.

GDPR, short for General Data Protection Regulation, has major requirements for organizations that handle EU citizen and customer data. Among other things:

  • Breach Notifications: Organizations have to develop a breach notification policy that communicates known issues within 72 hours of discovery.
  • Right to Access: Folks in the EU has the right to access and understand how data about them is collected and stored.
  • Right to Be Forgotten: Those folks also have the right to be forgotten -- meaning that all data about them must be removed from systems upon request.
  • Right to Data Transfer: And the person also has the right to have the data transferred to another system.

The big twist: That list also applies to foreign companies that handle data from EU citizens. For instance, if you're a small business in the United States that has an EU subscriber on your email marketing list, you need to comply with GDPR.

GDPR Compliance and MSPs: Where Kaseya RapidFire Tools Fits In

Eager to help address those requirements, RapidFire Tools says its toolset can be used for:

  • Initial GDPR Assessment: Scan the network environment and answer a set of pre-configured questions to determine if all GDPR requirements are being met, and if not, what needs to be done to become compliant.
  • Remediation Services: Document and prioritize issues that must be remediated to address GDPR-related security vulnerabilities through ongoing managed services.
  • Documentation: Produce all regularly scheduled mandatory reports. Plus, be proactively prepared in the event of an audit. Demonstrate your client’s “best efforts” to comply with the law.
  • Ongoing Compliance. Regular, automated network scans detect ongoing issues, identify potential threats, and provide alert notifications, the company says.

It's safe to expect Kaseya to drive home those points during the Connect Europe conference, which starts October 2 in The Netherlands.

Kaseya and European MSPs: The Trends

Meanwhile, Kaseya also sees growing demand for MSPs across Europe -- though the trends vary from market to market.

In areas like the UK, Ireland and the Benelux region, small businesses increasingly outsource all of IT to MSPs. It's somewhat akin to the U.S. market, Voccola says.

But in southern Europe areas like Germany, Kaseya expects co-managed IT services (particularly in the midmarket) to be the reality for several more years to come. In other words, MSPs will work with internal IT departments for the next decade or so, before those midsize companies gradually hand over the entire IT operation to MSPs.

Of course, Kaseya isn't alone in the European market. Key rivals like ConnectWise, Continuum, Datto and SolarWinds MSP also have major footprints in the region.

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.