More PSA Software Companies Seek MSP, IT Services Spotlight -

Within the crowded PSA (professional services automation) software market, several companies are trying to rise above the noise -- and perhaps even give Autotask and ConnectWise a run for their money supporting MSPs and IT services providers.

Among the moves we noticed this week:

Khamma Group, an IT service provider, has deployed Promys PSA to consolidate managed services contracts, ticketing, CRM, quoting and more.
Mavenlink says it has been ranked as a Leader in G2 Crowd’s Professional Services Automation (PSA) grid.
And Kimble has announced a “raft of new customers” — including consulting organizations that have deployed the company’s PSA platform.

Of course, ya gotta be careful when reporting about "momentum" announcements and customer wins.

Sometimes the victory celebrations get overblown. After all, when an MSP organization called The 20 switched from ConnectWise Manage to Kaseya BMS, some of the media reports treated it like a wholesale stampede toward the Kaseya PSA camp. It wasn't. Sure, Kaseya is back in growth mode. But rip-and-replace PSA moves, generally speaking, are rare these days. And some folks failed to notice The 20 was actually sponsoring the Kaseya Connect customer summit at the time of the big "migration" announcement.

IT Services Software Consolidation

Overall, the MSP- and IT services-centric software market -- particularly in the SMB sector -- has largely consolidated around five vendors: Autotask, ConnectWise, Continuum, Kaseya and SolarWinds MSP.

But several sectors, including the PSA and RMM (remote monitoring and management) have shown a remarkable ability to spring forth new players. Auvik, for instance, just yesterday announced nearly US$12 million in new venture funding for the company's network-centric RMM platform, while upstarts like Atera and Pulseway each have promoted PSA and RMM suites to MSPs in recent quarters.

Most of the companies above mainly have "sell-to" models, which means MSPs and IT services providers mostly consume the software. But there's also the fast-rising "sell-through" MSP model, where companies like Datto, Intronis MSP Solutions, and numerous business continuity/security companies have made their money.

Back in the PSA sector, I've certainly heard about Promys and Kimble over the years. But Mavenlink is a newer name for me -- among the 20 other PSA-oriented companies we've been tracking.

Got Profits?

I guess the bottom line is this: Just when I think the IT services automation market has matured and consolidated, more players always seem to pop up -- claiming their own recipe for victory. Customer wins are impressive and deserve some attention. But I wish we'd hear more about financial growth -- revenues, profits, etc. Only then can we separate the leaders from fledging upstarts... and the pretenders.