Syncro’s New XMM Platform Aims to Help MSPs Reduce RMM and PSA Tool Sprawl

MSP platform vendor Syncro has unveiled its new Extended Monitoring and Management (XMM) platform that now integrates three important MSP services into one, making it easier for MSPs to better serve their business customers. The new XMM offering was created in collaboration with Microsoft and includes integration with several Microsoft applications and services.

The unified Syncro XMM platform brings together Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), Professional Services Automation (PSA), and Microsoft 365 multi-tenant management into a single service offering for MSPs, relieving them of the burden of configuring and managing three separate products for customers, Dee Zepf, the chief product officer of Syncro, told ChannelE2E. The built-in Microsoft integrations include Microsoft Secure Score, Defender Antivirus and Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), which give MSPs the tools that will allow them to securely manage their clients' cloud infrastructures.

“Syncro's deep collaboration with Microsoft is core to XMM’s innovation,” said Zepf. “Most solutions today force MSPs to juggle a stack of loosely integrated tools: a PSA, an RMM, and often multiple separate tools to manage Microsoft 365. XMM changes that. It is a unified solution that is built from the ground up to work together. XMM simplifies deployment, reduces operational complexity, and strengthens security, helping MSPs deliver more value with less effort.”

The services integrations were suggestions from MSPs, said Zepf. “The idea came directly from the challenges MSPs told us they were facing – tool sprawl, increasing security risks, and the need to operate more efficiently,” she said.

“Not only did our MSP partners specifically ask us to help them manage Microsoft 365, but they also told us they were frustrated by how many tools they had to manage and by how much work it was to integrate and get those tools to work together. They wanted deeper integration, less manual effort, and better visibility across their environments. We worked closely with our customers, partners, and Microsoft to envision what the ideal platform would look like, and that collaboration led to XMM.”

Removing Integration Risks with XMM: Analyst

Rob Enderle, principal analyst of Enderle Group, told ChannelE2E that Syncro’s new combined XMM platform will be helpful for MSPs and their business customers.

“Bringing products together like this means Syncro is assuring the integration between them, removing the integration risk for everyone else,” said Enderle. “Microsoft typically does a poor job of this, so an integration effort is very much appreciated by end customers.”

The combination of these pre-packaged and pre-combined components will be a boon for already busy MSPs, he added.

“It removes a lot of the friction on both making the sale and integrating the result, giving buyers critical piece of mind that what they bought will actually perform as promised,” said Enderle. “It is one of the better ways to show value as it addresses a problem that would otherwise have to be considered an open-ended risk of the separate offerings not playing well together. [The separate products would have also] required a lot of expensive custom and unbudgeted work to reach an acceptable level of performance and interoperation.”

The new Syncro XMM services continue a trend of a security services expansion by many vendors to assist their customers, said Enderle. “Security remains a top topic with exposures and exploits reaching [corporate] board levels [within companies], which continue to fund increased security expending.  But interoperation problems often plague the result so a security solution that assures interoperability should be very well received, driving interest in MSPs to up their security offerings.”

Key Features of the Syncro XMM Platform

In addition to integrating RMM, PSA and several Microsoft services for MSPs, the Syncro XMM platform simplifies operations by consolidating IT management, security, and automation, while also improving security by automating Microsoft 365 compliance monitoring, security hygiene, and risk assessments. In addition, the XMM platform helps MSPs to scale their businesses through integrated service automation, ticketing, and Microsoft 365 multi-tenant management, according to Syncro.

In April, Syncro added built-in network discovery capabilities to its unified Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) and Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform that allows MSPs to easily manage their customers’ connected devices.