ConnectWise CEO: We're Reinventing Our Platform So VARs Can Reinvent Their Businesses

ConnectWise is reinventing itself, CEO Arnie Bellini said, and he challenged solution providers to use the new tools to do the same with their own businesses.

In his opening keynote at the 10th annual IT Nation in Orlando, Fla., Bellini said that ConnectWise is dedicated to the idea of reinvention, which he defined as creating something in a new way by combining ideas together, instead of starting over from scratch. That is more important today than ever, he said, as the pace of change in the market continues to accelerate.

"What we're looking at today is massive technology change that is creating worlds of opportunity for us," Bellini said.

[Related: ConnectWise Launches ChatAssist For Integrated Chat, Remote Control Capabilities]

As examples, Bellini showed how Tesla has changed the automobile industry and how Uber has disrupted the taxi market. Companies in the channel are able to create the same kind of disruption, he said, showing how some solution providers have taken major steps to change both their businesses and their communities for the better using the new opportunities in the market. He challenged the audience of more than 2,500 attendees to do the same with their own businesses.

"My challenge to you is that every single one of you, if you back off and think about technology, think about your business. You have this incredible opportunity to reinvent yourself," Bellini said. "I'm telling you -- when you reinvent yourself, amazing things can happen."

ConnectWise has worked over the past year to reinvent itself, as well, under the idea of being "brain-friendly," which means going beyond building a stronger user experience to building one that just makes sense, said April Taylor, senior product manager. To that end, the 2015.1 update will be a "new look of ConnectWise," she said, making it easier to navigate and use the functionalities of the platform. Features demoed at the event included a top navigation bar with a way to quickly add new records; access the 30 most recent pages; a search function; help for all employees without an administrator; pushing more screens into the browser; and email connection options.

NEXT: 'Reinvent the World'

CEO Bellini also highlighted an increasing focus on mobile functionality for ConnectWise, bringing all tickets and documents down to the mobile app. Users also will be able to log time on projects, sign off on completed projects and submit expense reports through the app. ConnectWise also is bringing the app to Windows Phones, Bellini said.

ConnectWise has been ramping up its focus on business intelligence, with a new dedicated team and feature rollouts, Bellini said. Matt Moore, business intelligence manager, demonstrated how the 2015.1 update will bring business intelligence in the browser into sales and service engineers, as well as building custom reports.

ConnectWise also highlighted its ChatAssist launch in September, an add-on that provides for remote control and chat capabilities within the platform.

These new features will be available when the update rolls out in the first quarter of next year.

"We do listen and we are responding, and I think what you are seeing is some pretty rapid innovation coming from ConnectWise," Bellini said.

Partners in the audience cheered the changes, bursting out in applause at most of the improvements mentioned. Wayne Surrett, owner of Columbia, S.C.-based Tec Support Group, was no exception, saying that he loved all the new changes.

"I'm excited about it," Surrett said. "A lot of the things that they were talking about was stuff we can use. I think they're making it easier for MSPs to do their job."

Surrett said that he thinks that the changes will make it easier for ConnectWise to onboard new clients, something he said was a challenge for his business.

That innovation won't slow down, Bellini said, as the company plans to invest more than $139 million over the next year into new features and functionalities.

Some of those investments include extending the current API base and building more integrations, Jeannine Edwards, director of ConnectWise Platform, said. That includes an expanded team dedicated to building APIs into the platform. Some of the "game-changing" APIs that Edwards previewed on stage include a Scheduling API, a Project API and an Agreement API.

"We want ConnectWise to integrate to everything, virtually everything," Edwards said on stage.

For resellers looking to migrate clients to the cloud, the company previewed a cloud-migration and management tool that will walk a migration through the original sales opportunity, through the project creation and actually perform the migration itself with just a few clicks.

Other features include active directory integration, billing by user, a marketing manager and "Project Sherlock," a natural language search function that "changes everything."

While Bellini said that he believes that all the innovations, both in the 2015.1 update and in the pipeline, will help change the way that solution providers can function, he said it is up to them to take it one step further and use the tools to affect change in the market.

"We think the real opportunity is right here with you -- that you can absolutely reinvent the world," Bellini said. "My challenge to you is to go do just that: Reinvent the world."

PUBLISHED NOV. 13, 2014