N-Able Midmarket Program Passes Leads To VARs

The N-able Midmarket Partner Program is based on feedback from new N-able partners who were looking to manage and monitor devices on behalf of some of their larger clients, said Mike Cullen, vice president of sales at N-able.

"There's a strong pull from IT departments looking for products like ours. Historically, we've only dealt with the MSP opportunity. Part of it is the current recession, and IT departments are looking for the same efficiencies that MSPs have," Cullen said.

N-able plans to market its technology direct to midmarket customers, but pass all the leads on to solution providers.

"That [marketing to end users] is a big shift for us. That makes us the first of our peer group to do so. We will work with any OS. We see more Linux as we move up the market. We've always been a cross-platform company and we're one of the only ones to manage network devices," Cullen said.

The feature set for the midmarket is similar to what MSPs want, Cullen added. "The midmarket company is using a disparate number of tools to do the regular functionality of our platform. They've got monitoring products, management, reporting, patch update products, software distribution. They tend to be quite disparate," he said.

N-able's technology allows midmarket companies to standardize on one services platform, he said. For the midmarket, customers can purchase a license for internal use or subscribe to a hosted model. Both models are available only through solution providers, Cullen said.

"Internal IT departments [at midsize companies] are not rushing toward the SaaS [software as a service] offerings right away. They like to see it, in-house, first," Cullen said. "We've got both offerings out. They can pay in a subscription, or a perpetual license."

Midmarket companies should see a quick return on investment, according to Cullen. "We see MSPs supporting 350 to 450 desktops. In the midmarket, you might see a single IT person support 120 to 150 desktops. That's two to three times the cost, with less interruption," he said.

N-able used its Elite partners to pilot the program, one of whom said the Midmarket Program serves as a great lead-generation tool.

"The network has become a strategic asset -- especially in the midmarket where companies are eager to find ways to optimize their IT infrastructure and maximize productivity without scrapping everything and starting new," said Jason Caras, CEO of IT Authorities in Tampa, Fla. "By participating in N-able's new Midmarket Partner Program, we're receiving warm leads into new clients and additional support from N-able's sales team to help attract new business and close more deals."