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Channel partner programs are widely available from virtually every vendor in the space, as tech companies rely on partnerships in many cases to build new lines of opportunity and brand awareness through the channel to enterprises of all sizes.
David Weeks, VP of Partner Experience at N-able, has spent the past 16 years leading the continuity vendor’s partner program globally. He recently spoke with Channel Insider about how N-able builds its education, enablement, and sales resources, how he hopes partners take advantage of those resources, and where he sees the market trending into early 2025.
N-able technology: built for MSPs with partner feedback in mind
N-able offers an array of solutions addressing needs ranging from RMM and cloud management to backup and disaster recovery. They also provision MSPs looking for tools to help them scale their businesses while provisioning EDR, DNS filtering, and other security solutions.
“Our roadmap is guided by and inspired by the feedback we get from our partners on what they want and need from us,” Weeks said. “You can’t be everything to everyone as a vendor, but we want to be the best of breed with what we can and always look to the future.”
“If our partners, and the channel widely, continue to grow, then we can grow too,” Weeks added, highlighting that N-able has access to the “collective expertise and understanding” of 25,000 MSPs worldwide.
This vision for collective success has also shaped how Weeks and the vendor more broadly approach integrations within their various solutions and platforms. Weeks highlights the N-able Ecoverse and its long list of API capabilities and supported third-party tools as a demonstration of commitment to the partner before a desire to sell.
“In some cases our tools may not be the best option for a provider, and that’s okay,” Weeks said. “We believe we need to let partners use what does work in tandem with the solutions of ours they choose to leverage.”
Not every partner trusts vendors, but they may be leaving opportunity on the table
Weeks said he often feels partners do not take full advantage of programmatic resources offered by vendors for a variety of reasons, but especially because they don’t trust a vendor and their motives in creating resources.
“I see a lot that people believe a vendor is just there to sell them stuff,” Weeks said, adding that “is not always the case” for every vendor.
“There are some out there that just want to sell, sell, sell, and once a partner has a bad experience with someone, they feel like every vendor is the same. We try our hardest to show we aren’t like that.”
And in truth, N-able, like every vendor, does see MSPs and other channel businesses as a necessary component of their growth strategy. To Weeks, that is less an indicator of pure sales strategy and more a desire to see the entire channel grow together.
N-able’s resources are not only focused on tech advancement, either. The company added two M&A experts to its partner team to advise MSPs on preparing for potential acquisitions and purchases depending on the businesses’ goals. The team will work with interested equity firms and partners to advise on potential acquisition activity, but it will not broker any deals.
“M&A will really heat up in 2025, even more than we’ve seen to date. We want to help providers as they start to look at where they want to be in the next five or 10 years and help them prepare for that,” said Weeks.
Security remains top of mind to Weeks, providers
It should come as no surprise that security concerns top the list of trends Weeks has on his mind as 2024 winds down and 2025 planning begins. Within the vast topic Weeks and the N-able team have placed particular emphasis on the next evolution of how providers best serve their clients.
“The next evolution of the MSP is going to center on whether partners can advise and become a security consultant to its clients, and not simply sell and manage the technology clients leverage to address security,” Weeks said.
“Partners now need to decide whether they will shift to becoming an MSSP or if they will whitelabel security tech. MSPs can’t be everything to everyone, but deciding what to be will be important.”
Cloud cost management a growing focus for channel providers, vendors, and customers alike
Also on Weeks’ radar is the increasing attention on cloud cost management and visibility. After years of widespread cloud adoption and migration efforts, enterprises are now beginning to question cloud spend and look at ROI on projects differently.
This also dovetails into the security conversations partners need to have with clients, as enterprises on the cloud have more ways to connect with tech than ever before, and that means more endpoints to protect and threats to monitor.
All of this can be overwhelming to some MSPs who struggle to find and retain skilled talent in a difficult labor market. Weeks said he and the N-able team believe the question “who do I hire” will be one of the most important things to focus on for partners looking to take advantage of opportunities in 2025 and beyond.
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