Meet the contenders: which vendor has been shortlisted in five categories in the European MSP Innovation Awards?

CPI will shortly be celebrating this year's European MSP Innovation Award in central London at the end of the month

ConnectWise came out on top in this year's US MSP Innovation Awards held in New York in May. This month, they're contenders to win in the European MSP Innovation Awards

Congratulations for being shortlisted for five awards - more than any other vendor! What does it mean to be highlighted in this away?

It's an honour to be shortlisted for each of these awards alongside such high-quality vendors and service providers.

From an awards point of view…

• CW is credible and creditable in delivering and viewed as one of the leading.
• Testament to the teams involved in developing the programs, products and services lines as well as those creating the submissions.
• We believe we have some of the brightest minds in the industry and this recognition backs this feeling.

For a company that has been running for 40 years and defines it's mission by the success of it's partners seeing 5/6 of the businesses shortlisted for MSP of the year knowing they are in partnerships with ConnectWise is rewarding.

Does any particular category stand out for you in terms of the company's performance over the last 12 months?

The fact we have been shortlisted in each category, shows the scale and progress that ConnectWise is making across the board. Our mission is to empower IT Solution providers with unmatched software, services and community to achieve their most ambitious vision of success. The fact we are shortlisted in each category shows we are making impacts across the board.

PSA/RMM - ASIO - platform philosophy extending to an ecosystem

What trend or market change is doing the most to impact your partners, currently?

Talent: attracting and retaining talent, and scaling staff productivity.

Do you anticipate that changing over the next 12 months?

Increased risk and liability for Service providers, being actively targeted by threat actors, this is putting increasing pressure and scrutiny on the SPs. Additional increase on legislative and compliance/insurance lead requirements/pressure to be secure..

Those that haven't started in securing their own businesses and putting a go to market plan together to take advanced security to their customers will be at a disadvantage.

What are the most common questions you get from your partners?

Depending on the type of partner it can vary wildly.

We have some in start up mode that are purely looking at how they get the ball rolling - concept we call muscle and feel they are winning their first few customers on the cusp of hiring their first colleague.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have businesses that we classify as empire builders making dozens of acquisitions and working to optimise them operationally to gain an advantage in their market place through people/Process and Technology.

Could you pick out any nuances in your European channel? What is selling particularly well in specific geographies, as an example?

People like to do business with people they know, like and trust. Building credibility and expertise in a region/vertical or discipline is important.

We are seeing that those partners within countries like the Belgium & the Netherlands that have identified a niche are typically a step ahead of their competition from a business maturity perspective.

Highlight to the size and scale of the opportunity in the market and projected growth. working with our strategic partners to bring these benefits across the channel and EMEA.

What are you most excited about for the future in terms of the channel and growth?

I am excited to see the next evolution of ConnectWise the executive leadership team have an incredible exciting roadmap for investments we are making to further our mission which ultimately is measured by our partners success.

As a company we aren't scared to enter new markets and invest deeply in them through strategic partners at a regional level. As we deliver on more of these there are opportunities to help transform our partners and their businesses to new levels.