GFI MAX® partners’ top priorities for 2012 include cloud computing, preparing their businesses for growth and introducing more managed services to customers
GFI Software today announced that more than 5,000 managed services providers (MSPs) are using GFI MAX RemoteManagement™ to support more than 65,000 networks worldwide. This more than doubles the GFI MAX™ customer base over the last two years, with strong growth in the U.S. and internationally. These new milestones solidify the position of GFI MAX as a market-leading managed services platform with a scale and breadth of services that very few in the industry can match.
“We’ve successfully grown our partner base by focusing on what MSPs need to profitably grow their businesses,” said Dr. Alistair Forbes, general manager of the GFI MAX Business Unit. “That starts with an easily deployed RMM platform, competitive pricing and simple billing, and a commitment to enhancing the solution through the integration of new services to create incremental revenue opportunities for our partners.”
Through the GFI MAX dashboard—with which MSPs remotely manage all of their customers’ networks in one consolidated view—MSPs can also deploy managed antivirus, patch management and vulnerability scanning, as well as remotely controlling desktops and workstations. These capabilities will be further complemented by the forthcoming launch of an integrated online backup solution, as well as the integration of the GFI MAX hosted email security and archiving solution, and the Monitis cloud services monitoring technology. The majority of MSPs using GFI MAX are using one or more of these services in addition to the remote network monitoring, management and remediation provided by GFI MAX RemoteManagement.
“GFI MAX makes it easy for MSPs to deliver new services like managed antivirus to our customers,” said Martinho Galante, CEO, NJ Computer Group. “There’s no longer a need to deploy a solution from a third party and lose time managing another console, logging into someone’s portal or reconciling your invoicing with multiple providers each month. Our customers need these services, and GFI MAX is the most profitable way for us to deliver them.”
GFI MAX, with its SaaS-based delivery model, has always been the easiest solution to get up and running, but an increasing proportion of the customer base represents larger MSPs managing hundreds of servers and thousands of workstations. Overall, the number of devices under management using GFI MAX has doubled in the last year and the growth rate is still accelerating.
“We’re experiencing very exciting growth around the world, led by the U.S., a highly competitive market,” added Forbes. “Our partners are focused on growing their businesses in 2012, and we’re going to continue delivering the services and capabilities that help them do so. MAX MSPs are very bullish when it comes to managed services in 2012.”
GFI MAX Partners Optimistic About The Managed Services Market In 2012
Late last year, GFI MAX hosted a series of partner conferences in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands. Nearly 250 partners were introduced to the latest enhancements planned for GFI MAX and had the opportunity to give feedback to the GFI MAX team and interact with their peers to share best practices on a wide range of technical and MSP business management topics.
GFI MAX partners attending the conference were surveyed, and the results indicate strong optimism despite continued economic uncertainties. Survey results found that for 50% of GFI MAX partners, the biggest priority for the year ahead is either to grow their business and market share, or to organize their business in preparation for future growth. Meanwhile, GFI MAX partners are closely watching emerging cloud computing trends, with 78% saying that they are discussing cloud services with their customers.
GFI MAX Supporting The Growth Of Its MSP customers
GFI provides extensive training and managed services enablement through its Building Blocks to Managed Services Webinar Series and support materials,as well as industry trends, news, discussion and best-practice sharing through its MSP Business Management blog and LinkedIn user group.
GFI MAX RemoteManagement and other services are available for free, 30-day trials. To learn more about GFI MAX, visit www.gfi.com/max or email gfimax@gfi.com.
GFI Software was named one of the “Best Channel Vendors 2012” by Business Solutions Magazine. Based on votes from the publication’s IT reseller readership, GFI Software was rated among the top vendors in the managed services category for GFI MAX.
About GFI
GFI Software provides web and mail security, archiving and fax, networking and security software and hosted IT solutions for small to medium-sized businesses (SMB) via an extensive global partner community. GFI products are available either as on-premise solutions, in the cloud or as a hybrid of both delivery models. With award-winning technology, a competitive pricing strategy, and a strong focus on the unique requirements of SMBs, GFI satisfies the IT needs of organizations on a global scale. The company has offices in the United States, UK, Austria, Australia, Malta, Hong Kong, Philippines and Romania, which together support hundreds of thousands of installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with thousands of partners throughout the world and is also a Microsoft Gold ISV Partner.