‘Kaseya 365 is a product franchise. We’ve launched our first two versions, endpoint and user, and we’re releasing the next installment at [Kaseya’s] Connect [conference later this month] with another coming in September. Each release will build on the last, with deeper integrations and better functionality,’ says Kaseya’s new CPO Jim Lippie.
Kaseya has named SaaS Alert co-founder Jim Lippie as chief product officer, making him the first C-level executive at the company who began his Kaseya journey as a customer. He assumes his new role on Monday.
Lippie was co-founder and CEO of Allentown, Pa.-based vendor SaaS Alerts, which was acquired by Kaseya last October. He also previously worked for Kaseya as general manager and SVP from 2017 to 2021.
“It’s easy to say I’m excited for this role,” he told CRN. “I signed our first contract with Kaseya in the spring of 2005 as a managed service provider. So now, stepping into this role, I get to look at every decision through the lens of the customer, because I’ve literally been in their shoes. I think that experience gives me a unique perspective. I’ve seen the market from the outside, worked through acquisitions and now I’m back to help foster innovation on behalf of the customer.”
The appointment comes three months after former CEO Fred Voccola unexpectedly stepped aside. A Kaseya spokesperson declined to comment on the appointment of a new CEO when asked by CRN.
[Related: Kaseya CEO Shakeup Is A ‘Sea Change’ For MSPs]
In his new role, Lippie will lead a global team of more than 1,000 and will oversee the continued evolution of the Miami-based vendor’s flagship Kaseya 365 platform.
“Kaseya 365 is a product franchise,” he said. “We’ve launched our first two versions, endpoint and user, and we’re releasing the next installment at [Kaseya’s] Connect [conference later this month] with another coming in September. Each release will build on the last, with deeper integrations and better functionality.”
He also said that Kaseya is preparing its largest product investment in recent years, though details are still under wraps.
“We’re working through an operational plan that will lead to significant investment,” he said. “Most of that will go into R&D, particularly in backup, security, RMM [remote monitoring and management] and AI.”
Pete Peterson, CEO of Chesapeake, Va.-based MSP Merit 2.0, said Lippie overseeing product at Kaseya gives him “renewed optimism” around the company’s ability to unify its expanding suite of tools.
“Kaseya has done a phenomenal job over the past five years identifying strategic acquisitions,” he told CRN. “Now, it’s about getting the ball over the goal line. I want to see Kaseya become as well-engineered and reliable as SaaS Alerts was.”
Now, he wants to see execution.
“Most MSPs have made a bet, either on Kaseya or ConnectWise. We bet on Kaseya and we bet on Jim,” he said. “If they can deliver seamless integration, transparency and real-time visibility into how each system supports MSPs and their clients, I’d be the happiest guy in the industry.”
Michael Cervino, CEO and co-founder of Doylestown, Pa.-based Circle Square Consulting, uses two Kaseya products to run his organization and said some of the vendor’s products have not aged as well as others. That is one of the reasons he adopted smaller, more technologically sophisticated rivals for his PSA and RMM needs.
“Any change you hope that it is for the positive,” he told CRN. “I will remain cautiously optimistic. They’ve got to do something because they are bleeding market share if you look at how Halo and Ninja are creeping up.”
Jason Slagle, president of Toledo, Ohio-based CNWR Inc., said this personnel move responds to a need he sees in the marketplace, which is around building products that work well together. While many have pitched a fully integrated solution, none have delivered.
“Bringing a strong chief product officer in that can look at the holistic portfolio and even competitive portfolios and try to build best in class integrations between them, I think is more important than trying to move into new areas of product,” he said. “What we’re after out of our companies is a little more synergy so we’re not having to log in to seven different tools.”
It will also give Kaseya a chance to evaluate its product stack, which has been blended through repeated acquisitions and the integrations that follow. Slagle said under former CEO Fred Voccola’s leadership, the strategy was to push customers to move wider across Kaseya’s portfolio, rather than try to win more new customers with their existing core products.
“However, many of their core products are actually sticky to customers, and a lot of those core products they are behind the times, and they are not as good as their competitors,” Slagle said.
Lippie emphasized that his return to Kaseya is about the community. While he wouldn’t divulge too much about announcements at the vendor’s upcoming conference, he said product launches and a deeper dive into the company’s AI philosophy are expected to be revealed.
“I’ll be on stage at Connect, and I’ll relate to every person in that audience because I’ve been all of them: customer, employee, sponsor,” he said. “And now, as CPO, I’m here to advocate for them.”
