Partners Cheer Kaseya Move To Kill Auto Renewals

‘As always, Kaseya is first and foremost a customer-centric company, and we will always listen to our customers and work with them with the goal of ensuring Kaseya customers achieve the highest levels of success possible,’ says C.J. Wimley, Kaseya president and chief customer officer.

Partners say it’s “very encouraging” that software giant Kaseya has made changes to its auto-renewal policy following partner feedback.

In a letter from C.J. Wimley, president and chief customer officer of Kaseya, that was posted on the company’s website, all auto-renew agreements will be renewed at the same number of months as the previous agreement.

“In order to address some of the mechanics of the process while ensuring that the two core elements [lowest possible price and not discontinuing service] are maintained, moving forward the following adjustments are being made,” Wimley wrote.

The policy change includes that customers may opt out of the auto-renewal process during the term of their agreement by contacting their Kaseya account manager and that customers will now be notified 90 days before the renewal date.

[Related: DATTO’S ROB RAE: THERE’S MASSIVE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CHANNEL RIGHT NOW]

In addition, the Kaseya end-user license agreement (EULA) has been modified to reflect these changes.

“Kaseya is a customer-centric company and everything we do is with our customers top of mind,” Dana Liedholm, executive vice president of corporate marketing for Kaseya, told CRN in an email. “After hundreds of productive conversations with MSPs in the channel, we re-evaluated and adjusted our policy to allow for more flexible options. We want to be a true partner to our MSPs and support them as they grow their business. They spoke up and we listened, and we promise to continue to do so.”

There are no changes being announced to Datto contract terms, she added.

Barbara Paluszkiewicz, founder and CEO of CDN Technologies, an Ontario-Canada based MSP and a Datto partner, said she’s OK with the changes as long as her customer service delivery is unaffected.

“So far everyone that I’ve interacted with from both teams has been great and nice,” she told CRN. “I haven’t had any interruptions in my business with the merger.”

She also hasn’t had any issues with service or her reps since the $6.2 billion deal to buy Datto closed.

“No bumps at all,” she said.

Mark Essayian, president of Lake Forest, Calif.-based MSP KME Systems, said he will be watching over the next three to six months to see how Kaseya “adapts to Datto.”

“I was just in my ConnectWise Evolve meeting and Datto was there and they were very candid,” he said. “They’re good people and said, ‘Hey look, things are changing. We think things are going to be fine and give us some time to get these things right.’”

Essayian said he’s going to take them at their word.

“I think Kaseya is learning from Datto when they say, ‘Hey, these are our partners and this is how we do business,’” he said. “The bottom line is I see Kaseya making the effort to do things more in line in the Datto framework.”