The new version of AVG’s RMM platform reworks the platform around the MSPs business processes, greatly reducing installation time and building customizable customer service plans right into the RMM solution.
Ryan Vallee, product management lead at AVG Business
AVG has released the 10.0 version of its AVG Business Managed Workplace remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform. The emphasis in 10.0 is not about adding new capabilities as much as it is optimizing and simplifying existing services. The platform has been redesigned to work in harmony with how the MSP does business, automating configuration and deployment and integrating a range of service contracts into the platform itself.
“The competitive landscape for RMMs today involves a steep learning curve, because while RMMs today are very powerful, they are also very complex,” said Ryan Vallee, product management lead at AVG Business, who guides the strategy for the Managed Workplace portfolio. “This complexity has a cost in time to MSPs, who can take 35 to 40 steps to configure a client. MSPs want an RMM solution that supports their business goals and empowers the MSP to achieve them. Managed Workplace 10.0 provides that business purpose. Before 10.0, MSPs had to spend time configuring all those policies. Now it’s a singular, simplified service delivery model.”
Vallee illustrated the increased simplicity with a specific example.
“Previously, to configure, say, Path Management, you had to go into the Path Management configuration section, ask what the customer network looked like and do the appropriate configurations. And for the next question it would be the same questions, but because the networks wouldn’t be the same, it might be a completely different configuration, so the process couldn’t be made repeatable.”
Vallee said the big change here in 10.0 is that this process is now all automated.
“The approach in 10.0 allows for auto-application rules for all the policy types, so we can seek out and find each device and apply the maintenance to it,” he said. “It takes a lot of the manual component out of configuring the RMM, and because it fits directly into the maintenance contracts, it basically makes the RMM part of your workforce. Now instead of taking 35 or 40 steps to configure the customer, the RMM quickly is enrolling them within a service plan.”
The platform has three out-of-the-box service plans – Reactive, Proactive and Fixed Fee – and also allows partners to create their own customized plans. In Managed Workplace 9x, the service plans revolved around monitoring and alerting, but has now been significantly expanded to add automation, path management, AV management, backup management and reporting. The plans involve any variation of services, and permit specificity in, for example, alignments for the different types of server functionality in service maintenance. All are based on the auto-application of the core RMM solution set and its mapping to specific customer SLAs.
“The difference in the service plans is based on customer sensitivity to downtime, which will determine whether they want a proactive model or not,” Vallee said. “The MSP can set up a service plan by site or, in a hybrid fashion by devices, supporting network devices, servers and workstations separately in case the customer attaches different priorities to them. MSPs also have the granularity to turn on and off different types of services for the unique aspects of a given customer.”
The configuration process now uses a five-step wizard to fully onboard a set of services to a customer.
“We have a new and much more graphical services dashboard, which provides a look at exactly what’s happening,” Vallee said. “You can take action and deploy from the actions-based dashboard, which empowers technical teams to take appropriate actions quickly.” In contrast, Vallee said the old dashboard was more focused around alerts, and was much less graphical.”
Managed Workplace 10 has been available to partners in AVG’s early adopter program, and Vallee said the feedback has been phenomenal.
“There has been real excitement from partners at having the service plans right within the RMM solution, as well as about that granularity and clarity when customers are on-boarded. For the first time, MSPs have access to a business solution that puts their needs first, and enables them to be true security experts to their customers.”
AVG Managed Workplace 10.0 is available now.
