Jay McBain, Senior Vice President, Autotask
After 90 days at Autotask, I am more excited than ever about the future of the company. Last month, the 10 year anniversary was celebrated and several significant milestones were honored:
- One of the first hosted, SaaS companies in the IT industry
- Over 4,000 customers, 40,000 users and over one million end points
- Clients in 42 countries, with 99.995% uptime
- Over 200 employees, covering 4 locations worldwide, including US, Europe, Beijing and India
- Hundreds of industry awards – perhaps most special is the 7 consecutive “Best places to work” by the Business Review
The question invariably becomes: What’s next?
Without giving up too much of the surprise from Autotask CommunITy Live in May, I wanted to give our community some highlights of where we are heading. It is no secret that Autotask has a very vibrant and active user base that is evident in these online forums. Participation in User Groups, Jam Sessions, and the Rock Star program continue to grow as well.
One trend that is evident as we progress through 2011 is the proliferation of communication vehicles. You are probably noticing that the ways your friends, family, vendors, and customers can reach you is growing exponentially. The traditional phone and email standards are now expanding to include text messaging, social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, blogs, webinars, podcasts, vodcasts, etc. In fact, there are over 30 communication vehicles that you may need to absorb.
Autotask is hard at work to simplify and customize its communication vehicles for you. Feedback has been loud and clear that you want relevant information delivered in an organized way. For example, if you prefer webinars as an information source, we will give you a schedule of upcoming events and allow you to choose different paths such as technical, business building, and business growth opportunities.
A second trend is the expansion of communities within our ecosystem. There are over 30 macro and hundreds of micro communities in our industry. Whether your specialty is virtualization or Electronic Medical Records, VoIP or small banking, Managed Services or education reform, there are associations, affiliations and peer networks meeting nationally, locally or virtually.
While Autotask can’t participate in all of them simultaneously, we are looking to add value where it makes sense. As a foundational toolset within your business, Autotask should look to partner or integrate with the key vendors and networks that you do business in. Thus, you will see a growth in our participation across this ecosystem, contributing and providing leadership to the conversation.
Finally, Autotask will look to be more visible in our own CommunITy. The best feedback we receive is directly from you. Our communication of product roadmaps, new features and functions, as well as integrations with the industry will be our core priority.
Please feel free to reach out to me personally, I look forward to being a part of your CommunITy.
Jay McBain
Work: 518-720-3500 x1363
Cell: 919-597-1945
jmcbain at autotask dot com
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