Q&A: ConnectWise’s Jeff Bishop on RMM Trends, Challenges, and Priorities for 2025

The Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) space is rapidly evolving as organizations face increasing complexity from hybrid IT environments, rising security threats, and growing compliance pressures.

“The shift to cloud and hybrid environments increases the number of possible attack vectors,” says Jeff Bishop, EVP & GM of Product Management and Asio Platform at ConnectWise. “With cybercriminals hyper-focused on the confidential data stored by MSPs, poorly configured cloud services, insecure endpoints, or vulnerabilities can expose organizations to breaches.”

Bishop has many years of expertise in product management and leadership. Before joining ConnectWise, Bishop was one of the founders of ScreenConnect (now ConnectWise Control), a leading remote support solution, and held technical and leadership roles at Agilent Technologies.

In this Q&A, Bishop discusses how ConnectWise’s Asio platform addresses these challenges, the trends reshaping the RMM space, and the top priorities organizations must consider as they plan for 2025.

Q. What are the biggest challenges facing organizations in the RMM space today and how are threats evolving?

The RMM space is undergoing significant changes as organizations adapt to a more complex and interconnected IT landscape. Already, 46% of organizations have implemented a hybrid cloud or hybrid multicloud IT infrastructure model today, reflecting the multitude of assets organizations manage. For RMM organizations, managing remote systems and a distributed workforce has become more complex, as they need to support a wide variety of platforms. 

What’s more, the shift to cloud and hybrid environments increases the number of possible attack vectors. With cybercriminals already increasingly hyper-focused on the confidential data stored by MSPs, poorly configured cloud services, insecure endpoints, or vulnerabilities can expose organizations to breaches. 

RMM providers and MSPs are also under increasing pressure to ensure their tools and practices comply with government regulations. Even if MSPs are not directly involved in a regulated industry, they must comply with certain laws if their clients operate in a compliance industry. This proves to be especially challenging for RMM organizations managing remote systems in multiple jurisdictions with different laws.

Q. How does the ConnectWise platform help teams address these challenges, and how do you differentiate the platform in this competitive space?

As the leading software company dedicated to the success of MSPs, ConnectWise has been at the forefront of identifying trends and helping teams address the various challenges they face in today’s fast-evolving landscape. 

One of our biggest differentiators is our open ecosystem—a collaborative and interconnected environment that fosters innovation and provides unparalleled support. It allows businesses to integrate with a wide range of third-party solutions, build custom workflows through robust APIs, and tap into a marketplace of apps and tools. With strong partnerships, a vibrant community, and vendor-neutrality, ConnectWise enables users to create tailored solutions that meet their unique needs while easily scaling as their business grows. This openness ensures adaptability, freedom, and continuous innovation within the platform.

Our platform also has security features integrated within to help MSPs secure their clients’ environments. The ConnectWise Cybersecurity Suite combines advanced threat detection, continuous monitoring, and a fully staffed Security Operations Center (SOC) to prepare your Technology Service Provider (TSP) to manage threats. Our cybersecurity solutions also integrate with a growing number of third-party tools, giving partners a say in how they build their solution stack, since every team has their own needs.

Regarding compliance, we take a proactive approach. The ConnectWise platform is routinely audited by third-party organizations and government agencies to ensure we comply with specific regulations and standards. When compared to competitors that offer standalone compliance tools, our ability to integrate security solutions and track compliance requirements within the same platform is a huge value add.

Q. What are your top recommendations for teams in the process of looking for a RMM solution?

Understanding your needs and finding the right RMM solution may sound simple, but it’s often more complex than it seems. Your RMM tool can significantly impact how effectively your organization manages its IT infrastructure, responds to threats, and delivers services to clients. To begin, a thorough review of your business goals can help guide you in the right direction—the best decision is based on your organization’s unique needs. 

The options for enterprises managing, or planning to manage, a very large client base will differ from a smaller MSP. Your business needs will change over time, and the RMM solution you choose should be able to scale and adapt as you grow. A solution that works for a small team may not be effective for a larger one, and vice versa. Cybersecurity is also a critical consideration as threats continue to evolve. Prioritizing a platform with built-in security features can help not only detect potential vulnerabilities but also mitigate risk in your clients’ environments.

Lastly, the usability of your RMM solution is crucial. For example, ConnectWise is easy to use with a simple interface and features that can help streamline IT operations. If an interface is overly complex or difficult to navigate, it can lead to inefficiencies and errors. This extends to ease of setup as well—how easy is it to deploy the solution across devices? 

Q. What trends do you expect to see in the RMM space in 2025?

RMM innovation is often influenced by larger market trends, and in 2025, this will be particularly true with expected new operating system releases from Microsoft, some end-of-life dates from Red Hat, and new updates from Apple. We expect to see a lot of hardware refreshes to support AI trends, which will create new challenges and require functionality to support the growth. 

For ConnectWise specifically, as we roll out more capabilities within Asio, our goal is to help our users gain efficiencies by consolidating the different products and services they consume into a single view where information can be correlated.

Q. In your view, what should organizations’ top RMM planning priorities for 2025 be?

I always recommend companies look at their total cost of ownership, including the cost of the tool and the people to provide upkeep and ensure that the product roadmap is aligned with their business needs. 

There are lots of great RMM solutions, but each is a bit different in its key features, cost, time to value, ongoing maintenance, and integration with the rest of the tech stack.

Further reading:

• Read our guide to the best RMM solutions for MSPs