Q&A: Kaseya Sr Director On Reducing RMM Costs, Using Fewer Tools, And Tackling Ransomware

Keanan Ball is the senior director of product marketing for RMM at Kaseya, a leading provider of cybersecurity and IT management software. Kaseya offers several solutions that help MSPs to protect their customers data and respond to cybersecurity incidents, including Kaseya 365 Endpoint, and the Datto RMM platform.

Finding the best RMM platform to suit both security and customer requirements can be a significant challenge for many MSPs. Expert Insights recently reached out to Ball for an email-based Q&A to discuss the challenges facing customers and what teams should prioritize to find the right RMM solution.

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

Number one, too many tools for managing too many endpoints. There has been an explosion in both endpoint count and endpoint type over the past decade that has many IT professionals lost in the space between their many point solutions.

IT professionals can waste 15-25% of their time paying the Toggle Tax as they ‘Alt Tab’ back and forth and context switch between the many disconnected point solutions they use for managing their endpoints. In 2025, we’re going to see IT professionals reducing their software stack and replacing point solutions with unified solutions.

Second, lack of Automation. Gartner has called this decade the Age of Automation. However, IT professionals have been unable to realize this dream. IT professionals know they need to automate more, but they’re too busy to even get started. 

For too long, automation has been blocked by proprietary scripting languages and arcane workflow builders. Starting in 2024, and increasing in velocity in 2025, we’re seeing proprietary scripting languages go the way of the dinosaurs and vendors committing to supporting IT professionals with scripts and templates. We’re confident 2025 will be the year that automation is available for every IT professional and not just major enterprises with huge automation teams.

Third, ransomware. Ransomware is moving down market from exclusively targeting major enterprises and instead targeting small and midsize businesses (SMB) and middle-market enterprises (MMEs). Ransomware is going to be an even bigger issue as SMBs and MMEs are less prepared from a cybersecurity and a financial standpoint to weather a major ransomware attack. IT professionals need their security solutions like AV, AM, EDR, MDR, and CDR integrated with their RMM to detect and stop ransomware attacks faster. 

How does the Datto RMM platform help to teams address these challenges, and how do you differentiate the platform in this competitive space?

Unified RMM. Manage every device, every endpoint, everything really with Unified RMM. Manage Windows, Linux, Macs, mobile devices, VMs, and even IoT from a single pane of glass. Unify endpoint management and user management into a single platform with Datto RMM’s Microsoft 365 Management module. Datto RMM also has built-in ransomware detection and both endpoint and user account quarantining capabilities to stop cybersecurity threats in their tracks.

Capabilities and Content. Datto RMM is committed to supporting our customers not just through the new feature and integration work, but also with the templates, scripts and monitoring sets that IT professionals need to do their job. With Datto RMM, you receive monthly releases that include not only new features (like our M365 Management Module or our Intune integration), but also 10 new reporting templates for an updated compliance framework and 12 new scripts based on customers’ requests. Datto RMM is the right platform today and for tomorrow.

Datto RMM is created with a relentless focus on security. With no hardware to maintain and a 99.99% availability, we make it easy for you to focus on your network. We are committed to the platform’s security and enabling you to better secure endpoints. Datto RMM has deep native integrations with leading cybersecurity tools and built in Ransomware Detection and both endpoint and user account quarantining capabilities to ensure your users, data, and network are protected.

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

1. Always trial the product before you buy. There’s a lot of misinformation floating around on Reddit from all directions. Get into the product you’re considering and make sure it meets your needs. While trialling the product, test how responsive the company behind the product is. Ask for support in setting up automation and see if engineers get assigned to support you, or if it’s their standard salespeople getting involved. 
2. Less tools, better tools. With the rise of unified RMMs like Datto RMM, you don’t need 3 to point solutions just for managing your endpoints. Save your organization a lot of money, and yourself a lot of headaches, by choosing a tool that can manage every endpoint in your network. Additionally, best-in-class tools like Datto RMM can also manage your user accounts through M365 from the same management console as you manage your endpoints.
3. Content is just as important as product capabilities. Many tools in this space love to market their reporting modules or their automations engines; however, these tools have no templates, scripts, or content to support you using these powerful modules. IT professionals are usually too busy to start from scratch on an end-to-end automated workflow or a fancy report. Choose a vendor and a product that will continue to support you with each release with the content and templates you need to do your job.

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

1. Reduced prices – With the launch of Kaseya 365 Endpoint in April 2024 (at a price that IT professionals can afford), we’ve seen prices dropping across the industry. Vendors will look to recoup revenue lost from lowering prices from other channels. 
2. Unified platforms – While IT professionals have been promised a “single pane of glass management” experience for close to 20 years, the dream of a unified platform for managing every device and user account in your network is here at last. We will see many organizations swapping to unified platforms and every vendor racing to build their own platform to rival Kaseya 365. Single solution vendors will rely on acquisition or third-party partnerships to achieve this goal.
3. Ransomware isn’t going anywhere – Threat actors have realized that SMBs and MMEs are a much easier target, and they can achieve the same revenue totals from a volume-based play. Put another way, we’re going to see a heck of a lot more ransomware attacks in 2025 against smaller, less prepared targets.

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

Focus on automation from an iterative design perspective. Just do a little bit each week and you’ll find in just a few months that you have automated many of the most common or tedious tasks and tickets that your organization faces weekly. If your RMM isn’t supporting you in this endeavour, from either a content/templates perspective or from an inability to manage every device in your portfolio, then it’s time to make a change. Luckily, with prices dropping across the industry and the rise of true unified RMMs like Datto RMM, there’s never been a better time to upgrade.

Further reading:

• Learn more about Datto RMM
• Read our guide to the best RMM solutions for MSPs