5 ways an open ecosystem leads your business to success

The difference between success and failure often comes down to the choices we make. Imagine then, if the field of opportunity was reduced by half. A Thanos snap, if you will, of available vendors, requiring you to change the business you’ve built based only on another company’s whims.

At ConnectWise, we understand how important it is for our partners to make the right choices for their businesses. And the freedom to make that choice is the most important part. That’s why we value an open ecosystem.

As ConnectWise founder Arnie Bellini stated in a previous blog post, our ecosystem is comprised of four parts—customers, solutions, teams, and services. And success is truly tied to the right representations in all those parts. The right team members MUST be able to provide the right solutions and services to produce satisfied customers—something you can only get from an open ecosystem.

Here are five reasons why an open ecosystem is better for your business.

1. Collaboration and innovation—Companies with an open ecosystem foster a larger marketplace of ideas that allow the best and brightest innovations to come forward. This allows MSPs to take advantage of the innovation being fostered and provide your customers with the best solutions on the market—that all happen to integrate with the best MSP platform out there!
2. Simply the best—You should be able to partner with the best vendors in the industry—not just the solution a platform provider can afford. With the rise of M&A activity, the build, partner, or buy question becomes increasingly important. A closed platform means that you, as an MSP, are restricted to whatever solution the host company was able to negotiate. You’re stuck. With an open ecosystem platform, if that company still doesn’t meet your needs, you have options.
3. A Diamond in the rough—Your technology stack is your differentiator and can set you apart from your competition. Every MSP has its niche—the market they understand and have spent years developing expertise around. You should be able to choose which solutions are best for your clients. But in a closed ecosystem, the platform provider chooses for you, which means your clients may not receive the best solution for their unique needs.
4. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, but it could be so much better!—Don’t make a solution fit because you ‘have to.’ Like number three above, you may be compelled to make do with a product you don’t believe in. You’ve spent years developing your business. Don’t let a platform company come in and force you to change your offering to fit in with their tech stack. And that means you may only be happy with 75% of the solution.
5. Strength in numbers—Some of the biggest names in the industry recognize the importance of and have developed extremely strong ecosystems. It’s no surprise that ConnectWise is in good company by offering an open ecosystem. Cisco, IBM, Red Hat, and Google all know that open ecosystems are the way to offer true value and customer success.

At ConnectWise, we’ve spent decades developing expertise around the MSP market and we’re truly dedicated to the success of our partners. Our open ecosystem is just one of the many ways we help our partners along the path to success.