As digital transformation efforts continue across industries, there is perhaps no more crucial business function within the modern enterprise than the IT team.
From plugging gaps within organizational technology stacks, to ensuring flawless user experiences every step of the way, shoring up distributed endpoint estates and helping modernize operations while cutting costs, the role IT teams play is critical.
In today’s rapidly evolving technical world, IT departments can only be as successful as the technology and solutions that they deploy, however. As customer expectations increase, alongside a widening digital landscape fraught with nightmarish risk, it’s critical that business leaders choose to partner with trusted software providers that meet expectations while catering to individual needs.
It’s this mantra that inspired Sal Sferlazza, CEO and co-founder of automated endpoint management platform provider, NinjaOne, to launch the company and shake up the industry more than a decade ago.
Founded in 2013, NinjaOne automates the hardest parts of IT, delivering real-time visibility, security, and control over all endpoints. The solution is used by more than 20,000 IT teams in over 120 countries globally.
With a portfolio of services spanning remote monitoring and management (RMM) software, patch management, mobile device management (MDM), backup services and more, the company caters to all needs.
However, in an increasingly competitive marketplace, what differentiates NinjaOne is its tireless approach to customer engagement and support. The company places a strong focus on fostering close collaborative ties with both enterprise end-users and managed service providers (MSPs) to provide support across the breadth of the IT supply chain.
Outlining the company’s manifesto in a recent LinkedIn post, Sferlazza specifically notes the shared values that NinjaOne has with the MSPs it works with.
“MSPs care about value to their customers and driving efficiency and profitability –characteristics that are the cornerstone of the NinjaOne culture,” Sferlazza says.
“When we started NinjaOne, we knew that MSPs have been long underserved. We wanted to build a cloud-first, next generation platform that was simple, easy to use, secure, and highly scalable.”
NinjaOne’s approach in this regard has earned it a reputation as a highly trusted, leading IT services provider – and one that boasts a 98% Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score.
However, the company isn’t content resting on its laurels, and as NinjaOne continues to grow, Sferlazza says the organization wants to “make sure we stay close to the roots that have made us successful”.
This includes building on strong industry relationships and maintaining strong investment in its product portfolio and customer support offerings, all while continuing to move upmarket.
For example, the company currently overinvests in customer support by up to three-times the industry average, according to Sferlazza, but he wants to take this further.
An old-school philosophy for modern business
Continuous investment in technology remains a key goal at NinjaOne, enabling it to continue providing best-in-class services for organizations of all sizes. This approach centers on what Sferlazza describes as an “old-school philosophy”.
“We build the features and products that persuade customers to join our platform and never want to leave,” he says.
NinjaOne is constantly iterating on its industry-leading platform to ensure that customers are getting maximum value out of its offerings. Engagement with industry stakeholders and partners is essential here, both to ensure the company maintains a varied product portfolio and to gauge ecosystem sentiment on tooling as it rolls out.
NinjaOne’s public product roadmap, for example, draws upon a combination of end-user engagement and expert analysis of industry trends and requirements.
“We talk to customers a lot,” Sferlazza says. “We hire subject matter experts, including ex-MSP product managers who intimately understand your pain.”
All told, NinjaOne has rolled out over 250 features, enhancements, and product updates so far across 2024, with each of these specifically guided by direct customer feedback, the company says.
Thoughtful innovation in the age of AI
“Endpoint management is hard,” says Sferlazza. With this in mind, it’s critical that IT teams have the support of trusted software providers and associated partners to drive IT and business success.
Research from IDC, for example, shows around 70% of employees use at least two endpoint devices each day. According to ESG, 77% of organizations have experienced a cyberattack that started via an exploit of an unknown, unmanaged, or poorly managed endpoint. In other words, the risks associated with unmanaged devices are significant, and so too are disparate devices.
NinjaOne is conscious of the challenges faced here, therefore tool consolidation has been a key focus as part of its engagement with partners and customers.
“We have the discipline to know when to build vs. partner on products. Even with tool consolidation, we recognize that we can’t build everything. This is why for security we partner with world class security products.” Sferlazza explains.
Now, with the advent of generative AI, the company is taking an intentional approach. While the technology has huge potential for enterprises, Sferlazza says NinjaOne is keen to avoid product development for the sake of product development.
Avoiding hype here and curating finely-tuned, enterprise-ready tools will be vital to future success.
“We build thoughtfully and intentionally,” he says.
In October, NinjaOne announced fresh investment in the technology, unveiling its NinjaOne AI for Patch Sentiment tool. This new feature offers users AI-powered sentiment analysis capabilities to inform patch management processes.
The tool will provide IT teams with detailed insights on when best to deploy patches, as well as features to help identify if patches contain potential flaws.
The launch of this new feature represents another step toward improving endpoint and patch management efficiency – a process that has traditionally been laborious due to the need for IT teams to manually monitor, research, and test patches.
Looking ahead, Sferlazza says the company’s goal is to continue investing in its platform and product portfolio to “ensure customer happiness”. This includes bringing to market new features and products aimed specifically at streamlining development and maintenance – further delivering on the company’s promise to “automate the hardest parts of IT” for customers.
“10+ years later, we’re still founder-owned and led, and our north star continues to be delivering a world-class user experience for our customers,” says Sferlazza.
After all, today’s IT organizations set the tone for the modern enterprise.
With all this in mind, seamless endpoint management, always-on support and enablement, and partners deeply committed to customers’ success are critical for building a resilient and lasting IT strategy – and fueling a more successful business – in the year ahead.
For more information on NinjaOne and its collaboration with industry partners, please visit the NinjaOne website.
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