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Stars
Core RMM Platform
Core RMM Platform holds high share with MSPs and remains a growth star as SMBs continue outsourcing IT; the managed services market is growing at roughly 8–9% CAGR through 2028 (2024 estimates). It is the daily driver—sticky and hard to rip out—so ongoing investment in features, integrations, and UX is essential to defend the lead. Keep feeding it and it will keep pulling the rest of the portfolio forward.
Endpoint Security (EDR/MDR)
Endpoint Security (EDR/MDR) sits in Stars as 2024 global cybersecurity spend topped roughly $211B and MSP demand for managed detection surged, with MDR market estimates near $6B in 2024. Tight integration with RMM gives N-able scale advantages and lowers customer acquisition costs, boosting attach rates and ARR. Continuous threat intel, SOC partnerships and partner certification pushes are required to sustain results. Invest now to convert strong growth into durable market share.
Cloud Backup & M365 Protection
Backup for SaaS and endpoints is a hot lane with recurring revenue—the cloud backup market was ~10B USD in 2024 with ~18% CAGR, driving predictable ARR. Cross-sell from RMM typically cuts churn ~25% and can boost ARPU ~20%, improving LTV. To win, N-able needs aggressive storage optimization and sub-15‑minute restore UX; with 60–70% gross margins this can graduate into a long-term cash engine.
Patch & Vulnerability Management
Patch & Vulnerability Management is a Star: rising compliance pressure and PCI/HIPAA mandates drove MSP adoption above 60% in 2024, tightly coupled to RMM workflows and delivering one-pane-of-glass value; N-able must keep catalog coverage and automation refinement to defend leadership as the vulnerability management market grows at ~8% CAGR into 2028 and broadens into risk management.
- Compliance-driven growth
- MSP share >60% (2024)
- RMM-integrated one-pane view
- Continuous catalog & automation
- Invest to lock leadership as category expands
Remote Access & Control
Remote troubleshooting is table stakes and still growing with hybrid work. Remote Access & Control is deeply integrated, high-usage and sticky; 2024 data show a 9.2% CAGR for remote support tools and 68% of US knowledge workers in hybrid roles. It demands relentless performance, security hardening, and UX polish—keep winning on speed and reliability to sustain star status.
- Category: Stars
- Usage growth: 9.2% CAGR (2024)
- Hybrid adoption: 68% US knowledge workers (2024)
- Focus: performance, security, UX
RMM, EDR/MDR & Backup drive growth — MDR ~$6B, Backup ~$10B, managed 8–9% CAGR
Stars: Core RMM, EDR/MDR, Backup, Patch/Vuln and Remote Access show high share and strong growth—managed services 8–9% CAGR to 2028; global cyber spend $211B (2024); MDR ~$6B (2024); cloud backup ~$10B (2024, ~18% CAGR); vuln mgmt ~8% CAGR; remote support 9.2% CAGR with 68% hybrid US workers (2024).
| Product | 2024 Metric | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| RMM | High MSP share | 8–9% CAGR |
| EDR/MDR | $6B market | Strong |
| Backup | $10B | ~18% CAGR |
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Cash Cows
Legacy RMM Licenses (On-Prem/Long-Tenure)
Legacy RMM licenses are a mature, stable cash cow delivering predictable recurring revenue with 2024 renewal rates around 80–90%, requiring low marketing and mostly retention and care-and-feeding. Focus on optimizing infrastructure and reducing support costs while offering migration incentives to move customers to cloud or bundles. Avoid heavy reinvestment; milk cash flows while steering clients to higher-margin managed bundles.
Email Security & Archiving
Email Security & Archiving sits in a mature SMB-focused category with steady demand; 2024 Verizon DBIR notes phishing and email-based attacks remain a top vector, sustaining baseline need. Solid margins stem from operational efficiency and predictable renewal patterns, enabling strong cash generation. Limited R&D spend concentrates on maintenance and reliability. Generated cash funds newer growth bets within N-able’s portfolio.
PSA/Ticketing Integrations
PSA/ticketing integrations are essential but mature for N-able; 2024 industry data show integrated platforms deliver roughly 10% higher customer retention than standalone tools, driving more value from existing customers rather than net-new growth. Once built, incremental maintenance costs drop significantly—focused on compatibility fixes rather than big promotions. These integrations act as reliable upsell glue, lifting attach rates by about 8% in 2024 MSP benchmarks.
Reporting & Dashboards
Reporting & Dashboards are highly used, deliver low incremental cost and are not a fast-growth driver; keep templates fresh and APIs tidy to avoid maintenance drag while leveraging dashboards as a stickiness lever inside bundles.
They generate healthy margins without big spend and reinforce retention when included in service packages.
- High usage
- Low incremental cost
- Bundle stickiness
- Healthy margin
Training & Certification Programs
Training & Certification Programs generate steady recurring enablement revenue with high attachment to N-able core products; the 2024 corporate training market is estimated at roughly $420 billion, underscoring scalable demand. Content refresh costs are materially lower than net-new R&D, enabling higher margins and faster time-to-value. Certified users reduce churn and support tickets, letting training cash flows finance riskier product bets.
- High attach rate to core products
- Lower refresh vs net-new R&D cost
- Reduces churn and support load
- Funds riskier innovation
Milk cash cows: RMM renewals 80-90%, PSA adds +10% retention
Legacy RMM, Email Security, PSA integrations, Reporting and Training are stable cash cows for N-able: 2024 renewal rates ~80–90%, email threats remain top vector per 2024 Verizon DBIR, PSA integrations +10% retention and +8% attach, corporate training market ~$420B. Focus on cost efficiency, retention, bundles and milking cashflows to fund growth bets.
| Product | 2024 Metric | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy RMM | Renewals 80–90% | Cash generator |
| Email Sec | Top attack vector (DBIR 2024) | Stable demand |
| PSA | +10% retention/+8% attach | Upsell glue |
| Training | Market ~$420B | High-margin |
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Dogs
Standalone On-Prem Backup Appliances
Standalone on-prem backup appliances sit in low-growth territory as 2024 cloud-backup adoption outpaced on-prem, with IDC reporting cloud backup market growth near 14% in 2024 while appliance demand declined; relevance has eroded vs. cloud-first backups. Ongoing maintenance and refresh cycles now often outweigh strategic value, pushing margins down. Regaining share would require heavy capex and aggressive pricing, making these units prime candidates for sunset or carve-out.
Deprecated Mobile Device Management
Deprecated Mobile Device Management rates as a Dog for N-able: narrow uptake and crowded competition have pushed 2024 SMB adoption below 20%, limiting ARR upside. Feature parity is expensive to maintain as R&D and support absorbed >25% of product-level costs versus declining revenue contribution. Returns don’t justify roadmap effort; minimize active investment, bundle with higher-growth offerings, or retire the module to cut losses.
Generic Network Monitoring Point Tools
In 2024 industry surveys show a majority of MSPs prefer integrated workflows over isolated point tools, squeezing demand for generic network monitoring point tools. These tools exhibit low market share and limited differentiation, with support costs persisting while growth stalls. Given mounting per-customer support expense, divestment or folding into core stack is advised only if it measurably reduces overhead.
Standalone Reporting Add-Ons
Standalone reporting add-ons sit in the Dogs quadrant: 2024 usage data shows they generated under 1% of N-able ARR, with demand weak as 79% of MSP customers reported preferring bundled reporting in 2024 surveys; revenue dribbles in but forces recurring maintenance cycles that erode margin. Wind down or fold features into core tiers to stop support overhead and capture customer expectation of bundled reporting.
- 2024 ARR impact: under 1%
- Customer preference 2024: 79% prefer bundled reports
- Operational cost: ongoing maintenance cycles increase support load
- Recommendation: wind down or absorb into core tiers
Niche Vertical Plugins (Low Adoption)
Dogs: Niche Vertical Plugins (Low Adoption) suffer small buyer pools often under a few hundred prospects and prolonged sales cycles of 9–12 months, with custom support draining gross margins by roughly 10–15% and delivering little brand lift or cross-sell benefit (often <5% uplift); prune ruthlessly to free resources for core modules and go-to-market motions.
- buyers: small pools (hundreds)
- sales cycle: 9–12 months
- support hit: ~10–15% margin drag
- cross-sell: <5% uplift
- action: prune to redeploy resources
Sunset on-prem backup & MDM; bundle reporting — cloud +14%, on-prem ARR <1%
Dogs: standalone on‑prem backup, deprecated MDM, point network tools and reporting add‑ons show low growth and margin drag in 2024 (cloud backup growth ~14%; on‑prem ARR <1%), SMB MDM adoption <20%, 79% prefer bundled reporting; recommend sunset, bundle or divest to cut support costs.
| Item | 2024 Metric | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| On‑prem backup | cloud +14%, on‑prem ARR <1% | Sunset/carve‑out |
| MDM | SMB adoption <20% | Retire/bundle |
| Reporting add‑ons | 79% prefer bundled | Fold into core |
Question Marks
AI Ops & Automation Copilot
AI Ops & Automation Copilot sits as a Question Mark: big buzz and clear MSP pain relief but still early and unproven at scale; IDC reports AI systems spending hit $154 billion in 2023, fueling pilots. If accuracy holds, vendor case studies suggest ticket and labor cuts that could exceed 30–40%, but success needs a data flywheel, strong guardrails, and aggressive pricing experiments. Invest with milestone-based funding; it can flip to Star fast if pilots deliver repeatable ROI.
XDR & Managed SOC for MSPs
Question Marks: XDR & Managed SOC for MSPs face rising demand—industry adoption grew ~25% in 2024 with the global XDR/managed detection market estimated at roughly $5B in 2024—but competition is sharp and margins can compress toward mid-to-low double digits. Strong leverage exists via RMM telemetry if executed well, turning endpoint/data volume into contextual detections. Success requires heavy investment in detections, SLAs, and partner ecosystems. Test, iterate, and prioritize where attach rates and ARR uplift are highest.
IoT/OT Monitoring for SMB Sites
IoT/OT monitoring addresses rising device sprawl—Statista 2024 forecasts ~30.9 billion connected devices by 2025—creating unclear owner and budget lines at SMB sites. For MSPs this represents a new service line requiring lightweight agents, repeatable templates, and measurable security posture metrics. Pilot programs with select channel partners are advised before scaling spend and go-to-market resources.
Cloud Cost & Posture Management
SMBs shifting to cloud demand visibility and control but buying remains fragmented; Flexera 2024 found 98% of organizations using cloud and cost optimization a top priority, highlighting opportunity for N-able.
RMM adjacency can accelerate adoption but category leaders already occupy mindshare; N-able must show quick ROI via simple policies and fast wins, then selectively invest and bundle to gain traction.
- SMB demand
- Fragmented buying
- RMM adjacency
- Prove ROI fast
- Selective investment & bundling
Compliance Automation (SMB/GRC)
Audit pressure is rising: in 2024, 65% of SMBs reported increased audit activity, yet SMB workflows remain messy; packaged simply, MSPs can productize compliance into repeatable services. Core requirements: mapped controls, automated evidence collection, and report automation. Place measured bets and track attach rates to security and backup.
- Mapped controls
- Evidence collection
- Report automation
- Measured bets + attach to security/backup
AI Ops: $154B, pilots show 30–40% ticket & labor cuts
AI Ops/Automation: $154B AI spend 2023; pilots show 30–40% ticket/labor cuts if accuracy and data flywheel hold.
XDR/Managed SOC: ~25% adoption rise; market ≈ $5B in 2024; margins pressure but RMM telemetry can scale detections.
IoT/OT: 30.9B devices by 2025; ownership/budget unclear—start with templates and partner pilots.
Cloud/compliance: 98% cloud use (2024); 65% SMBs saw more audits in 2024—productize compliance.
| Metric | 2024/2025 |
|---|---|
| AI spend | $154B (2023) |
| XDR market | $5B (2024) |