Datto's only shortcoming is RMM. They have a portal-based connection service like ConnectWise, but it does backups and keeps things running. Datto purchased Backupify and Kaseya bought Datto. If they upped the ante in their RMM, I could see them dominating the MSP space. At the end of the day, MSPs are responsible for networks, software, devices, and backup. Datto covers all these functions so they could offer a turnkey MSP solution.  

There are so many IT companies out there because there are so many ways to become a managed service provider. Datto does it all—RMM, security, network hardware, backup—so you could white-label it, come up with some weird logo on Canva, and open a LinkedIn account, then you're a managed service provider overnight.

The fact that Datto Cloud Continuity is not cheap is one of the aspects that I don't like about the product, making it an area where improvements are required.

I'm switching my clients to Axon from Datto because Datto's price scheme has changed since Kaseya bought them. They are now providing the device instead of selling it, while wanting their users to sign a three-year contract, and this is something which my clients don't like. However, my clients don't mind if they are made to sign a one-year contract instead, and this is something that Datto needs to consider.

The product's scalability features could be even better.

It is being improved daily, but of course, there is always room for improvement because cybersecurity changes all the time in terms of the attack factors from the different cybercriminals. At the time I was using it, I would've focused more on signatures of malicious software in the cloud. I love Datto, and I know they're on the right path, but I probably would've focused more on the operating system update management. When you go from the desk to the cloud or from the server room to the cloud, everything changes. Everything is different. You're not in control of your servers anymore. It is from the Active Directory management perspective and not from the perspective of zero-day attacks or other similar things. At the time, more focus on zero-day attacks and business email compromise (BEC) would've been a better protection factor than just educating about how many of these attacks have occurred. Cybersecurity runs deep and long. There are a lot of different facets. There is a lot of hype about a specific zero-day attack or a specific vulnerability, such as whether it is a Microsoft operating system attack, or it is an Oracle attack, or it is a takeover of your update server. You hear all that stuff with the big breaches. At the smaller level, it's basically ignorance. So, you need a better understanding of what steps an MSP or MSSP can take to protect their clients as compared to just giving them a warning.

I don't want any additional features, but I want to keep the same security-minded management and product development team in place. Datto has now become a public company. Things change when you're a public company. There are multi-levels of management, but the company was never managed that way. It was managed as a private company—a very successful private company. So, the intricacies of being public should never get in the way of the original vision of the company to be an MSP-only company providing MSPs-only solutions. I believe that there is a community of about 300,000 people who do business with Datto, and they would agree with me.

I don't have any feedback to provide in terms of features that may be lacking. Overall, it's been pretty good.

They should just keep heading in the direction they are heading and continue to improve the product without falling behind on advancements in the space.

Datto started as a backup solution for the SMB market and they are in the process of adding more Enterprise features in order to gain more market share in that space as well. Some of the Enterprise features are online now (agentless backup with VMWare) but they still have a few to tackle (clustered SQL instances).

• No Hyper-V integration
• VirtualBox performance is terrible, although KVM is now rolling out
• Large agent to install on each VM (due to lack of Hyper-V support)
• Unreliable agents - known to cause VMs to reboot, especially older Windows 2008 systems
• Lack of VLAN support

• Cloud recovery is missing flexibility and the ability to create virtual firewalls or VPNs based on IPsec.  Only OpenVPN is supported at this time.
• Their cloud recovery option is tedious, a manual process that has to be planned up to 2 weeks for a validation process.
• You really need to test it thoroughly to understand its limitations and issues.
• Datto chose to build their own cloud, instead of leveraging AWS, Azure or GCP.  It looks, feels and behaves like a beta product (lacks maturity).
• As expected, customer service, products are in disarray after the reverse acquisition of AutoTask.  I recommend that you stay away from Datto.

To better integrate compatibility with other operating systems, in addition to Windows Server.