In this episode, Richard talks to Gil Pekelman, founder and CEO of cloud-based IT management platform Atera, which provides an all-in-one solution for MSPs and IT support personnel.
They talk about how Atera started and why they’re different, the company culture and why Network Discovery is so important for MSPs. They also discuss the new Atera mobile app, lessons learned from being a CEO and why Gil is committed to supporting military veterans get back into work.
An Interview with Gil Pekelman 
Who is Gil Pekelman?
Gil Pekelman is the founder and CEO of cloud-based IT management platform Atera, which provides an all-in-one solution for MSPs (Managed Service Providers) and IT support personnel. Gil has over 20 years of senior leadership experience in marketing and sales, R&D and hyper-growth technology start-ups.
Having studied economics and business administration at university, Gil joined a start-up called Indigo, which had 100 employees. The company quickly grew to a staff of 3,000 and was then acquired by HP. Inspired by this, Gil and some friends founded a storage space business called ExaNet, which was bought by Dell.
Why Atera was Started
The product went into development in 2014, and the first version was released in 2016. Atera has 60 staff and 4,500 customers in 75 different countries around the world, with the US and UK being the largest and second-largest markets respectively.
Gil explains that the team are primarily engineers, and they built the Atera solution when they saw MSPs struggle with complexity and time and financial costs of finding the right products and consolidating them.
They wanted to provide the exact solution these frustrated MSPs were looking for, and the R&D group focus a lot on customer engagement and satisfaction. A new version of the product is released every three weeks, and the team are careful to ensure that these meet user requirements.
Atera’s Ideal Employee and Ideal Customer
As Atera are a technology company rather than a sales business, they look for innovative people who think out of the box and are passionate about what they do. Gil says that there is a dynamic energy in the company because everyone is dedicated to building something exceptional.
Many MSPs are unnoticed by their customers but give essential support. Gil says that he’s constantly amazed by the work they do, and wants to help as many as possible, no matter what their industry or service niche.
How Atera are Different to the Competition
Atera’s pricing model is transparent and predictable so customers know what they’ll pay every month. They also charge per technician, so clients install agents on to each computer and server.
This gives better service and is cheaper than the alternatives. And people don’t have to choose between a PSA (professional services automation) and an RMM (remote monitoring and management) anymore, they can have both straight away. To avoid the biggest mistakes MSPs typically make when using a PSA tool, listen to How to Implement a PSA Tool in Your MSP – TubbTalk #54.
Atera is also designed so that customers can integrate with other products they may already have. The company is committed to making sure their solution is compatible with as many others as possible. By doing this, the customer’s tools are streamlined and can have a holistic view of what they’re doing.
Why Network Discovery is Important
Gil says that customers requested developer network discovery, which led the company to provide They are constantly developing Network Discovery and increasing its capabilities. They are able to add additional layers to create an inventory map, which allows them to monitor what needs to be upgraded or fixed.
By constantly assessing all the components of a client’s software and networks, they are able to help them fix problems quicker. This allows the MSPs to serve their own clients better, and many of those using Network Discovery are rapidly increasing their revenue.
Atera’s Company Culture
One of Atera’s company culture principles is fun, and their staff have fun all the time. They love getting positive feedback from customers, and they also play sports together, so that employees have fun outside of work. Their other principles are: teamwork, innovation, daring and putting the customer first.
Gil says that they invest a lot in the culture so they hire the right people, who will continue to innovate. The onboarding process is robust, and Gil meets every new employee and talks to them for an hour, regardless of whether he interviewed them or not.
They discuss the company, its principles, mission and vision, and how working as part of the team is important. Atera finds that this helps new people to fit in quickly and well, and they have a high staff retention rate.
Mentioned In This Episode
Richard and Gil mentioned the following during their conversation:
- Atera Users Official Community on Facebook
- Atera Mobile App
- Acronis: www.acronis.com
- Webroot: https://www.webroot.com/gb/en
- Bit Defender: www.bitdefender.co.uk/
Connect with Gil
You can find out more about Atera via their website: www.atera.com, or reach out to Gil directly: Gi*@At***.com
Follow Gil on Linkedin
Connect with me
- Subscribe to TubbTalk RSS feed
- Subscribe, rate and review TubbTalk in iTunes
- Subscribe, rate and review TubbTalk on Stitcher Radio
- Subscribe and rate TubbTalk on Spotify
- Follow TubbTalk on iHeartRadio
- Follow @tubblog on Twitter
You Might Also Be Interested In
Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
All PostsYou might like:
Comments