An Interview with JB Fowler 
Richard talks to JB Fowler, Chief Product Officer of Domotz, a SaaS monitoring solution, about how it differs from traditional RMM tools and gives MSPs opportunities for growth.
They talk about the Domotz tool differs from traditional RMM (remote monitoring and management) solutions and its ease of deployment, and how it can lead to opportunities for business growth.
Who is JB Fowler?
JB Fowler is the Chief Product Officer of Domotz, a SaaS monitoring solution, which has offices worldwide. Based in Utah, JB started his career as an electrical engineer, and describes himself as a product manager at heart.
He came across Domotz while working for a company selling home automation products – they were in the market for a product to do remote monitoring for them. When that business was bought out, JB moved to Domotz.
What Domotz Offers
JB describes Domotz as a cloud-based, software as a service (SaaS) network monitoring solution, looking after all network infrastructure devices and sending alerts to their Managed Service Provider (MSP) clients.
He says: “The idea behind our tool is to help you run your business more efficiently, and proactively monitor these devices. In the end, we want you to look like a hero for your customers – we’re a tool for you as a service provider.”
How Domotz Differ from Traditional RMM Solutions
A traditional remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool manages PCs, laptops and servers and ensures patch management and antivirus are up to date, and can be used to provision a system.
JB says that Domotz’ key difference is that they look at the rest of the network – security cameras, building automation systems audio video distribution systems and digital signage, making sure that all those systems are online.
A big advantage of this, JB adds, is that even if you aren’t currently monitoring these things but you know your clients have them, there’s an opportunity for growth, by offering to monitor those tools as well.
How Domotz Leverages SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is absolutely critical for any network infrastructure, and Domotz leverage SNMP to look at all of the network infrastructure itself – switches, firewalls and the access points – and map the network to visualise what it looks like.
JB explains that Domotz takes that one step further: “We realised that a lot of these network connected devices aren’t infrastructure devices but they they’re sitting on the network as IoT and they also use SNMP, so we make sure you can look at what they’re doing.”
(Learn more about SNMP here).
How to Deploy the Tool
Domotz have spent time developing the right tool for the market and to make it easy to deploy as well. They offer a 21-day free trial, and asks users for additional information to ensure they get the most out of the trial.
The tool can then be downloaded and run on Windows, Linux, via a black box running Ubuntu core, a NAS drive or even Raspberry Pi. The Domotz agent then scans for devices and maps the network.
It flags all the important devices for you, and integrates with whichever tools you’re using for PSA (professional services automation) and ticketing. Domotz then runs in the background to make your MSP more efficient, and accessible through a single pane of glass.
How Domotz can Assess New Client Sites
JB says that you can take your black box or Raspberry Pi when you visit a new client site for the first time and let the Domotz agent scan their network. It can then see exactly how many devices the client has, and what they are. It will also assess the hierarchy and note IP addresses.
Once you have the information at hand, you can see what you’d be dealing with for this client, and clearly present your offerings. And because you’ve assessed the entire network, you can also suggest monitoring additional devices that they might not have thought to include.
Mentioned in This Episode
- Control4 home automation
- Ubuntu open source operating system
- Zabbix open source monitoring tool
- PRTG network monitoring
How to Connect with JB Fowler
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You Might Also be Interested in
- Why Your MSP Should Have an RMM Tool – Panel Discussion for Avast
- Why the ‘Internet of Things’ is an Opportunity for MSPs
- How to Implement a PSA Tool in Your MSP – TubbTalk 54
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
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