Category Archives for "Managed Services News"

eSentire has raised $325 million in funding, and plans to increase go-to-market (GTM) operations across Europe and APAC.

The company raised the funding through a binding agreement with Georgian and Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec (CDPQ). The investment marks a major milestone as the managed detection and response (MDR) provider has surpassed $100 million in ARR .

Over the next year and a half, eSentire will continue to invest significantly in research and development as it expands its Atlas extended detection and response (XDR) SaaS. In addition, it will hire more than 400 team members globally in all facets of the business.

Tripling Partner Program Investment

Bob Layton is eSentire’s chief channel officer. He said the new eSentire funding will “absolutely” benefit partners.

eSentire’s Bob Layton

“In fact, we will be tripling our investment in our partner program, as well as our marketing and our GTM activities,” he said.

eSentire will add distribution channels, which enable partners to buy security services the way they want to buy, Layton said. That will enhance the overall experience for their customers.

Through added investment, eSentire is giving partners greater visibility into their customers’ security environment, Layton said. Its partners include MSPs, MSSPs, “trusted advisers,” distributors and technology partners.

“For example, we are snapping into the MSPs and the global telco providers’ customer management platforms and/or tools so at any time the partners can seamlessly view their customers’ security environment and the work we are doing on behalf of their customers,” he said. “This way the partners have a full picture of their customers’ IT environment.”

Atlas XDR Platform Expansion

eSentire will continue to expand its Atlas XDR platform and its integration with best-of-breed products, Layton said.

“eSentire is investing in our technology so we can get our partners’ customers and our direct customers provisioned quicker and get them access to our insight portal, thus speeding the time to value of our cloud Atlas XDR platform,” he said. “The insight portal is the lens into all things threat related for our customers.”

The insight portal visually demonstrates security posture and response to threats that eSentire hunts and detects 24/7, Layton said.

“Getting our customers’ provisioning reduced to two days or less, a faster onboarding and a more rich experience for customers and partners is the goal,” he said.

Partners have already played a significant role in eSentire’s growth and expansion into the UK, Europe, the Middle East and APAC, Layton said.

“And they will continue to generate growth for us in those geographies,” he said. “In fact, in the next 12 months, we calculate that our partners will contribute 50% of our overall bookings.”

Next Phase of eSentire’s Growth Journey

Simon Chon is co-founder of Georgian, an eSentire partner.

“eSentire has a well-documented history of making original threat discoveries, and protecting its customers from ransomware battles and zero-day attacks,” he said. “The team continues to exceed customer expectations by staying ahead of the threat curve through rapid threat detection, deep investigation capability and complete threat response.”

NERDIOCON, CANCÚN —  The second day of NerdioCon in Cancún featured a smattering of keynotes from Datto (SVP of business development Rob Rae), Pax8 (chief channel and chief product officer Ryan Walsh) and Forrester (principal analyst Jay McBain). Topics ranged from the market opportunity for MSPs, the new cloud world, reducing complexity, and developing your cyber resilience and crisis management strategy.

A few overarching themes emerged. The primary one zeroed in on reducing complexity. There is an increasing amount of importance placed on enabling customers to stay productive from anywhere. MSPs are responsible for making that transformation happen, and for taking customers to the cloud. In this “new” cloud world where most applications are going toward a SaaS delivery model, to really take advantage of this, MSPs must evolve. They must capture and provide value. How do they do this? By removing the technical complexity from their customers. 

This, and several other themes were highlighted in the sessions throughout the day.

Click here for a recap of the announcements from day one.

Pax8’s Ryan Walsh on PAN and WatchGuard Partnership

Pax8’s Ryan Walsh on stage at NerdioCon 2022, Feb. 22 in Cancun.

Ryan Walsh talked about Pax8, Azure, and Nerdio (PAN) coming together. Walsh discussed the Pax8 programs and services that enable IT providers to succeed in the cloud, along with the numbers that prove it. 

“Tech buying is more consumer-like now,” said Walsh. “Value-add is significantly more important, so it’s important to stay in front. Complexity is a real issue. These tools and partnerships add value. Don’t accept the status quo — really lean into the following questions: 

• What can I do to add value?
• How do I actually go to market and look for selling opportunities? 
• How sticky is my product? 

At the show, Pax8 also announced that it has partnered with WatchGuard to give MSPs access to its advanced network security platform. WatchGuard’s Unified Security Platform includes advanced network security, network visibility, SD-WAN, DNS filtering, policy management, threat detection and more.

“This is our first network security offering, and so we wanted to go big,” said Walsh. “We partnered with WatchGuard because not only have they been around for 25 years as pioneers in cybersecurity, but they are exclusively a channel offering. WatchGuard has all the features and functions of enterprise-grade protection: network discovery, advanced persistent threat blocker, and intelligent antivirus, on a platform designed for the MSP environment.”

WatchGuard Firebox network security solutions are a key component of WatchGuard’s Unified Security Platform. They aid in consolidating MSPs’ network security, network visibility, domain name system (DNS) filtering, policy management and threat intelligence. The Firebox line offers high-performance, total security firewall appliances for every environment, including home offices, midsized and enterprise organizations, and manufacturing and IoT environments, the company said.

Datto’s Rob Rae on Defining Your Cyber Resilience Strategy

As cybercrime has wreaked havoc on the global economy, customers are relying on MSPs to protect the largest and most vulnerable segment of the economy: the SMB. MSPs help mitigate the risk associated with cybercrime and prevent billions in lost revenue, not to mention an immeasurable amount of lost productivity. Datto’s Rob Rae discussed key elements, framework and roadblocks MSPs may face in developing a cyber resilience and crisis management strategy to protect service delivery, and more importantly, a client’s critical infrastructure.

“Now more than ever before, there is a massive opportunity for the MSP channel,” said Rae. “The pandemic stirred things up, of course, but a lot of good things came out of it — specifically for the MSP channel. The issue used to be, ‘How do you get the customer to understand the value of what they’re paying for?’ Now since the pandemic, we’re in the golden age of MSP services. These changes won’t happen overnight, but now there’s a runway. We can take our time and pave this path properly.” 

Trends Picking Up Speed

Datto’s Rob Rae at NerdioCon 2022, Feb. 22, in Cancun.

SMBs are changing the way they engage with Datto, Rae said. Digital transformation has accelerated, and the MSP channel is a critical part of that. Also, the shift to the cloud is now a far more important conversation, not to mention M&A. There’s a ton of money and attention in these areas, and thereby, a massive opportunity for partners.

In terms of cyber resilience, “attacks are a poor reflection on all of us (MSPs, vendors, etc.),” said Rae. “Cyber resilience involves key elements — identify, protect, detect, respond and recover. We still see MSPs who aren’t insisting on things like MFA. Or, the end users still won’t pay for theses things, which should be table stakes at this point. MSPs need to get comfortable saying, ‘If you’re not serious about this, I can’t be serious about this.’”

MSPs must shift to the right path of adaptability and maturity and cyber resiliency. Revenue should double because the value of what they’re giving customers should also double. There is more diligence and work that needs to be done, because forecasts show the growth opportunity is massive. 

“We need to take our geek speed and turn it into grade five reading level,” said Rae.

Translation? Focus on reducing complexity. 

AT&T Cybersecurity has unveiled its 2022 Global Partner of the Year Awards. Softcat leads the way, taking the award for global partner of the year.

Softcat has received the honor for two years in a row. AT&T said Softcat aggressively grew its business and achieved “truly impressive” results in 2021.

Jordan Redd is AT&T Cybersecurity‘s senior sales director, MSSP.

AT&T Cybersecurity’s Jordan Redd

“At AT&T Cybersecurity, we will continue to focus on enhancing our channel programs to provide partners the ability to not only scale their businesses and increase profitability, but most importantly deliver on their infosec promise to their client base,” he said. “Together, we will do so in both a consistent and progressive manner, evolving with the ever-changing security market we all serve. We look forward to another year of success working closely with our partners.”

Matthew Helling is Softcat‘s head of cybersecurity services.

“We are so proud of the collaborative partnership we have developed with [AT&T] over the last four years,” he said. “And this award is a testament to that and the significant growth we have delivered with them during what has been a challenging year. It also reflects our ambition to always provide our customers with the best managed security information and event management (SIEM) solution available in the marketplace.”

AT&T Cybersecurity Partner Awards

Other AT&T global partner awards include:

• Growth Partner of the Year: STN
• New Partner of the Year: Brennan IT
• Distributor of the Year: CMS Distribution

AT&T also handed out regional partner awards. These recognize partners that had the highest sales bookings in each of the four regions last year.

The awards include:

• North American Partner of the Year: Binary Defense
• EMEA Partner of the Year: Six Degrees
• APAC Partner of the Year: Kordia
• Latin American Partner of the Year: GB Advisors

Less than a year after launching its AvePoint partner program, the company plans to invest more in it this year. During an all-hands meeting” event, AvePoint revealed on Tuesday that it will increase its investments in the program

During the event, which AvePoint held as a webcast, the company launched a technical and sales certification program for partner engineers, pre-sales teams and product specialists. AvePoint also announced an improved process for renewals and the formation of its Partner Technical Advisory Council (PTAC). For MSPs, the company said its multitenant platform, Elements Pro, is now live.

AvePoint, which offers governance, security and data protection for Microsoft Teams and other collaboration platforms, launched the partner program last summer. It’s the first such program in AvePoint’s 20-year history, which until recently sold primarily to customers directly. The launch coincided with AvePoint’s special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) IPO.

Since its launch, AvePoint said the partner program has grown to more than 2,800 partners — as of Dec 31. Among them, more than three-quarters are MSPs, while the rest include systems integrators, VARs, cloud consultants and DevOps partners. AvePoint’s solutions are also now available from more than 100 cloud marketplaces. The company also said it works through leading global distributors including Ingram Micro, Arrow and TD Synnex.

As part of its decision to expand its addressable market, AvePoint decided to create the partner program last year. AvePoint co-founder and CEO Tianyi “TJ” Jiang said growing its partner channel is one of the company’s key priorities. Speaking during the webcast, Jiang said: “2021 was a landmark year for AvePoint and our partners.” With the new program, Jiang emphasized the introduction of field resources, a deal registration program, channel rules of engagement and go-to-market tools and content.

Doubling Down on MSP Business

Jiang said AvePoint plans to invest more in the partner program.

AvePoint’s TJ Jiang

“This year, we will continue to double down on our partners’ managed service business,” he said. “In 2021, we brought significant innovation to our Elements platform. The expanded capabilities in the new Elements Pro have helped our MSPs to improve operations, increase their RPU [revenue per user] and lead the way with partner services.”

Touting growth of the AvePoint partner program, channel chief Jason Beal said business from its MSP Elements program grew more than 100%. The pipeline submitted by AvePoint partners in the deal registration system from its July launch date through the end of December reached $12 million, Beal added.

Partners were responsible for more than one-half of revenue from new customers last quarter, according to Beal.

“For the first time in our company history, more than half of all AvePoint’s new customers were partners sourced,” he said.

Elements Pro and Partners

The launch of Elements Pro promises to draw more MSPs, Beal indicated.

AvePoint’s Jason Beal

“Not only do we want to offer all of you a single pane of glass to manage your operations, mitigate risk, manage multitenant capabilities, but we want to invest in that to help you streamline and grow your business,” Beal said. “Elements Pro helps you do just that.”

Elements Pro lets MSPs create a template solution across a specific customer profile. It could include template provisioning settings for Azure AD, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and Exchange.

“All of these provisioning settings and all of the workflows that you need to go through, we are now allowing you to create one template against one customer profile, and leverage that over and over,” Beal said. “So, build that template once and then apply that to any customer tenant you want.”

Looking to this year, CEO Jiang said AvePoint is promising expanded investment in R&D to develop added multicloud capability. He said he sees continued market growth for AvePoint’s new offerings including Confide, Cense and EduTech.

Kinetic Business has launched OfficeSuite Express. This new, “quick-installation” bundle aims to offer small businesses an affordable communications solution for 10 or fewer desktop phones in one location.

Kinetic’s Mark Lederman

Mark Lederman is vice president of Kinetic product marketing.

“Businesses of all sizes across our 18-state footprint count on Kinetic Business for affordable, reliable and quality communications solutions,” Lederman said. “OfficeSuite UC has been a successful solution for many business customers, allowing their employees to stay connected and collaborate even while working remotely, maintaining business continuity. We are proud to bring a similar solution to our small business customers.”

Kinetic Business designed OfficeSuite Express to meet the unique needs of small businesses. It enables employees to work from anywhere on any device. As a turnkey solution, it offers access to what the company says is an affordable, high-quality cloud-based communication system. It bundles Kinetic Business’  OfficeSuite UC service with up to 10 desktop phones. This allows businesses to take the guesswork out of their communication technology needs. It gets their phone system up and running quickly with professional installation included, the company said.

Features include the ability to:

• Work from anywhere at any time, increasing productivity.
• Place or receive calls and manage emails on any device.
• Meet face-to-face and collaborate in real time with OfficeSuite HD meeting video conferencing.
• Access and manage all business communications securely online.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been a hot topic in the channel for a while now. Economic disruptions and uncertainties in 2020 might have stalled things a bit, but activity has risen during the past year and shows no signs of slowing down.

A growing number of MSP mergers and acquisitions reflects the interests of private equity in the channel. Managed services are good business. Those of us who work in the MSP world know this, and now we’re seeing larger organizations and investment firms take an interest. Especially during the pandemic, demand for IT services from remote work solutions to infrastructure to cybersecurity has soared.

Meanwhile, global IT spending—particularly in cloud computing—is only going up. By extension, MSPs and IT providers in general are sitting in a great spot with respect to long-term profitability. With increased competition and staffing challenges, MSPs themselves are taking a harder look at M&A as well, with more than 25% saying they’re looking to acquire other MSPs during the next few years.

No matter which way you slice it, M&A should be on your radar. Even if you’re not planning to buy or sell, having a potential exit strategy or a plan for when a potential buyer comes knocking is a good idea. Chances are high you’ll be hearing a lot more about MSP mergers and acquisitions in the near future.

Why Would an MSP Consider M&A?

Other than the benefit of just being good business planning, there are all kinds of reasons an MSP would consider a merger or acquisition. Regardless of whether you’re looking to take over another solution provider or managed services business tomorrow, potential M&A scenarios should still be a part of your playbook.

From a seller’s perspective, maybe you’re looking for a bigger company to help share financial burden, or maybe you want to use the profits of a sale for a new endeavour. Maybe you’re simply ready to get out of the business. Either way, the M&A market could offer an attractive option for allowing your business to live on—if stepping away is the path you choose to take.

If you’re on the buyer’s side of things, your motives are probably a bit different. Ultimately, you probably want to grow your business and generate more revenue; buying or merging with another MSP can help you achieve economies of scope and scale. To the same end, you might be looking to expand your portfolio. Acquiring another MSP that specializes in the services you want to add to your stack can be a faster route to achieving your goal, as opposed to hiring the necessary talent and building out the service internally.

Market saturation with increased competition is another reason MSPs consider an M&A strategy. Merger and acquisitions traditionally involve a certain level of risk. But in a market where it’s increasingly harder to differentiate yourself, customer acquisition costs are rising, and taking on that risk is less of a barrier. So, if you’re looking to consolidate market share or take on larger clients, merging with or acquiring another MSP could be your answer. Like they say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

What You’ll Need on Your M&A Journey

You can’t just stumble blindly into the M&A market unless you want a disaster on your hands. Buyers and sellers should have several key elements in order before they get into the process and on-hand throughout their M&A journey.

For buyers:

• Identify your needs and requirements: Why do you want to buy or merge with another MSP in the first place? What are you looking to gain from the transaction? What kind of products, solutions or services are you after? What type of clients? These are all questions you should answer before starting down the M&A path.
• Audit your prospects: As with any big purchase, you need to do your due diligence. Sure, you have to conduct a full financial audit of any company you might buy, but don’t leave any stone unturned. You should be looking at systems and tools to make sure the integration time and training costs don’t skyrocket. Internal processes and efficiency often go hand in hand. Are those documented and replicable? Are contracts with major clients in order? Are agreements with key vendors transferrable?
• Don’t forget about culture: A bad cultural fit between combining organizations can sink…

AT&T Cybersecurity has unveiled its 2022 Global Partner of the Year Awards. Softcat leads the way, taking the award for global partner of the year.

Softcat has received the honor for two years in a row. AT&T said Softcat aggressively grew its business and achieved “truly impressive” results in 2021.

Jordan Redd is AT&T Cybersecurity‘s senior sales director, MSSP.

AT&T Cybersecurity’s Jordan Redd

“At AT&T Cybersecurity, we will continue to focus on enhancing our channel programs to provide partners the ability to not only scale their businesses and increase profitability, but most importantly deliver on their infosec promise to their client base,” he said. “Together, we will do so in both a consistent and progressive manner, evolving with the ever-changing security market we all serve. We look forward to another year of success working closely with our partners.”

Matthew Helling is Softcat‘s head of cybersecurity services.

“We are so proud of the collaborative partnership we have developed with [AT&T] over the last four years,” he said. “And this award is a testament to that and the significant growth we have delivered with them during what has been a challenging year. It also reflects our ambition to always provide our customers with the best managed security information and event management (SIEM) solution available in the marketplace.”

AT&T Cybersecurity Partner Awards

Other AT&T global partner awards include:

• Growth Partner of the Year: STN
• New Partner of the Year: Brennan IT
• Distributor of the Year: CMS Distribution

AT&T also handed out regional partner awards. These recognize partners that had the highest sales bookings in each of the four regions last year.

The awards include:

• North American Partner of the Year: Binary Defense
• EMEA Partner of the Year: Six Degrees
• APAC Partner of the Year: Kordia
• Latin American Partner of the Year: GB Advisors

Difenda, the managed detection and response (MDR) and SecOps-as-a-service provider, has launched its first formal partner program.

It also has hired Juliana Zaremba, previously with CDW Canada, as strategic partnerships director. She’ll lead the company’s overall channel strategy and channel-led growth initiative.

Zaremba led strategic initiatives at CDW Canada, a subsidiary of CDW. Before that, she served as vice president of client advocacy at Herjavec Group.

Through Difenda’s channel program, partners can sell Difenda Shield powered by Microsoft directly or as a white-label offering. Difenda Shield includes MDR, advanced vulnerability management (AVM), and governance, risk and compliance (GRC).

Difenda says the program has a flexible engagement model. This allows the partner to customize the program in alignment with their business goals. Partners can access new capabilities and products as they’re released, without renegotiating their program engagement.

Shifting to Channel-First

Difenda’s Juliana Zaremba

“This is an expansion and enhancement, and formalization, of the partnerships that Difenda started in the last few years,” Zaremba said. “Previously, Difenda was working with a few partners to bring their solutions to market.”

With this announcement, Difenda is shifting to channel-first, and in the future a channel-only model, she said.

“This program will support the ability for Difenda to connect with more partners, and formalize how they build programs and strategies with the partners in their program,” Zaremba said. “And they are excited to use this opportunity to bring SecOps-as-a-service and a Microsoft Security solution to more customers.”

Difenda has made traction organically into a more strategic and streamlined approach to processes with its top partners, she said. That includes Microsoft and the channel.

“With continued growth plans, and the benefit of working with partners to jointly bring the best security solutions to their joint customers, it was the perfect time to announce the formal channel-first program,” Zaremba said.

Not One Size Fits All

Difenda has formalized the program, but it’s not a tiered model where one size fits all, Zaremba said.

“Being able to meet with each partner allows us to formulate a plan and strategy that uses the tools Difenda has created to enable partners for success while applying them in a way which meets the strategic needs of each partner,” she said. “These custom programs are what led to strong partnerships for Difenda in the past, and are what sets this channel program apart.”

The Difenda team has created documentation for partners that range from sales tools through to technical education items, through to co-branded materials, and most importantly the demo of Difenda Shield and the MDR offers, Zaremba said.

The partner strategy and tools will allow each partner to overcome typical pain points when serving their customers, she said.

Beyond Identity has secured a $100 million Series C funding round, raising its total funding to $205 million and increasing its valuation to $1.1 billion.

Evolution Equity Partners led the Beyond Identity funding round, with existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Jim Clark participating. Potentum Partners, Expanding Capital and HBAM also joined the round.

The new funding will be used to further expand Beyond Identity’s research and development. The company will also extend its footprint and resources into Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Beyond Identity Funding to Benefit Partners

Kurt Johnson is Beyond Identity‘s vice president of strategy and business development.

Beyond Identity’s Kurt Johnson

“In 2021, we spent a lot of time and investment on building out the foundation of our channel and partner program,” he said. “We signed on a number of strong partners, and are working to expand our visibility and presence within those partners. With the foundation now in place, our plan is to use this new funding to really drive additional joint lead-generation and go-to-market (GTM) programs. We are taking a channel-first approach. So as we identify potential targets, we will quickly align with the right channel partner to approach those customers together.”

Beyond Identity is investing in infrastructure such as a partner portal to make joint content more accessible, Johnson said.

“In addition to these marketing programs, we will be hiring additional channel account managers and dedicated technical resources,” he said. “We will also be investing in new partners as we expand further in Europe and the Middle East, then as we expand into Asia Pacific and Latin America.”

Partners Wanted

Beyond Identity is looking for channel partners who act as strategic advisers for their customers to help them identify the right solutions to meet their security requirements, Johnston said.

“Partners with strong security and identity management expertise are a strong fit for us,” he said. “We used the strategy as we launched in Europe to find strong distribution partners who can introduce us to resellers who are a strong fit to allow us to have local presence and relationships in the regions. This will be our plan for Asia Pacific and Latin America as well. We are looking to find partners in specific countries who can provide local pre-sales and post-sales support.”

Zero trust is a critical issue where partners need to understand who and what is behind access, Johnston said. Beyond Identity’s passwordless authentication provides phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA).

“The increase in credential-based attacks and ransomware is a global issue,” he said. “The misuse and theft of valid credentials is a critical issue facing organizations. Beyond Identity has built the strongest authentication platform based on proven industry standards and made it easy for organizations to deploy. This is critical for organizations to build the proper defenses.”

Beyond Identity Funding ‘Great’ Endorsement from Investors

“This [funding] enables us to solve a global issue with the product, resources, infrastructure and partners to meet our customers global needs,” Johnson said. “The funding is a great endorsement from our investors on the market need and the ability for Beyond Identity to build a great company and solution. We look forward to more of that success in the future.”

Beyond Identity’s new funding comes at a time of record growth and momentum for the company. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose 330% from 2020 to 2021. In addition, its roster of customers grew 640%.

AT&T Cybersecurity has unveiled its 2022 Global Partner of the Year Awards. Softcat leads the way, taking the award for global partner of the year.

Softcat has received the honor for two years in a row. AT&T said Softcat aggressively grew its business and achieved “truly impressive” results in 2021.

Jordan Redd is AT&T Cybersecurity‘s senior sales director, MSSP.

AT&T Cybersecurity’s Jordan Redd

“At AT&T Cybersecurity, we will continue to focus on enhancing our channel programs to provide partners the ability to not only scale their businesses and increase profitability, but most importantly deliver on their infosec promise to their client base,” he said. “Together, we will do so in both a consistent and progressive manner, evolving with the ever-changing security market we all serve. We look forward to another year of success working closely with our partners.”

Matthew Helling is Softcat‘s head of cybersecurity services.

“We are so proud of the collaborative partnership we have developed with [AT&T] over the last four years,” he said. “And this award is a testament to that and the significant growth we have delivered with them during what has been a challenging year. It also reflects our ambition to always provide our customers with the best managed security information and event management (SIEM) solution available in the marketplace.”

AT&T Cybersecurity Partner Awards

Other AT&T global partner awards include:

• Growth Partner of the Year: STN
• New Partner of the Year: Brennan IT
• Distributor of the Year: CMS Distribution

AT&T also handed out regional partner awards. These recognize partners that had the highest sales bookings in each of the four regions last year.

The awards include:

• North American Partner of the Year: Binary Defense
• EMEA Partner of the Year: Six Degrees
• APAC Partner of the Year: Kordia
• Latin American Partner of the Year: GB Advisors