Category Archives for "Managed Services News"

Sep 21

Schneider Electric Swallows Aveva in $11 Billion Acquisition

By | Managed Services News

The deal sees the London stock market lose one of its few remaining large tech groups.

Schneider Electric has agreed to buy the rest of UK software firm Aveva, in an acquisition worth nearly £9.5 billion (US $11 billion).

The French firm has owned 60% of Aveva since a £3 billion reverse takeover in 2017. The deal saw Schneider fold its software assets into the UK company.

Aveva, a FTSE 100 company, has more than 6,400 employees. Schneider Electric, which has about 4,000 UK staff, reportedly has no plans to change Aveva’s employee base. It also intends to keep to keep it as a software business, maintaining its headquarters in Cambridge, UK.

The FT noted that the deal strips the London stock market of one of its few remaining large tech groups. Last month, Canada’s OpenText acquired UK software developer Micro Focus International in a £5.1 billion deal.

Schneider said it would pay £31 a share in cash for the 40% of Aveva it did not own. Look for the acquisition to go final sometime next year.

Keep up with the latest channel-impacting mergers and acquisitions in our M&A roundup.

Aveva is one of Britain’s oldest technology companies. Its software encompasses the energy, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, where there is a crossover with Schneider.

Schneider Electric's Juan-Pascale Tricoire

Schneider Electric’s Juan-Pascale Tricoire

Schneider chair and chief executive Jean-Pascal Tricoire spoke to analysts on Wednesday. He said the company wanted to “accelerate the path to deliver to our customers one data hub.”

Deeper Collaboration with Partners

Aveva on Wednesday confirmed that it had accepted the proposed offer. It described Schneider as “a supportive shareholder and partner.” This was demonstrated most recently in the $5 billion acquisition of operational data platform developer OSIsoft in March 2021.

The company added that customers are increasingly turning to industrial software to find greater efficiency and sustainability. As such, the firm is committed to empowering businesses to optimize how they work.

It also focuses on “driving deeper collaboration with its unique ecosystem of suppliers, partners, and customers.” The partner system continues as an integral part of Aveva’s strategy of growth.

“The full combination with Schneider Electric is intended to enable Aveva to execute its strategy faster, and further enhance its customer proposition.”

As of 2021, Aveva had 100 distributors globally, which work with around 5000 system integrators. About a third of its business goes through its distribution network, although the company wants to increase this to 50% within five years.

Aveva had previously issued a profit warning in which it flagged inflationary pressures and said growth would slow in 2022.

 

Sep 21

Observe.AI Intros Consulting Services, Helps Contact Centers Achieve Actionable Insights

By | Managed Services News

Contact centers were 10 times more likely to feel their business was prepared for the future with conversation intelligence, the company said.

Conversation intelligence platform Observe.AI has launched conversation intelligence consulting services to help contact centers accelerate value from the company’s platform.

With Observe.AI’s guidance, contact centers can achieve deeper levels of actionable insights – tuned to the specific needs of their business – with the right models for automation, speech analytics and CX and revenue improvement, the company said.

Observe.AI's Swapnil Jain

Observe.AI’s Swapnil Jain

Swapnil Jain is CEO and co-Founder of Observe.AI.

“From our novel innovations in contact center AI to this new suite of services, we’re committed to helping contact centers maximize the impact of their AI investments, reduce time-to-value, and promote scalable, sustainable business improvement,” Jain said. “We’ve helped hundreds of contact centers across industries harness conversation intelligence to reach new heights of business and process transformation.”

In research from earlier this year, Observe.AI revealed positive responses from contact centers using conversation intelligence. Using the tool, contact centers were 10 times more likely to feel their business was prepared for the future. Ninety-two percent agreed it helps them make strategic business decisions, while 89% reported it has improved their ability to engage with customers. Lastly, 89% reported it has improved their agent performance programs.

Maximizing the Value of Insights

Observe.AI says its conversation intelligence platform processes an average of 1 billion minutes of interactions annually. By embedding Observe.AI’s platform into their business process landscape, contact centers can maximize the value and volume of tactical insights. In addition, they can accelerate repeatable workflows that drive business improvement, the company said.

With this new suite of value-added consulting services, Observe.AI will further amplify the benefits of conversation intelligence through a series of programs. Through implementation services, the company will facilitate smooth technology implementation with integration, configuration and system design, change management and training, speech analyst services and automation.

By implanting speech and interaction analytics services, the company maps business objectives to the interaction analytics.

When it comes to AI automation services, Observe.AI offers end-to-end guidance and setup of new AI program automation. These include configuration, testing, calibration, supported go-live and user adoption.

Omnichannel interaction data analysis and interpretation are part of actionable insights services. It relies on tactical action plans for performance improvement in areas like customer experience, retention, sales, compliance and more.

Finally, Observe.AI provides business value consulting. It offers guidance through identifying key ROI impact areas, defining quantifiable goals and measuring tangible outcomes.

Sep 21

Cloud Distributor Pax8 Eyes European Expansion

By | Managed Services News

Pax8’s new EMEA CEO shares growth plans, and the opportunity for MSPs.

Cloud distributor Pax8’s new EMEA CEO says his first goal is to create a unified European organization following several regional acquisitions.

Harald Nuij joined the company as European MD after Pax8’s acquisition of Dutch cloud distributor Resello in August 2021. He replaces former EMEA CEO Robert Belgrave, who is now spearheading the company’s global expansion as chief people officer.

In addition, Pax8 acquired UK cloud hosting and consultancy Wirehive in January 2021. It followed that up a year later with the purchase of Baltics-based cloud services distributor TVG.

Now EMEA CEO, Nuij will lead the firm in integrating its acquisitions.

Pax8's Harald Nuij

Pax8’s Harald Nuij

“That will include making sure that we have great cross-country exchange of experience and knowledge,” he said. “So the things we learned in in Britain, for instance, we are able to copy that into the German market.”

Another priority is connecting with MSPs throughout the region, said Nuij.

“We have three main things that we provide to partners. [They are] making sure that our technology fuels their growth, increases efficiency, and reduces the risks to their businesses. We are now very close to the 3500 partners mark already — in just in a year and a half. We’ve seen some great traction there.”

He said every individual in the Pax8 Europe organization should be “trained to get under the skin of MSPs.” He said it was important “to really understand their business, understand their customer base and how the technology stack that we provide can play a vital role.”

Expanding Across Europe

Nuij will also lead the cloud distributor as it expands its footprint across the region. Pax8 EMEA has nine offices supporting 23 languages. The plan is to extend that into more countries and increase its headcount.

The exec identified the UK as a strong market to target and will open a new flagship Bristol office next month.

“We will not ask people to come to the office,” he explained. “We just want to make sure that the office is a great place to work and to meet each other.”

In terms of further expansion, “Benelux is a region where we are very strong,” he added. “We’re investing heavily in the DACH regions of Germany, Austria, Switzerland. The Nordics is a very important place [where] there’s a very high cloud adoption. And also the Baltic states … where we have been transitioning the partners from the existing TVG platform onto the Pax8 platform. The uptake we have seen just [is] just tremendous.”

Helping Through Turbulent Times

The cost of living and recession worries are dominating headlines across Europe. However, Nuij said those challenges will put Pax8’s MSP partners “in a stronger position than ever before” to help customers.

He said MSPs can show customers “that they bring efficiencies to the table, that they can help support the customers working in a more efficient way.”

For instance, he said customers could use Microsoft Power Automate to automate common tasks.

“That could potentially save them headcount or allow existing headcount to focus on other areas. This trend is moving MSPs working with Pax8 in a very interesting direction,” he said.

Nuij also pointed to a recent Gartner forecast that predicts equipment sales will fall by up to 5% by the end of this year. He said that too will allow MSPs to refocus from hardware to software solutions.

“That is something that is very close to our heart, obviously, and that we are very keen on supporting MSPs on,” he added.

 

Sep 21

Nutanix Elevate Now Has New Incentives for Partners’ Staff, DIYers, More

By | Managed Services News

The cloud computing company continues to upgrade its channel program for a subscription world.

The Nutanix Elevate partner program is going to the next level.

On Wednesday, Nutanix, which enables hybrid cloud and multicloud computing, unveiled several key enhancements for its resellers. The changes come as part of the company’s overall strategy to get away from legacy compensation and sales models.

That’s because it’s a subscription world now — most cloud channel partners no longer want or need to be paid one time. Rather, they want opportunities to make money beyond the point of sale. But, for the most part, cloud vendors seem to be taking their time digesting and acting on that message. Two companies, Nutanix and VMware (competitors, incidentally), stand out as the most prominent exceptions. Both vendors have instituted so-called customer life cycle compensation, and they keep improving how they reward and motivate their partners.

The Nutanix Elevate changes, in particular, have been in the works for some time as the company implements upgrades in phases. Recall that, last year, the company started emphasizing partner expertise and capability over size, and began paying on a recurring-revenue basis.

Nutanix's Christian Alvarez

Nutanix’s Christian Alvarez

“I’m proud that we went away from a traditional tiered partner program to a 100% competency-based program,” Christian Alvarez, Nutanix’s channel head, told Channel Futures exactly one year ago.

The updates announced on Sept. 21, 2022, reflect Nutanix’s ongoing efforts to give cloud partners what they want, specifically by shoring up that much-ballyhooed “customer life cycle” approach.

“[W]e’ve addressed many of our partners’ needs to engage with customers through their life cycle — not just selling the technology, but enabling them to adopt, perform, expand and ultimately renew,” Alvarez said. “Elevate now supports and rewards partners along this entire journey.”

Exploring What’s New in Nutanix Elevate

Nutanix is kicking off the Elevate enhancements with something not yet common within the indirect channel: paying partners’ salespeople and engineers when they sell Nutanix into net-new accounts. Nutanix calls the initiative the New Business Individual Incentive.

“We really took our time” putting this aspect of Nutanix Elevate together, Alvarez told Channel Futures. The company had to consider local and federal laws, which require the compensation to count as ordinary income, and executives had to get partners to agree. With all of that cemented, Nutanix now may pass incentives and rewards back to the partner, where they then go from the partner to the individual.

“We’re somewhat arm’s length but we’re putting the onus and management of those rewards straight to the account manager and systems engineers,” Alvarez said. “Treating our partners as an extension of our sales is really fundamental and this is one big step in that direction to incentivize them for inserting Nutanix at the right time.”

Alvarez said that adding the individual incentives represents a direct response to partners’ requests.

“This is one that we’ve heard about from all of our partners,” he said.

The next change comes in the form of a pilot program for an incentive that will pay select partners for consistent, on-time renewals. Remember, Nutanix is now all software.

“This pilot program is essentially the first big step toward …

Sep 21

Digital Transformation Faces an Under-Reported Issue ― Change Fatigue

By | Managed Services News

A cohesive strategy, planning and adequate training help ease the stress of a digital transformation.

invenioLSI's Nader Tirandazi

invenioLSI’s Nader Tirandazi

Digital transformation isn’t just a lengthy process, it’s a difficult one as it upends legacy operations and processes that have been in place for decades.

The public sector, particularly government agencies, struggles the most with digital transformation as they’re historically slowest to adopt and adapt to new technology. However, those agencies are facing increased pressure to adopt technology that caters to the growing needs of their constituents, pressure that has only been compounded by the pandemic.

Unfortunately, the process of transformation and adoption is hampered by an often-undiscussed barrier to successful transformation — the change fatigue that employees, staff, and contractors experience when undergoing multiple new trainings, solutions and processes in a short period of time.

Combatting Change Fatigue

In both the private and public sector, combatting change fatigue is paramount to a successful digital transformation.

Here are some steps that must be taken during the transformation process to alleviate the pains associated with change fatigue: the need for talented and experienced solution-delivery members, effective leadership management, and concise and clear project strategies.

Create a smart strategy. First, there must be a focused and concise strategy for any digital transformation to be successful. This strategy lays out the IT implementations needed and is agile to account for any setbacks or revisions. Leadership and employees alike should have realistic expectations for the timetable of implementation and be ready to follow through on the strategy to ensure a digital transformation is completed on time.

Bringing in experts. During a digital transformation, resources shouldn’t be limited to budget and investment, they must extend to the team of people that will implement the project. In a recent survey (PDF) we conducted, over 25% of government employees felt that training employees on new technology is one of the most difficult aspects of technology change management.

Transformation projects are only as successful as the experienced team behind them that can properly train, prepare, and transition employees onto a new system.

This is where bringing a trusted consultant on board is critical, as they bring a breadth of experience and have the skills needed for a smooth and effective digital transformation. They will also work in tandem with an internal team of experts to help develop and implement advanced systems that can be tailored to each agency’s need. As the end-user, employees must have support and clearly understand how the transformation will benefit them before, during and after implementation.

Getting leadership onboard. Finally, executive leadership sponsorship is crucial for a successful transformation. Replacing decades-old systems means changing the daily tasks and processes employees are accustomed to. This can create fear and hesitation to adopt a new system.

Effective leadership management begins with relaying to all employees how the new system will help them and make their daily tasks more streamlined and efficient. Leadership must relay the benefits and be open to addressing any questions or concerns so that a foundation of trust is laid at the onset of the digital transformation. This allows both leadership and employees to be proactive, responsive and willing to successfully see a transformation project through.

Undergoing a digital transformation isn’t easy. It requires all leadership to be behind a cohesive strategy that can then be executed by a team of subject-matter experts, along with a trusted IT consultant. The benefits of digital transformation for public sector can be achieved with the proper tools in place.

Nader Tirandazi is CEO of invenioLSI. He previously was executive vice president of LSI prior to their merger, was a SAP public sector executive and served as a chief financial officer and CIO for other public sector agencies. You may follow him on LinkedIn or @invenioLSI on Twitter.

Sep 21

The CF List: 2022’s 20 Top Email Security Providers You Should Know

By | Managed Services News

The email security market has picked up after slowing during the pandemic.

Business email compromise (BEC) is driving demand for cloud-based API-enabled email security solutions (CAPES), creating more opportunities for email security providers.

BEC is an impersonation attack where emails appear to come from within the company, or from a trusted partner or supplier, and are mainly focused on fraud. Phishers imitate legitimate senders by spoofing their email addresses or compromising their accounts. In some BEC scams, attackers impersonate coworkers or executives to persuade victims to conduct wire transfers, buy gift cards, or steal sensitive personal information like tax documents.

The estimated losses due to BEC totaled $1.8 billion in 2020, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). And in 2021, it was up to $2.4 billion. Since 2016, the IC3 estimates BEC is responsible for $43 billion in losses globally.

Our latest CF List focuses on email security providers. Analysts with Omdia, Frost & Sullivan and Forrester weighed in on email security market trends and what it takes to be a successful provider.

Moving Away from SEGs to CAPES

Jess Burn is senior analyst at Forrester.

Forrester's Jess Burns

Forrester’s Jess Burns

“The pandemic saw a mass migration to the cloud and that included email,” she said. “As more firms moved to cloud-based email infrastructure from providers like Microsoft and Google, they also moved away from secure email gateways (SEGs) and toward cloud-based email security. So we saw the rise of CAPES as an add on to the naïve security capabilities offered by the email infrastructure providers.”

Sarah Pavlak is security industry principal at Frost & Sullivan.

Frost & Sullivan's Sarah Pavlak

Frost & Sullivan’s Sarah Pavlak

Email security market growth slowed down as a result of economic turmoil caused by the pandemic,” she said. “Growth has now picked back up and will be driven by the needs for increased security for continued remote working environments and growing number of cyber threats.”

Keeping Up with Cyber Threats and Trends

Cyber threats and trends are continually evolving and changing, Pavlak said. Therefore, email security providers must consistently adapt their offerings appropriately to remain innovative and competitive.

“How providers meet the demands for the changing threat landscape is a large factor in determining success,” she said. “Customers’ needs have changed due to remote working adaptations, as well as the bring-your-own-device movement, which also brings an increase in security concerns. The way people work has changed dramatically over the past few years and providers must adapt offerings to meet these changes.”

Rik Turner is principal analyst at Omdia, which shares a parent company with Channel Futures (Informa).

Omdia's Rik Turner

Omdia’s Rik Turner

“To be cutting-edge, a provider should definitely be able to address the newer generation of threats such as phishing, BEC and account takeover (ATO) attacks, and of course ransomware,” he said.

The Need for Security Awareness Training

There is an argument that an email security vendor should also provide security awareness training, Turner said.

“That certainly informed some acquisition activity such as Proofpoint’s acquisition of Wombat, Mimecast’s purchase of Ataata, and Barracuda’s buying PhishLine, all of which happened in 2018,” he said. “I am not sure I completely buy into this idea, though, as it seems to me that it’s perfectly reasonable to use a separate supplier for security awareness training/cyber awareness training (SAT/CAT) rather than relying on your email security vendor.”

We’ve compiled a list, in no particular order, of 20 top email security providers. It’s based on analysts’ feedback and recent news reports. The list, by no means complete, includes a mix of well-known providers as well as lesser-known ones making strides in email security.

Sep 21

Latest M&A: HP-Poly, Accenture, Lumen, Rackspace, Thoma Bravo, More

By | Managed Services News

A $3.3 billion acquisition strengthens opportunities for hybrid work. Can you guess which deal?

As our latest M&A edition shows, we observed some of the same trends in August as we did in July. It appears there’s no hitting the brakes when it comes to cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions in particular.

For example, global investment firm KKR has acquired a prominent cybersecurity company with more than 200,000 customers worldwide. It purchased the company from another familiar face in the investment world, Thoma Bravo. This raises another point. Investment firms are as much a part the channel as other organizations.

We selected 18 companies that participated in M&A in August. Some deals got attention for their size, such as HP closing its Poly acquisition. We paid attention to others for their geographic reach. This included Pax8‘s acquisition of Umbrellar, which allows the cloud marketplace provider to expand into New Zealand.

Lastly, we focused on one acquisition across the pond: OpenText is acquiring its British rival, Micro Focus. Unfortunately, Micro Focus is dogged by a number of financial challenges. The bright side is that OpenText may be able to turn things around.

See our slideshow above for all of the latest channel-impacting M&A. Then, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

Sep 21

Latest M&A: HP-Poly, Accenture, Lumen, Rackspace, Thoma Bravo, More

By | Managed Services News

A $3.3 billion acquisition strengthens opportunities for hybrid work. Can you guess which deal?

As our latest M&A edition shows, we observed some of the same trends in August as we did in July. It appears there’s no hitting the brakes when it comes to cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions in particular.

For example, global investment firm KKR has acquired a prominent cybersecurity company with more than 200,000 customers worldwide. It purchased the company from another familiar face in the investment world, Thoma Bravo. This raises another point. Investment firms are as much a part the channel as other organizations.

We selected 18 companies that participated in M&A in August. Some deals got attention for their size, such as HP closing its Poly acquisition. We paid attention to others for their geographic reach. This included Pax8‘s acquisition of Umbrellar, which allows the cloud marketplace provider to expand into New Zealand.

Lastly, we focused on one acquisition across the pond: OpenText is acquiring its British rival, Micro Focus. Unfortunately, Micro Focus is dogged by a number of financial challenges. The bright side is that OpenText may be able to turn things around.

See our slideshow above for all of the latest channel-impacting M&A. Then, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

Sep 21

Latest M&A: HP-Poly, Accenture, Lumen, Rackspace, Thoma Bravo, More

By | Managed Services News

A $3.3 billion acquisition strengthens opportunities for hybrid work. Can you guess which deal?

As our latest M&A edition shows, we observed some of the same trends in August as we did in July. It appears there’s no hitting the brakes when it comes to cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions in particular.

For example, global investment firm KKR has acquired a prominent cybersecurity company with more than 200,000 customers worldwide. It purchased the company from another familiar face in the investment world, Thoma Bravo. This raises another point. Investment firms are as much a part the channel as other organizations.

We selected 18 companies that participated in M&A in August. Some deals got attention for their size, such as HP closing its Poly acquisition. We paid attention to others for their geographic reach. This included Pax8‘s acquisition of Umbrellar, which allows the cloud marketplace provider to expand into New Zealand.

Lastly, we focused on one acquisition across the pond: OpenText is acquiring its British rival, Micro Focus. Unfortunately, Micro Focus is dogged by a number of financial challenges. The bright side is that OpenText may be able to turn things around.

See our slideshow above for all of the latest channel-impacting M&A. Then, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

Sep 21

Latest M&A: HP-Poly, Accenture, Lumen, Rackspace, Thoma Bravo, More

By | Managed Services News

A $3.3 billion acquisition strengthens opportunities for hybrid work. Can you guess which deal?

As our latest M&A edition shows, we observed some of the same trends in August as we did in July. It appears there’s no hitting the brakes when it comes to cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions in particular.

For example, global investment firm KKR has acquired a prominent cybersecurity company with more than 200,000 customers worldwide. It purchased the company from another familiar face in the investment world, Thoma Bravo. This raises another point. Investment firms are as much a part the channel as other organizations.

We selected 18 companies that participated in M&A in August. Some deals got attention for their size, such as HP closing its Poly acquisition. We paid attention to others for their geographic reach. This included Pax8‘s acquisition of Umbrellar, which allows the cloud marketplace provider to expand into New Zealand.

Lastly, we focused on one acquisition across the pond: OpenText is acquiring its British rival, Micro Focus. Unfortunately, Micro Focus is dogged by a number of financial challenges. The bright side is that OpenText may be able to turn things around.

See our slideshow above for all of the latest channel-impacting M&A. Then, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

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