Content, 5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: Friday 18 October 2019

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Here are five (actually, far more…) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, October 18, 2019.

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A. What’s Hot Today

1. MSP Strategy - Onepath: Stay tuned for some longer-term updates from the diversified IT service and project company. Yes, some leadership members have changed at the company. There are signs that Onepath is preparing to hatch a longer-term growth plan for its tech-enabled project business, collaboration business, its application and web development business and its IT service provider business.

2. M&A - ITSM Automation: Atlassian has acquired Code Barrel a software company that develops automation tools for Jira. The IT service management (ITSM) automation can tackle everything from onboarding to closing out old, stale support tickets, Atlassian says.

3. M&A - Digital Transformation: Accenture has acquired Happen, a privately owned innovation firm that uses proprietary methods, frameworks and digital tools to help clients generate new ideas, products and services, the companies say.

4. MSP - Microsoft Azure: Insight Enterprises has achieved Microsoft Azure Expert MSP status.

5. Funding - Women-Led Startups: Microsoft's Venture FundMayfield and Pivotal Ventures have announced the second global Female Founders Competition to accelerate funding for women entrepreneurs developing B2B, SaaS and deeptech solutions. Eligible women-led startups developing enterprise tech solutions in the United StatesEuropeIsrael and India are encouraged to submit applications. Four winning companies will receive a total of $6 million in venture funding, along with access to technology, resources, mentoring and other benefits, the organizations say.

6. Yahoo SMB Services: Yahoo Small Business introduced Business Maker, a "new platform to help small businesses and aspiring business owners start, run, and grow their own business." Business Maker intelligently recommends specific steps and solutions based on where a small business is in its lifecycle, Yahoo says. The platform enables entrepreneurs to create business plans, form a legal business entity, establish an online presence and collect payments, and more.

7. SMB Expense Management: ScaleFactor has unveiled a Visa Card for SMBs, while extending its accounting and finance platform into expense management The credit card surfaces after ScaleFactor recently raised $60 million in series C funding, taking total funding to $100 million over the past 12 months.

8. Talent - Payment Enablement Technology: Datto and Autotask veteran Matt Miller has joined NMI as senior vice president of sales.

9. PSA Software - Google G-Suite: VOGSY has added task management capabilities to its PSA (professional services automation) software for Google G-Suite. Users can "add even the most granular of tasks to manage all aspects of a project’s structures, budgets, timelines and profitability tracking in one view, letting teams improve efficiencies and simplify work," the company says.

B. Partnerships and Strategic Alliances

1. Distribution - Cloud-Managed WiFi: ScanSource has agreed to distribute Aerohive Networks solutions from Extreme Networks.

2. All Partner Programs: Search the comprehensive ChannelE2E Partner Program Database here. Also, submit your company information here and your partner program can be listed in the database.

C. Next Five Technology Conferences

  1. DattoCon 2019 Paris (October 21-23, France)
  2. Splunk .conf19 (October 21-24, Las Vegas)
  3. Vision 2019: The 20 Conference for MSPs (October 27-29, Dallas, Texas)
  4. NetApp Insight 2019 (October 28-30, Las Vegas)
  5. ConnectWise IT Nation Connect 2019 (October 30-November 1, Orlando, Florida)
  6. BonusChannelE2E’s complete event calendar

Got news to share for our morning update? Email me: [email protected].

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.