5 Channel Partner Updates: Friday 13 December 2019 -

Here are five (actually, far more…) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, December 13, 2019.

Our Daily Brew

Who We Serve: Content for managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), IT consulting firms, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and any other partner acronym that further caffeinates our already stellar SEO.
Frequency: Every business morning.
Reaching the Barista: Send news, tips and rumors to [email protected].

A. What’s Hot Today

1. M&A - Speculation: StorageCraft's private equity parent, TA Associates, may be preparing to sell the data protection, backup and disaster recovery (BDR) software company in 2020. TA Associates acquired StorageCraft in January 2016...

2. M&A - Custom Software Development: Indecomm Digital Services has acquired Avantica Technologies, a Nearshore software engineering services specialist in Latin America.

3. Broadcom Financial Results: Broadcom's fourth-quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates on Thursday, but investors were put off by slowing growth in semiconductor business and a lukewarm revenue forecast for 2020, sending its shares down about 2% in extended trading, Reuters reports.

4. Talent - Oracle CEO: Oracle has no plans to hire a co-CEO to replace Mark Hurd, who died in October. Safra Catz continues forward as the company's solo CEO, and Oracle will hire and groom the 'next layer down' of talent to eventually succeed Catz and Chairman Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder said yesterday. Related: Oracle OpenWorld 2020 is now confirmed for September in Las Vegas.

5. Talent - Salesforce: The SaaS CRM giant has named Bret Taylor as president and COO. He oversees Salesforce's global product vision, engineering, security, marketing and communications. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Quip, which Salesforce acquired in 2016.

6. IT Outsourcing - Fast Food: Wendy's is outsourcing IT, resulting in costs of up to $15 million on IT restructuring, according to an 8-K form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, CIO Dive reports. The move comes as rival McDonalds acquires artificial intelligence, self-service and drive through technologies as part of a digital transformation strategy.

7. SMB Funding: Qwil, a startup that provides financing to freelancers and small businesses, has raised $24.4 million in equity and $200 million in debt funding from investors including Jefferies Financial Group Inc, Reuters reports.

8. Brexit - Moving Forward: This week's UK election outcomes suggest the country will get Brexit done by the end of January 2020. No doubt, the overall process will stretch on in many ways. But businesses worldwide are hopeful that they now have clarity in terms of Brexit next-steps for near-term business planning.