5 Channel Observations: 8 Oct 2015

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015. Actually, today's update involves 13 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs) and cloud services providers (CSPs) to sip on. 13. Dell & EMC Merger Talk: Rumor has it the technology giants are discussing Dell buying EMC. My reaction: Can you name the last time a massive IT merger actually improved shareholder, customer and channel partner value? Still, there may be some hope for a logical deal. Some pundits think EMC is looking to sell off only parts of its business to Dell. 12. A is for Google: Alas, I can't get used to calling "Google" by its new parent name, "Alphabet." But I suppose they're big enough and important enough for me to get the name right going forward... 11. Accenture and Amazon: The consulting giant and the cloud giant are working together on new cloud migration services for customers. In case you missed the memo, Amazon also is launching multiple certifications and competencies -- DevOps, cloud migration services, Internet of Things -- for channel partners. 10. More Safe Harbor Fallout: ChannelE2E told you that Safe Harbor's death was bad news for small channel partners. Now, The Wall Street Journal is echoing that statement. Safe Harbor allowed certain customer data to flow between Europe and the U.S. But a European Union ruling has essentially scrapped Safe Harbor's protections. Among the 4,400 companies certified by the U.S. Commerce Department to take advantage of Safe Harbor, some 60% are small or midsize businesses, according to the government agency, The Journal reported. One possible Safe Harbor alternative: The Journal is telling small businesses to check out so-called "model contracts." 9. Mid-Market M&A: Mergers and acquisitions in the mid-market continued to slow down in Q3, 2015 -- though deals like Cisco's buyout of OpenDNS generated plenty of attention, notes The Middle Market. Side note: What a rather amazing website to track all mid-market business activity. 8. Big Data Improves Help Desks: So, big data has no impact on small channel companies? Guess again. Here's an example: Zendesk says its platform can now leverage big data to predict unhappy customers. For channel partners, that means the platform can help you to mitigate complaints before they happen -- or fire your worst customers before they drain your profits. 7. Business Recovery: StorageCraft Technology is offering a free three-day version of backup and disaster recovery software to businesses and non-profit organizations in areas that flooded last week -- Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. I applaud the effort but I'm not sure what happens to that business data after the three-day window closes. More: Visit page 2 for details on big data partner programs, new white label NOC services for Amazon AWS, tracking your small business KPIs, the rise of value-added distribution for SaaS-based security and more. Page 2 of 2 below. 6. Big Data Partner Programs: We told you earlier this week that MapR -- the fast-growth Hadoop provider --  has made a big hire and is ramping up its channel partner program strategy. Now comes word that more traditional IT players are planning data-centric partner programs of their own. A case in point: Cisco will offer some sort of data and analytics partner program as part of its software partner initiatives, CRN reported. (Ahem... I'm actually crediting CRN for the first time since After Nines Inc. launched ChannelE2E.) 5. Distribution and Security: Avnet Inc. now offers Alert Logic's managed cloud security and compliance solutions to channel partners. It's part of the Avnet Cloud Solutions portfolio. SaaS-centric security and distribution deals have been a hot topic lately. For instance, keep an eye on Relyenz, an up-and-coming value-added distributor of SaaS security products. And don't forget about ConnectWise; the business management software provider has had SaaS distribution on its mind for about five years (or more)... 4. Big Data Partner Conference: Yowzers, I realize this update is a bit heavy today with big data coverage. But there's no fighting the market trend. The latest tidbit: The Teradata 2015 PARTNERS Conference and Expo is set for October 18-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Partner and customer sessions will focus on big data analytics, marketing applications, data science and the Internet of Things. 3. Small Business KPIs: Dasheroo, a business dashboard provider for small and medium-size businesses, has launched a new free download for both Android and iOS devices. The system integrates with 25 applications and offers business dashboards for Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce, Instagram and more... 2. Android Creator's Big Bet: Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, has raised some $300 million in venture funding for an artificial intelligence play that some pundits are comparing to Terminator's Skynet. How reassuring... 1. White Lab NOC for Amazon: Cloudnexa has launched a White Label Managed Service Program(MSP) that links NOC services to Amazon Web Services. If you're an MSP or channel partner that gives the white label service a try please let me know how it works out. Read Them All: Did you miss one of our 5 Channel Partner Observations? Find the archive here here. Subscribe: Receive ChannelE2E’s blog headlines, insights and updates in your inbox daily. Subscribe to our enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.