Content, 5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 03 April 2018

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

Actually, there are 16 timely updates designed for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…

16. Unicorn Lawsuit: The SEC hit the founder of the cloud-based mobile financial services startup Mozido with a lawsuit, claiming he, his attorney and others close to him tricked hundreds of investors into funding shell companies and stole more than $48 million to fund their lavish lifestyles, Law360 reports. In a 66-page complaint, the SEC accuses Mozido founder Michael Liberty and four others of repeatedly lying to investors and inducing them to buy unregistered interests in shell companies controlled by Liberty, the report says.

15. Cryptocurrency Bubble: At least nine cryptocurrency hedge funds have been shuttered so far this year, and the funds have losses of 23 percent in 2018, Bloomberg reports.

14. Amazon and Small Businesses: As President Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders attack Amazon over its size and market power, consider this report from Motley Fool: Over two-thirds (68%) of small business owners who sell a product online say that Amazon has positively impacted their sales, according to a poll of more than 2,400 business owners conducted by Insureon and online small business directory Manta. The remaining 32% said the online leader had a negative effect on their sales.

13. Cloud Cost Management: ParkMyCloud has released SmartParking for Google Cloud Platform (GCP), allowing service providers and customers to automate Google-related cloud cost optimization. ParkMyCloud already supports Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

12. Apple vs. Intel: Apple apparently plans to abandon Intel chips...

11. Momentum: Logicworks, which specializes in  cloud automation and managed services, says consulting revenues have surged 300 percent and managed cloud services revenues have jumped more than 30 percent for its fiscal year 2017.

10. GDPR Compliance: One-Third of U.S.-based small businesses are not ready for the EU's upcoming GDPR compliance deadline in May 2018, according to Janco Associates. Frankly, we figured the estimate would be even worse...

9. Private Equity:  Thoma Bravo has acquired majority control of Nintex from TA Associates, which retains a minority stake in the company. Financial details were not disclosed. Nintex specializes in workflow and content automation (WCA), along with intelligent process automation (IPA).

8. Branding - IT Services: NovaCopy has rebranded as Novatech to reflect the company's strategic focus on managed IT and print services. The company's revenues were $74.1 million in 2016, representing a three-year growth rate of 48 percent, according to the Inc. 5000 list.

7. Reorganization - IT Consulting: Sourced Group, an IT consulting firm specializing in large-scale cloud transformations for enterprise clients, has unveiled a new organizational structure aimed at better serving its worldwide customer base, the company says.

6. Talent: Key names on the move include...

  •  Smart ERP Solutions has hired David Testa as VP of Oracle Cloud/BI Services for North America. Testa will oversee sales and service delivery for the entire Oracle cloud (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) solution software suite.
  • Arlin Sorensen, VP of HTG Peer Groups for ConnectWise, has joined the Channel Advisory Board at CompTIA, the well-known technology association.
  • Flashpoint, a business risk intelligence (BRI) specialist, has hired former IBM channel executive Jeff Seifert as executive director of global channels and partnerships.

5. Partner Program: DataRobot, which develops automated machine learning technology, has launched the DataRobot AI Partner Program for resellers and consultative partner. Early adopters include Cleartelligence, MIP and Teknion.

4. Partner Momentum - SonicWall: CEO Bill Conner and Chief Revenue Officer Steve Pataky share updates -- including partner metrics & executive hires -- here.

3. M&A - Managed Security: Critical Start has completed the buyout of Threat Analytics, essentially empowering the MSSP and MDR specialist with a mobile-first, zero-trust platform. ITC Secure, an MSSP, has acquired SBD Advisors, a Washington D.C based strategic advisory firm. Here's a closer look at the ITC-SBD deal via MSSP Alert.

2. Top 50 Cloud Monitoring and Management Tools: Complete the survey and your company’s cloud monitoring/cloud management platform could get honored in May…

1. MSP Revenue Plan: How can your MSP reach $1 million in annual recurring revenues? Register now for our next webcast to get specific guidance from our guest MSP speakers.

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.