Content, 5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 29 May 2018

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, May 29, 2018.

Actually, there are 12 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.

12. GDPR Fallout: Google, Facebook and multiple U.S. media companies are accused of breaking the newly enacted GDPR regulation. Many U.S. media firms have found their websites blocked in European Union countries. Meanwhile, small businesses have overwhelmed support lines asking for GDPR guidance.

11. IBM Watson Layoffs: The IBM Watson Healthcare team has suffered layoffs in recent days, multiple reports suggest.

10. Cisco Customer Support: Cisco Systems has creating a new customer service group -- aptly called Cisco Customer Experience. Salesforce veteran Maria Martinez will lead the group. The new group merges formerly separate organizations, including the Advanced Services Group and the Technical Services Group, each of which include several thousand employees, BizJournals says.

9. Talent:  Lenovo India has appointed Ashish Sikka as director-SMB. The move comes as Lenovo begins to regain momentum in the PC sector while also growing sales in the data center, according to the company's most recent quarterly report.

8. Tech Funding - European Union: France and Germany are pushing for an EU-wide initiative to fund innovation and research in tech start-up projects across the bloc so that Europe can compete more effectively against the likes of China and the United States.

7. Microsoft 365 Partner Guidance: AppRiver is guiding MSPs that want to monetize Microsoft 365 -- the all-encompassing cloud and subscription suite. For starters, AppRiver is offering up this guide: Microsoft 365: A New Era of Opportunity.

6. Cloud PSA and ERP: FinancialForce and Appirio have inked a global sales and implementation partnership. FinancialForce is an ERP and PSA platform built for Salesforce customers.

5. Private Equity Firm Fined: Search Fund Accelerator will pay $550,000 to end a probe by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey into its heavy use of unpaid interns, whom Healey claims were, in reality, full-fledged employees, BizJournals says.

4. Private Equity - Management Software: KKR is acquiring BMC Software for an undisclosed sum, the companies confirmed this morning.

3. M&A - IT Services: Honolulu-based Integration Technologies Inc. acquired the assets of Kali Systems Inc., a managed services provider headquartered in Kailua, BizJournals reports.

2. M&A - Salesforce Partner: FMT Consultants, a Microsoft and NetSuite partner, has acquired Salesforce partner Red Sky Solutions.

1. Conferences: ChannelE2E is set to attend SAP Sapphire 2018 and TruMethods Schnizzfest 2018 next week in Orlando and Philadelphia, respectfully. If you would like to potentially meet at the conferences please email me your request ([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.