5 Channel Partner and MSP Updates: Friday 23 October 2020 -

Here are five (actually, more) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, October 23, 2020. Sip up.

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A. What’s Happening Today

1. Microsoft 365 Security Settings: Roughly half (50%) of users at enterprises running Microsoft 365 (M365) are not managed by default security policies within the platform, according to CoreView research titled “Global Microsoft 365 Report: Application Security, Data Governance and Shadow IT."

2. Small Business Accounting Tools: Intuit has introduced two new offerings:

QuickBooks Insurance, which "makes it easy and convenient for a small business to become insured online in minutes," the company says. QuickBooks Insurance offers general liability, professional liability, employment practices liability, workers’ compensation, commercial auto, cyber and earthquake insurance through four providers: AP Intego, Coterie, Cover Genius and Next Insurance.

401(k) powered by Guideline, which allows Quickbooks users to set up their company’s 401(k) plan "in minutes and automate the appropriate employee payroll deductions, all from within their QuickBooks account using Guideline’s single sign-on integration with QuickBooks Online Payroll," the company says.

3. Talent - Managed Cloud Services: Rackspace Technology has hired HP and VIAVI Solutions veteran Amar Maletira as president and chief financial officer, effective November 23, 2020. Maletira will succeed Dustin Semach, who has resigned to take a new career opportunity.

4. Vertical Markets - SAP Cloud Applications: SAP has expanded its industry cloud solutions portfolio to serve the needs of three new industries: retail, professional services and industrial machinery and components (IM&C), the company says.

5. M&A - Data Analytics: TIBCO Software Inc, backed by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, has agreed to acquire Information Builders, Reuters reports.

6. Intel Financial Results: Intel on Thursday reported that margins tumbled in the latest quarter as consumers bought cheaper laptops and pandemic-stricken businesses and governments clamped down on data center spending, news that sent its shares down 10 percent, Reuters notes.

B. Channel Partner Programs & Strategic Alliances

1. Salesforce Dreamforce to You: The reimagined Salesforce conference will kick off November 12 as a virtual event with a keynote from CEO Marc Benioff.

2. Partnership - Industrial Workplaces: Honeywell will offer its domain-specific applications built on the Microsoft cloud platform to "drive new levels of productivity for industrial clients," the companies say.

3. Partnership - Technology Training: Verizon is investing over $44 million in workforce development to "significantly increase access to a free tech-focused career training program aimed at re-skilling Americans," the company says. The effort includes a partnership with Generation, which will bring an online re-skilling program to 26 cities by end of 2022.

4. Partnership - Managed Kubernetes Services: Verizon Business has announced VNS Application Edge, a solution that allows enterprises to extend the Virtual Network Services capabilities and now deploy business applications to the edge, along with a Kubernetes managed service. VNS Application Edge, built in collaboration with Rafay Systems Inc., is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering that provides an automation framework for managing Kubernetes clusters and containerized app deployment, the companies say.

5. Partnership - SAP Cloud Applications: Accenture and SAP have partnered to build industry-specific solutions based on SAP’s industry cloud. The applications can "help companies innovate with new capabilities in the cloud while reducing operating costs, improving productivity and unlocking new opportunities for growth," Accenture and SAP assert.