7 Channel People of the Week at Lumen, Kaseya, More
Our people of the week highlight layoffs at Lumen, Kaseya's new subscription service and the FTC's crackdown on noncompete agreements. See who else made it.
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Generative artificial intelligence is a tool that many MSPs are adopting and that analysts anticipate will play an integral part in their revenue growth in the coming years. Canalys, an Informa company, projects that MSP revenue will grow an estimated 11% in 2024, bringing the total to $548 billion. And gen AI is anticipated to play a significant role in that growth.
Pamela Diaz, CEO of of cybersecurity MSP Entara, during an April Channel Futures webinar (available on demand here), said that her company started using generative AI to automate processes, but that such a tool requires vetting to ensure reliability.
“A lot of tools now say ‘driven by AI,’” she said. “We’re being selective because not everything is ready for prime time. You have to make sure that you’re utilizing tools that have been vetted well. And when you’re using it internally for automation, make sure you are verifying all the steps that you’re taking.”
Learn more about how other MSPs in the industry are using generative AI.
The Federal Trade Commission in a ruling on April 25 made the majority of noncompete agreements unenforceable and restricted future agreements from being enacted. Expect the ruling to affect more than 30 million workers, including a number operating in the channel.
"This is good news for the industry and the business world at large," said Eric Brooker, chief experience officer at The Channel Advisors. "This will force the channel community (suppliers, TSDs and trusted advisors) to focus on building strong cultures with good leaders and a focus on their products and well-being of their employees. Employee retention will be based on the employees' experience and not the fear of leaving tied to a legal document."
Learn more about the FTC ruling and its effect on the industry here.
Artificial Intelligence-powered PCs appear to be reaching a significant portion of the market, according to some of the leading manufacturers. Intel CEO Pal Gelsinger and Omdia, an Informa company, have both confirmed that AI PCs will likely reach their targets in the immediate future.
While AI PCs are still a small portion of the market share, partners and distributors have noticed a significant increase in interest in the hardware among their customer bases.
“We're seeing activity on multiple fronts,” Peter DiMarco, VP of commercial sales for D&H Distributing, said. “For the Intel, AMD and Qualcomm community of partners that work with us every day, there's a lot of training and education that we're doing right now. In the VAR and SMB community, we're just starting to see quoting activity and interest activity in AI PCs. And there’s a ton of interest in Copilot."
You can learn more about how partners, distributors and channel vendors are approaching AI PCs here.
Tech investor giant Thoma Bravo acquired one of the world's primary sources for cybersecurity AI. The private-equity company said on April 26 that it had reached an agreement with the board of directors at Darktrace, a deal that will take the company private. Thoma Bravo is shelling out $5.32 billion in the deal.
The purchase arrived nearly two years after an initial attempt to make the acquisition happen.
"I am immensely proud of our brilliant business and people,” Poppy Gustafsson, Darktrace’s CEO, said. “From our base in Cambridge, we are building a world-leading company using a unique form of AI to address the societal challenge of cybersecurity. This [proposal] represents the next stage in our growth journey and I am excited by the many opportunities we have ahead of us. Our technology has never been more relevant in a world increasingly threatened by AI-powered cyberattacks. In the face of this, we are expanding our product portfolio, entering new markets, and focused on delivering for our customers, partners and colleagues."
You can learn more about Thoma Bravo's acquisition of Darktrace here.
A number of MSP executives were asked on a keynote panel at Kaseya Connect to evaluate their priorities during a theoretical MSP valuation. A number of them emphasized the increasing prominence of AI and how they're using it.
“For the MSPs I talk to, it’s all about AI,” Brent Whitfield, director of equity partnerships at New Charter Technologies said. “They’re not sure they can embrace the right technologies at the right time to be competitive as they're trying to handle security and cloud and digital transformation. And now there's this AI thing. We’re spending time with every vendor around, [saying], ‘What are we doing with AI? And how can we use it to our advantage safely? How can we help our clients use it?’”
Learn more about Whitfield, the panel and the role AI plays in an MSP's future here.
More from Kaseya Connect lands at No. 2 this week.
The IT and security management company said at its event on April 30 that it was launching Kaseya 365, a new subscription program that would provide customers a number of services for a single monthly fee. These include remote monitoring and management (RMM), antivirus protection, endpoint detection and response (EDR), managed detection and response (MDR), patch management, ransomware rollback and endpoint backup.
Kaseya 365 is “a monumental game changer — one that is going to flip the industry on its head and power its future," CEO Fred Voccola said. "Everything we’ve done over the past decade has led us to this moment, and I cannot wait to see our MSPs experience these immense benefits. With Kaseya 365, MSPs powered by Kaseya have a tremendous financial and operational advantage over their peers. Not only are their profits 30-50% higher, but they no longer have to make hard decisions about what technology to include for their customers based on cost.”
Learn more about Kaseya 365 and other announcements made at Connect here.
Communications giant Lumen Technologies said it's laying off more than 1,000 staffers while it attempts to overcome some financial struggles. The job cuts, which accounted for 7% of the company's workforce, occurred as part of the company's effort to improve its free cash flow.
Lumen said the layoffs are part of a larger plan to reorganize. But the news is a concern to at least one prominent channel partner.
"The financial health of our vendors is absolutely a consideration for the channel," C3 Technology Advisors' Matthew Toth told Channel Futures. "Followed to its logical conclusion, financial difficulties are followed by restructuring, layoffs and ultimately, bankruptcy. All of these have impacts on our suppliers’ ability to deliver their products consistently."
You can read about the layoffs and what they mean for other partners here.
Communications giant Lumen Technologies said it's laying off more than 1,000 staffers while it attempts to overcome some financial struggles. The job cuts, which accounted for 7% of the company's workforce, occurred as part of the company's effort to improve its free cash flow.
Lumen said the layoffs are part of a larger plan to reorganize. But the news is a concern to at least one prominent channel partner.
"The financial health of our vendors is absolutely a consideration for the channel," C3 Technology Advisors' Matthew Toth told Channel Futures. "Followed to its logical conclusion, financial difficulties are followed by restructuring, layoffs and ultimately, bankruptcy. All of these have impacts on our suppliers’ ability to deliver their products consistently."
You can read about the layoffs and what they mean for other partners here.
Leaders at C3, Kaseya and Darktrace are among our Channel People of the Week, a collection of vendor execs, partners, consultants and other channel influencers who have impacted the state of the industry in the past week. We highlight them in the slideshow above that features the most-read stories on Channel Futures in the past seven days.
One is the impact that Lumen's layoffs are having on partners and the tech industry as a whole. Lumen has been attempting to restructure to free up its financial assets and pay off its debt, including cutting more than 1,000 of its employees.
Another significant story is Kaseya's decision to Kaseya 365. This subscription program, which the CEO called a "monumental game changer," includes antivirus protection, ransomware rollback and several automations.
The Federal Trade Commission has also barred noncompete agreements, a decision that channel analysts expect will impact a significant part of the marketplace.
It's our Channel People of the Week.
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