Top 20 Stories in January: Avaya, Microsoft, IBM, AWS, Datto, More Layoffs
ChatGPT cracks our list for the first time. We've also got new hires and security training. But what was No. 1?
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In our quarterly wrap of what’s happening at the biggest traditional distributors and technology services distributors (TSDs, formerly known as master agents), we told you how the downturn in the economy doesn’t seem to be as negatively impacting this community as it is vendors.
Our news roundup featured a survey of partners by TD Synnex, a wrap of the ScanSource/Intelisys Channel Connect event and a collaboration between Ingram Micro and T-Mobile.
You’d think in a day and age where seemingly every day we hear about a new data breach or ransomware attack, security awareness training would be … a thing. Apparently not.
Datto commissioned a report finding many SMBs in particular aren’t conducting any of this type of training. And at the same time, they are blaming their cybersecurity issues on this very thing.
See what else Datto’s survey of 3,000 IT pros at SMBs in eight countries found.
It seems just a couple of months ago that nobody had ever heard of ChatGPT. Now it’s all the rage.
This guest column from martinwolf M&A Advisors broke down the recent $10 billion investment Microsoft made in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The two companies are collaborating on various projects and initiatives in a multiyear partnership.
ChatGPT is the chat software that uses massive databases to generate original content that sounds very much like it is created by a human — far more so than any previous artificial intelligence. Some perceive it a threat to content creators everywhere.
Hedge fund Elliott Managment made a multibillion-dollar investement in CRM software giant Salesforce, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Look for more drastic changes from the company, which just cut 7,000 jobs through a new restructuring plan. It also recently relieved co-CEO Bret Taylor of his duties.
Learn more about Elliott Management and speculation about its plans for Salesforce.
Channel Futures published a series of outlooks for 2023 at the end of last year. One of the most-read was our cloud forecast.
In it, we featured predictions around the honing of new products; the assumption that inflation won’t slow cloud adoption (too much); partners will get more cloud business; and more.
Here‘s where you can see all of our cloud predictions for the remainder of the year.
Just how bad does your quarterly earnings report have to be to have it labeled a “crime scene”? How about “astonishingly bad” or a “historic collapse”?
Intel was the company to earn those dubious distinctions after releasing its fourth quarter earnings report.
The numbers were stark: a 32% year-over-year decline and a net loss of $644 million.
Get the full scoop on Intel’s very, very, very, very, very bad day (quarter).
This one still has our readers talking after publishing four months ago. (No doubt some of it has to do with layoffs the company announced last month.)
We’re talking about the Cloud Software Group (CSG), a portfolio of six businesses that formed in October. The one you’re most familiar with is Citrix.
Two private equity firms, which first announced their acquisition of Citrix in January 2022, closed on the deal last fall. The newly formed CSG combined Citrix with Tibco, the business application and data integration provider, among other business units that Citrix and Tibco had previously acquired.
Business communications giant Mitel is buying Unify, the unified communications and collaboration arm of France-based Atos.
The result will be a collective customer base of more than 75 million users in more than 100 countries. Assuming the proposed acquisition gets the green light, Mitel will get voice platforms, collaboration and contact center products, a device and endpoint portfolio and more.
Read our Q&A about the deal with Mitel president and CEO Tarun Loomba.
That’s a question a lot of cloud followers are probably asking this year as the cloud sector shows its first signs of weakness — perhaps ever.
It’s also a question we asked in this look at the year ahead for AWS. Just how long can the cloud giant sustain its $20-billion-plus-per-quarter revenue? Are the COVID-19-era excesses starting to hit the cloud sector like the rest of tech?
As we get ready to unveil the application for the 2023 MSP 501 any day now, you’re still checking out last year’s list.
Our biggest traffic generator of 2022 is still on fire this year, despite it being more than seven months since we unveiled it.
Here‘s where you can download it, to see which managed service providers were the biggest and best in 2022; or, for a quick look who made the top 50, go here.
In case you needed some evidence that communications platform as a service (CPaaS) is on fire, we actually had two articles about it land in the top 20 — we’ve consolidated them here.
First up, highlights from a MarketsandMarkets report that predicted a 29% CAGR for the technology over the next four years. The research firm ID’d Twilio, Sinch, Avaya and several more companies as “key players.”
Then there’s our monthly CF20 list that focuses on companies leading the way in a particular technology. In January, you guessed it, it was CPaaS. See who the analysts we asked considered to be the biggest players and startups to watch.
Earlier we mentioned our series of industry forecasts for 2023. The hottest among them was our look at the year ahead through the eyes of the technology advisor (agent).
Perhaps the biggest issue to eyeball in the year ahead is the approach vendors might take in how they use their marketing development funds (MDF). Are swag bags and free rounds of golf the best use of their dollars?
We break that and many more predictions down in this article.
We learned this week that the European Union’s scrutiny of Broadcom‘s proposed VMware acquisition is on a temporary hold, but a story we originally published on Dec. 12 makes it on this list for the second consecutive month.
That’s when the European Commission, the EU’s competition branch, said it would launch a full-scale, four-month investigation into the deal to analyze if there”s an anticompetitive angle it should explore before greennlighting.
The $61 billion acquisition would be one of the largest in tech history if approved.
A big change is happening at IBM, where the company is doing away with the long-running PartnerWorld program and replacing it with Partner Plus.
The goal of the new program is to give new and existing partners simpler engagement and to facilitate growth. It’s the manifestation of the company’s focus on expanding its ecosystem.
IBM is already phasing in the program; PartnerWorld will be phased out on July 1.
Get more information about the change here.
Our usually twice-a-year layoff tracker is expanding to a more frequent cadence, which pleases no one. It’s the state of the tech industry right now.
Our end-of-year recap included job cuts at HP, Oracle, RingCentral, 8×8 and more. Get caught up here. And we just published another at the beginning of February.
GTT Communications, the managed network services provider, emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the beginning of the year with eyes on a bigger and better 2023.
GTT was able to cut $2.8 billion off its debt during the period and bring in some new investors. The whole process took 15 months.
To get out of the red, the company solid its infrastructure division to I Squared Capital for $2.1 billion, ultimately reducing its debt by 80%.
Read more about what GTT is predicting for its future.
The Channel Futures DE&I 101, featuring people representing multicultural backgrounds and working to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the channel, continues to be a model for the tech industry.
That’s evidenced by the attention it gets each month. A staple on our top 20 countdowns, the second annual list was published on Sept. 1, 2022. See who made it.
It wouldn’t a countdown with Channel People on the Move, which continues to be our most popular recurring segment.
Last month’s edition featured Olen Scott (pictured), new channel leader at Nextiva, plus several dozen other new hires and promotions at Veeam, Lumen, Palo Alto Networks, Vonage and more.
Avaya, which has struggled the last number of months as it contemplates a second bankruptcy filing in five years, raised eyebrows last month for news that it’s paying its new CEO a hefty cash award.
Alan Masarek, who joined the company as chief executive last year in an effort to turn its fortunes around, is getting a $6 million bonus, per an SEC filing. Avaya’s board also approved a $1.2 million cash award for Shefali Shah, chief administrative officer.
This comes after Masarek got a $4 million “signing bonus.” The news came out at the same time we learned Avaya’s stock price had fallen below the NYSE minimum.
See how else Avaya is spending its money.
While our layoff tracker came in at No. 6, unfortunately we couldn’t leave it there. Individually, a half-dozen different articles on job cuts landed in our top 10, so we consolidated them here at No. 1.
Can’t say this comes as a surprise, as layoffs dominated the headlines last month.
Perhaps the most egregious was our story on Salesforce, which reportedly didn’t bother to call or meet with those employees it was letting go. Instead, the notifications came over email.
Also garnering your interest in January were cuts at Informatica, Google, RingCentral, 8×8, Intel, CSG, Amazon, Oracle, Cisco, Sophos and more.
While our layoff tracker came in at No. 6, unfortunately we couldn’t leave it there. Individually, a half-dozen different articles on job cuts landed in our top 10, so we consolidated them here at No. 1.
Can’t say this comes as a surprise, as layoffs dominated the headlines last month.
Perhaps the most egregious was our story on Salesforce, which reportedly didn’t bother to call or meet with those employees it was letting go. Instead, the notifications came over email.
Also garnering your interest in January were cuts at Informatica, Google, RingCentral, 8×8, Intel, CSG, Amazon, Oracle, Cisco, Sophos and more.
Layoff chatter continued to compete for the No. 1 spot on our top stories countdown for January.
It was hard to avoid the constant chatter of cuts, as company after company said they would let people go. As you can see from our layoff tracker, nearly 20 companies with channel connections issued layoffs in January alone.
But that wasn’t all that happened last month. The world is getting its first real taste of ChatGPT, and the channel is showing interest.
Meantime, besides layoffs, cybersecurity continues to be probably the most pervasive topic. And it turns out most employees don’t feel they’re getting enough awareness training.
Elsewhere, as we await whether Avaya will file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, its CEO is getting a big bonus. And it turns out you’re pretty interested in what the technology advisor (agent) channel has in store for 2023, as well as what could be coming down from AWS this year.
So without further ado, let’s get to the slideshow above to find out what was No. 1 among our top stories in January. Oh, and in case you missed it, take a look at our top stories from all of 2022.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Craig Galbraith or connect with him on LinkedIn. |
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