MSP News Roundup: ConnectWise, The Panther Group, Pia aiDesk, New Charter Technologies

This week in our MSP news roundup we feature four companies, their acquisitions and technological advancements.

New Charter Technologies Partners with DS Tech

New Charter Technologies has partnered with DS Tech, a Michigan-based managed IT provider that offers IT support, cybersecurity, disaster recovery, voice solutions and cloud hosting to SMBs.

DS Tech’s Eric Wakkuri

Eric Wakkuri is president at DS Tech. He said the recently formed partnership with New Charter represents a significant step forward for the company.

“This strategic alliance will drive growth, further improve the customer experience, and enhance the capabilities of the organization,” Wakkuri said. “Our commitment to continuous improvement and service delivery is unwavering. The partnership with New Charter provides us access to a larger, more skill-diversified team and their innovative ideas. It enables us to achieve even greater success. Our shared values are a key component of this collaboration, ensuring a harmonious and productive partnership.”

With said partnership, customers can expect an even more well-rounded team, capable of delivering a wider range of services. DS Tech will also be able to access New Charter’s cybersecurity offerings through Cyber74, up-leveling those vital capabilities, as well as web development and marketing services.

ConnectWise Integrates with OpenAI

ConnectWise is integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the generative AI language model, with its remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools. These include ConnectWise Automate and ConnectWise RMM.

ConnectWise’s Raghu Ram Bongula

Raghu Bongula is chief technology officer at ConnectWise.

“The explosive growth of artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT present huge potential in the technology sector, particularly in use cases for MSPs,” Bongula said. “ConnectWise has long been a pioneer in building innovative solutions for MSPs, and we’ve been prototyping with AI for some time; our engineers love challenging tasks and finding new ways to solve problems for our partners.”

ConnectWise had plans to bring AI to its RMM and the ConnectWise Asio platform later this year. However, OpenAI accelerated the company’s launch plans.

ConnectWise is the first software vendor in the MSP space to release an integration with OpenAI into its existing portfolio of solutions, the company said. It enables its partners to solve complex problems for their end customers. ConnectWise’s use of AI technology will enable MSPs to automate customer ticketing and issue-tracking processes. This leads to faster response times and improved customer service and engagement.

Panther Group Buys Enterforce

The Panther Group, a Massachusetts-based staffing and recruiting firm, has acquired Enterforce, a Wisconsin-based MSP. The addition of EFI into the Panther family of businesses will complement existing recruiting and staffing solutions. It will further strengthen capabilities to offer differentiated and cost-saving solutions to clients throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

EFI will continue to operate as an independent division of Panther. The acquisition of EFI will increase the breadth and depth of existing Panther Workforce Solutions’ expertise, operational structure and capabilities, and company scale.

Sean Cogdell is CEO of the Panther Group.

The Panther Group’s Sean Cogdell

“This acquisition is viewed as a joining of two extraordinary companies very similar in experience and culture, with practice strengths that are highly complementary and that will enable us to provide a new and broader set of services to our clients,” Cogdell said. “The synergies and increase in scale will enable The Panther Group and Enterforce to continue delivering exceptional talent, exceptional service, and world-class human capital solutions to a broader market base.”

Pia aiDesk Achieves Trusted Application with ThreatLocker

Pia aiDesk, an automated ticket resolution solution for MSPs, has become a trusted application of ThreatLocker. ThreatLocker provides organizations with the ability to protect their IT operations with a zero-trust approach to cybersecurity. This achievement signifies another milestone in Pia’s ongoing commitment to maintaining a security-first culture for all its stakeholders, the company said.

Pia’s Nic Ferraro

“From the onset, partner and client security has been paramount for Pia,” said Nic Ferraro, COO of Pia. “Being born out of an MSP, we understand the importance of having the most robust security controls in place. Being recognized by ThreatLocker is just another way that we have proven how vital security is to us. We continue to work with ThreatLocker and the best security vendors to ensure we are up to date with industry standards.”

Pia understands that cybersecurity is the biggest challenge that MSPs face in a modern digital world. So says to Terry Irons, CIO and CISO of Pia.

“From its inception, Pia has placed security at the top of its priorities. This is evident from the top to bottom of the organization.”