Top 20 Stories in May: Avaya Emerges, More Layoffs, IBM's Big Goal
Plus, a big partnership between RingCentral and Microsoft. But what was No. 1?
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If only we could predict the future …
Good news is, we have some channel leaders from top vendors to help us with that notion.
We gathered leaders from Verizon, T-Mobile, Vonage and HPE at last month’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo to discuss everything from navigating the “new normal” to business growth to the increasingly convering partner ecosystem.
If you didn’t see them on stage at the event, we offered you this article as a recap.
The number of tech companies issuing layoffs has waned a bit since the first quarter of the year, but there are still some breaking news with job cuts on an almost weekly basis.
That’s why we keep up to date with our telecom-IT layoff tracker, highlight the companies doing business in the channel that have let people go in 2023.
Those companies include Dell, Zoom, Accenture, Zscaler and many more. Here’s where you can see them all.
Distribution giant ScanSource acknowledged a ransomware attack in May that knocked some of its systems offline.
The company appeared to do the right thing. It reportedly discovered the incident on May 14 and immediately launched an investigation, implementing its incident response plan.
Customers reported no longer having access to ScanSource’s portals and websites. It took roughly two weeks for all ScanSource systems to be fully operational again.
Read more about the ransomware attack.
This one has more legs than the Rockettes.
Now in its eighth consecutive month on our top stories countdown, our article about Citrix joining the newly formed (not so new anymore) Cloud Software Group landed on Channel Futures on Oct. 3, 2022. All this time later and it’s still getting enough attention to land in our monthly top 20.
Citrix’s inclusion into the CSG, alongside BI and application and data integration provider Tibco, came after a pair of private equity firms closed their acquisition of Citrix on Sept. 30.
Read all about it and maybe you’ll know why this article still has a lot of steam.
Canalys analyst Jay McBain has his own nice little streak going in our top 20. His trends for MSPs in 2023, which we included in an article on March 16, is still getting traction on Channel Futures.
McBain, speaking at NerdioCon in Cancun, discussed a new era in cloud distribution; the seven-layer cloud opportunity; and the slow death of “one throat to choke.”
Learn more and see the rest of McBain’s trends.
First there was remote work; now, in the aftermath of the worst of COVID-19, there is hybrid work. Having some employees in the office and some at home is creating new challenges for many tech companies doing business in the channel.
One is Dell Technologies, which is encouraging this hybrid work environment for its employees in the UK, all the while urging collaboration between its own channel teams and partners to pursue customer wins.
So how does Dell get it done? And is it a model for other companies? We investigated.
A new type of technology advisor business model could be in the offing in the form of Procure IT.
Four companies merged this spring to form Procure IT, which wants to bring together data-focused partner firms with its own proprietary platforms.
The managing partners are building a platform for management of the customer life cycle, with plans to target a midmarket equity group in the coming months.
Get the full scoop on their plans.
We debuted our new “Faces of the Partner” series to some acclaim in the form of your attention on Channel Futures.
The series, which we introduced on stage at the 2023 Channel Partners Conference & Expo, gives you a snapshot of faces in the channel you might know. It explores everything from those that have grown their partner business from the ground up, to those who have sold their businesses, to those who have retired (or semi-retired) and why they’ve made the decisions they have.
Get to know our first set of “Faces.”
The debut of the 2023 MSP 501, the crown jewel of Channel Futures’ annual awards programs, is just two weeks away. We will recognize our first set of honorees on June 19, culminating in a webinar on June 22 and reveal of the top 100 on June 23. (Webinar attendees will get a sneak peek of the top 100).
Believe it or not, you still haven’t tired of last year’s MSP 501 rankings, even though they’ve been available now for 50 weeks. Here’s where you can download the list.
Broadcom‘s drawn-out, potential $61 billion acquisition of VMware isn’t exactly going as planned. Frequent regulatory detours — if not roadblocks — have kept the tie-up in limbo for many months.
The latest news is that the two have pushed back their “outside date” for the second time this year. That date, Aug. 26, is the latest that either company can walk away from the deal.
Both sides are still hopeful to close the acquisition by October, but they still have an option of pushing out their “outside date” another three months.
Stay tuned, or read more in our article about it.
It’s an ambitious goal, but that’s what big-name companies announce at big-name events.
IBM wants its ecosystem partners to generate 80% of the company’s software revenue in the next three to five years. That’s an increase from 40% this year.
It might be lofty, but IBM partners already have increased their share from 15% to 40% in just the past two years, so the company’s leaders think their partners can get it done.
The company made the proclamation at Partner Plus Day at its IBM Think event in Orlando. Learn more about why they think the goal is attainable.
The competition to speak at Channel Partners events has become cutthroat. Only a small percentage of applicants for the 2023 Channel Partners Conference & Expo got to stand up on the keynote stage or in a conference session, which speaks to the popularity of the event.
Now, we’ve opened up the application process for the 2023 Channel Futures Leadership Summit in Miami, Oct. 30-Nov. 2. But don’t delay: Your idea must be in by July 3.
As you can see, there’s already been enough interest to launch our article on applying into the top 10.
It’s a marriage made in channel heaven: RingCentral and Microsoft, bringing multiple sides and angles of the partner community together.
The former’s next generation of RingCentral for Microsoft Teams, v2.0, brings RingCentral’s cloud PBX capabilities into Microsoft Teams with what the companies are saying is a fully native experience. It does not require a second application.
This results in customers getting RingCentral’s reliability, global availability, features and third-party integration capabilities entirely within Teams’ user interface.
Read more about why RingCentral is high on version 2.0.
Everyone loves to see their company represented at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo.
That’s why we take pictures of all the booths and assemble them into a series of galleries so you can see who from your company — or one you partner with — was there when our shutterbug walked by.
This link takes you to photos of companies 0-9 and A-C. From there you can navigate to the rest of the letters of the alphabet.
The channel loves a good ranking to see who’s tops in what. Fiber, it turns out, is no exception.
You came to see AT&T atop the Vertical Systems Group fiber-lit buildings leaderboard for the seventh consecutive year. The carrier’s top rival and a number of cablecos also made the list.
Business communications giant Avaya turned over what it hopes is a new leaf by emerging from bankruptcy last month — the second time in six years.
The company claims the debt it carries is now at a “healthy level,” with business assets financed mostly by capital coming from investors.
Avaya’s CEO declared that a new streamlined product road map incorporates input from customers about the capabilities most meaningful to them. Product innovation clearly will be at the forefront of Avaya’s mission going forward.
Analyst Jon Arnold told Channel Futures he believes that Avaya is in a more advantageous position to grow than it was several years ago.
Get more details on what both Arnold and Avaya CEO Alan Masarek had to say.
Here’s you warning: This story and the next are about layoffs. Never good news, but often our most-read.
The first is Zendesk, which said it’s cutting 8% of its 4,000-strong workforce around the world.
The company, which provides customer experience software, acknowledged what many companies have said during the COVID-19 crisis: It hired too many people between 2020 and 2022, and now can no longer sustain them.
This story got so much attention that it actually cracked our top five in May despite only being published on May 31.
Read what Zendesk’s CEO had to say about the cuts.
Next up on the layoff front is Akamai, the connected cloud platform, which let 300 employees know their time at the company is over. That amounts to about 3% of its workforce.
The move comes as the company focuses on “its highest growth areas and sustaining profitability.”
Here’s where to learn more about the cuts at Akamai.
Our monthly CF20 list, where we poll analysts to name 20 of the biggest vendors in a particular technology category, is always an attraction. But our breakdown of SD-WAN vendors, which we do annually, is always on fire.
Perhaps it’s because the technology touches so many different partner types. Whatever the reason, see who — including Cisco, Fortinet, AT&T and more — made it and why.
They say to give the people what they want. And this past month, the people wanted the people.
That’s right. Our wildly popular monthly feature, Channel People on the Move, topped our list of most-read articles.
This edition featured new hires and promotions at AT&T, Juniper Networks, Pax8, Telarus and more. Pictured is Advantix Solutions Group’s Natasha Royer Coons.
They say to give the people what they want. And this past month, the people wanted the people.
That’s right. Our wildly popular monthly feature, Channel People on the Move, topped our list of most-read articles.
This edition featured new hires and promotions at AT&T, Juniper Networks, Pax8, Telarus and more. Pictured is Advantix Solutions Group’s Natasha Royer Coons.
Our top 20 stories from Channel Futures in May will take you on an emotional rollercoaster.
The lows, as usual, are layoffs. Aside from our updated telecom-IT layoff tracker, there are only two articles about layoffs impacting companies doing business in the channel. Yes, two is two too many, but that’s an improvement from recent months.
One high could be Avaya’s emergence from chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in six years. The company told us why this time might be different — and you clearly were interested.
Another high? A look into the future. Panelists representing some of the biggest vendors in the business offered some forecasts at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo. And speaking of the future, Canalys’ Jay McBain cracked the top 20 again with his predictions for the MSP community the rest of the year.
Jump into our slideshow above with both feet and you’ll see all top stories that made our monthly countdown. You, of course, are the arbiter of the rankings, since we determine them by aggregating online pageviews and results from our various channel newsletters. This is where you can sign up for those newsletters.
If you missed our top 20 stories from April, featuring murder and racism – seriously – you can see that countdown here.
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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