Top 20 Stories in November: Unending Tech Layoffs, AWS re:Invent, Broadcom-VMware
Plus, Cisco Partner Summit takeaways and the top UC&C leaders. But what was No. 1?
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Here’s the one that just about everybody is talking about.
A week (and almost a day) didn’t go by last month without news of more layoffs in the channel and the broader technology industry.
Over the past several weeks, we have reported on cuts at Cisco, Asana, RingCentral, Intel, 8×8, Snyk, SADA and Seagate Technology. In fact, if we hadn’t lumped all of these into one spot on our countdown, they ALL would’ve landed in the top 20.
The one you were drawn to most was our feature on layoffs in the cloud computing space, notably at Salesforce and Oracle. We asked, “Will they continue?” You be the judge.
There’s nothing like some good channel speculation to get people talking. That was certainly the case when we posted a story last month on RingCentral possibly buying 8×8.
The news came from a “source” who told Investing.com that RingCentral was in talks with a bank to evaluate a potential transaction.
8×8’s contact-center-as-a-service solution certainly would be attractive to RingCentral, but there’s still a lot that would have to happen before this merger of rivals becomes reality.
Learn more about a possible tie-up of UC and cloud titans.
Another spot for Amazon Web Services in our countdown, but call this AWS-adjacent.
We featured Mission Cloud Services, an AWS-only partner, which made some key personnel announcements.
But it got Channel Futures contributing editor Kelly Teal thinking about the bigger picture. Why is this company adding people during an economic downturn, while so many others are giving their workers the axe?
Here’s our Q&A with Mission Cloud’s senior VP of people and culture.
It’s been three months since we introduced our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) 101 list, but this topic is still very top of mind.
Our second annual listing highlights people in technology and channel who are furthering the mission of education, advocating and demonstrating a dedication to promoting DE&I.
Who made it? Clearly there are still plenty of you haven’t seen it. Check it out.
We continue to keep you updated on Broadcom‘s pursuit of VMware. The former announced its intent to buy the latter earlier this year in a deal worth a massive $61 billion.
Our story from Oct. 17 continues to draw your eye. That’s when we told you that Broadcom was trying to fast-track approval of the deal through the European Union.
Still no word when that might get done. Broadcom, upon announcing the deal, only said it expects to close sometime during its 2023 fiscal year, which began on Oct. 31.
Our monthly Channel People on the Move makes our countdown for the umpteenth consecutive time.
In this edition, we profiled new hires and promotions at Five9, Nextiva, CDW, TPx, AppDirect, Jenne, Juniper Networks and more.
AWS re:invent produced a lot of highlights last week, but the biggest might have been the keynote delivered by CEO Adam Selipsky.
Selipsky emphasized sustainability, the power of data and vertical markets.
See what you missed in our analysis of the takeaways.
And one more group of Leaders for you. It might surprise you to see our list of EMEA channel leaders ahead of some of the others.
It’s true; we’re growing the Channel Futures footprint across the pond. See who we selected and why. Then go sign up for our bimonthly EMEA newsletter to keep up with news impacting partners in that part of the world.
Another of our new “leaders” lists cracked the top 20. You wanted to see who we named as the most important channel leaders in networking and connectivity.
Hint: They hail from TPx, Fusion Connect, AT&T and more. Review the whole list here.
Remember back at No. 18 how we asked, “Who is Ruba Borno?” Well, similarly, last month we asked, “Where in the world is Rob Rae?”
Don’t worry, he’s not missing. We’ve been in regular contact with him. But we did uncover that the well-known senior VP of business development at Datto had left the company, just months after Kaseya closed its acquisition of the company that provides technology to MSPs.
We’ll tell you where he’s going just as soon as we know. Meantime, read our story about his Datto departure.
Channel Futures was front and center at one of the biggest events in the channel: the Cisco Partner Summit.
There was plenty to tell you, including how the company unveiled several financial incentives for partners that deliver cybersecurity solutions.
CEO Chuck Robbins hit the keynote state and expressed that Cisco has been gaining momentum with all types of partners.
Our James Anderson put together 16 takeaways from the event.
Now back to the cloud …
After learning that AWS was busy identifying “underperformng employees” belonging to teams “that have grown too fast,” we decided to explore the channel impact on layoffs and hiring freezes.
For instance, Opex Technologies’ Courtney Humphrey expressed little surprise at the news considering we’re coming out of the COVID crisis, stock prices are down and talk of a recession is looming. But, “we are still bullish on the industry and our ability to help our clients leverage the technology solutions they require …” Humphrey said.
Take a look at the rest of our analysis.
When a pair of private equity firms completed their $16. 5 billion acquisition of Citrix, it thrust Citrix into a newly formed Cloud Software Group, a portfolio of six privately held software businesses.
This story has staying power. After posting on Oct. 3, it cracked our top stories countdown for October, then again for November.
The acquisition brings Citrix together with Tibco, a business intelligence and application and data integration provider. Tom Krause, formerly Broadcom CEO, is leading the combined software group.
Learn more about the deal.
We unveiled a new program at Channel Futures this fall that highlights the best of the best channel leaders in various categories.
Our list of Communications & Collaboration leaders, which made its debut on Nov. 22, lands at No. 14. See who made it from Five9, Ooma, 8×8 and many more of the top companies in the space.
Also bouncing back into the countdown after first hitting our website in September was our Q&A with new Avaya CEO Alan Masarek and VP of channels John Lindsley.
We have chronicled Avaya’s financial struggles this year, just five years after it emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Masarek and Lindsley expressed confidence that the company’s cost-cutting measures (which have included layoffs) will be enough to help it start 2023 with a clean slate.
After its stock price fell to a mere 67 cents earlier this year, it has nearly doubled since, reaching $1.25 before the market’s close on Dec. 2.
The third consecutive story in our countdown with a focus on the hyperscalers.
We analyzed how customers are starting to think about the big dollars they plunk down for services from AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
For instance, in analyzing the companies’ earnings, we saw that AWS revenue was up 27% in its most recent quarter — but, that was actually less than both the cmopany and analysts expected.
Google Cloud probably had the best quarter, seeing its revenue soar by 38%.
Yeah, seems like these guys are still doing OK for the most part.
The rumor mill was churning last month; notably, that Google Cloud pay will soon change for sales teams, and perhaps not for the better.
So said sources who told New York-led The Information that commissions might be shifting to how much customers spend, as opposed to the cloud giant assessing them by total contract value. That’s even if all of the services didn’t come from Google Cloud.
A second report mentioned that senior sales leaders at Google Cloud told managers that compensation changes will come early next year.
Stay tuned after reading our article about it.
One year ago, when she landed the role of VP of worldwide channel and alliances at Amazon Web Services (AWS), we posed to you the question on Channel Futures, “Who is Ruba Borno?”
Well, after last week’s re:Invent (and possibly before) nobody’s asking anymore. Interest in the event worldwide brought the Q&A we did with her last year back into our top 20.
You might want to check out Channel Futures’ ranking of the best managed service providers in the world. A whole bunch of your friends and colleagues do every week.
The list, which published back in June, remains among our top stories each month. You can download it here or check out the top 50 MSPs here.
Cybersecurity provider Okta plans to improve its channel program with a shift to a more modern approach of incentivizing partners.
So said new channel leader Bill Hustad at the Oktane22 conference last month in San Francisco.
Okta, which works with MSPs and VARs, will move away from a discounting approach to one that is points-based and includes a rebate structure.
Learn more about how you might be impacted.
Cybersecurity provider Okta plans to improve its channel program with a shift to a more modern approach of incentivizing partners.
So said new channel leader Bill Hustad at the Oktane22 conference last month in San Francisco.
Okta, which works with MSPs and VARs, will move away from a discounting approach to one that is points-based and includes a rebate structure.
Learn more about how you might be impacted.
Some people in the channel and the broader technology industry will be glad to see 2022 in the rearview mirror. That’s because tech layoffs this fall have started to hit the community hard.
In just the last several weeks, we’ve reported on no fewer than 10 companies dumping employees. What’s rough is that many are still doing pretty well financially; instead, they are tightening their belts and “restructuring” in anticipation of a possible recession.
But it’s certainly not all bad news; in fact, most people you talk to are still bullish on the channel. One reason is the cloud, which is still growing at a fast clip. All eyes were on AWS last week when it hosted its re:Invent event in Las Vegas. You really wanted to read what CEO Adam Selipsky had to say. The same could be said for the Cisco Partner Summit earlier in the month. Many of you looked at our 16 takeaways from CPS 2022.
Those stories made our countdown, as did the debut of three new lists here at Channel Futures. We profiled leaders in networking and connectivity, communications and collaboration, and EMEA.
Furthermore, we once again tackled M&A, including speculation that RingCentral might buy 8×8.
Did you know that you’re driving this ship? Yep. We determine the top stories by looking at which articles you read most and what you click on in our newsletters. So what are you waiting for? Read some more! Oh, and if you haven’t signed up for any Channel Futures newsletters yet, you can do that here.
The slideshow above above features Channel Futures’ top stories from November. Tech layoffs, AWS re:Invent or Broadcom’s ongoing VMware acquisition efforts — which do you think was No. 1?
If you missed last month’s top stories countdown, it’s still there for you to read. Then be sure to watch for our top 20 stories of the year countdown coming later this month.
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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