Channel Brief: Accenture, Citrix, Microsoft

Grab a cup of your favorite morning beverage and check out our daily market briefing for managed services providers (MSPs), IT service providers (ITSPs), technology service providers (TSPs), cloud service providers (CSPs) cybersecurity consultants, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and distributors.

Check out regular updates our industry Mergers and Acquisitions list. We have a fresh list posted for 2024, and our data archive goes all the way back to 2020. Check out the whole thing here.

Scroll down for a quick view of upcoming in-person channel and MSP events at the bottom of this post (while we spiff up our industry calendar behind the scenes. It will return!)

And please send your news tips, information, and industry chatter to editorial director [email protected].

A. Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Acquisition - Accenture plans to acquire Climb, a technology services provider specializing in system integration, IT infrastructure management and operations, primarily in the Gunma Prefecture of Japan.

2. Federal cloud, AI partnership - Accenture Federal Services and Google Public Sector have launched a Data & Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence to support federal agencies with modernizing citizen services with solutions purpose-fit for federal agencies, including Google Cloud generative AI technologies. The Data & AI Center of Excellence supports sensitive and classified workloads, while meeting regulatory compliance needs through secure data management platforms and assets.

3. Microsoft, Citrix DaaS partnership - Cloud Software Group Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are deepening their collaboration through an 8-year strategic partnership agreement. The agreement will strengthen the go-to-market collaboration for the Citrix virtual application and desktop platform and support the development of new cloud and AI solutions with an integrated product roadmap. Additionally, Cloud Software Group will make a $1.65 billion commitment to the Microsoft cloud and its generative AI capabilities. Cloud Software Group includes TIBCO, Citrix, NetScaler, and other business units.

4. Tech hiring accelerates - Employers accelerated tech worker hiring and expanded their search for new tech talent in March, according to analysis by CompTIA. Technology companies added an estimated 6,000 workers in March, CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics JobsReport data reveals.  Job growth was led by new hiring in technology services, software development, cloud infrastructure and related positions. Technology occupations throughout the economy increased by 203,000 for the month. That pushed the unemployment rate for tech occupations back down to 3%.  Employers also added 191,000 new job postings for tech positions, an increase of 8,000 from the previous month and the highest volume since August 2023. In total, there were an estimated 438,000 active tech job postings in March, CompTIA said.

5. Another acquisition - 4me, a SaaS-based service management software platform for enterprises, has completed the acquisition of StatusCast, a cloud-based provider of incident management products. The acquisition strengthens 4me's position in the ITSM market.

B. In-Person MSP and Channel Partner Events