Channel Brief: Ingram Micro’s IPO, Accenture Invests in Deepfake Detection

In an exclusive this week, The Register reported that SCC, one of Europe's largest resellers, is ordering staff to return to the office (RTO) for three days a week beginning November 1. SCC said it has always had a three-day-a-week in-office policy, but that it has not enforced it until now.

This change also applies to staff that have work-from-home clauses written into their employment contracts. The company said its rationale is to foster a "greater level of collaboration and interaction, particularly for the younger people who need that contact to progress," according to The Register.

SCC employs 8,000 staff across the organization.

A recent study from Bamboo HR posited that RTO is simply an underhanded way to slash a workforce by prompting voluntary resignations without the costs associated with formal layoffs. And according to Unispace research, 42% of companies with enforced RTO mandates experienced higher employee attrition than expected.

It will be interesting to see how this works out for the £3.4 billion reseller.

As always, drop me a line at [email protected] if you have news to share or want to say hi!

Grab your coffee. Here's what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Ingram Micro IPO: Tech distributor Ingram Micro has gone public -- Ingram's shares are expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 24 under the ticker symbol "INGM," Reuters reported. Ingram priced its U.S. initial public offering at $22 per share, within its targeted range of $20 and $23 on Wednesday, to raise $409.2 million, the technology distributor said. Ingram Micro and its private equity owner, Platinum Equity, sold 18.6 million shares at $22 each. The IPO valued the Irvine, California-based company at around $5.18 billion. The offering was underwritten by over a dozen Wall Street banks, led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Securities. Platinum Equity will remain Ingram's controlling shareholder post-IPO. Ingram will mainly use the proceeds to repay debt.

2. Accenture invests in deepfake identification: Accenture this week announced an investment in Reality Defender, a cybersecurity company specializing in deepfake detection. Accenture also participated in Reality Defender’s Series A funding announced here. Accenture's Cyber Intelligence researchers have documented a staggering 223% spike in deepfake-related tool trading on dark web forums in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. This escalating issue requires immediate attention and education to reduce its potential damaging impacts and Accenture’s First Ai-iD Kit is also helping educate and spread awareness of these digital threats, the company said in a statement.

3. Nisum expands to Lima, Peru: Global tech consulting firm Nisum is expanding its global footprint with a new business hub in Lima, Peru, the company said in a statement. The Peru office opening marks more than a decade of growth for Nisum in Latin America, a key region for both the company’s talent and business development. It is an integral part of augmenting Nisum’s global delivery model and helps serve the rising demand for cutting-edge digital solutions within the LatAm market and internationally, Nisum said. Peru’s $9.9 billion addressable information and communications technology (ICT) market is fueled by the rising demand for digital transformation in key industries such as retail, mining, logistics, and finance, where Nisum brings a wealth of expertise.

4. SnapLogic's new AI tool: SnapLogic this week released Agent Creator, which lets users build LLM-powered agents, assistants and applications that augment human capabilities and integrate AI into any integration workflow or data pipeline. SnapLogic Agent Creator enables deployment of smarter, more adaptable AI agents while maintaining control and flexibility, the company said in a statement. Capabilities include dynamic task iteration; access to LLMs for complex reasoning, language understanding, and decision-making; real-time access to external APIs and tools for data-driven decisions; knowledge management and control over agent autonomy to maintain compliance.

5. Fixify raises $25 million Series A for AI helpdesk: Fixify, an AI-powered IT help desk solution founded by a team of cybersecurity experts, announced today a $25 million series A funding round co-led by Costanoa Ventures, Decibel Partners and Paladin Capital Group with participation from Scale Venture Partners, the company said in a statement. Fixify combines AI and automation with human analysts to diagnose and resolve issues faster and provide more reliable support. The solution also aims to help employees avoid the frustrations and limitations of purely tech-driven IT help desks.