Channel Brief: ConnectWise M&A Event, AI Partner Program

Grab a cup of your favorite morning beverage and check out the return of our regular 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.

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].

Sip up.

A. Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. MSP M&A help - MSP platform company ConnectWise is introducing a new event, M&A Nation, to be held at the company’s Tampa, Florida headquarters March 4-6. The event is designed to help partners gain the knowledge and skills to navigate the M&A landscape and it will feature Abraham Garver of Focus Investment Banking.

2. Automation and AI partner program - Hyperautomation and enterprise AI software infrastructure provider Hyperscience is rolling out its Hyperscience Hyperautomation Network, a new partner program focused on applying AI and ML technologies to transform customers’ back office processes. The program is designed to create an ecosystem that delivers hyperautomation systems, connecting enterprise software partners and system integrators to support customer revenue growth. Hyperscience said the program spans multiple partner categories including MSPs, system integrators ISVs and reseller and referral partners. 

3. NVIDIA GTC gen AI focus - NVIDIA will host its flagship GTC developer ecosystem event March 18-21 at the San Jose Convention Center and live streamed, and it will feature speakers focused on generative AI across industries as well as other AI technology such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, AI in healthcare and more. NVIDIA CEO and founder Jensen Huang will deliver the keynote from the SAP Center on March 18, at 1 pm PT. It will be live streamed on the event website and available on demand. 

4. Sophos reduces partner friction - Sophos is introducing a new Partner Care program to provide new and current Sophos partners and MSPs with a deicated team to help with non-sales related questions and operational support. The program is designed to help reduce partners’ administrative work. The support team will provide 24x7 support with quoting, navigating the partner portal, addressing licensing queries, NFR requests and more. 

5. Email security education - Cofense’s 2024 Annual State of Email Security Report reports a record-setting number of malicious emails and phishing campaigns in 2023. In just two years, Cofense PDR identified over 1.5 million malicious emails bypassing their customers’ Secure Email Gateways (SEGs), signaling a 37% increase in threats compared to 2022, and a staggering 310% increase over 2021. To put this in context, the report highlights that Cofense detected at least one malicious email bypassing their customers’ SEGs every 57 seconds.

6. Partner program expansion - Supply chain management solution company, Kinaxis is expanding its PartnerLink program This expansion introduces a partner relationship management portal; a global partner roadshow with events in APAC, EMEA and North America; new certifications, and a new tiering system to provide access to financial and business benefits. 

7. Gen AI as a service partnership  - Wipro is introducing an interoperable generative AI platform as a service solution built on the IBM watsonx AI and data platform. In addition to supporting provisioning of infrastructure and software, the solutions is also preconfigured to support diverse industry use cases for banking, retail, health, energy and manufacturing, providing capabilities like conversational AI for customer support, customized marketing, customer feedback analysis and content generation and design optimization.

B. In-Person MSP and Channel Partner Events