Channel Brief: Cork, FutureSafe, SaaS Alerts, Microsoft

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. Cork, MSSP partnership - FutureSafe, the managed security service provider (MSSP) for MSPs, and the exclusive distributor of Heimdal’s innovative unified security platform to solution provider within the U.S., has formed a strategic alliance with cyberwarranty company Cork to better serve and protect its 300-plus MSPs and their small and medium-sized business clients from AI-driven cyber-attacks. More on this partnership coming soon.

2. MFA enablement still too low - Automated cybersecurity monitoring company SaaS Alerts has released its SaaS Application Security Insights (SASI) Report. Among the most disappointing results, according to CEO Jim Lippie, is that multifactor authentication enablement has only grown to 35%, up from 32% last year. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace were the most widely-used SaaS applications in the dataset, so they naturally were the most active sources of critical alerts last year. However, only about 1% of alerts from M365 and Google required immediate attention. Meanwhile, Slack was more problematic, with 12% of related alerts identified as critical. That was an almost nine- point jump from Slack's critical alerts ratio of 3.77% last year. More information from this report coming soon, too.

3. Veeam, Microsoft partnership - Veeam Software, a backup and data protection software provider has  extended its five-year strategic partnership with Microsoft to integrate Veeam’s product family and Microsoft Copilot and AI services. In addition to joint innovation, the companies will add data protection for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure with the recently announced Veeam Data Cloud which provides backup as a service.

4. Zoom to intro partner program - Video conferencing and collaboration platform Zoom will roll out a new partner program later this month. Mark Jenkins will serve as channel chief.

5. IT spending for 2024 - Canalys is predicting a 6.2% growth in worldwide IT spending in 2024, reaching $4.94 trillion. The firm estimates that cybersecurity will make up $87 billion of that pie and remain an investment priority. XDR, SASE and CNAPP platform investments will gain traction.

6. New CRO - Global MSP Source 1 Solutions has named Richard Montefusco to its U.S. executive team as president and chief revenue officer. Montefusco brings over 25 years of IT management and global service delivery experience 

B. In-Person MSP and Channel Partner Events