Channel Brief: SAP Restructure May Affect 10K, Westcon-Comstor Adds AppViewX for Quantum Security

Hi, folks -- happy Monday. I'm catching up on some items I've missed over the last week or so, including SAP's restructuring plan that may impact as many as 10,000 employees instead of the 8,000 the company predicted at the beginning of the year.

Also looking at Westcon-Comstor's partnership with AppViewX to give access to quantum security solutions, Commvault's new chief technology and AI officer (CTAIO) and Seedpod Cyber's partnership with Seceon. Finally, Malwarebytes announced new features for its ThreatDown portfolio and Heimdal, a cybersecurity solutions provider, has delivered an integration with Autotask PSA, a professional services automation tool developed by Datto, a Kaseya company.

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. Commvault Names New CTAIO: Cyber resilience and cloud data protection firm Commvault last week announced Pranay Ahlawat as its first chief technology and AI officer (CTAIO). Ahlawat will report to Rajiv Kottomtharayil, chief product officer. Ahlawat will oversee Commvault's product vision and development lifecycle, focusing on helping customers advance cyber resilience, including through modern AI technologies, the company said in a statement. Prior to joining Commvault, Ahlawat held leadership roles at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), advising software and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies on cloud and infrastructure. He also globally led the product innovation and engineering topic at BCG and the firm's thinking on the impact of generative AI on software development. Congratulations!

2. SAP Restructuring May Impact 10K Employees: At the beginning of 2024, SAP estimated its $2.2 billion restructuring plan would impact 8,000 jobs. That's significant enough; now, however, an updated announcement puts that number closer to 9,000 or 10,000 jobs. SAP officials are carefully avoiding the terms 'layoffs' and 'job cuts,' instead emphasizing that this is a restructuring plan. The number of employees at the end of 2024 will be roughly the same as at the end of 2023, according to the company. Most of the 9,000 to 10,000 jobs affected will be covered by voluntary programs and internal retraining measures, SAP announced in reporting its financial statements for Q2 2024. Last week, SAP SE posted Q2 revenue and operating profit that beat analyst expectations and also raised the company's 2025 operating profit projections.

3. Westcon-Comstor Adds AppViewX for Quantum Security: Specialist distributor Westcon-Comstor recently added automated certificate lifecycle management (CLM) and PKI solutions provider AppViewX to its vendor portfolio. The partnership with AppViewX provides Westcon-Comstor’s partners and their customers opportunities to ensure security and compliance via certificate lifecycle management automation and public key infrastructure as-a-service (PKIaaS). The distribution agreement covers the UK, Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and is designed to address the growing complexity of application delivery infrastructure and security. As part of the new agreement with AppViewX, Westcon will offer comprehensive support and training to its partners and end users, ensuring a seamless experience from deployment to ongoing maintenance and driving adoption of AppViewX solutions.

4. Cyber Insurance Partnership for MSPs, MSSPs: SeedPod Cyber, an embedded cyber insurance program provider for MSPs, MSSPs and their clients, is partnering with Seceon, a cybersecurity platform provider for MSPs, MSSPs and enterprises. This partnership uses Seceon's AI and ML-powered aiSIEM, aiXDR and aiMSSP capabilities to streamline the cyber insurance application and underwriting process. SeedPod Cyber rewards Seceon partners and clients who meet required cybersecurity controls with cyber insurance and savings of up to 30%, the company said.

5. Threat Defense for Channel Partners: Malwarebytes, a specialist in real-time cyber protection, has announced new features for the ThreatDown product portfolio that streamline cybersecurity for channel partners. New features include expanded DNS filtering capabilities, enhancements to the ThreatDown Admin app and a new patch history report, the company said.

6. Tech Partnership Targets MSPs, MSSPs: Heimdal, a cybersecurity solutions provider, has delivered an integration with Autotask PSA, a professional services automation tool developed by Datto, a Kaseya company. This new integration is poised to significantly enhance support ticket creation and management, driving productivity and unlocking new commercial opportunities for Heimdal customers and partners, MSPs and MSSPs included, the company said.

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