Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, October 7, 2016.
Actually, there are 15 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…
15. SnapChat Valuation: The company's potential IPO could value the photo sharing company at $25 billion. And what about profits? The image on that is less clear...
14. Spending Management: Coupa Software (COUP) launched an IPO yesterday and shares skyrocketed more than 100 percent on the opening day of trading. The company's spend-management platform has been a hot ticket for companies that want deeper visibility across procurement, invoicing and expenses.
13. Microsoft Azure Cloud Adoption: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says more than 1,000 customers now leverage the Azure Cloud in UK data centers. That sounds impressive. But is it? Let's not forget that quite a few of those "customers" could be tiny accounts, paid for by kids with their credit cards...
12. Azure Connection: OneNeck IT Solutions has launched OneNeck Connect for Microsoft Azure. The offering provides businesses with direct, redundant network connectivity from OneNeck's Tier 3 data centers to Microsoft's Azure data center facilities via Azure ExpressRoute.
11. Speaking of OneNeck IT Solutions: CEO Phil LaForge has been in and around the MSP market for more than a decade. He built an MSP, then joined Nimsoft (now part of CA) to assist MSPs with their businesses, and has spent recent years accelerating OneNeck's business. Sharp guy who has taught us quite a bit about MSP business models and compensation plans.
10. KPIs for Systems Integration Projects: Here's some guidance.
9. MSP Earns Patent: Unified Office Inc, an MSP, has earned a patent for the company's Virtual Performance Suite (VPS). The patent covers the technology used in Unified Office’s Display Screen, Advanced Call Center Performance Analytics and Graphical User Interface. Unified Office provides SDN-based VoIP and Unified Communications services to SMBs.
8. Managed Services Market Size Forecast: The managed services market will reach $242.45 billion by 2021, up from $145.33 billion in 2016. That's a compound annual growth rate of 10.8 percent. Impressive. But be careful of the numbers. The forecast, from Markets and Markets, focuses mostly on enterprise-class MSPs like IBM, CSC and Tata. Here's ChannelE2E's spin on MSP market size.
7. MSP Franchise Expansion: TeamLogic IT, a network of managed IT services franchises, has expanded to roughly 125 offices. Key locations include metro Philadelphia, Eastern North Carolina, Chicago, Northeastern Massachusetts, Oklahoma City and San Diego. Congrats to CEO Chuck Lennon and each of the franchisees.
6. Small Business Hiring Slowdown: Small business hiring slowed dramatically in September, as owners seemed to grow more cautious amid the presidential election campaign, AP reported. Companies created 34,000 jobs last month, down from 63,000 in August and a monthly average of more than 78,000 this year, the report based on ADP statistics said. In 2015, small businesses created an average 91,000 jobs per month.
5. Partner Programs: ScanSource has committed to supporting the “Bank of Intelisys” – the Partner Investment and Advanced Commissions Programs. Indeed, ScanSource is effectively backing the “Bank of Intelisys” with a $300 million commitment. The Partner Investment Program and Advanced Commissions Programs have proven very successful in the years since they launched, the company says In fact, Intelisys has not taken on a single bad debt in that time. ScanSource acquired Intelisys in August 2016.
4. AT&T's Big Partner Week: AT&T has inked major cloud and IoT alliances with IBM and Amazon, while also bolstering its own Partner Exchange efforts. We'll share more details soon.
3. Today's Honoree: I mentioned this a few days ago. But today it becomes official. Congratulations to ChannelEyes Chairman Bob Godgart. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will honor Godgart as its Entrepreneur of the Year today. In addition to co-founding ChannelEyes, Godgart is known for launching four other businesses including Autotask, which he exited in 2011.
2. MSP FAQ: Got questions about MSP pricing, sales, valuations and more? Check out the ChannelE2E FAQ section. We've made some changes -- and updates -- to that area of the site. Bonus, bonus: The FAQ will push beyond MSP topics in the days and weeks ahead.
1. Holiday Weekend: ChannelE2E will be closed on Monday, October 10, for the Columbus Day holiday. But check the website anyway because you never know when we'll break some unexpected news...
More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.
