Monday Morning Impact – January 21

New Study: Tech Hiring Cooled in December

Hiring in the U.S technology sector slowed in December after two consecutive months of strong job gains, according to CompTIA, a trade association based in suburban Chicago, which leverages data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the CompTIA IT Employment Tracker, the tech sector nonetheless added an estimated 6,000 new jobs in the final month of 2018, with the bulk of December’s new hiring occurring in computer and electronic product manufacturing and IT services, custom software development and computer system design. Other information services, including search portals and data processing, hosting, and related services also showed employment growth last month. The telecommunications category meanwhile lost 500 jobs.

The unemployment rate for computer occupations for December was 2.1 percent, slightly lower than December 2017. That compares to an overall unemployment rate of 3.9 percent. Across the entire U.S. economy, the number of core technology occupations was reduced by an estimated 18,000 positions in December. For the year, there were six months of job gains and six months of job losses in core tech jobs in all industries.

“The tech employment numbers for last month were fairly uneventful,” said Tim Herbert, senior vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA. “Looking at the bigger picture, we expect a continuation of a tight labor market for tech talent through 2019.”

New job postings for technology workers also declined in December, down about 45,000 from the previous month. Software and application developers continue to top the list of IT job postings, with more than 67,000 last month. Other in-demand positions include computer user support specialists, as well as systems engineers and architects.

Channel Impact^®
The data shows trends that relate to hiring opportunities, although it stands to reason that seasonal effects could also be a factor in the December numbers.

Avaya Updates Partner Program for 2019

Hoping to stimulate increased partner growth, Avaya has announced a series of enhancements to its Edge Channel Partner Program.

The upgrades include an improved enablement component, a simplified incentive structure, higher rebates, plus benefits tailored to promote the uptake of cloud solutions. The company has also emphasized balancing their value proposition across partners of various sizes and business models.

“Much of the coming year’s focus will empower channel partners to easily deploy cloud-based products as cloud adoption continues to skyrocket, for example, Avaya has grown its public cloud seats 300% in the past year,” said Dino Di Palma, Avaya President, Americas Sales and Global Accounts. “With offerings for small-medium businesses (SMB), mid-market and enterprise, Avaya’s range of cloud-based services continues to expand and is expected to provide significant growth opportunities for all channel partners in 2019.”

Avaya has reported significant progress in growing partner business over the past year. Between 2017 and 2018, the number of partners eligible for rebates increased by 281%, and there was a 159% increase in the number of partners with more than 10% growth. The company’s 2019 strategy is expected to build upon these results.

Channel Impact^®
Avaya has expressed an objective of delivering a comprehensive yet simplified program that integrates and aligns with their channel partners’ needs, thereby driving growth and introducing additional business opportunities.

Tech Data Rolls Out Two Security Alliances

Tech Data has announced a strategic partnership with StratoZen to offer cloud delivery of Fortinet-based managed security services, including network device management and security information and event management (SIEM). In a separate announcement, the Clearwater, Florida-based distributor also unveiled a new alliance with Encryptics for enhanced encryption and encoding of data.

The combination of the Tech Data/Fortinet Hardware-as-a-Service (HWaaS) program and StratoZen’s security portfolio promises to enable partners to offer all the Fortinet appliances and services. The partnership enables end users to work with a single partner for managing their full networking security needs.

Said Alex Ryals, vice president of security solutions at Tech Data: “Many MSPs use StratoZen to instantly enhance their security capabilities, and Tech Data’s distribution and supply chain expertise will help StratoZen expand its target market immediately, providing our partner ecosystem with another strong security offering.”

Meanwhile, the new partnership with Encryptics will bring the ability to encrypt and encode data at creation, in transit, in use and at rest. This solution is promised to work on any platform or application through a SaaS model intended to fit any IT environment.

“We’re excited to add Encryptics to our expansive security solutions portfolio,” said Heather Murray, Tech Data’s vice president of security and new vendor acquisition. “It will complement our existing offerings nicely.”

Channel Impact^®
The two announcements underscore the growing importance of security in today’s IT environment.