Monday Morning Impact – July 3

Published On: July 3, 2017Categories: Buzz, Uncategorized

Thoma Bravo Acquires Continuum

Thoma Bravo LLC, a well-known private equity investment firm, has acquired Continuum, a Boston-based IT management platform for Managed IT Service Providers (MSPs), from Summit Partners. Financial details of the deal with Summit Partners, Continuum’s previous owner, were not disclosed.

The Continuum platform provides MSPs with capabilities around Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), backup and disaster recovery, security and similar offerings, primarily to SMBs. Its vertically integrated service delivery model combines a SaaS-based technology suite with a Network Operations Center (NOC) and Help Desk, that allows MSPs to remotely administer, backup and secure client networks from a single pane of glass.

“The company has a smart and proven business model which solves a well-understood skills gap in the MSP market,” added AJ Jangalapalli, a Vice President at Thoma Bravo.  “With its strong growth and high customer retention, Continuum is a great fit with the Thoma Bravo portfolio.”

Continuum employs more than 1,400 people worldwide and monitors more than one million endpoints for its 5,800 partners, according to the company.

The acquisition of Continuum was made through Thoma Bravo’s Discover Fund, which debuted in early 2016. Thoma Bravo has a series of funds representing more than $17 billion in capital commitments

Channel Impact®
Vendors, service providers and private equity firms continue to jockey for key positions in the MSP space. We expect announcements like this one to be repeated for the foreseeable future.

ConnectWise Extends CloudConsole Standalone

ConnectWise has announced that its CloudConsole offering is now available as a standalone solution for any solution provider specializing in Microsoft Office 365 and Azure cloud services.

“When we initially launched CloudConsole last year, it was available only to our ConnectWise Manage partners,” said chief product officer Craig Fulton. “However, as the number of [solution providers] that have added cloud services to their set of offerings has expanded and as the number of requests we have received for access to ConnectWise CloudConsole outside of ConnectWise Manage has grown, we knew it was time to give any [solution provider] that manages cloud services – MSPs, VARs, CSPs and others – the ability to take advantage of the huge shift in business spending to cloud computing solutions.”

Key functions of the offering include management, monitoring, and billing, delivered at a multi-tenant level, as opposed to operating at an individual account level.

Channel Impact®
As the world of managed services and cloud continues to gain momentum, the success of the solution provider becomes heavily dependent on efficiency. Platforms that enable the channel to address important functions across the breadth of their customer base will become increasingly prevalent.

Ingram Micro to Deliver Apple Authorized Training

Ingram Micro has announced an agreement with LearnQuest, an Apple Authorized Global Training Provider, to deliver training on Apple products and solutions to the Irvine-based distributor’s network of channel partners.

“Continued training, education and enablement are critical factors to the success of our channel partners globally, ultimately providing tools to make them more valuable in the eyes of their customers and business partners,” said Greg Richey, director of training and professional services at Ingram Micro. “Apple is a key strategic vendor for us and a long-standing friend of the IT channel. Our new Apple Authorized training empowers channel partners to advance their knowledge of Apple products and solutions, while increasing customer adoption rates. This new training also enables them to better service and support Apple products and offer Apple Authorized training to their customers, adding more value and further differentiating their capabilities.”

Available now, Ingram Micro’s Apple-authorized training from LearnQuest includes certified trainers using hands-on exercises and real world scenarios supporting skills investment on Apple technologies to prepare professionals and students for certification. Enterprise-focused courses cover iOS, macOS, and Technician Training for students preparing for the Apple Certified Mac Technician (ACMT) and the Apple Certified iOS Technician (ACiT) Certification Exams.

Channel Impact®
Macs, over the last several years, have become much more visible in the workplace. Training on Apple products will become increasingly important to solution providers as this trend continues.

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