Monday Morning Impact – May 4

IDC: Worldwide Services Market Momentum Derailed by COVID-19 Pandemic

Worldwide IT Services and Business Services revenue grew 5% year over year in 2019, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Services Tracker, but the 2020 outlook has turned as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time since the two world wars that the global economy has been disrupted both by demand and supply at such a scale, according to the Framingham, Massachusetts-based market researcher.

This represents the second consecutive year the market has accelerated since 2017 (from 4% growth in 2017 to 4.2% in 2018 and 5% in 2019) despite a cooling economy (2019 world GDP slowed to just above 3%). Large services vendors also reported stronger bookings and book-to-bill ratios mostly above 1, portending buyers’ overall optimism, as well as their appetite for more digital transformation.

IDC forecasts the worldwide services market will decline 1.1% in 2020 and grow just over 1% in 2021. The new forecast is based on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s projection that the real 2020 GDP will likely contract by more than 2%, with a sharp decline in Q1 and Q2 offset by recovery in the second half of the year.

Most regions are expected to contract somewhat in 2020 but with different severities. Overall, Asia/Pacific will continue to grow, while the Americas will contract slightly in 2020. Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will be the most negatively impacted.

The Americas services market is expected to contract by 0.2% this year, down from the 5.2% growth experienced in 2019. IDC expects it to bounce back to growth in 2021 and eventually get to 3% or more. But the five-year compound annual growth rate is anticipated to be considerably lower than previously forecast. This will be driven largely by the US market, which is predicted to remain flat in 2020 – tapering slightly from revenues of $485.6 billion in 2019 to $484.7 billion this year, or a 0.18% decline. US government and private sectors are putting off new projects to delay discretionary spending decisions due to market uncertainty. Project-oriented markets, such as consulting, custom application development, systems integration, etc. are expected to suffer short-term revenue downfalls. Growth in this segment is expected to be just 0.4% in 2020, down from last year’s 7.4%. Managed services are expected to shrink slightly (-0.7%), and support services will be flat, according to IDC.

Channel Impact^®
The pandemic is clearly causing major market upheaval but is also stimulating opportunities in technology areas that directly benefit work-from-home models.

Tech Data Expands its “Cloud Solution Factory”

Tech Data has expanded its Cloud Solution Factory offering with the addition of Microsoft Secure Score, a risk assessment framework that provides a numerical summary of a business’s security position based on criteria like identity, data, devices and user behavior. Partners can leverage the tool to drive awareness, track progress and encourage incremental improvements toward a long-term security plan.

Service Providers can assess end-user environments, prioritize remediation steps and offer professional services to manage and improve the security of their clients’ cloud environments. Partners can also apply data loss prevention and advanced threat protection policies to help mitigate risk associated with data leakage and common email attacks.

Tech Data’s Solution Factory methodology enables businesses to solve business challenges through “click-to-run” solutions are designed for simple, fast deployment. These solutions are developed by Tech Data and its ecosystem of vendors to deliver specific business outcomes in the areas of cloud, analytics and IoT, and security.

With this latest addition, the Tech Data Cloud Solution Factory now includes more than 25 preconfigured “Click-to-Run” solutions designed to address a variety of challenges businesses face as they navigate the complexity of digital transformation.

Channel Impact^®
The tool is intended to help businesses take better control of their security strategies by providing an alternative to the entry-level Microsoft Security Defaults. Partners can increase the end customer’s security posture, as well as enact custom policies and exclusions for unique users that are beyond security default settings offered by Office 365.

ConnectWise Rolls Out Security Training Program

ConnectWise has launched a cybersecurity education and training program targeting business owners and sales professionals as well as engineers.

Dubbed “ConnectWise Certify,” the program focuses on the foundations of cybersecurity, including industry standards, best practices and technology alignment, backed up by sessions tailored specifically for sales professionals and engineers. The courses are updated regularly to address new cyber threats and current events.

The curriculum, which is geared towards optimizing the sales engagement, consists of a full day of live training for each track, an accompanying workbook and an exam at the end of the day.

The Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Engineers track provides engineering staff with a comprehensive understanding of the technical elements of cybersecurity. Attendees learn about the NIST Framework, Critical Security Controls, tools to build their solution stack, the ins and outs of incident response planning, and an overview of intrusion detection and malware analysis.

The Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Owners and Sales Professionals track is designed to help professionals understand how to have a risk-based conversation with SMB end customers. Attendees learn how to minimize fear-based selling, discuss objections that come up during the sales conversations, and present an action plan based on specific gaps and vulnerabilities.

“The owner or salesperson will need to be able to have a conversation about risk and the business impact with the client, while the engineer will need to know how to run the tools and compile the necessary information to generate a report and workplan for how to secure the environment and mitigate risk,” said Jay Ryerse, CISSP, vice president, cybersecurity initiatives, ConnectWise. “Together they would compare notes and decide what data is the most valuable — and also the most vulnerable — and align with how that is presented to the client.”

The course curriculum and exams were developed with guidance from an IT certification company.

Channel Impact^®
The objective is to train channel partners on the most important aspects of cybersecurity. By aligning the cybersecurity expertise in both the sales and technical arenas, the company hopes to help partners create a cohesive team that can share expertise and experience to maximize security capabilities for their SMB clients.