Monday Morning Impact – October 23

CompTIA: Tech Employment Lags in Latest Jobs Report

The up-and-down trends that have characterized technology employment throughout 2023 continued in September, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by CompTIA, suburban Chicago-based industry association.

Tech sector companies reduced staffing by a net 2,632 positions last month, according to the report. Tech occupations among all sectors across the economy fell by an estimated 20,000. But at 2.2% the tech unemployment rate remains well below the national rate of 3.8%.

“There is no sugar-coating the off month of tech employment data,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Despite the persistently high demand for tech skills on many fronts and positive forward-looking projections, there is a lag in hiring at the moment.”

Employer job postings for future tech hiring fell to 184,077 in September. Demand for software positions continues to drive the largest volume of hiring activity. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills accounted for 26.5% of all tech jobs postings last month, up from 22% in August. Within emerging tech job postings, 36% were associated with artificial intelligence.

Employers in the professional, scientific, and technical services, manufacturing, administrative support, finance and insurance and information sectors had the largest share of tech job postings. California, Texas, and Virginia had the largest volumes of tech job postings at the state level, while Washington, New York City and Dallas led metro markets.

Channel Impact^®
Channel companies have become quite familiar with ongoing workforce fluctuations.

TD Synnex Launches ISV Acceleration Program

TD Synnex has launched a new ISV Acceleration Program designed to help independent software vendors (ISVs) succeed in the high-growth IT markets of cloud, security, data, and AI.

“Through our industry-leading portfolio of vendors and dedicated cloud, data and AI, and security business units, the TD Synnex ISV Acceleration Program will enable our partners to leverage these technologies and solutions to drive innovation and customer value in high-growth markets, ” said Shannon Warner, the company’s Vice President, Cloud & ISV Ecosystems. “We are proud of our track record of helping ISVs achieve their goals through our extensive partner ecosystem, and we look forward to helping them accelerate their growth and success in the channel.”

Elements include hyperscaler marketplace offers that are promoted via the company’s StreamOne marketplace to reach an ecosystem of thousands of resellers and MSPs. In addition, a new ISV co-sell program is being added to the existing resell model for new-to-the-channel and start-up ISVs and/or those who are new to the channel.

Participants also have access to the TD Synnex Channel Acceleration Bootcamp, which offers a channel readiness assessment and live workshops to help ISVs develop their channel ecosystem and go-to-market strategy. Lead generation programs and a “Partner Health and Fitness Tool” are also included.

Channel Impact^®
The new program provides a go-to-market approach to help ISVs position their offerings as part of larger, integrated solution in high growth markets by providing a variety of enablement resources.

Upstack: Security, CX, Hybrid Lead the League in Tech Focus

Upstack, a New York-based company offering an advisory platform for digital infrastructure, has launched its inaugural Technology Trends Report, based on survey feedback from more than 40 technology experts, representing more than 500 years of combined experience. The report is designed to identify the top focus areas for IT leaders to create the biggest impact for their organizations in 2024.

IT Security, particularly the high costs of network breaches, including loss of data, reputation, revenue, and customers, make cybersecurity the No. 1 priority in 2024. The security talent shortage increases the challenge, so it’s imperative for companies to choose the right vendors to close the gaps and optimize defenses.

Customer Experience is Number Two on the list as tech-enabled CX has risen as a strategic imperative for businesses. Automation and AI technologies can help organizations ensure more consistent customer interactions while increasing scalability and decreasing overhead.

Hybrid Data Center/Cloud rounds out the Top 3. With the spiking use of resource-intensive applications like AI, AR and VR, the need for IT infrastructure will only grow, according to the report. A hybrid data center/cloud approach enables organizations to optimize workloads across environments based on costs, usage, compliance and more.

“IT leaders have a tough job,” said Darren Jones, Upstack’s Executive Vice President and Co-head of Customer Experience. “They’re expected to place bets today on the technology that will help their businesses grow in the future – all while ensuring that existing infrastructure and applications are always on and secure,”

Other key areas include Cloud/Managed Hosting Services, Connectivity, and IoT.

Channel Impact^®
If your team is spending a lot of time on these areas, you’re not alone.