Monday Morning Impact – October 5

Published On: October 4, 2020Categories: Buzz, Uncategorized

Study: Nearly All SMBs Would Consider Switching to a New IT Service Provider with the ‘Right’ Cybersecurity Solution

Cybersecurity remains a top priority for SMBs worldwide, as revealed in a survey conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by ConnectWise, a Tampa-based software/services company. The company’s second annual ConnectWise SMB State of Cybersecurity report found that more than three-quarters of the respondents worried they will be the target of an attack in the next six months, and 91% of SMBs said they would consider using or moving to a new IT service provider if it offered the “right” cybersecurity solution.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said the “right” offering means having confidence in an MSP’s ability to respond to security incidents, while 58% stated it’s having confidence in an MSP’s ability to minimize damage or loss.

“There is an increased market opportunity for MSPs who participate in an ongoing basis in cybersecurity training, remain current on the latest threats, and become versed in cybersecurity technology,” said Jay Ryerse, CISSP, vice president of cybersecurity initiatives for ConnectWise. “As MSPs raise their understanding across the entire cybersecurity discipline, they find themselves strongly positioned for growth in a post-pandemic economic recovery, emerging from the experience stronger and more agile, and with customers better prepared for the cybersecurity challenges that lie ahead.”

With 86% of SMBs placing cybersecurity within the top five priorities for their organization, six in 10 will invest more in cybersecurity because it reduces risk for their organization. The research also highlights that over half of SMBs surveyed (52%) agree they lack the in-house skills necessary to properly deal with security issues, and 49% of SMBs find more cybersecurity expertise as an added benefit of working with an MSP.

While COVID-19 has resulted in an increase in the number of cyberattacks, the pandemic did not significantly impact respondents’ views towards prioritizing cybersecurity. However, COVID-19 has raised new concerns for SMBs, with 79% of respondents worrying about their remote devices or remote employees being breached.

The study was carried out between June and July 2020 and gathered information from 700 IT and business decision makers who are involved in cybersecurity in their organization.

Channel Impact®
This interest in cybersecurity investment suggests SMBs are seeking out MSPs to help close the skills gap and presents a growing market opportunity for MSPs to protect clients against the expanding threat landscape. As SMBs continue to explore and expand their remote workforce, this can also present areas of growth for MSPs.

Silver Peak Announces Certified Deployment Partner Program

Silver Peak, a Santa Clara, California-based SD-WAN vendor, has rolled out a new certified deployment partner (CDP) program, enabling select partners to resell and deploy the Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform.

To participate in the CDP program, partners must complete a training and certification regimen that requires advanced deployment certifications with proctored exams. CDP partner certifications include:

  • SSP – Sales Professional
  • STSP – Technical Sales Professional
  • SPSP – Technical Professional
  • SPSX – Technical Expert
  • SDP – Deployment Professional
  • SDX – Deployment Expert

To assure success with customers, CDPs are initially required to partner with a Silver Peak deployment engineer to demonstrate the requisite skill and acumen that spans initial design, deployment plan and post deployment reviews.

“Modern enterprises are quickly recognizing that their legacy networks are holding them back from realizing the full transformational promise of the cloud and many are seeking skilled partners to drive their WAN and security transformation initiatives,” said Ken Marks, vice president of North America channel sales for Silver Peak. “The CDP program is architected to scale both the number of customers we can serve as well as the number of partners that we can enable to build high-growth profitable SD-WAN business practices.”

Initial partners to achieve the new sales, technical and deployment certifications include: CDW, Intervision, INVITE Networks, Teneo, WWT and Xalient.

Channel Impact®
Silver Peaks’ objective is to enable global partners to achieve new levels of certification to offer enterprise customers turnkey SD-WAN purchase and deployment services.

Automation Anywhere Updates Channel Program

Automation Anywhere, a San Jose-based Robotic Process Automation (RPA) company, has announced enhancements to its global partner program to further build skills, drive demand and increase opportunities for the company’s 2,000 worldwide channel partners.

Elements include improved partner training, and new sales and marketing initiatives with partner-ready, integrated campaigns and market development funds, updated processes to maximize margins and enable partners to yield specialization and innovation, and a new developer portal.

Automation Anywhere’s product line is designed to help customers automate business processes with software bots that perform repetitive and manual tasks, combining RPA, artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics. The company’s Bot Store features more than 1,000 pre-built, intelligent automation solutions.

“The pandemic demonstrated an acute need for automation, and now more than ever, this technology holds promise for organizations looking to transform their business, improve efficiencies and discover new opportunities to address the challenges presented by Covid-19,” said Chris Riley, Chief Revenue Officer at Automation Anywhere. “To meet this demand, we are investing in our channel ecosystem to propel partners to capitalize on the growth of cloud-based RPA.”

The company has recently appointed Derek Toone as its new senior vice president of global channel partners.

Channel Impact®
As companies accelerate their shift to the cloud and are looking for business resiliency in the midst of the pandemic, partners may find a new source of differentiation through RPA.

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