MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

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Konica Minolta Provides Industry-first MFP Document Security Solution

• Announces document security solution via MFPs aka networked copiers
• Bizhub SECURE Alert solution will notify organization of security breach at the MFP
• Bizhub SECURE Alert is powered by DocRecord by Primm Software
• DocRecord processes MFP activity records

AI document management startup raises $US10M

• Seattle based Docugami secures $10 million in seed funding round led venture fund SignalFire, with NextWorld Capital & others
• Docugami founded in 2018, creates SaaS solutions that include artificial intelligence, language processing, image recognition, declarative markup and other approach

SolarWinds Expands International Leadership Team in APJ Market

• SolarWinds provides affordable IT management software
• Appoints Sojung Lee as VP for Asia Pacific Japan (AJP) sales

CloudOak Forms Strategic Partnership with CloudLand to offer Plan4Continuity to all Benelux ...

• CloudOak based in Oakville, Ontario, provides solutions that protect, control and recover data and applications
• CloudLand based in Netherlands, software distributor for resellers and MSPs
• CloudLand to offer Pla4Continuity by CloudOak

Welltel buys managed security services company Invistech

• Welltel provides telephony, network and connectivity solutions (Dublin)
• Invistech provide managed IT services, security, network infrastructure, IT hardware, cloud and telecommunications (Dublin & Limerick)
• “Welltel now has another 400 customers that are interested in coming onto our network for Internet and voice services while the Invistech portfolio of support services, online back-up, security and Microsoft applications really completes our SMB technology offering, which we feel provides great growth opportunities to the business going forward

TPx acquired by Siris Capital

• TPx provides managed services, managed security, communications, managed WAN, additional IT services in United States
• TPx serves about 25,000 enterprises
• Siris Capital private equity firm

Managed IT specialist expands in Nottinghamshire

• Octavian IT expands to Nottinghamshire, England
• Provides managed IT, cloud services, disaster recovery, server solutions

Netsurion Announces Significant Channel Partner Expansion

• Netsurion, provider for managed network connectivity, security and compliance solutions for SMBs
• Doubled the number of endpoints under management via MSPs in 2019 and signed up twice as many partners in 2019 over the previous year
• Total number of partners delivering their own SOC-as-a-Service through Netsurion to over 500

10Pearls Acquires Zen Cloud, a San Francisco-based Salesforce & Digital Consultancy

• 10Pearls based in Washington, D.C. provides end-to-end digital technology solutions
• ZenCloud based in San Francisco, CA, boutique Salesforce and digital consultancy
• “Salesforce is a key platform for enterprises looking to transform and digitalize. The acquisition of Zen Cloud is strategic in many ways for 10Pearls,” said Imran Aftab, CEO of 10Pearls

Two Little Rock IT Tech Firms to Merge

• Biztek Connection based in Little Rock, Arkansas and provides managed IT services for SMB market
• A+ Technologies Services also based in Little Rock, serves SMB market for creating applications and web development

TCS a Leader in Network Transformation and Managed Services: Everest Group

• Tata Consultancy Services provides global IT services along with consulting and business solutions
• Recognized as a Leader in the Everest Group PEAK Matrix for Network Transformation and Managed Services
• TCS Network as a Service (TNaaS), a cloud-hosted solution, for vendor-agnostic management of networks running OEM solutions across branches, WAN, datacenter and OT networks

Servpac Announces Data Center And Disaster Recovery Office In Hawaii

• Servpac based in Honolulu, HI established in 2004
• Largest independent telecom provider in Hawaii
• Announces new data center in Mililani Tech Park
• 30,000 sq. ft facility
• Tier 4 design data center
• 2N redundant critical power
• cooling system for guaranteed 99.999% uptime

SolarWinds Report Shows Managed Services Remain Healthy and Profitable

• SolarWinds based in Durham, N.C. provider of IT management software
• “2019 Trends in Managed Services” report

• For solutions in North America, respondents were most comfortable offering and using antivirus (89%), firewalls (83%), data backup and recovery (81%), and endpoint security (75%)
• In Europe, respondents were most comfortable offering and using antivirus (93%), data backup and recovery (82%), firewalls (82%), and antispam (80%) as solutions

• However, MSPs have room for growth in some of the more advanced security solutions and offerings, as respondents were less confident in the more complex controls:
• European and North American respondents selected the same top three solutions they were least comfortable with: biometrics, cloud access security brokers (CASBs), and digital rights management
• On the services end, European respondents were least comfortable with penetration testing (52%), auditing and compliance management (39%), and risk assessments
• (36%).North American respondents were least comfortable with auditing and compliance management (53%), penetration testing (47%), and security system architecture (39%).

• The results also showed MSPs are starting to increase the use of automation to handle day-to-day tasks such as patch management and backup, but don’t feel comfortable with automating the advanced tasks:

• Automation saves North American MSPs an average of 15.6 full-time employee hours per week and in Europe, an average of 23 full-time employee hours per week.
• In North America, respondents were least comfortable automating client onboarding (44%) with identity and access management in second place (38%). In Europe, respondents were least comfortable automating SQL query workflows (57%) but shared their discomfort with automating identity and access management with their North American counterparts.

• In the 2018 report, MSPs were losing customers almost as fast as they gained them, but 2019 showed an improvement in customer retention. Two of the top three reasons for losing customers stemmed from the customer rather than the service provider:

• In North America, respondents pick up an average of four clients every three months while losing one in the same period.
• In Europe, respondents pick up an average of three clients every two months while losing more than one on average in the same period.
• Top causes of customer loss included the company either went out of business (26% in North America and 16% in Europe) or were fired by the partner (25% in North America and 16% in Europe).
• Another key finding showed core business operations are still amongst the biggest growth obstacles for MSPs including lack of resources/time, sales, and marketing:

• North American MSPs claimed their biggest obstacles toward growth were sales (43%), lack of resources/time (42%), and marketing (26%).
• European MSPs claimed their biggest obstacles toward growth were lack of resources/time (41%), sales (32%), and security threats (32%).

Many providers claim a lack of sales and marketing expertise is a major anchor on their growth—hiring specialized staff could help close the gap or training for existing employees

Cybersecurity Update

• Torrey Pines High School of California announced that its network was hacked.
  o was hacked to alter student grades and transcripts
• United Healthcare notified unknown number of patients in South Carolina that their PHI may have been exposed in a data breach that happened last year
• Hackers are hijacking smart door/building access control systems, which they are using to launch DDoS attacks, according to firewall company SonicWall
• Beaumont Health of Michigan notified 1,200 patients that their PHI was exposed after an employee illegally accessed the info for potential monetary gain More here

Report on IT spending trends

• Survey results published by International Data Corp (IDC)
• In 2020, organizations around the world will accelerate their investments in enterprise technology
• Top priorities reported were:
  o Prioritize the cloud
  o Backing up data
  o Implementing the latest security measures
  o Maintaining and updating solutions to ensure compliance with national and international regulations
  o Scaling solutions up or down as data needs fluctuate
  o Ensuring disaster recovery
  o Keep up with game-changing data and privacy regulations
  o Utilize blockchain
  o Use tech in the back office
  o Accelerate automation
  o Embrace tech as a customer loyalty tool