XChange+ August 2021

XChange 2021

https://event.thechannelco.com/xchange-plus-august

The XChange+ August 2021 conference is deeply rooted in the channel and presents an unmatched platform for leading IT channel decision-makers and technology suppliers to come together to build strategic business relationships, determine business agendas, and set the future direction of the channel.

Get all of CRN's coverage of the event here and follow along on Twitter at #XCH21.

18 Red Hot IT Products And Services MSPs Need To See
CRN breaks down 18 of the hottest vendor products and services that were on display during XChange+ 2021 that channel partners and MSPs need to know.

7 Ways To Build A ‘Sticky’ Managed Services Practice
‘Sooner or later, [a customer is] going to replace a switch. They’re going to upgrade a firewall. They’re going to have 30 users go home and have to work from home for the next six months, a year, a year and a half. Then they’re going to need help setting that up. So you can jump in there and be their savior,’ says David Cox, director of operations at G6 Communications.

5 Things MSPs Should Know About Hiring In A Tight Job Market
‘So what this means is, the [COVID-19] pandemic has shown all the skillsets to be very valuable. And employees that just started working at these companies are on the average making 30 percent than people in the same role that started two years ago,’ says Michael Slater, Sherweb’s director of pre-sales and partner enablement.

Schneider Electric: 6 Ways UPS As A Service Boosts Channel Sales
‘We’re letting MSPs be a one-stop shop for their customers so they can lock down the whole sale and the whole life-cycle solution [with UPS as a Service],” says Schneider Electric’s Gail Fredrickson.

ConnectWise Exec to MSPs: Look Past Threat Detection
‘At some point prevention fails. At some point what we’re doing to stop something does not work anymore,’ says Wes Spencer, VP and external CISO for ConnectWise.

MSPs: The Fastest-Growing Products And Services In 2021
CRN asked 10 solution providers and MSPs at XChange+ 2021 this week the question: “What service or product will be your fastest-growing through the end of the year and why? And just how much growth are you expecting?”

Pax8’s Walsh: ‘Security Is Never Going To Leave The Conversation’
Seventy-seven percent of Pax8’s partners expect to begin working with new additional security technology, with the top three being ransomware detection, threat hunting and endpoint protection, says Ryan Walsh, Pax8’s chief channel officer.

Ask A Solution Provider: What’s The No. 1 Threat To Your Business?
CRN spoke with 10 solution provider executives at XChange+ 2021 to get their thoughts on the biggest threat to their business right now. Here’s what they had to say.

Supply Chain Prowess Has Put Dynabook Into Channel Fast Lane
Dynabook, formerly the Toshiba PC Company, is experiencing a channel resurgence as a result of its ability to provide much-needed laptop inventory to channel partners in the wake of supply chain shortages.

Webroot: Security Awareness Training Is The Key To Resilience
‘Small and medium businesses are in front of threats day in and day out. The Trojan horse is the employee inside that business that just doesn’t know what’s going on,’ says Webroot’s Braden Sawyer.

The 7 Biggest Sales And Market Trends In The IT Channel Today
From the hottest new services and sales trends in the channel to solution provider layoffs and new recruitment efforts, CRN breaks down the seven most important findings of The Channel Company’s 2021 COVID Recovery Survey of 200 solution providers.

IntelePeer: Phone Calls Are Out, Text Messages And Chatbots Are In
Ninety-eight percent of texts in the U.S. are opened within three minutes, Peter Neal, senior solutions engineer at IntelePeer, told a crowd of solution providers Tuesday. ‘It’s a solid way to engage with people. Even when you’re trying to go out and find new customers, take advantage of that window of time.’

Microsoft Is Leading The Cloud Marketplace Channel Battle: The Channel Company Exclusive Research
Seventy-one percent of solution providers rank Microsoft Azure as the marketplace from where they have most increased their managed or professional services business, says The Channel Company CEO Blaine Raddon.

Brother International: Print Management Is A $762M Market
In addition to selling print hardware, solution providers can generate additional revenue by offering product infrastructure management and customizing workflow solutions for those devices, says Brother International’s David Fisher.

eSentire Exec: ‘Not Every Single MDR Is Created Equal’
‘For customers, we limit their security risk, taking action faster than any other provider could even pick up the phone and try to call and tell them something’s going bump in the night,’ says eSentire’s Bob Layton.

LogMeIn: Poor Or Reused Passwords Responsible For 83 Percent Of Breaches
‘Right now with COVID, most companies are sharing their passwords just in an email, and that is not secure. That can be hacked very easily,’ says Jason Lucero, MSP channel manager for LastPass by LogMeIn.

WatchGuard CSO: ‘Bad Guys Realize The Value You Provide’
MSPs are an appealing target for adversaries since they aggregate many end customers at a single point and they tend to have broad access into their customers’ environments, says WatchGuard Chief Security Officer Corey Nachreiner.

Axcient Unveils Local Cache: Fast Data Recovery Alternative To Appliances
‘Before this, an MSP with 50 customers and 100 servers looking to convert to a new business continuity solution would need about six months. We’re seeing partners now convert their entire customer base in 60 days. And that’s the guys who are doing it slow,’ says Axcient’s Ben Nowacky (r.).

How Eaton’s Tripp Lite Buy Will Boost Its Power Market Share: Curtiz Gangi
As Schneider Electric ‘has kept their No. 1 position for a long time -- and some of its been degraded over time -- we’ve become a true position player in this market with the breadth of the portfolio that we have, as well as that share position,’ said Eaton Vice President Curtiz Gangi at XChange+ 2021.

Sectigo Exec: ‘This Is Not Your Father’s Digital Certificate Landscape’
‘This is a very dynamic world, and enterprises need to be agile,’ Sectigo Chief Compliance Officer Tim Callan says at XChange+ 2021 in San Antonio.

ThreatLocker CEO: Thwart Ransomware With Endpoint Controls
‘What we have [with detection] is three or four alarms in our house, and the front door is not locked ... The house alarms are going to make a lot of noise if somebody breaks in, but it’s not going to stop someone from walking in,’ says ThreatLocker CEO Danny Jenkins.

Schneider Electric’s ‘Game-Changing’ Edge Computing Partner Opportunities
Schneider Electric’s new Smart-UPS Ultra is opening doors for channel partners around power management and infrastructure at the edge.

Area 1 Security Embraces MSSPs As It Pushes Downmarket
The company’s SaaS service is priced on a per-user basis and delivered through a license, all of which is extremely compatible with how MSPs and MSSPs go to market, Chief Revenue Officer Steve Pataky said at XChange+ 2021.

Datto’s Rae: ‘Who Is Key In Digital Transformation? The Managed Service Provider’
‘The power that you guys have is not in your technology stack. It’s what’s in your head. It’s the knowledge and information and education that you guys have. It’s the fact that you take time out of your business to come to an event like this to learn more,’ says Datto’s Rob Rae at XChange+ 2021.

IntelePeer To Launch Microsoft Teams Self-Serve Option For MSPs
‘You’ll actually be able to go into the customers’ Teams and manage it yourselves and wrap services around all of that and drive growth margins up,’ said Renato Migueltorena, Platform Evangelist at IntelePeer, at XChange+ 2021 this week.

MSPs See Record Sales In Pandemic IT Boom, Excited To Be Back In-Person At XChange+ 2021
‘We are running an IT business in the hottest industry at the hottest time,’ said Pegasus Technologies CEO Matthew Tucker. ‘Somebody asked me if I would consider selling the business now and I said : “Why would I get out of this business now? There is still a lot of runway for MSPs to continue to grow.”’

Benghazi Hero Kris Paronto Preaches Decisiveness to XChange+ Crowd
“As leaders—and all of y’all know this, especially the last two-and-a-half years—you’ve had to make hard decisions,” Kris “Tanto” Paronto told attendees at XChange+ 2021 during the event’s opening keynote address. “Even as your decisions get harder, always make a decision. Even if the decision haunts you for the rest of your life, it’s better than making no decision. You can always adjust on a bad decision.”

2021 Annual Report Card Winners: Solution Providers Give Top Grades To Key Vendors
For the 36th year, solution providers scored vendors in 24 technology categories based on their performance in product innovation, support, partnership, and managed and cloud services.