Deloitte backs Teradata Vantage as integrator
Under the expanded partnership, Deloitte will integrate Teradata Vantage as-a-service platform deployments with cloud-native services; other IT channel news.
Teradata has tapped Deloitte to help customers migrate to its cloud-based data platform. Once there, Deloitte will integrate additional capabilities such as AI and machine learning on behalf of customers.
The alliance comes as more customers shift on-premises data warehouse deployments to the cloud. Teradata, based in San Diego, battles with rivals such as Snowflake in this market segment. Both companies enlist systems integrators and other service providers to assist customers with migrations and implementations. Forrester identified Teradata and Snowflake as leaders in its Forrester Wave cloud data warehouse assessment for the first quarter of 2021.
Deloitte, a longstanding Teradata partner, serves as a preferred systems integrator for Teradata Vantage, a data platform that runs on AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
Moving customer data to those clouds will be one role for Deloitte. However, helping businesses tie Teradata Vantage into cloud providers' native services will prove even more important, noted Barry Russell, senior vice president of business development and general manager of cloud at Teradata.
Customers' cloud and digital transformation journeys start with migrations, Russell said. Beyond migration, integrators have an opportunity to connect the Teradata Vantage as-a-service platform with offerings such as Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Rekognition -- or TensorFlow and Azure AI in the Microsoft world -- for companies that want to do predictive analytics. IoT- and 5G-related services offer other integration possibilities, he added.
Integrators can use Teradata Vantage to build their own intellectual property using a couple of approaches. "Some of them are able to tie together Vantage as a service with SageMaker to create an outcome," Russell said. "The IP comes from the ability to create a repeatable outcome for a particular industry."
In addition, service providers can build code on top of the data platform, he noted. He cited Slalom, a Seattle-based consulting firm, as an example of a partner that takes that route.
Partners stand to play an expanded role in Teradata's strategy going forward. The company's alliances team has been working to revamp how the company works with industry-focused integrators, Russell said. Pascal Mazure, senior vice president of worldwide alliances and partners at Teradata, leads that initiative.
Forrester's cloud data warehouse study suggests the need for industry and technology knowledge in as-a-service platform deployments. "The most common [cloud data warehouse] use cases include customer analytics, AI/machine learning (ML)-based analytics, vertical-specific analytics and real-time analytics," the report notes.
Accenture, Unisys make deals
Accenture Federal Systems this week agreed to acquire Novetta, an analytics specialist. Meanwhile, Unisys said it would purchase Unify Square, a unified communications as a service (UCaaS) company and cloud consultant.
Novetta, based in McLean, Va., provides Accenture's federal arm with 1,300 employees and a U.S. public sector customer base. The company specializes in areas such as AI, ML, cybersecurity and cloud engineering. Novetta bolsters Accenture Federal Services' existing capabilities in those areas.
"Novetta brings significant additional scale, plus, because the mission needs of their client base, [they] tend to be at the cutting-edge of the demand of these capabilities," said Donna Savarese, sector lead for media and analyst relations at Accenture Federal Services.
Unisys agreed to acquire Unify Square, a Bellevue, Wash., company, for $152.5 million. Unisys plans to use the company's UCaaS offerings to boost its digital workplace services. Unify Square also provides cloud consulting and managed services.
Leon Gilbert, senior vice president and general manager of Digital Workplace Services at Unisys, cited Unify Square's consulting approach in UCaaS as an appealing factor. He also pointed to the company's "highly qualified skills in UCaaS" and its PowerSuite offering, a UCaaS and collaboration management tool.
PowerSuite is what Unisys is most excited about "since it moves Unisys up the value chain so we can own the employee experience offering," Gilbert said.
Unified communication managed services has grown in importance as a business model during the pandemic.
SAP collaborates with partners on industry packages
SAP has rolled out Rise with SAP transformation packages for five industries and plans to work with partners to deliver them.
The company's Rise with SAP offering, launched in early 2021, aims to ease customers' cloud and S/4HANA migrations. It provides what SAP describes as business transformation as a service. Rise with SAP transformation packages are now available for the automotive, retail, consumer products, industrial machinery and components, and utilities industries.
In a blog post, Peter Maier, president of industries and customer advisory at SAP, said the verticalized packages pull together "industry solutions and services" for business transformation.
Business transformation as a service requires the participation of SAP's partner ecosystem, said Marc Rolfe, senior vice president and co-lead of global business development and ecosystems at SAP. Service partners are building, or have already built, offerings around Rise with SAP and Industry Cloud, a platform that lets partners develop services that provide niche functionality. Those partner offerings converge with SAP's packages, he added.
"Our intent is to continue to work closely with our strategic service partners to package and deliver these complete industry solutions," Rolfe said. That approach also will involve additional applications and components from SAP's ISV ecosystem.
Rackspace: CX points to transformation opportunity
Improving customer experience (CX) is a top business priority, even ahead of IT security, according to a survey commissioned by Rackspace Technology.
Jeff DeVerter
Forty-eight percent of the 1,400-plus IT decision-makers and application users surveyed pointed to CX as a main strategic priority. IT security and compliance followed at 45%. Forty-one percent of the respondents identified IT strategy.
Rackspace chief technology evangelist Jeff DeVerter cited digital transformation as a key strategy for improving CX. That opportunity "crosses all industries and geographies," he added.
In another Rackspace survey finding, 94% of organizations reported some form of user experience initiative underway. Such projects fall into two primary categories, DeVerter said. The first project group consists of updates, transformations and improvements to a company's external, customer-facing presence.
"We've seen this in customer portals, websites and mobile," he noted.
The second category is characterized by "an increased investment in the digital experience of employees," DeVerter said. Such projects typically take the form of collaboration software.
Rackspace said the survey results point to a corporate focus on modernized applications as the way to enhance CX. However, respondents also cited the fear of negatively affecting existing CX as the top barrier to adopting application technology.
DeVerter believes fear of the unknown is the crux of this apparent contradiction.
"The unknown isn't the destination -- sellers paint that rosy picture nicely," he said. "The unknown is the path to get there. This is the primary failing of consulting companies in their ability to show with confidence that they have led other companies down this road, what the experience was like, how they dealt with surprises, and the tangible outcomes."
OpsRamp updates partner program
OpsRamp, a digital operations management platform based in San Jose, Calif., has revised its partner program and appointed a new channel leader.
The program updates include a more partner-friendly profit-sharing model and expanded sales assistance, including sales and technical training, co-marketing and demand generation, according to the company. OpsRamp will expand its channel team through regional channel account executives and solution engineers for technical sales support.
Paul Brodie
In addition, OpsRamp appointed Paul Brodie as vice president of global channel sales. Brodie previously held channel roles at Brocade Communications, Virtana and NEC.
OpsRamp's original channel strategy focused on relationships with MSPs, the company having grown out of a managed service provider. Since 2019, the company has also focused on partnerships with VARs that specialize in the digital IT operations market.
"The enterprise digital IT operations market segment is growing rapidly for OpsRamp, and the value that these strategic VARs bring to the table is critical as we scale," Brodie said.
OpsRamp will continue to support MSPs as well as VARs.
Partner program launches
- Martello Technologies Group, a company based in Ottawa that develops enterprise digital experience monitoring offerings, launched a channel partner program for MSPs and VARs. The company aims to have its partners bring its Microsoft 365 and Teams digital experience monitoring platform to small and medium-sized enterprises. Program features include training, automated service-level agreement management and co-marketing. Participants include LDI, a New York-based MSP.
- Trustifi, a SaaS-based email security company based in Las Vegas, rolled out a channel program, which includes training and market development funds for MSPs and solution providers. The company appointed Jamie Lembeck as global channel development manager. Lembeck previously held cybersecurity sales roles at Kaseya and ID Agent.
Partner roster updates
- Synnex will carry two newly launched packet brokers from cPacket Networks, which a company spokesman said marks the beginning of a larger move to the channel. The packet brokers, cVu 32100 and cVu 32100E, are part of the San Jose company's 100Gbps product line.
- Total Information Management Corp., a technology solutions provider based in the Philippines, joined Epsilon's channel partner program. Epsilon, a connectivity provider based in Singapore, offers a network as a service (NaaS) Total Information Management uses the platform to provide on-demand connectivity offerings through Epsilon's global network fabric.
Other news
- Accenture is the leading buyer within the tech, media and telecom sector of the global mergers-and-acquisitions market, according to GlobalData, a London-based consulting firm. GlobalData credits Accenture as having conducted 22 deals between Jan. 1 and June 1, 2021. More than half of the transactions were for cloud services companies, according to GlobalData. Accenture recently detailed how it integrates those companies within its Cloud First organization.
- Softchoice, a technology solutions provider and MSP based in Toronto, closed its IPO, reporting gross proceeds of $350 million Canadian dollars (around $289 million USD). Shares are trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the SFTC symbol.
- ServerCentral Turing Group, an MSP based in Chicago, rebranded as Deft. The company's core businesses include public, private and hybrid cloud services, cloud consulting, managed services and data center services.
- Security vendor WatchGuard Technologies said it has integrated its WatchGuard Endpoint Security product line into WatchGuard Cloud. The integration lets MSP partners and customers deploy and manage endpoint security, network security and multifactor authentication services using WatchGuard Cloud, the company said.
Executive appointments
- Qumu Corp., a cloud-based enterprise video technology provider based in Minneapolis, appointed Susan Young as vice president of strategic alliances and channel. Young has previously led sales teams at Cisco, Motorola, T-Mobile and Wind River.
- Critical Start, a managed detection and response services provider based in Plano, Texas, named Ron Demers as vice president of sales operations. Demers' oversight will include the company's go-to-market channel model. He was previously senior directo of partner sales operations at Siemens Digital Industries Software.
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