Monday Morning Impact – July 3

Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Government IT Spending to Grow Nearly 8% in 2023

Worldwide government IT spending is forecast to total $589.8 billion in 2023, an increase of 7.6% from 2022, according to Gartner, Inc.

“Global challenges like inflation and workforce scarcity and their local repercussions are testing the abilities of government CIOs to respond with appropriate service delivery mechanisms and organizational accountability,” said Apeksha Kaushik, Principal Analyst at Gartner. “In addition, the “great resignation” and the competing demand from the commercial sector have forced governments to re-examine their approaches to counterbalance internal talent scarcity.”

In 2023, government organizations will sustain commitment to investing in digital programs, according to the forecast. “Governments are increasingly spending their IT budgets to replace legacy applications. Gartner’s 2023 CIO and Technology Executive Survey showed that 57% of government CIOs plan to increase funding for application modernization in 2023, up from 42% in 2022,” said Kaushik.

An increasing number of government institutions are already putting in place at least one digital metric linked directly to outcomes associated with their organization’s public purpose or mission. By 2026, Gartner foresees more than 75% of governments will gauge digital transformation success by measuring the enduring mission impact.

In 2023, software will continue to be the highest growing segment in 2023, according to the report. Application modernization investments are expected to increase, supported by more software-as-a service-based solution offerings. The use of low-code application platforms (LCAPs) is also on the rise and will further accelerate legacy modernization efforts.

Government spending on IT services will continue unabatedly in 2023. “Compensation constraints and limited resources to attract and retain IT talent is becoming an even bigger challenge today as many governments are facing IT talent shortage,” said Kaushik.

To continue modernizing and innovating critical IT infrastructure and applications, some government organizations will embrace a multisourced workforce strategy by optimizing the use of internal IT talent and investing in employee experience tools to empower and spark innovation, as well as partnering with external IT service providers to speed time to value.

Channel Impact^®
Channel partners focused on the public sector are in the midst of a major opportunity to guide governments looking to gain maximum benefit from digital transformation. Governments are increasing digital investments in response to global turmoil.

Apptega Launches Security Platform for Global MSPs

Apptega, an Atlanta-based software company helping organizations build and manage cybersecurity and compliance programs, has rolled out “Edge,” a new product exclusively for MSPs that delivers compliance management, integrated marketplaces, and cyber insurance in a single platform.

Features include automated risk assessments and various tools to support framework compliance, integrations with leading security and PSA products, customer-facing dashboards for QBR reporting, and a built-in cyber insurance offering. The platform maps cybersecurity product or service to more than 25 industry frameworks, enabling MSPs to more easily visualize and fill gaps in customer programs by upselling products and services from their line cards, according to the company.

“Every day, MSPs of all sizes are being asked by their customers to deliver robust security and compliance programs and it’s been a huge challenge for most to easily pull together the expertise and solutions they need to meet this demand,” said CEO Armistead Whitney. “Apptega Edge is the first platform built specifically for MSPs that equips them with everything they need to deliver powerful cybersecurity and compliance to their customers.”

The platform facilitates MSPs in assessing and measuring customer security practices against a standard set of more than 25 frameworks that include SOC 2, CIS, NIST, CMMC, PCI, HIPAA, and GDPR; provide MSPs and their customers guidance and project plans on how to meet framework requirements; automate tasking and evidence collection through out-of-the-box integrations; streamline cybersecurity compliance reporting for QBRs, executives and boards; monetize security products by mapping them to framework controls; and streamline cyber insurance by suggesting the best and most affordable options.

Channel Impact^®
Purpose-built for managed service providers, the new product combines cybersecurity and compliance management with marketplaces for security products and cyber insurance.

New Alliance Delivers Cloud-Native Managed SASE

Orange Business, Orange Cyberdefense and Palo Alto Networks have joined forces to deliver a managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution intended to meet enterprise customers’ most demanding networking and security requirements via Zero Trust Network Access 2.0.

The solution combines Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma SASE (Prisma Access + Prisma SD-WAN) with the connectivity and digital integration capabilities of Orange Business, along with the Managed Secure Access service by Orange Cyberdefense to provide a fully managed SASE solution, according to a joint statement.

“With more and more enterprises moving their operations to the cloud and taking a digital-first approach, our customers must adopt zero-trust security,” said Aliette Mousnier-Lompre, CEO of Orange Business. “Converging networks and security in an agile, simple, and cost-effective way is what our customers demand. Together with Palo Alto Networks and Orange Cyberdefense, we are delivering a fully converged and managed SASE offering that delivers a positive impact for our global customers.”

“The long-standing relationship between Orange Cyberdefense and Palo Alto Networks has resulted in a comprehensive portfolio of services in areas like: Edge security, XDR, cloud security, SASE and SOAR, which we believe helps improve organizations’ cyber resilience across the threat lifecycle,” added Hugues Foulon, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense.

Channel Impact^®
The shift to working from anywhere, software-defined networking, and the rapid adoption of cloud connectivity is enabling global enterprises to drive new levels of productivity and efficiency. The alliance promises a simpler operational model for customers, with end-to-end accountability to improve agility, efficiency, performance, and security.