Monday Morning Impact – June 19

Tech Hiring Rises Across Economy While Tech Sector Employment Slips

The volume of tech jobs throughout the economy grew, while hiring by technology companies took a small step back in May, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by CompTIA, a suburban Chicago-based trade association.

Tech sector companies reduced headcount by 4,725 jobs last month, representing less than a fraction of a percent (0.1%) of the industry’s total workforce. Among the six top level tech sector occupation categories three show positive gains for the year, led by IT services and custom software development (+10,200 year-to-date), the cloud infrastructure, data processing and hosting category (+2,300) and tech manufacturing (+1,100).

Tech occupations across the economy increased by 45,000 jobs. The unemployment rate for tech occupations decreased slightly from 2.1% to 2.0% and remains well below the national figure of 3.7%.

“Reassuringly the positives for the month outweigh the negatives, confirming the tech workforce remains on solid footing,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA.

Employer job postings for future tech hiring eased last month but still totaled nearly 234,000. Top positions sought by companies include software developers and engineers, IT project managers, data analysts and IT support specialists. About one in five job postings are for positions in emerging technologies or in jobs that require emerging tech skills, including nearly 15,000 openings involved with artificial intelligence.

Channel Impact^®
Despite slippage within the tech sector, the growth of tech jobs in the broad market will be seen as positive news by the channel.

Kaspersky Rolls Out New Specializations for Enterprises and MSPs

Kaspersky announced that its United Partner Program now includes new enterprise specializations for its gold and platinum partners. Rebates for resellers and distributors were also updated, and new compensations were introduced for proof of concept (POC) and deployment services.

As part of the announcement, the company introduced two new specializations to support the sale and deployment of enterprise solutions: Enterprise specialization for gold and platinum partners and enterprise+ for platinum partners. These specializations allow partners to receive additional rebates, as well as to be eligible for prioritized presale support from Kaspersky, gain access to joint marketing activities for enterprise solutions, and other benefits. Partners offering advanced cybersecurity services to their customers, including the deployment of Kaspersky solutions, can get the enterprise+ specialization. Partners with this specialization will be eligible to receive compensation for POC services and deployment, technical training vouchers.

The program for distributors now includes two specializations. The Value-Added Distributor (VAD) specialization allows partners to get rebates for sales of specific enterprise products, and specialist specialization rewards distributors for deployment and POC services on behalf of the partner. Kaspersky also introduced additional rebates for MSP sales for MSP distributors in North America, Italy​, Iberia, France, APAC and LATAM.

Leveraging Kaspersky’s LMP (License Management Portal), MSP partners can purchase SKU Plus license which allows them to get 24/7 immediate phone support from the Kaspersky team instead of the standard system of ticketing. Another update for MSPs includes the possibility for partners to buy Kaspersky Professional Services on behalf of the MSP, and also receive Kaspersky support.

“The introduction of the new Enterprise specializations reflects the shift in our corporate strategy, as we have extended our secure-by-design solution offering to enterprise customers globally,” said Kirill Astrakhan, executive vice president at Kaspersky. “We believe they create additional opportunities for our channel partners to leverage the global cybersecurity trends and to address the growing cybersecurity customer concerns. These changes can be a great opportunity to grow businesses both for our partners and us.”

Channel Impact^®
The company is in the midst of a drive to streamline its channel systems, as well as enhance simplicity and profitability.

Cysurance and Kaseya Partner on Cyber Insurance for Companies of All Sizes

Cysurance, which insures, warranties, and certifies security solutions, is partnering with Kaseya on a new joint offering called the “Kaseya Cyber Insurance Fast Track Program.” The partnership with Cysurance delivers up to $1.5 million in cyber-security insurance coverage for companies that adopt and implement Kaseya’s “IT Complete Security Suite.”

Enterprise spending on security, risk management and resilience is rising exponentially amidst a worsening threat landscape.

“The suite includes Kaseya’s Dark Web ID, BullPhish ID, Graphus or SaaS Defense, Datto EDR and RocketCyber Managed Security Operations Center (SOC) modules,” said Kirsten Bay, co-founder, and CEO of Cysurance. “Cysurance has not only worked with Kaseya to certify, warranty, and insure properly implemented solutions, we have also streamlined the enrollment process for underwriting risk while offering between 20%-50% discounts from traditional cyber-coverage rates.”

Managed service providers can participate in the program by adding coverage to existing and new services based on Cysurance-certified Kaseya solutions. Kaseya customers can gain access directly through the KaseyaOne customer portal, to rapidly verify the necessary modules and related requirements to qualify for Cysurance-certified coverage.

“This announcement represents a major industry breakthrough in how organizations optimize investments in security to reduce both cost and risk. Customers can now pre-qualify for coverage and save on premiums by utilizing Cysurance-certified security solutions,” explained Bay. “Instead of paying more for cyber insurance and dealing with the lengthy process of qualifying for coverage, Kaseya customers are immediately eligible. Moreover, the savings can cover the cost of Kaseya’s Security Suite modules.”

Channel Impact^®
Programs like this provide the channel with new opportunities for upsell/cross-sell that clearly meet the needs of their customers.