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Channel catch-up: News in brief
Developments this week at Assured Data Protection, Acer, Canon, UiPath and Coro
Even with a bank holiday, there has been time for fresh channel initiatives, partner certifications and some fresh products that vendors hope will provide partners with compelling pitches.
Assured Data Protection: The MSP cloud data protection specialist has launched its Innovation Team, a strategic initiative to build on the firm’s position in the disaster recovery and cyber resiliency market with the addition of fresh technologies.
Tony Giannini, a seasoned executive from the IT service sector who recently joined Assured, will be leading the initiative, focusing on adding technologies that bring value and extend the firm beyond its current Rubrik-based offering.
The first example of what this will look like in action can be seen in the recent partnership with Nutanix to deliver a disaster recovery and backup service.
“I’m looking forward to working with the Innovation Team to develop adjacent technologies that complement Assured’s as-a-service offer in a standalone product development business unit within the company,” said Giannini.
Acer: The vendor has announced a partnership with MBT Ireland, a IT repair and lifecycle management service provider, to enable the vendor to offer users local support. MBT Ireland will help Acer provide repair and support services to businesses and schools across Ireland, providing repair, refurbishment and secure data management.
“With MBT Ireland’s expertise now complementing our partnership with MicroWarehouse, Acer is uniquely positioned to serve Irish customers with end-to-end support – from purchase to repair”, said Andy Russell, call centre and operations manager at Acer. “Our Reliability Promise underscores our confidence in delivering durable, high-performance technology.”
Multifunction devices
Canon: The firm has expanded its channel offering with the launch of a couple of fresh lines of multifunction devices.
Stuart Miller, director of channel partners at Canon UK and Ireland, said: “Major technological advancements, including AI [artificial intelligence], cloud and IoT [internet of things], are transforming the modern workplace and the way that our channel partners and their customers do business. In response, organisations must innovate and embrace technology in order to drive new levels of productivity and growth.
“Our new ImageForce range provides the highest levels of innovation in our multifunction device range – reflecting our continued efforts to enhance the serviceability of our products and drive efficiency and profitability for our partners,” he added.
Agentic automation
UiPath: The agentic automation player has rolled out an Agentic Automation Fast Track Partner to those that have gained early access and training in agentic automation capabilities.
Those who gain the badge have shown a commitment to deliver an orchestrated enterprise for customers through a combination of AI agents, robots, people, AI models and other tools to orchestrate and automate end-to-end enterprise processes.
“Our partners play a critical role in the agentic future of UiPath, from identifying use cases to providing product feedback to co-innovating to help solve customers’ toughest challenges,” said Ashim Gupta, chief financial officer and chief operating officer at UiPath.
“They have earned this distinction by receiving hands-on training with the UiPath Platform for agentic automation and establishing their commitment to ushering in the agentic era for customers.”
Coro: The security player has unveiled its Security Awareness Training (SAT) module to provide partners with an option to pitch to small and medium-sized enterprises with a service to reduce human-error attacks.
“Over 90% of breaches start with human error,” said Coro CEO Guy Moskowitz. “AI has made phishing attacks more convincing than ever, which is why our SAT module delivers intelligent, adaptive training – built directly into the Coro platform. No complexity, tool sprawl or integration headaches – just effective protection where it matters most: your people.”