Partner Trends #020
Your weekly source for news in the world of channel partners, strategic alliances, and partnerships.
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Around the Industry
Hitachi announced it would acquire U.S software developer GlobalLogic for $9.6 billion. The acquisition will help strengthen Hitachi’s digital solution and services platform, Lumada, due to GlobalLogic’s advanced digital engineering capabilities and solid client base. GlobalLogic currently operates design studios and software product engineering centers worldwide, with over 20,000 professionals in 14 countries.
MessageBird, an omnichannel cloud communications platform, announced that it had acquired 24sessions, a customer engagement platform, and Hull, a customer data platform. Originally seen as a competitor to Twilio, Messagebir has since repositioned itself as an omnichannel platform-as-a-service provider that enables companies to communicate with customers on any channel of their choosing. The acquisitions will allow MessageBird to add video capabilities and offer customers a better understanding of their interactions using its omnichannel offering and the workflow solutions that they provide.
Partner Program Announcements
Cisco announced a new offering, Cisco Plus, that will help partners better align with their customer's digital transformation journey by integrating Cisco solutions and delivering and operating them with IT-managed services. The initial offer, Cisco Plus Hybrid Cloud, will be available mid-year 2021 and will feature a flexible consumption model and a full lifecycle suite of services through Cisco CX and with partners.
BillingPlatform, a global cloud-based monetization and billing solution provider, announced a new partner program and marketplace to enable partners to help customers grow their businesses and increase profitability. The new partner program offers benefits such as sales pipeline planning, pre-sales training, product training course, and co-marketing activities will put partners into three main categories with different tiers: Platform Partners, Consulting Partners, and Independent Software Partners. The new marketplace will be a complete inventory of all BillingPlatform’s pre-built applications and connectors that customers can search for and request information.
CloudBolt Software, an enterprise cloud management leader, announced its new channel partner program, Rainmaker, to help partners grow and transform their cloud businesses. Rainmaker will offer partners training and enablement, financial benefits such as discounts and referral fees, marketing support, and an enhanced partner portal.
Partnership Announcements
Aurora, an autonomous vehicle startup, has reached an agreement with Volvo to develop autonomous semi-trucks for North America. Through Volvo’s Autonomous Solutions unit, the partnership will focus on trucks built to operate autonomously on highways between Volvo customers' hubs. The announcement is the business unit’s first deal to bring autonomous trucking to the road and span several years.
LivePerson, a global leader in Conversational AI, and Infosys announced a new strategic partnership to help brands manage AI-powered conversations with consumers and employees over SMS, webs ties, apps, and messaging channels. By combining LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud with the Infosys Cobalt platform, brands will create new revenue models, realize savings, and achieve faster time to market.
IBM and ServiceNow announced an expansion to their strategic partnership to launch a new joint solution later this year. The new solution will combine IBM’s Watson AIOps with ServiceNow’s ITSM and ITOM Visibility products to help customers reduce operational risk and lower costs by applying AI to automate IT operations.
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