5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending Jan. 6

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is Xerox, for successfully splitting into two companies, one a document technology company that retains the Xerox name and a business services company called Conduent.

Also making the list is Samsung for publicly vowing to get to the bottom of the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, Panasonic for demonstrating its technological prowess with lithium-ion battery technology, K2 Software for its new channel initiative, and Sirius Computer Solutions for a savvy acquisition.

Not everyone in the IT industry was making smart moves this week, of course. For a rundown of companies that were unfortunate, unsuccessful or just didn't make good decisions, check out this week's 5 Companies That Had A Rough Week roundup.

Xerox Splits Into Two Companies

After nearly a year of preparation, Xerox successfully split itself into two companies this week, with the storied company spinning off its $6.7 billion business process services division into a separate company named Conduent.

The move allows Xerox, now an $11 billion document technology company, to focus on its core business and invest more in its product R&D efforts. Channel partners cheered the move, saying it will provide improved support for them and a better experience for their customers.

Conduent, previously known as Xerox Global services, began trading as a public company on Tuesday the New York Stock Exchange and is No. 9 on the 2016 CRN Solution Provider 500.

Samsung Vows At CES To Investigate Galaxy Note 7 Debacle

Businesses often try to put their biggest product disasters behind them as quickly as possible – sometimes so quickly that they fail to learn from their failures.

That's why Samsung wins kudos this week for not only promising to investigate what went wrong with its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, but for doing so on stage at this week's CES – one of the industry's biggest and most visible events.

The Galaxy Note 7 was, arguably, one of the biggest product safety disasters in the history of the IT industry. Some of the devices overheated, caught fire and even exploded. Samsung recalled the devices and eventually ceased producing and selling them altogether when it couldn't fix the problem.

This week, in a presentation at CES, Samsung Electronics America President and COO Tim Baxter said the company has made deep inquiries into what went wrong with the Galaxy Note 7 and how the defective products made it to market. "And to make sure it doesn't happen again," Baxter said. He vowed that the company would publicly share the results of its investigation once it is complete.

Panasonic Shows Off Flexible, Bendable Batteries Of The Future

In a demonstration of its technological prowess, Panasonic is developing flexible, thin lithium-ion batteries that can be adapted to power ultralight devices like smartcards, body-worn devices and even "smart clothing."

Speaking at CES, Joseph Taylor, CEO of Panasonic North America, showed off one of the bendable and even twistable batteries.

This comes as Panasonic begins volume production of high-density lithium-ion battery cells at Tesla's Gigafactory.

K2 Software Ramps Up Channel Push With New Partner Program

Business process application developer K2 Software is stepping up its channel game, launching a new partner program this week with new incentives for – and investments in – the channel.

The launch of the K2 Ascend Partner Program comes less than a year after the company hired Tom Evans, previously vice president of global channels and alliances at ForeScout Technologies, to be its channel chief. The new program is the result of Evans' discussions with partners about what they wanted to see in a new partner program.

The program is designed to cover VARs who resell K2 products, partners who provide deal referrals, and solution providers who build services around K2's software. The vendor is also relaunching its partner portal and investing more in market development funds, inside sales assistance and demand generation incentives.

Sirius Acquires Continuum Worldwide For Its Security, Splunk Capabilities

Sirius Computer Solutions made a smart acquisition this week when it bought Continuum Worldwide, an Omaha, Neb.-based solution provider with expertise in IT security and experience with Splunk's big data software.

Security expertise is in big demand and the Continuum acquisition comes one year after Sirius bought Force 3, another security-focused solution provider. And growing demand for Splunk integration capabilities means that Continuum's experience with Splunk software will prove to be invaluable.

Other solution providers making savvy acquisitions this week included PCM, which accelerated its push into cloud computing by buying Microsoft Gold partner Stratiform, and Perficient, which bought the 40-man management consulting firm RAS & Assoc.