5 Companies That Came To Win This Week
For the week ending Dec. 2 CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel.
The Week Ending Dec. 2
Topping this week’s Came to Win list is CDW for completing its blockbuster $2.5 billion acquisition of Sirius.
Also making this week’s list are 8x8 for a strategic acquisition that will help the company build on its XCaaS platform and expand its customer base, Microsoft for a major play in the small-business market with a new Teams offering, and IoT Armis security startup for an impressive funding round. Also making the list is distributor D&H for its successful—and profitable—efforts to help channel partners transition to an as-a-service operating model.
CDW To ‘Expand And Scale’ As It Completes $2.5B Sirius Acquisition
CDW tops this week’s Came to Win list by completing its $2.5 billion purchase of Sirius Computer Solutions, wrapping up one of the biggest acquisition deals in the history of the channel.
With the acquisition now complete, global IT product provider CDW becomes a $20 billion solution provider with more than 13,000 employees.
The acquisition bolsters CDW’s technical workforce: More than half of Sirius’ 2,600 employees are in technical positions and hold more than 5,500 IT professional and technical certifications. CDW can now boast of a technical workforce that’s 4,700 strong—up more than 45 percent from before.
The deal also increases CDW’s services revenue and creates cross-sell opportunities across Sirius’ base of 3,900 customers. CDW CEO Christine Leahy said the scale of the company’s services portfolio will increase from $900 million in annual revenue in 2020 to approximately $1.3 billion, up 45 percent.
8x8 To Buy UCaaS Competitor Fuze For $250 Million
Sticking with the topic of savvy acquisitions, Unified-Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) platform provider 8x8 unveiled a deal this week to buy fellow cloud communications specialist Fuze for approximately $250 million in stock and cash.
The acquisition will help 8x8 build on its flagship XCaaS platform, which the company introduced in May, that includes UCaaS, Contact-Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS), and Communications-Platform-as-a-Service capabilities.
The deal will increase 8x8’s enterprise customer base and global reach, especially in continental Europe. And the acquisition will help 8x8 put more resources into research and development, engineering, and support for its XCaaS platform.
Microsoft Targets Small Businesses With New ‘Teams Essentials’ Stand-Alone Edition
Microsoft unveiled a strategic addition to its product lineup this week when the software giant introduced a new edition of its popular Teams collaboration and videoconferencing software specifically for small businesses.
Teams Essentials offers more capabilities than the free entry-level edition of Teams, including extended meeting times, larger meeting capacity and additional cloud storage. But it is not bundled with other Microsoft applications as is the more expensive Microsoft 365 Business Basic.
Teams Essentials is seen as a counterpunch to rival Zoom in the heated competition in the small-business videoconferencing space.
Armis Raises $300M On $3.4B Valuation To Fuel Acquisitions
IoT security startup Armis was a winner this week in raising venture capital, reporting a funding round of $300 million that the company will use to accelerate strategic platform development, fund possible acquisitions and support global go-to-market initiatives.
The funding round boosts Armis’ valuation to $3.4 billion, up from $2 billion following the company’s last round of funding in February.
The new round was led by One Equity Partners and Armis said the alignment of OEP’s investment portfolio with Armis’ capabilities in health care, industrial OT and technology will drive significant investments in customer acquisition and expansion. Semiconductor provider Allegro MicroSystems, for example, will be the first OEP portfolio company to deploy Armis throughout its networks.
D&H’s Cloud And Services Business Unit Sees 100-Plus Percent Revenue Growth
D&H Distributing’s efforts to help solution providers move to an as-a-service business model is paying off for both the distributor and its partners.
This week D&H said its Cloud and Services Business Unit has recorded more than 100 percent revenue growth in the past year as it helps partners transition to as-a-service business models.
Key to that success has been D&H’s Success Path to Cloud program. The program provides resources such as training and tools that solution providers use to leverage managed services to profitably launch and operate a cloud practice. That helps channel partners build on their core competencies and migrate to a managed services model.
The Success Path to Cloud program is built around five pillars: people, program, product, platform and payment model.