While all eyes were on the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week, MSP Success didn’t want you to miss new research on the tech skills gap (it’s not good news) and the high percentage of employees bringing their own AI to work (yes, we have another new acronym too), plus product news from NinjaOne and 1Password, a new chief product officer at Barracuda, and more.
By the Numbers
Tech Skills Gap Getting Worse
Nearly all tech leaders (95%) surveyed by Robert Half report challenges finding skilled talent, and more than half (51%) predict a significant hiring challenge will be a lack of applicants with the skill sets needed to support essential initiatives.
Notably, 62% feel the impact of skills gaps is more apparent today compared to a year ago, according to the survey report Building Future-Forward Tech Teams.
The research finds that the top priorities for technology leaders this year include: security of IT systems and information; AI, machine learning, and automation initiatives; cloud projects; technology modernization; and software engineering and development.
The skills gap could impact these initiatives. For example, 90% of tech leaders plan to implement initiatives involving AI this year, yet 48% cite a lack of staff with AI skills as the biggest barrier to success. Further, AI and machine learning topped the list of skills where tech managers said gaps are most evident.
To solve some of these challenges, the Robert Half report recommends recruiting candidates who want to learn the new skills that support business priorities; adopting a mix of permanent, contract, and consulting staff; and upskilling by implementing programs that encourage innovative thinking and ongoing learning.
New Research Says 2024 Is The Year AI At Work Gets Real – And We Get A New Acronym
Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn released a joint report on the state of AI at work titled, “AI at work is here. Now comes the hard part.” Use of generative AI at work has nearly doubled in the past six months, according to the report, with 75% of knowledge workers using it for both time savings and creative boosts.
However, even though 79% of leaders agree AI adoption is critical to remain competitive, 59% worry about quantifying the productivity gains of AI and 60% say their company lacks a vision and plan to implement it.
No surprise, then, that 78% of AI users are bringing their own tools to work—Bring Your Own AI (BYOAI).
People
Barracuda Appoints Neal Bradbury As Chief Product Officer
Cybersecurity vendor Barracuda Networks promoted Neal Bradbury to chief product officer. In this new role, Bradbury will lead a unified product, engineering, and advanced technology team to steer the vision for Barracuda’s cybersecurity platform and drive innovation across the portfolio.
Bradbury has been with Barracuda for nine years, most recently as the SVP of Barracuda’s MSP business. In this role, Neal led all functions, including product development, sales, and marketing. Before joining Barracuda, Neal worked at Intronis, which he co-founded in 2003 and Barracuda acquired in 2015.
SentinelOne’s Chris Krebs Joins CISA Cyber Safety Review Board
Chris Krebs, SentinelOne’s chief intelligence and public policy officer, has joined the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB). Made up of cybersecurity luminaries from the private sector and senior officials from DHS, CISA, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the National Cyber Director, and the Office of Management and Budget, the CSRB conducts fact-finding and issues recommendations in the wake of major cyber incidents in an effort to improve the Nation’s cybersecurity.
Krebs joined SentinelOne in November 2023. Previously, he was the inaugural director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s CISA, a role in which he led the Nation’s civilian cyber defense agency, working alongside businesses and government agencies to protect against an expanding set of cybersecurity threats. Before joining DHS, Krebs led Microsoft’s U.S. cybersecurity policy efforts. He currently Co-Chairs the Aspen Institute’s U.S. Cybersecurity Working Group
Products
NinjaOne Adds Endpoint Security To Its Platform
NinjaOne, an IT platform for endpoint management, security, and visibility, has added endpoint management, patch management, and backup capabilities to its platform.
“Endpoints are the IT foundation of any modern organization, but they also pose a serious risk. As organizations become more distributed, security teams need visibility into and control over the devices in their environments. They also need reliable backups to keep their business online in the event of a successful cyberattack,” said Rahul Hirani, SVP of product management at NinjaOne, in a press statement. “We’re obsessed with customer success at NinjaOne, so it was important to us to evolve our platform to deliver endpoint visibility, security, and backups to meet our customers’ needs and safeguard their organizations from today’s most sophisticated attacks.”
In addition, NinjaOne has partnered with CrowdStrike to integrate the NinjaOne platform with the AI-native CrowdStrike Falcon XDR platform. The combination of the Falcon platform and NinjaOne unifies endpoint management, visibility, security, and remediation, according to the company.
Integrations
1Password Unveils New Integration with CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM
1Password, an identity security provider, announced a new integration with CrowdStrike Falcon Next Gen SIEM that unifies 1Password, third-party, and Falcon platform data, threat intelligence, AI, and workflow automation to drive SOC transformation and reduce the hassle of monitoring multiple security solutions by tracking all security events in a single, unified platform.
Through this integration, CrowdStrike Falcon Next Gen SIEM ingests 1Password Business account activity like sign-in attempts, item usage, and audit events using the 1Password Events API. Enterprise security teams can then build custom graphs and dashboards to analyze account activity, set up custom alerts, and cross-reference 1Password events with data from other services.
The integration arrives on the heels of 1Passwords’ new Partner Edition.
Expansion
IT By Design Opens New Philippines Headquarters
IT By Design (ITBD), a master managed services provider (MMSP) and a provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) talent and training solutions, opened its new Philippines headquarters in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), in Metro Manila. The new headquarters represents a substantial expansion of IT By Design’s Philippines operations, taking advantage of the strong demand for talent from the Southeast Asian country.
The new office space will create more than 250 new roles within IT By Design, a direct response to the MSP industry’s demand for top-end talent in low-cost markets, according to the company.
