#MSInspire living up to its name for partners

With one day down and the second underway, there’s been a lot of excitement at the Microsoft Inspire 2021 event. As promised, it’s a great opportunity to get a preview of the upcoming advances in Microsoft’s technology and its ecosystem of 400,000 partners, as well as to connect with our partners in attendance who are looking to protect their clients’ Microsoft environments.

One of the many heartening things to hear from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was the shared value that “[W]e’re only successful if you are successful. That means creating new opportunities for you across every sector and every country.”

That’s always been Acronis’ philosophy, which is why we’ve focused so much of our activity on enabling our partners – and why it’s been fantastic getting their feedback as part of #MSInspire, too.

Many of the changes to the digital world that occurred during the past year – including the reliance on remote work and the need for cyber resiliency – are not going away once the pandemic eventually passes. That means the adoption of cloud-based solutions will continue to accelerate.

Nadella explained that “Coming out of this pandemic, one thing is clear: Every organization is going to need more ubiquitous and decentralized computing power. We are going through radical changes in the computing architecture — across the cloud, the edge — that will impact every business. Nearly 2 billion new connected devices will ship each year by 2023, up more than 50 percent from today. The data creation at the edge is growing almost as fast as in the cloud.”

Microsoft is meeting that data growth with several new projects, including a new sustainable cloud that would enable organizations to simultaneously meet their data storage needs and their carbon reduction and sustainability requirements.

Nadella also stated, “Every company needs to be a technology company in their own right.” New integrations and APIs, advances in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and modernization initiatives are planned to enable that transformation.

From Acronis’ perspective, that exploding data volume means organizations will need to protect every aspect of their digital footprint. Yet not every company will have the resources, skills or inclination to be its own technology provider.

Smaller organizations in particular will rely on managed service providers (MSPs) for the IT they need to compete. And during the pandemic, MSPs proved that – given the right tools – they can handle that demand even during the most stressful times.

Acronis’ focus is on continuing to provide MSPs with those “right tools” needed to keep clients protected while enabling them to grown their own business. That’s why we’ve been adding new capabilities like Advanced Email Security, powered by Perception Point, to our comprehensive cyber protection solution for service providers, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud.

Day Two of Microsoft Inspire got a taste of that focus, as Acronis executives Pat Hurley and Craig Joseph led a panel discussion entitled, “Lessons for MSPs from Professional Sports Teams on Protecting Microsoft Environments”.  Matt Cochran, Senior IT Manager at NASCAR’s Hendrick Motorsports, and David O’Neill, Director of Application Central Services for the Premiere League’s Liverpool Football Club, talked about the vast volumes of data their organizations use in competition and throughout their businesses, and the resulting extraordinary need for robust data protection and cybersecurity. The two pro-sports tech veterans delved into best practices MSPs might take from their experience to deliver managed services to business clients, specifically for Microsoft environments.

In addition to our partners, we got a chance to talk with other organizations in the Microsoft ecosystem. Compliancy Group’s Vice President of Engagement and Cybersecurity Paul Redding noted that the comprehensive nature of Acronis solutions is particularly important for organizations in regulated industries.

"The controls in the HIPAA Security Rule go way beyond backing up the server and installing some kind of antivirus. As laws and the threat landscape change, providing a complete security stack for your clients’ Microsoft environments is inarguably the single most important responsibility of today's managed services provider,” said Redding. “That's what's so cool about the all-in-one solution Acronis has built. It allows partners to implement both the data protection and cybersecurity controls for HIPAA and other regulatory acts behind a single pane of glass."

While Acronis’ session from Microsoft Inspire 2021 won’t be available as a recording, we do have sessions available that reveal how easy it is for MSPs to safeguard their clients’ Microsoft environments or combat the latest cyberthreats facing them.

For a full list of informational sessions, visit the Acronis Events page – there are plenty of webinars available on-demand so you can watch them whenever it’s convenient.