Author: Andrea Petrou

Halfords reports crash

Posted on May 23, 2013 by - News

halfsHalfords has seen a steep drive down in profits.

The company, which is mainly known for its bike and car part offerings, as well as staff who aren’t at all driven in helping their customers, reported a drop of 25 percent to £71 million in pretax profits for the 12 months to March 2013.

Despite it seeing a small profit in the group revenues, which were up by one percent, and a surge in cycling sales following the success of London 2012 and Sir Bradley Wiggins’ victory in the Tour de France, the company admitted it had seen a “demanding” trading environment.

It also admitted that its car repair arm, Autocentres, which in my opinion is regarded with as much trust as an Only Fools and Horses product, had seen a decline in profit.

However, this didn’t put the company off with it announcing it had opened 23 new Autocentres as investment for long-term growth continues

It has also tried to rectify its losses and appease shareholders,  with chief exec Matt Davies announcing an investment plan – codenamed the very original Getting Into Gear 2016 – which will aim to reposition the retail arm of the company and focus on sales growth to support “ongoing sustainable profitability”.

The company has also pledged to improve customer service as well as refit its shops.

Mothercare gets fatter

Posted on May 23, 2013 by - News

Leon bw article1Mothercare has seen a better than average full year profit.

The baby brand, which in April last year saw tumbling profits, which it blamed on online sales, has reported a pretax profit of £8.3 million for the year to the end of March. This was a rise from the £1.6 million a year earlier.

However, the company also saw UK sales fall 10.8 percent to £499.7 million in the year, while UK like-for-like sales were down 3.6 percent, an improvement on the 6.2 percent decline a year earlier.

Last year the company made moves to try and fix the brand, putting in place a three year plan and hiring ex Amazon “guru” Simon Calver as its new head honcho. At the time it slashed 56 UK stores in the year to the end of March, ahead of its target of 50 closures.

However, it seems the company could also be riding high off the back of the baby boom. Despite being criticised last year by mums as being “pricey” and “outdated”, it seems some are being coaxed back.

“Mothercare is offering better prices and cute clothing recently,” one mum told ChannelEye, while another pointed out staff had become “better” trained.

“It seems they are a lot more knowledgeable now,” she told ChannelEye. “I went in asking about buggies and had a full hour demo of all the ones suitable.”

And it also seems the brand’s line of maternity clothing is also making a stance with the company offering reasonably priced style.

According to the founder of maternity fashion website – that’s me by the way –  Does My Bump Look Good in This? the trend of wearing stylish maternity clothes has grown.

“With high profile celebrities, namely Kate Middleton, showing off their bumps in stylish clothing, regular mums-to-be are taking more notice of what the maternity fashion world has to offer,” Andrea-Marie Rankine said.

“It’s no longer about floaty blouses or dresses.

“Mothercare offers average priced on-trend  maternity clothing, which appeals to women in all demographics. In most stores they are placed strategically next to new baby products, which is a perfect pitch for mums-to-be,” Rankine continued.

UserReplay, Star-Archats team up

Posted on May 22, 2013 by - News

cosyUserReplay has got all cosy with with Star-Achats.

The Session replay software startup has signed a deal with the French distributor in a bid to expand its reach into the pan-European eCommerce market.

According to Star-Achats the French eCommerce market now includes 120,000 e-commerce sites and will account for more than 53 billion Euros in transactions in 2013.

It added that major French financial institutions were also increasing their online banking offerings.

The company, which represents American and British software companies in the growing French-speaking markets of France, Belgium and Switzerland, said UserReply would fit in well in the markets as because of these factors.

UserReplay is claimed to allow users to record, re-run and analyse every visitors’ journey through a website. This aims to help customer service desks and support staff can use this information to quickly identify problems with the website.

Apparently this saves days for the web development team as they don’t have to try and replicate what happened based on vague details from the customer.

Other key uses of session replay are in resolving complaints and disputes with customers, recovering abandoned checkout pages and even protecting against online fraud.

Microsoft doles out gongs to its chums

Posted on May 22, 2013 by - News

msMicrosoft announced the winners of the 2013 Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) Awards.

According to the company the awards recognise the skills and hard work of companies in Microsoft’s global partner network.

It said that this year’s competition had attracted over 3,000 entries, but only 11 UK partners made it on to the list of finalists, of which there were six award winners.

In the UK, partners were awarded the “coveted” Cloud Partner and SMB Cloud Partner awards, with Solidsoft and Tech Quarters respectively winning these titles. Microsoft said the UK wins  demonstrated that the UK channel is leading the way in global cloud adoption. Is it?

Other UK winners included the IM Group, which scooped the Microsoft UK Partner of the Year, while Global Knowledge was named Learning Partner of the Year. Oxford Computer Group, was the Identity and Access Partner of the Year and eBECS, ERP Partner of the Year.

The winning partners will be presented with their awards in Houston at this year’s Worldwide Partner Conference. Furthermore, Microsoft will continue to work closely with the winners as part of its ongoing investment to champion the fantastic work achieved in the UK channel.

Janet Gibbons, Director Partner Strategy and Programmes at Microsoft said she was delighted to see so many UK winners: “I would like to congratulate all of the winning parties. It is great to see the UK partners achieving recognition for their hard work across many different categories.”

Worldwide ITOM grew in 2012

Posted on May 22, 2013 by - News

gartnerWorldwide IT operations management (ITOM) software revenue raked in a total of $18 billion for the industry in 2012 a 4.8 percent rise from the same time in 2011.

However, according to the latest report by Gartner, the “big four” ITOM vendors – IBM, CA Technologies, BMC Software and HP – paid a price, surrendering market share while a new generation of ITOM vendors grew significantly faster than the market.

Pushing the growth of the ITOM market, although at a less frantic pace, were continued investments in virtualisation management tools and emerging cloud computing technologies, while growth in workload and automation also contributed.

Gartner also highlighted the evolution of IT service desk tools into IT service support management tools as another growth contributor.

The top five ITOM vendors, ranked by revenue, grew 0.6 percent in 2012, compared with a seven percent growth in 2011, and accounted for 55 percent share, or $9.9 billion, of the overall ITOM software market in terms of revenue. The ranking of the top five vendors did not change from 2010 through 2012. Among the top five vendors, Microsoft led the group in year-over-year growth at 16 percent, while the rest of the top five remained flat or saw declining growth.

CA Technologies and BMC Software were neck and neck with less than $200 million between them. And after displacing HP from fourth place in 2010, Microsoft continued to rapidly gain on BMC and CA Technologies, with Microsoft just less than $650 million behind CA Technologies.

At the regional level, North America, Western Europe and mature Asia/Pacific were the prime consumers of ITOM software in 2012, while the biggest laggards were named as Eastern Europe, Eurasia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with decreases of more than 1.5 percent each. All other areas saw low- to mid-single-digit growth.

European PC market cloudy

Posted on May 21, 2013 by - News

cloud 1Europe has seen a bleak view of the PC market with shipments falling by 20 percent year on year.

That’s the latest from Context, which said that the first quarter of 2013 saw the drop with the  steepest decrease occurring in Central and Eastern Europe.

The research company said these areas were most hit as a result of continued inventory weaknesses in Russia, which contributed to a decline of 23 percent for the region over the first quarter of this year compared to last year.

Russia itself saw PC shipments drop by 29.1 percent followed by Poland with a drop of 19.1 percent.

Over in Western Europe the picture wasn’t any brighter with figures showing a decline of 22 percent and almost every country registering double-digit falls including Spain at one end with a fall of 35.2 percent and the UK at the other with a drop of 16.6 percent.

The Middle East and Africa however, had a better quarter, with a lesser decrease of 11 percent recorded including Turkey where shipments fell by only two percent.

However, the future remains bleak with the company projecting a similar trend for Q213 with inventory continuing to be an issue in certain countries.

It said vendors were expected to act cautiously with their sell-in levels to avoid excess stock accumulations especially prior to the third quarter back to school period.

Daisy Group announces new CTO

Posted on May 21, 2013 by - Moving People, News

DaisyDaisy Group has named Nathan Marke as its new Chief Technology Officer.

The company claims that through both acquisitions and organic growth, over the last four years it has diversified its suite of products and now services 65,000 business customers.

Chief executive officer Matthew Riley said the appointment was “pivotal” for the technology strategy of the business with a key element of the role focused on driving innovation across all Group businesses.

Nathan is said to have almost two decades of experience in the sector and was the former Group CTO of 2e2. He also has the title of technology and marketing director of prime business solutions under his belt. Daisy said his experience meant he bought expertise in systems integration, IT services and communications technologies to the Group.

Nathan said over  the past five years he had been working closely with enterprise customers helping them evolve their software and IT services strategies.  He said he hoped to bring this experience to the Daisy team.

SSD sales continue to rise

Posted on May 21, 2013 by - News

ssdSolid state drives (SSDs) will account for more than one third of the computer storage market in 2017.

That’s according to IHS research, which says the predicted figure is almost seven times the number of shipments recorded in 2012.

IHS said that total worldwide shipments are expected to increase from 31 million units to 227 million units in the space of five years, forcing down the percentage of the market devoted to hard disk drives; from 94 percent in 2012, hard disk drives are expected to take up just 64 percent of the total market in five years.

The company pointed out that the explosive growth over this period equates to around 48 percent, and will put SSD on the map as a promising substitute for hard disk drives.

It said the rise in the number of SSDs being shipped across the globe had already begun as a result of the demand for ultrabooks and other super-slim laptop models. It said the continued demand over the next few years would drive “demand considerably.”

IHS also pointed out that touchscreen displays were becoming more prominent, and the upcoming Haswell processor created by Intel is set to revolutionise thin computers for consumers.

It said these units demand powerful, versatile and compact drives. Combine this with the price of NAND flash memory drastically decreasing, and the conditions are perfect for a surge in SSDs.

However, the future dominance of the SSD is not all bad news for the trusty hard disk drive. Firstly they were said to have price on their side, proving to be  far cheaper in price than their high-tech competitors.

They also have better storage functionality compared to SSDs.

VMware hires new channel honcho

Posted on May 21, 2013 by - News

Hands across the waterVMware has added a new recruit to its senior management payroll.

The virtualisation and cloud infrastructure company hired Dave O’Callaghan as senior vice president of Global Channels and Alliances.

It is hoped that in his new role O’Callaghan will lead the vision and strategy for VMware partners globally across all routes to market, including service providers, distributors, OEMs, system integrators and outsourcers, and independent software vendors.

His CV boasts positions in the tech industry spanning 30 years and includes positions in senior sales and indirect sales roles at Cisco Systems, Hitachi Data Systems and Memorex Telex.

Most recently, in 2011, O’Callaghan founded and led his own consulting firm specialising in go-to-market strategies for high-tech manufacturers, distributors and solution providers. Prior to this, O’Callaghan served as vice president of worldwide commercial sales at Cisco, where he led sales, strategy and programs of the midmarket and SMB segments.

During his 12 years at Cisco, O’Callaghan also held vice president roles in worldwide distribution and regional sales. He said he was “excited” to be helping his new  customers “solve their biggest IT infrastructure challenges of today and in the future”.

Policy Exchange calls for freeze of high street biz rates

Posted on May 21, 2013 by - News

gosborneCampaigners are continuing to put pressure on the Government to freeze business rates.

Think-tank, Policy Exchange, has become the latest organisation to call for the measures in a bid to save the high street and keep shops open, urging heads of the country to put in place a two year freeze on business rates.

It hopes that this will encourage retailers to keep shops open and help smaller companies afford their rents as well help them deal with competition from online stores who can offer cheaper prices as a result of no store fronts.

Yesterday the BRC published its latest figures, which showed empty stores remained a problem with the national town centre vacancy rate in the UK standing at 11.9 in April, up from 10.9 percent in January 2013 and marking the highest rate since the BRC survey began in July 2011.

A separate report by the Local Data Company (LDC) found that the percentage of empty shops in the country’s 650 most popular high streets nationally hit 14.2 percent – roughly 35,500 vacant properties – in December.

Policy Exchanges’ calls come months after the BRC threw down the gauntlet to George Osborne, urging him to use the budget to save the flagging high street.

Ahead of the Chancellors’ Budget speech in March, the organisation urged him to intervene to support jobs and growth by freezing business rates as well as cut  utility bills to help businesses stay on premises.

* Oxford’s famous Covered Market is threatened by huge rises in rates. There is a petition to save it, here.

VIP Computers appoints Business Development Manager

Posted on May 20, 2013 by - Moving People, News

VIPVIP Computers has announced the appointment of a new Business Development Manager

Graham Herschell has more than ten years experience in the IT industry and is said to bring VIP a huge range of skills and expertise to assist in growing the firm’s customer base as well as increasing sales from existing customers.

He has previously worked for Bridgfords, responsible for business development and Opal Telecom where he started off as a mobile and data support engineer moving onto team manager looking after a large team of office and field based engineers.

Herschell said he was “excited” to be working for the distie and boasted he had built up a strong knowledge of how to promote business as well as spotting opportunities for potential deals and getting them closed.

Anthony McKenzie, Sales Manager at VIP Computers said Herschell would be “instrumental in managing many of our key accounts moving forward and bringing more on board.”

Invotec hires new sales guy

Posted on May 20, 2013 by - Moving People, News

John Fitzpatrick HeadshotInvotec Group has announced that it has appointed a new sales account manager.

The European manufacturer of time critical, high technology PCBs has said John Fitzpatrick will join its payroll and will be responsible for the South East region.

John apparently has over 25 years’ experience working with OEMs and CEMs as well as  an in-depth understanding of customer requirements, from component to complete system level, across a range of market sectors, including automotive, aerospace, defence, security, rail and electronic manufacturing.

As he is based in West Sussex, John is also said to have an extensive local knowledge of the South East area.

Matt Bowman, Invotec Group Sales Director, said John had just the kind of knowledge and experience that the company was looking for to “strengthen” its sales and account management function.

Fresh claims of Google tax evasion flourish

Posted on May 20, 2013 by - News

Google the OgleCompanies have once again come under the scrutiny of the tax man with claims that some are using the lower 12.5 percent corporate tax Ireland has to offer to dodge paying large amounts to HMRC.

Over the weekend, Google was hit by fresh claims of dodging tax after an ex employee grassed it up to the media, while UK retailer Marks and Spencer is also facing claims of tax evasion over its online sales.

Google whistleblower Barney Jones worked for the company for four years, ending his time in 2006. He claims he has 100,000 emails that expose an “immoral” tax avoidance scheme used by his former employer.

According to Jones, Google managed to “pull the wool” over HMRC by diverting British profits through Ireland to a Bermuda tax haven, following claims that the company had only paid £7.3 million in corporation tax last year despite having a UK turnover of £3 billion.

He told The Sunday Times that he won contracts with major companies to buy advertising space in the UK but the deals were “closed” by staff in Ireland in a “smokescreen” scheme.

Peter Barron, Google director, external relations said in a statement: “As we said in front of the Public Accounts Committee, it is difficult to respond fully to documents we have not seen. These questions relate to Google’s business in the UK going back a decade or more and don’t change the fact that Google pays the corporate tax due on its UK activities and complies fully with UK law.”

Marks and Spencer is also going to be investigated. Over the weekend reports emerged that the squeaky clean family brand had turned to Ireland to avoid tax, with accusations that goods shipped to Europe from the UK were invoiced to an Irish subsidiary at lower rate.

According to The Guardian, which has seen an internal M&S document, the company’s structure saw it shipping goods from the UK, but using an Irish transaction to Marks & Spencer (Ireland) Limited.

Marks & Spencer  of course, refuted the claims – saying Ireland was used to host the website as it was the largest international market for M&S, and therefore the logical host for the EU site.

IT geeks safe as jobs rise

Posted on May 20, 2013 by - News

Jobcentre-plus-IT job vacancies are on the rise.

According to he latest data from CWJobs.co.uk, the sector looks set to be on track to rise back to pre-recession levels.

The company cited first quarter data, which showed that the volume of permanent vacancies had risen for the fourth year in a row. It also showed that  IT jobs were  only 15 percent below where they were, pre-recession, in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 41 percent just three years ago.

As Britain’s economic outlook finally shows signs of stabilising, the company added it was likely that businesses were taking on additional staff as they anticipate expanding, or try to trigger growth.

Alongside the industry’s positive performance, maintaining steady growth is SQL, which has remained the most in demand skill over the last five years. In the last year however, new data shows that demand for C# has overtaken C as a desired skill for employees, as employers look beyond the older programming language.

As a continued result of business outsourcing functions and consumer technology development, software houses and consultancies lead the way in industry growth with vacancy rises of over 1.4 percent last year.

Other sectors are also showing signs of steady growth, such as finance and retail, have increased 0.7 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.

The only area showing less sign of prosperity is the public sector, as permanent roles decreased 0.4 percent.

blur Group hires two new sales geezers

Posted on May 20, 2013 by - Moving People, News

DelThe blur Group has announced two new sales appointments, aimed at helping to drive its business.

The technology company has made Dan Murphy and Sat Ramewal (not pictured) as Head of Sales for the US and EMEA respectively.

The pair, who will report to Gerry Gross, Global Head of Sales are said to come to the company boasting a “impressive pedigrees in the IT and Communications Industry” with over 20 years collective experience in senior management positions.

Sat was most recently Commercial Director at D&B responsible for a complete turnaround of a declining business unit into one of double digit growth following senior business development roles at Colt and KPNQwest, while Dan, originally from the UK, was most recently Sales Director at Enable Labs in New York.

Commenting on the appointments, Philip Letts, blur Group CEO, said “Both Sat and Dan come to blur with experience of platform sales and developing large customers and sales teams.

“After launching 3.0 in April we’re now well on the way to establishing the sales teams who can ensure enterprise adoption and further scale blur’s rapid growth. “