Author: Nick Farrell

Netbox opens new Norfolk office

Posted on September 28, 2021 by - News

Netbox Digital, a Kent-based provider of print/copy and scanning stuff, has set up a new office in Norfolk.

The move follows its acquisition of Photostatic Anglia in late 2020 and the new digs will replace Photostatic Anglia’s previous premises.

The company said that the new office in Trumpeter House, Long Stratton will give a local presence to Netbox Digital sister company, Netbox Recruitment, currently operating from the group’s Rochester HQ.

Netbox Group Managing Director Paul Crewe said: “Our new premises will provide a wonderful hub from where our team can continue to serve our clients and we can continue to expand our presence across East Anglia.”

Econocom acquires a majority stake in Trams

Posted on September 28, 2021 by - News

Econocom group has acquired a majority stake in Trams, a London-based IT solutions provider benefiting from long-standing partnerships with Apple, HP, Lenovo and Dell.

Founded in 1990, Trams serves international companies and well-known blue-chip brands with a range of products and services, including commodity IT hardware, cloud hosting, IT maintenance and recycling. It employs around 40 people and in FY20 reported revenues of £42 million.

2021 is the year of outsourcing

Posted on September 28, 2021 by - News

While 2020 was influenced by COVID-19, 2021 will be the year of outsourcing claims eacs  CEO Kevin Timms (pictured).

Timms said that the attitude toward managed services has changed significantly as a result of the pandemic, and the drivers for adoption, whether it be out-source, out-task or out-staff have changed for good.

Timms said: “During 2020 and all the tumult surrounding enabling people to work from home and the raging uncertainty, there was little appetite to change outsource suppliers or indeed adopt managed services. There were few procurement tenders released in the public or private sector and eacs saw clients simply renew their managed services without going to market.  It felt like in 2020 companies were just holding their breath, riding things out and delaying any decisions.

Pinnacle Computing buys £1.68 million worth of Sage

Posted on September 27, 2021 by - News

Pinnacle Computing has picked up K3’s Sage business for £1.68 million.

The deal should complete next month. In the fiscal year to 30 November 2020, the Sage business generated revenue of £5.2 million and a pre-tax loss of £1 million. Current recurring revenue is £3.1 million, with gross profit of £1.5 million. Net liabilities stood at approximately £1 million on 30 May 2021.

In April 2020, K3 placed its loss-making UK Dynamics business into administration, leaving the group focused on profitable core units. The channel outfit flogged Starcom Technologies in February 2021, for £14.7 million to Node4.

K3 expects the sale to strengthen its balance sheet and generate pre-tax profit of approximately £1.6 million, which will be accounted for as an exceptional contribution to trading results in the current financial year, ending 30 November 2021.

AppDynamics moves to a complete channel model

Posted on September 27, 2021 by - News

Cisco’s AppDynamics is shifting to a 100 percent channel model, alongside major updates and improvements to its global partner programme.

The firm said the changes will help partners “fully exploit the potential of stack observability with business context”.

AppDynamics has been using a “direct and indirect” sales model for some time, but the outfit feels that a total channel will provide closer alignment to Cisco’s sales motion and give partners the confidence and opportunity to build out full-stack observability practices with AppDynamics and Cisco.

AppDynamics’ vice president of Worldwide Channels and Strategic Alliances Mark Maslach said the company has added a new ‘Elite’ level to its Global Partner Program, creating a three-tier structure alongside the existing ‘Alliance’ and ‘Titan’ levels.

Vertex snaps up LCR-Dixon

Posted on September 27, 2021 by - News

Tax outfit Vertex has acquired SAP company LCR-Dixon to allow its partners to cover more taxing SAP business.

LCR-Dixon makes tools enhance a customer’s ability to maintain, analyse and validate tax data in procure-to-pay as well as order-to-cash. All this makes for simplification of tax complexity in SAP environments, it’s said.

Vertex CEO David DeStefano said: “We believe the addition of LCR-Dixon’s unique suite of solutions with Vertex tax technology delivers an incomparable value to our customers who need to manage complex global compliance requirements. We share a common vision and principles based upon loyalty, consideration and respect. Vertex and LCR-Dixon have enjoyed a long-standing partnership and together have delivered best-in-class solutions to some of the world’s largest companies running SAP.”

COVID-19 has created a skills gap

Posted on September 24, 2021 by - News

COVID has created a skills gap among channel marketing professionals, according to a new report from Coterie and its research partner, the University of Huddersfield.

The report said that the ongoing technology skills gap, a staple of the channel sector, was worsened by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The issue has forced people-focused channel markets traditionally has had to abandon face-to-face interactions.

ServiceNow teams up with Microsoft teams

Posted on September 24, 2021 by - News

Microsoft campusServiceNow has expanded its partnership with Microsoft teams to cash in on remote working trends.

As part of ServiceNow’s Now Platform Rome release, the company is introducing a new collaborative app for its Employee Centre that integrates with Microsoft Teams and offers streamlined employee experiences in the hybrid work environment. In addition, the companies announced expanded investments in co-innovation and go to market efforts across ServiceNow workflows and Teams.

Lexmark and Computacenter in Europe partner on print support

Posted on September 24, 2021 by - News

Lexmark is working with Computacenter in Europe, in a cunning plan that lets enterprise customers access its secure managed print services (MPS) solutions through the technology partner.

The new partnership builds on Computacenter’s long-standing relationship with Lexmark, having already worked together for more than a decade.

Lexmark says the move will enable the pair to provide additional value-added services to more customers and offer a “better experience” for enterprises.

Lexmark senior vice president and chief commercial officer Brock Saladin said: “The partnership will enable us to provide reliable, automated and integrated print support that ensures security to Computacenter’s customers, supporting the delivery of cloud-first digital transformation strategies,” Saladin said.

David Helm takes over at virtualDCS

Posted on September 23, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Leeds based cloud computing and disaster recovery specialist, virtualDCS, has appointed technology expert, Dave Helm, as a non-executive director to spearhead the company’s next phase of growth.

For those who came in late, Helm co-founded Leeds based IT services business, Blue Logic, which supplied technology, cloud solutions and IT security. Blue Logic employed an 80-strong team and with an annual turnover of more than £8million when it was sold in 2019.

Following this, Helm now holds non-executive director roles at a number of leading technology companies, including Leeds firms, Rabb-IT and Cindercone.

He said: “Over the last decade virtualDCS has made a big impact in the IT industry, establishing a market leading range of products including its CloudCover Disaster Recovery suite and its market leading Microsoft 365 backup solution, CloudCover 365. These products are now widely used by clients across the public and private sectors.

HP releases Amplify Data Insights to partners

Posted on September 23, 2021 by - News

HP has released its Amplify Data Insights platform that will see the vendor share its own, partner and third-party market intelligence.

HP’s market route head, Luciana Broggi, said that the company was moving out of a backwards-looking model which was based on the performance and size of the partners. Instead, it wanted a model that was more future-led and more focusing on what is the experience we want to give to our customers today and in the future.

Broggi said that meant HP needed to establish what the capabilities were in the channel and what levels of support were required from the vendor.

“Data is the currency of the future and we have been talking about that for a long time and we talk about that in every industry”, Broggi claimed.

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Exclusive Networks celebrates its Paris IPO

Posted on September 23, 2021 by - News

Security outfit Exclusive Networks claims it has had a successful IPO on the regulated market of Euronext Paris.

The company said the success of the offering reflects strong demand from leading French and international institutional investors.

Based on the offering price of 20 euro per share, the market capitalisation of Exclusive Networks would amount to approximately 1.8 billion euro.

Jesper Trolle, Chief Executive Officer of Exclusive Networks, said: “Cybersecurity has never been more relevant – to business leaders, state heads and consumers. Exclusive Networks has a mission to drive the transition to a totally trusted digital future.”

SCC’s founder receives the Legion d’honneur.

Posted on September 22, 2021 by - News

SCC’s founder, Sir Peter Rigby, has received the accolade of being the first British-born businessman to receive the Legion d’honneur.

The award, France’s highest honour, is handed out only to a select few, usually celebrities and military leaders. The decision to award it to Rigby is in recognition of his services to the French economy and building strong business relations.

The French like him because he set SCC up on the other side of the Channel [Geddit? Ed.]. Starting with a team of two in 1998, the privately-owned Rigby Group’s French business now runs an operation that employs 3,300 staff across 23 locations. The Rigby Group has expanded over the years beyond just offering technology, and its activities include hotels, aviation and real estate.

Babble in Scottish invasion

Posted on September 22, 2021 by - News

Babble has continued its acquisition spree by adding Scottish telecoms firm 8020 to its business.

Dumfries-based 8020 provides mobile, connectivity and IT services to over 750 customers across Scotland and the north of England.

Babble said the deal would provide scale to the company while delivering a Scottish presence for the business as it continues its expansion.

Matthew Parker, chief executive of Babble, said: “As a proud Scotsman I’m thrilled to take our business into this new region. This deal supports our drive to acquire high-quality revenue tech businesses that will add significant value to Babble as we continue our ride to becoming the UK’s leading cloud technology business.

Sophos speeds up MSP Connect worldwide

Posted on September 22, 2021 by - News

Security outfit Sophos is speeding up the worldwide growth of MSP Connect, Sophos’ programme to help managed service providers (MSPs) increase customer management efficiencies, unlock new business opportunities and boost revenue, it said.

The company said that MSP Connect has been doing rather well and achieved 67 percent  year-over-year billings growth in the first quarter fiscal year 2022, ending June 30, 2021, and 55 percent year-over-year billings growth in fiscal year 2021, ending March 31, 2021, through MSP Connect Flex, Sophos’ monthly billing programme.

The Americas, Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ), and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions delivered double-digit growth, with the most significant gains in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland (UKI), Germany, and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). MSP Connect now supports more than 16,500 global and regional MSPs worldwide, a 54 percent increase since April, 1, 2020, the start of Sophos’ fiscal year 2021.