Author: Nick Farrell

Softcat adopts high-level hybrid work

Posted on November 26, 2021 by - News

Softcat has a new “high-level” hybrid working policy.

CEO Graeme Watt said there was a need to strike a balance between flexible and remote working and retaining a strong, and energetic culture.

Softcat implemented a new hybrid working policy from 1 November, Watt said, stressing that it is”as high level as possible” and emphasises flexibility over rigidity, with staff trusted “to make a good judgement”.

“It’s a hybrid working policy that we put in place with a slight bias to the office”, Watt said.

“You could interpret that as 2.6 days a week. Most people interpret it as three days a week. There is a slight bias to the office because we can’t afford to lose the energy, the engagement, the commitment, the soft and hard learning and the agility that you get from being in the office.

“We’re happy for people to have the best of both worlds, without any degradation to the way we operate as a business. And it’s been great. I’m in the London office today and there are people everywhere. It’s not quite the same numbers as we had pre-pandemic, but it’s the biggest numbers we’ve had in 18 months or more, and I think everybody is seeing the benefit of that.”

Hybrid workers using the right cloud tools can be more productive

Posted on November 26, 2021 by - News

Research sponsored by Kyocera and conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit shows that 64 percent of employees that fully support using digital tools have seen an increase in productivity when working remotely.

The report was based on a global survey of more than 360 business executives, and identified a positive correlation between the greater uptake of digital tools and increased productivity. Key findings included:

Of those who reported their employees as “extremely supportive” of using digital tools, 64 percent saw an increase in productivity and just 17 percent a decrease.

Businesses booming in the North West

Posted on November 26, 2021 by - News

More than 43,255 new businesses were started up in the North West for the 12 months until September 2021, according to ONS data.

It looks like the North West of England is leading the UK’s COVID recovery, making it a ripe target for Channel sales teams. Several Manchester-based MSPs and resellers have attracted private equity attention over the last few years. ANS Group secured investment from Inflexion earlier this year, while BCN Group has been backed by Beech Tree Private Equity since 2018 and has since made several acquisitions.

For the 12 months until the end of September 2021, a total of 43,255 new businesses were established in the North West of England – an increase of 19 percent, or 6,965 more than the same period the previous year.

Meanwhile, the UK overall experienced a 15 percent increase in new businesses being started during the same period.

Eureka Solutions scores Wasps cloud drive

Posted on November 25, 2021 by - News

Eureka Solutions scored after sports club Wasps headed towards the cloud buzz.

Eureka Solutions is an Oracle partner specialising in the NetSuite ERP product. The East Kilbride-based outfit works with numerous sporting organisations, including Luton Town FC and the Ageas Bowl, the home of Hampshire Cricket, where the complexity of the business is very similar to that at Wasps.

Wasps cloud plan was spearheaded by Tom Bonser, Finance Director, who has been charged with building the club’s success to achieve long-term financial security.

He worked with Eureka Solutions in his previous role at another English Football League club this time to transform the back-office function for Wasps.

Zoom sees double-digit growth

Posted on November 24, 2021 by - News

Zoom has reported strong double-digit growth across its top and bottom line in its third-quarter fiscal year 2022 results, not surprisingly.

Total revenues for the quarter reached $1.050 billion, up 35 percent year on year.

While GAAP operating income rose 51 percent to $290 million for the three months ended October 31.

Zoom CFO, Kelly Steckelberg said that in the third-quarter total revenue grew 35 percent year over year to $1.05 billion, exceeding the high end of its guidance of $1.02 billion. “The growth was primarily driven by strength in our direct and channel businesses, which grew at twice the rate of our online business, as well as improved churn in both online and direct segments.

UK government scraps NHSX and NHS Digital

Posted on November 24, 2021 by - News

The UK government will scrap both NHSX and NHS Digital, merging them into a new body known as NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I).

At the moment NHSX is responsible for setting national policy and developing best practices for NHS technology, including data sharing and transparency. NHS Digital provided tech and digital systems across the NHS.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has accepted the recommendations of Laura Wade-Gery, non-executive director at NHS England and chair of NHS Digital, to incorporate the two tech bodies into NHSE/I.

‘The recommendations build on the huge progress made on digital transformation during the pandemic, following a commission by the Secretary of State in summer 2020, and will improve co-operation between the key digital bodies of the NHS by bringing them under one roof for the first time”, the government said.

New managers arrive at Six Degrees

Posted on November 24, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Cloudy outfit Six Degrees has made a rash of new appointments after appointing Chris Abbott to the role of COO in October.

The company has appointed Gareth Lailey to the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Philip Wood to the role of Chief Product & Technical Officer (CPTO).

Gareth Lailey joined Six Degrees on 15th November as CRO. Gareth joins Six Degrees from Rackspace, where he was most recently Sales Director. Gareth brings with him over 15 years of experience guiding businesses through digital transformation, particularly in areas aligned with Six Degrees’ own expertise: public cloud, cyber security, agile workspace technology and professional services.

Dell partner goes into voluntary liquidation

Posted on November 23, 2021 by - News

Dell partner Solutionize Global which claimed to surpass £100 million in revenues this year has filed for voluntary liquidation.

In a general meeting on 26 October Solutionize Global’s members agreed to proceed with voluntary liquidation as a solvent company, according to a Companies House filing.

Malcolm Edward Furgusson was appointed the liquidator to distribute the company’s assets among existing stakeholders.

Avaya reports stellar results

Posted on November 23, 2021 by - News

Avaya reported some pretty good financial results for its fourth quarter.

The company said it made revenues of $760 million and fiscal 2021 revenues of $2.973 billion. Fiscal 2021 revenue included a $15 million adjustment for the cumulative effect of an understatement of revenue in prior periods.

OneCloud Annualised Recurring Revenue was $530 million, up 25 percent sequentially and 177 percent from a year ago. Cloud, Alliance Partner and Subscription was 44 percent of revenue, up from 33 percent a year ago; and 40 percent for fiscal 2021

For fiscal 2021, software and services were flat but recurring revenue was 66 percent for fiscal 2021, up from 63 percent a year ago

GAAP Operating income was $33 million and Non-GAAP Operating income was $145 million; for fiscal 2021 GAAP Operating income was $180 million and Non-GAAP Operating income was $602 million

GAAP Net income was $6 million and Non-GAAP Net income was $74 million; for fiscal 2021 GAAP Net loss was $13 million and Non-GAAP Net income was $304 million

Adjusted EBITDA was $179 million, 23.6 per cent of revenue, down 290 basis points year over year; for fiscal 2021 Adjusted EBITDA was $719 million, 24.2% of revenue
Ending cash and cash equivalents were $498 million.

Avaya President and CEO Jim Chirico said the year was marked by many firsts, and the outstanding results exceeded expectations on almost every front.

“Most impressive is the fact that we reversed over a decade of annual revenue declines, delivering year over year growth closing up approximately $100 million, while we also grew ARR 177 per cent to $530 million”, he said.

“This year marked a real and substantive milestone for the company and I couldn’t be prouder of the performance or more thankful for the commitment of our customers and partners and performance of our global team as we’ve navigated a purposeful and deliberate journey of transformation to be an enterprise cloud leader.”

IoT rollouts stymied by connectivity problems

Posted on November 23, 2021 by - News

Inmarsat Research reveals that poor or unreliable connectivity is a key barrier limiting the success of IoT projects for most organisations.

According to the research report ‘Industrial IoT in the Time of Covid-19’ 75 percent of businesses experience connectivity challenges when trialling IoT projects and don’t feel that public terrestrial networks are completely suitable for their IoT needs.

UK Telecom’s R&D spending increasing according to Catax

Posted on November 22, 2021 by - News

Annual R&D spending in the telecoms sector has risen 4.5 percent to a nine-year high of just over £ 1 billion, according to ONS (Office of National Statistics) data.

R&D tax relief specialist Catax has broken out the UK figure and found that R&D spending across telecommunications businesses in the UK climbed £44 million to £1.02 billion in 2020 having risen for three years in succession.

However, the industry is unusual in that it hasn’t grown its R&D spending at all over the past decade.

UK government to work with experts to sort out cybersecurity

Posted on November 22, 2021 by - News

The UK government will work with industry experts to develop policies that will increase the cybersecurity of digital solutions and has asked if it should enforce new cybersecurity measures on MSPs.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) issued a call for views in May on the existing advice for supply chain risk management and said it was considering asking MSPs to meet new cybersecurity measures to make the UK more resilient against cyber threats.

“Sustainability” should be a “significant driver” behind “digital transformation”

Posted on November 22, 2021 by - News

Manufacturers need to put more emphasis on so-called sustainable practices rather than just focusing on the banal objectives of efficiency and productivity improvements, according to InfinityQS Global Channel Programs Director Jason Chester.

After COP26 it became clear that the actions needed to fix climate change are now becoming a serious priority among world leaders, Chester said.