Tag: IT

Global telco revenues to stay flat

Posted on September 25, 2013 by - News

smartphones-genericWorldwide revenues for the telecoms industry are expected to stay mostly flat over the coming years, according to a report.

A deep decline in spending on voice services will be offset by growth in mobile and fixed broadband data services, according to analyst house Ovum. Total telco IT spending is expected to reach US$60 billion in 2017, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.6 percent between now and then. It will be emerging markets such as APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America that will drive top spending.

For North America, it’s predicted spending will run a CAGR of 0.8 percent to hit $17.5 billion by 2017.

Telcos will have to get their thinking caps on about tariffs and services to build revenues over the next five years. LTE, network optimisation and “creative” approaches to partnerships will become ways for businesses to save cash, according to report author Shagun Bali.

“Telcos need to monetise new business models, leverage customer data by investing in analytics, and define their response to over-the-top players,” Bali said.

Ovum has mapped the overall trend as reducing internal IT spending while increasing spending on external IT projects. Telcos will have to outsource maintenance of legacy systems, and make use of trusted partners that can provide expertise in segments such as big data analytics.

“The combination of middling profits, high capital requirements, high risk, and uncertain economic growth requires telcos to place their bets carefully, including investing in growing revenue streams and managing customer experience more than ever before,” Bali said. “The result is increased opportunities for the IT industry. In the long term, telcos will place more focus than they have before on software to drive innovation”.

Hospitality industry feels ripped off by IT

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

mcdsThe food industry feels completely stitched up by long-running and misleading IT contracts packed with hidden costs leaving them out of pocket, according to a survey.

Over half of managers in the food and beverage industry think they have been completely misled by IT suppliers – and with exclusive contracts, are finding themselves tied in and trapped by ongoing costs that were not made clear from the beginning.

Of those surveyed, many said their IT systems cost too much money to start with, but are near impossible to get out of.

A staggering 81 percent of managers felt disappointed or unhappy with their IT systems, and one in ten thought picking a big IT supplier in hospitality would make their IT better. Instead, the technology was missold and doesn’t do what it said on the tin.

Just ten percent of all managers surveyed said they were content with their IT systems.

The survey, carried out by Censuswide and commissioned by Caternet, asked 180 managers in hospitality what they thought of their IT.

“Supplier and customer relationships are a two-way thing – they’re about trust and honesty, or at least they should be,” Jerry Brand, Caternet’s MD said.

Dell grabs 1st place in notebook education

Posted on August 13, 2013 by - News

Michael DellDell has been approved under all three National Desktop and Notebook Agreement framework lots, meaning the company will once again be able to sell its  gear to consortia-affiliated universities and colleges.

Dell is now certified in six National Framework Agreements for universities, further education, and the UK’s Research Council, the company points out.

NDNA is a significant procurement path for selling products to the higher education sector, with the majority of institutions subscribing to the framework.

The company can provide desktops, notebooks, and services, marking an approximate combined value of roughly £310 million for the up to four years of the framework.

Dell grabbed first place in the notebook lot, meaning the consortia can contract Dell without bids from the competition.

The company cited its existing relationships with universities like Aberdeen, Cambridge, and UCL, and that it has supplied over 40 percent of UK unis with desktops or notebooks.

If universities so want, they can buy Dell kit without lengthy tender processes, as well as consistent pricing across desktops, workstations, thin clients, services, and tablet hardware – though the latter may not be particularly appealing to date. Dell also has a technical pre- and post- sales team dedicated to higher education.

Director for education at Dell UK, Kenneth Harley, said that IT is a “vital component” for education institutions to maintain their competitiveness and attract top students. “To do this, the provision of a personalised learning experience supported by best in class, affordable IT is crucial,” Harley said.

IT should use XP migration to boost infrastructure

Posted on July 1, 2013 by - News

framedwindowsWith support for Windows XP just around the corner, yet another company is shouting that businesses must have no illusions: sticking with unsupported software could be catastrophic.

Attachmate’s Barry Davis, UK sales director, said in a statement that businesses will be and should be migrating – and when they do they should take the migration as an incentive to evaluate security vulnerabilities in their infrastructure. “They can also reconcile and shrink the sprawl to a level their current IT staff can support,” Davis said.

Attachmate pointed out Accenture research that claims half of UK IT departments have no strategy for applications current running on Windows XP. And it warns that if businesses continue to run terminal emulators made for XP after upgrading, they could still be open to vulnerabilities.

“This is an opportunity to invest in future proofing, streamlining desktop emulation and mainframe access,” Davis said.

Attachmate advises businesses to take step by step best practice approaches to migration, based on standardisation, and starting with an inventory check to get all the data in place.

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.

Demand for mobile gear outpaces support

Posted on April 23, 2013 by - News

SmartphonesSkyrocketing demand for mobile devices in the workplace seems to be putting too much pressure on IT professionals and support staff. According to a LANDesk Software survey, 83 percent of end-users want to create service desk incidents or requests using their mobile device. However, only 24 percent are able to access self-service systems using mobile gear because their companies don’t have the technology to support it.

BYOD and the consumerization of IT are clearly causing a plethora of issues. The survey found that many employers are simply failing to keep up with demand for effective support for mobile gear. If they fail to do so, the potential benefits of BYOD and mobile tech in general could be limited. Although access by mobile devices remains limited, 86 percent of respondents said they have access to self-service IT support via their PCs.

‘‘Mobile devices have become so integral to how employees work that it’s worrying to see so few businesses enable employees to report IT problems via mobile devices. Businesses will find their employees more willing to embrace services if the way they are requested goes hand in hand with the way they work, ’’ said Ian Aitchison, Director of Product Management, LANDesk. “As employees evolve and adopt new technologies to support them in their work, businesses are well advised to support these technologies to maintain productivity levels and streamline interactions between the employee and the service desk.’’

The research also covered 10,000 IT professionals, who said they have seen some positive results from desktop PC self-service, despite limited availability of mobile support. The majority said self-service helped reduce call volumes and improve user experience. Of those who worked in organizations without a self-service programme, 83 percent said they plan to implement it and 47 percent already have a rollout plan.

Permanent IT rolls down 12 percent

Posted on February 18, 2013 by - News

ukflagThe Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has said that despite some relief in unemployment from the Office for National Statistics, in IT, permanent rolls have plunged more than 12 percent while temporary vacancies dropped almost seven percent.

The body said that year on year, to December 2012, there has been a fall of almost ten percent in permanent and temporary vacancies. IT professionals, if they can find the work, are increasingly doing temporary assignments, at 6.5 percent growth year on year.

Chief exec of APSCo, Ann Swain, said in a statement that the wider economic picture isn’t helping. Employers themselves don’t have the cash nor confidence to invest in permanent hires.

“However,” Swain pointed out, “recent data from the PMI Index has revealed that the services sector, which accounts for more than three quarters of economic output, has returned to growth”.

This, Swain said, makes her “bullish” about the first quarter of 2013 “from a hiring perspective”.

A skills shortage has been looming as well, according to a 2012 report from eSkills UK.  Employers were, at the time, looking for ICT managers, strategy, and planning professionals, as well as technical skills in SQL, C, C#, .NET and Java. But APSCo’s point is that with the uncertain economic backdrop, even companies who need permanent workers are worried that they will not be able to afford them.