Author: Andrea Petrou

Longer working hours lead to more office affairs

Posted on February 22, 2013 by - Gossip, News

photoMore extra marital activities are taking place over the office photocopier a report has found.

The survey conducted by Notatwork.co.uk and married dating site IllicitEncounters.com, has found spending longer hours in the office is leading to a rise in workplace affairs, with people who regularly work over 45 hours a week almost five times more likely to seek solace with a colleague.

The duo also said that those who regularly did more than 50 hours a week in industries such as video games, finance, medicine, journalism, and the emergency services were more likely to embark on a cloak and dagger relationship.

People in these industries admitted that they embarked on longer working hours as a result of increased workloads and to ensure their jobs remained as secure as possible.

Mike Taylor, at Illicit Encounters, said these long hours “pushed” people into making bad relationship choices  as they sometimes found themselves in the office late at night, exhausted and feeling low and took comfort with a co-worker in the same situation.

“This can then develop as they spend more time with each other than they are with their spouses,” he added.

Over 54 percent of those asked admitted that at some-point in their career they had considered engaging in a work-based affair.

Computer 2000 signs agreement with 3Dconnexions

Posted on February 21, 2013 by - News

Hands across the waterComputer 2000 has signed on the dotted line with 3Dconnexions.

Under a new agreement the UK arm of Tech Data will distribute 3Dconnexion’s range of 3D mice, which the company claims lets users interact with content intuitively, making it easier for engineers to work faster and more ergonomically.

Using the 3D mouse controller cap, users can simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate their 3D models or camera position while using the standard mouse or tablet to select, create and edit.

Paul Jacobs, General Manager of the PC Components business unit at Computer 2000 said the price points, which ranged from £99 to £299, meant that there was “plenty of margin opportunity”.

John Moseley, Director of Global Marketing for 3Dconnexion, said the partnership meant the company would be open to more opportunities as a result of gaining a greater visibility and access to the wider channel community.

The 3Dconnexion range is being managed by Computer 2000’s PC Components business unit. It includes the SpacePilot Pro, SpaceMouse Pro, SpaceNavigator and SpaceNavigator for Notebooks.

Mercedes & pals fined for market fixing

Posted on February 21, 2013 by - News

mercMercedes-Benz and three of its commercial dealers have been  slapped with fines after being found guilty of infringing competition law.

The brand, along with Ciceley, Road Range and Enza have been ordered to pay a total fine of £2.6 million after the watchdog found the quartet had been in cahoots over market sharing, price coordination and exchange of commercially sensitive information.

Despite admitting to joining in with the other four, dealer Northside was spared a fine for sucking up to the OFT.

The dealer was said to have come forward to “provide valuable” evidence of collusion in return for immunity from penalty under the OFT’s leniency policy.

The cartel were found guilty of cosying up in relation to the distribution of vans.

Between 15 January 2008 and 26 January 2010 Ciceley and Northside were said to have got together to manipulate the distribution of vans, while between 1 February 2008 and 26 January 2010  Ciceley and Road Range were found guilty.

Between 8 December 2009 and 26 January 2010 Ciceley, Enza, Mercedes-Benz and Road Range, were found to have manipulated the market when it came to the distribution of trucks.

Ali Nikpay, OFT Senior Director of Cartels, said the action showed that the watchdog would penalise companies that colluded to “deny customers the benefit of fair competition regardless of the size of the firms involved” – although a couple of million is arguably chump change for the group.

She added that the case also showed the watchdog could sniff out cartels regardless of whether someone grassed them up or not.

ONS: youth unemployment up again

Posted on February 20, 2013 by - News

Jobcentre-plus-The job centre saw less footfall from October to December last year, with unemployment falling and the number of those in work rising, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Unemployment rates fell by 14,000 to 2.5 million, for the first time in two years, while the number of those in employment rose by 154,000 to 29.7 million. However, 163,000 were included as employed who were on government sponsored training programmes.

More than 580,000 people were counted as employed compared to this time last year. The ONS added that by the end of December there were 29.73 million UK people in employment. Of this, 73 percent were in full time work and the rest working part-time.

The ONS also found that the number of people in the UK claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 12,500 to 1.54 million, while some in work also saw a rise in wages, with the organisation finding total pay – including bonuses – rose by 1.4 percent and regular pay – excluding bonuses – rose by 1.3 percent from the same period in 2011.

In monetary terms this meant that average weekly earnings excluding
bonus payments stood at £445 in December 2012, before taxes and other deductions from gross pay, up from £439 a year earlier.

The statistics also show that youth unemployment increased by 11,000 to 974,000 – the highest rise for a year.

Other figures showed the number of self-employed workers increased by 25,000 to 4.2 million, and the number of people with more than one job increased by 41,000 to 1.1 million.

BRC calls on Osborne to boost the high street

Posted on February 20, 2013 by - News

ossyThe British Retail Consortium (BRC) has laid down the gauntlet to George Osborne, urging him to use the budget to save the flagging high street.

The organisation has said that changes such as freezing business rates and cutting bureaucracy could go some way to helping the high street recover, after a tough couple of years.

Yesterday, 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.

Analysts also warned that this number could rise as a result of big brands such as HMV and Jessops going into administration.

Now the BRC has waded into the ongoing crisis demanding that something is done. It said in a report, written in partnership with Oxford Economics, that the retail industry made an “essential contribution” to investment, jobs and growth.

However, operating costs within this industry have risen by a fifth since 2006 and it is centrally-driven costs that have risen most rapidly.

Costs of doing business are claimed to have increased by 21 percent to £20 billion since 2006, while annual operating costs have shot up by from £96 billion to £116 billion, the BRC said.

However, it pointed out that over the same period retailers sales values increased by just 12 percent meaning that the industry faced job losses and store closures.

In its submission, ahead of next month’s budget, the BRC has now said the Chancellor must intervene to support jobs and growth. It wants to see business rates frozen in April 2013 as well as utility bills cut, which the company said will help businesses stay on premesis.

A ‘One in, Two Out’ regulation, which is said to ensure any regulations being scrapped in one sector are replaced with new rules is also being pushed.

The organisation also wants to see a central coordination on implementation of the Portas Review recommendations.

HP rumoured in partner margin strategy, T&C tinkering

Posted on February 19, 2013 by - Gossip, News

HPHP may be hatching plans that will change the the way its resellers operate.

According to sources familiar with HP’s channel, the company could shortly be exerting pressure on resellers to shift towards higher serviced sales for the juicier rewards. There have been whispers elsewhere that the company could be making changes to its licensing terms and conditions.

However,it is unknown to what extent the rumoured changes will be rolled out.

We have heard that HP plans to make very subtle changes that could have a larger impact.

One reseller, speaking under condition of anonymity, told ChannelEye that HP is always quietly changing its T&Cs, and that channel partners have to stay vigilant as most of the time they are hidden in newsletters or buried on the company’s website.

There hasn’t been “any huge clarity on this” or any “huge pieces of information”, the reseller said.

Another said that it would not be an enormous surprise. “Suddenly we’ll see a change in our billing and when we query it we’ll be told that it was made public at this point or that point,” the source said.

While unaware of any specific change in corporate policy, another reseller added that “another change” would not be welcome, however, they would have to “go with it” and “hope there aren’t any more nasty surprises”.

Top-down decision making for the channel could also impact partners’ annual strategies, with one reseller telling ChannelEye that a proposed change would not have been “put into consideration for the year ahead” and, if true, could mean partners “end up earning less than anticipated”.

At the time of going to press, ChannelEye has approached HP for comment. A spokesperson said it is looking into the matter.

Empty stores make themselves known on the highstreet

Posted on February 19, 2013 by - News

highstreetEmpty shops still continue to plague the high street and recent administrations could mean an increase in vacant stores, a report has found.

According to the Local Data Company (LDC) the percentage of empty shops in the country’s 650 most popular high streets nationally hit 14.2 percent in December. That is roughly 35,500 vacant properties.

It was a sorrier story in shopping centres with the company claiming the empty shop  figure rose to 15.6 percent.

However, Clive Longbottom, a retail analyst at Quocirca warned that the figure could be much higher than the report said.

“A lot of the occupancy levels over the December period will have been temporary, with Xmas card and trash gift stores taking a one-month tenancy to shift stuff as quickly as they can, ” he told ChannelEye. “You also have new ideas being tried – is the “play a piano” store, where a piano has been put into an empty shop and anyone can go in and play it, an occupied store, or is it an unoccupied store that just happens to be used for something else?”

“Is the move away from the shopping malls to the high street one based on rates on the high street being lower, landlords being hungrier for cash and lowering rents, an artifact of shorter rental periods, or a sign that councils have more control over the high street and trying to do the Mary Portas stuff over a short period of time?”

LDC shared similar concerns claiming that as a result of top chains, including Blockbuster, HMV and Republic, going to high street heaven, this figure could rise to around one in six – or 17 percent – of stores being empty later this year.

Longbottom added: “The only way that we will see a true picture is to take a longer term view. The general view of the retail market at the moment is that we can expect to see a lot more failures over the coming months.

“There is not the capacity to replace all the Comets, Jessops, JJBs, HMVs, Blockbusters and so on that are disappearing,” Longbottom said. “A few will go to others as some of the Blockbusters stores have been taken by Morrisons, but overall, we can expect the longer term view to be more empty premises, more boarded up shops, a less appealing look to the retail centres of the UK.”

LDC said the vacancies had also been brought about by the growth of retail parks and the growth of online shopping. A lack of consumer spending was also blamed for the demise.

However, it seems the loyalties of the public are more on the side of the small shop – with the report suggesting Britain favours independent retailers rather than chains.

Daisy Group contracted to manage 2e2 Data Centre Business

Posted on February 15, 2013 by - News

DaisyDaisy Group has been appointed by Oakley Capital Private Equity to manage the 2e2 Data Centre Business.

The 2e2 Data Centre was rescued by Oakley after its parent business 2e2 Group went into administration. However, Oakley decided to pass the responsibility over to Daisy.

Daisy has said it will work with existing data centre employees of the business to provide data and hosting services from its data centres in Gateshead and Reading. It said that combined together, these data centres would double the amount of data centre power available to the Group’s customers, increasing from 2Mw to 4Mw.

Matthew Riley, chief exec of Daisy, said customers would also get the opportunity to work with a long-term partner with “proven expertise” in the data and hosting market.

He added that Daisy is now placed to provide stability to existing 2e2 customers and “offering further expertise and resource to Daisy customers”.

John Lewis culls managers to focus on online

Posted on February 15, 2013 by - News

axeJohn Lewis has become the latest company to wield the axe, announcing that it will be slashing 325 department manager jobs in a bid to focus more on its online growth.

The company, which was hailed by the government as a model of “responsible capitalism” for the whole economy, has made the decision to chop these jobs as it moves to focus on it its online offerings.

It has set up its Retail Revolution’ plan in a bid to ensure it stays ahead of the game and doesn’t end up in the same black administration hole as some of its competitors.

However, this won’t be any consolation to the staff who are set to lose their jobs, in the biggest cut made by the retailer since 2009 when it culled 700 call staff jobs.

Each John Lewis has about 10 department store managers looking after sections such as womenswear, beauty or furnishings. In a bid to cut costs John Lewis is planning to replace these with one or two more senior managers in 28 of its 40 stores.

They have given those in question a month to put their views and proposals forward as to why they should remain at the company before a  90-day constitution in March.

Last month the company hinted that online was where it wanted to be, appointing Mark Lewis as online director. It said at the time it hoped that Mark, who had previously been CEO at Collect+ and spent six years at eBay in roles including UK managing director and European marketplaces director, would continue the growth and development of its online business.

Ingram Micro posts “record” Q4 financials

Posted on February 14, 2013 by - News

IMIngram Micro announced a record quarterly financial for the last months of 2012, driven by its acquisition of BrightPoint and Aptec.

However, it was also this move that cost it money, with the company claiming that restructuring costs as a result of the purchase led a loss in profitability.

For the fourth quarter of 2012 the distie reported worldwide sales of $11.38 billion, a 14 percent rise from the $9.95 billion in the fourth quarter last year.

It said the recently completed acquisitions of BrightPoint and Aptec Holdings had helped contribute approximately $1 billion and $75 million, respectively, to the quarter’s revenues.

Worldwide gross profit also hit an all-time quarterly record of $661.2 million compared with $554.3 million in the same period of 2011.

However, the distie’s operational bottom line wasn’t as positive with the books showing that operating profit dropped by 4.7 percent  to $167.9 million.

The company said that this figure was as a result of it gobbling up BrightPoint and Aptec and the $8.6 million in restructuring and other acquisition-related costs.

However, this hasn’t caused the company concern with it predicting worldwide consolidated revenue growth in the low teens, for 2013, which includes the contribution of BrightPoint.

And analysts are also on the same track. Today the company was upgraded by Needham & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.

Avnet and TE Connectivity celebrate silver anniversary

Posted on February 14, 2013 by - News

lovebirdsThis Valentine’s, Avnet Electronics Marketing and TE Connectivity are today celebrating their silver anniversary.

The pair have announced they have been going steady for the past 25 years, where they have shown each other “commitment”, while TE described its other half as a “great partner”.

Over the past quarter of a decade, the duo claim to have helped many of their OEM customers, providing them with connectivity products paired with a distribution service

Ed Smith, president, Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas praised its partner, claiming that with its commitment to innovation, TE had “changed the way the world thinks about connectivity”.

He added that the industry had moved on from wanting just a single connector to a  “connectivity solution”, which would change the way they worked and Avnet’s partnership with TE meant that they could provide this.

TE was equally complimentary to its longterm partner, gushing how it couldn’t wait to spend more years together.

To celebrate, the pair have made charitable donation to the FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST Robotics is a non-profit organisation, led by American innovator Dean Kamen, which seeks to inspire children and young adults to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Raise your glasses.

Republic to join highstreet heaven in the sky?

Posted on February 13, 2013 by - News

onesie1Teens may have to look for their onesies elsewhere with news that Republic is teetering on the brink of administration.

The Leeds-based clothing chain, which caters for the youf market, is expected to call in Ernst & Young to deal with the administration, which could see around 1,000 jobs at risk and 120 empty stores.

It is thought that the company, which was bought by private equity firm TPG in 2010 for around £300 million, is struggling amidst competition from H&M and Primark, which offer clothes at cheaper prices.

It also hasn’t had the best few months. In January it admitted its profits had fallen 86 percent to £3.7 million, while in November TPG was forced to plough in a further £20 million.

Just last week its chairman Andy Bond quit as the company brought in KPMG to help it offload some of its stores.

If the rumours are true, then the retailer would join Jessops, HMV and Blockbuster in the great highstreet heaven in the sky

Mobiles fell in 2012

Posted on February 13, 2013 by - News

mobyGlobal mobile phone sales declined in 2012 as a result of the economic climate and intense market competition Gartner has said.

In its latest report the analyst company said that 2012 mobile phone sales hit 1.75 billion units, a decline of 1.7 percent from 2011. And it was smartphones that bolstered this number with the fourth quarter of last year marking a record sale rate of 207.7 million units, up 38.3 percent from the same period last year.

The last time the worldwide mobile phone market declined was in 2009 and this year’s dismal results were as a result of tough economic conditions, shifting consumer preferences and intense market competition weakened the worldwide mobile phone market this year, the company said.

It added that feature phones were neglected with a 19.3 percent decline in 2012. And there was bad news for this sector with the company predicting that 2013 would continue to see a decline.

Smartphones were given a better future with the company claiming that sales of these would be close to one billion units in 2013, while overall mobile phone sales were estimated to reach 1.9 billion units.

And this market also bought in the bucks for manufacturers with Apple and Samsung both seeing their market shares in this sector rise. However, it was Samsung who had the last laugh ending up in first place for overall mobile and smartphone sales in 2012. Gartner said this was as a result of the company’s ability to build products based on broad needs.

But Samsung was warned that there could be trouble ahead with Gartner’s crystal ball predicting that competition would intensify in 2013 as players such as Sony and Nokia improved.

Huawei also had a good fourth quarter, helping it to take on third position for the first time  in the smartphone sales race. The company sold 27.2 million smartphones, up 73.8 percent from 2011, while its Ascend D2 and Mate models were tipped to drive further sales for 2013.

Nokia’s handset sales improved from a good response to its Asha mobile phones and the launch of the latest Lumia Windows Phone 8 models.

However, this wasn’t enough to stop Nokia to lose further market share, totalling 18 percent, the lowest it has ever been. In 2012, Nokia reached 39.3 million smartphone sales worldwide, down 53.6 percent from 2011.

Microsoft woos channel with Office 365

Posted on February 12, 2013 by - Interviews, News

cloud 1Businesses and consumers have reached a “tipping point” in the market, leading to a huge appetite for the cloud, a Microsoft’s director of partner and strategy programmes has claimed to ChannelEye.

The company, which, over the past year has brought out a range of new products for both consumers and business, is now trying to win over resellers in the lead up to the launch of Office 365 for the commercial space.

“Last July we called the upcoming year a new wave for Microsoft,” Janet Gibbons, director of partner strategy and programme, told ChannelEye. “Not only was this because of the range of products, including Windows 8, that were launched but also the migration to the cloud.”

She said Office 365 had spearheaded this message with the home version for the first time offering a household licence for up to five devices, including Macs and tablets.

“This was a new way of consuming software,” Ms Gibbons added. “It shows how we’re going to be taking products to market.”

Microsoft says it is doing as much as it can to ensure its partners are ready for the commercial launch of Office 365, on the 27 of this month.

It has also changed the way its resellers can bill clients for the product, meaning that from 1 March resellers will be able to bill customers directly.

The current model for reselling Office 365 sees partners receive kick-back payments for what they sell, with Microsoft controlling billing. However, now resellers will be able to set their own margins and bill customers themselves.

“From a channel perspective we have advised our partners ahead of the launch so they in turn can help their customers,” Gibbons told ChannelEye. “We’re scaling this through distribution channels to target 7,500 partners, offering training and face to face meetings.”

The company has also embarked on licensing training  through December to Feb, putting on a two day event targeting 1,700 partners.

This covers other products relevant to resellers including Sharepoint and Link.

“We’re aiming to catch the market when the market is ready for new changes,” Ms Gibbons said. “From what our resellers tell us, their clients are ready.”

E-fags cause regulatory stink

Posted on February 12, 2013 by - News, Opinions

efagThe days when sparking up a fag with a drink in the warmth in public is a misty memory for those who live in the UK.

Instead smokers have had to endure the cold, snow, and often spaces smaller than a battery farm in a bid to get that nicotine hit after a meal at a UK restaurant, in a bar or in a club.

However, it seemed that some smokers’ problems were stubbed out thanks to the E-cigarette, which steam rolled into the market.

Marketed as a lower risk option to smoking and a way to help quit the habit, this new product
also had the added extra of allowing people to “smoke” inside.

The e-cigarette comes in two parts. One end contains the liquid nicotine, while the other has a rechargeable battery and an atomiser.

When the user inhales, the liquid nicotine is vaporised and absorbed through the mouth.

As there is no tobacco in these products, there is no harmful, and potentially lethal tar, and the “smoke” that these emit is mainly water vapour.

According to the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) around 700,000 people in the UK were using e-cigarettes last year, with around 300,000 more predicted to use these this year.

However, new proposals could now see the industry, which has around 100 manufacturing companies, go up in, er,  smoke.

Earlier this year the British Medical Association (BMA) called for more regulation and research around these products, advising  health professionals to use regulated and licensed nicotine replacement therapy instead to help patients stop smoking.

It is also calling for restrictions to the marketing, sale and promotion of e-cigarettes, and for clear labelling on the contents of cartridges and their safe use.

In an updated online briefing, it pointed out that these battery-operated devices were not licensed as a medicine in the UK and there was a lack of peer-reviewed evidence on their value in helping smokers cut down or stop.

It also said there were concerns that the use of e-cigarettes could threaten the norm of not smoking in public places and workplaces.

BMA director of professional activities Vivienne Nathanson said: ‘It took us many decades and hundreds of thousands of deaths to understand the connection between cigarette smoking and disease. We must not encourage use of a new system of nicotine delivery when we are unsure about its safety, or efficacy as a means of stopping smoking.

‘We are especially concerned that e-cigarettes might reinforce the smoking habit as they are designed to closely mimic smoking actions.’

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is set to report on nicotine product regulation this spring.