Author: Nick Farrell

Businesses think they should have gone hybrid before Covid

Posted on September 1, 2021 by - News

Three quarters of UK IT decision-makers believe their organisation could have made the transition to a hybrid model sooner if they were aware of the pros and cons before the pandemic.

Research from eFax found that with most employees now accustomed to the flexibility of being able to work remotely, and many employers now offering this in the long term, organisations that do not offer such flexibility risk deterring their workforce and being unfavourable to future talent.

Half of all UK IT decision-makers believe the inability to attract and retain talent and over a third believe being unable to accommodate family life, are big risks if businesses do not enable a hybrid workforce. A further third believe it would risk a disengaged culture among employees.

SASE adoption rockets

Posted on August 30, 2021 by - News

The adoption of SASE has increased dramatically over the last 18 months, with 87 per cent of enterprises reviewing their remote connectivity during the pandemic.

The Versa Networks report, with the terse title, Experiences and Attitudes Towards a Post-COVID Workforce, based on a survey of 500 IT and security professionals in the US, UK, France and Germany, highlights numerous security and connectivity problems experienced by workers and growing adoption of SASE to provide seamless security and reliable connectivity across cloud, hybrid and on-premises networks.

Common complaints include dropped connections when using bandwidth-hungry applications, such as videoconferencing (36 percent); a lack of real-time tech support (31 percent); an inability to enforce security policies across a remote workforce (37 percent); and an inability to spot new threats facing users (34 percent).

More than  34 percent of businesses surveyed claim to have adopted SASE in the past year, compared to just 23 percent that have implemented VPNs. An additional 30 percent are planning to adopt SASE in the next six to 12 months.

Wipro teams up with augmented intelligence specialist DataRobot

Posted on August 30, 2021 by - News

IT outsourcing outfit Wipro has announced a new global strategic partnership with augmented intelligence specialist DataRobot.

Wipro wants to add augmented intelligence at scale to help customers become AI-driven enterprises and accelerate their business impact, the company said.

Products will be based on DataRobot’s augmented intelligence platform and Wipro’s expertise in enterprise AI, and the pair wants to streamline the process of infusing AI-led intelligence into customer business decisions.

Wipro president of Applications & Data Harish Dwarkanhalli said: “Our approach is to simplify AI deployment in enterprises using a democratised methodology and utilising diverse skill sets to collaborate with our technology partners along with our Wipro Holmes AI platform.”

The UK Cyber Security Council wants members

Posted on August 27, 2021 by - News

The UK Cyber Security Council, the self-regulatory body for the cyber security education and skills sector, today announced that it has begun accepting applications from organisations for membership.

Any organisation with an interest in promoting, supporting and developing the cyber security profession is encouraged to apply. Member organisations will be able to nominate representatives with the relevant skills and experience to the Council’s committees, which are the primary mechanisms through which the Council will deliver on its objectives around developing the profession.

UK Cyber Security Council interim CEO Don MacIntyre said: “Professional Standards, Qualifications and Careers, Ethics and Diversity are the stand-out issues facing the profession and its practitioners. Businesses with an interest in cyber security will never have a better opportunity to influence the direction and development of these and other issues than to join the Council and getting involved”.

Workers can’t get enough of collaboration tools, shock

Posted on August 27, 2021 by - News

The number of workers using collaboration tools has risen by 44 percent since 2019, according to new stats from Gartner.

The number-crunching outfit’s Digital Worker Experience Survey questioned 10,080 employees at organisations with 100+ employees in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific and found 80 percent of workers are now using collaboration tools.

Big G principal research analyst Christopher Trueman said that collaboration tools found renewed importance during COVID-19 for their role in ensuring the productivity of suddenly remote teams.

People stop taking their tablets

Posted on August 27, 2021 by - News, Products

Beancounters at IDC have noted that tablet market shipments in EMEA have declined year-on-year for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Shipments reached 11.8 million units in EMEA during the second quarter of 2021, representing a 1.7 percent year-on-year decline which the IDC puts down to “a slowdown in consumer demand”.

But volumes still remain significantly above the pre-pandemic period, up 22.4 percent compared with 2019, which the IDC claims indicate an increase in the total addressable market

IDC Associate research director, Nikolina Jurisic said that market performance was affected by the unfavourable YoY comparison, as 2Q20 witnessed an avalanche of shipments to address home learning and entertainment.

“Slate tablets lost popularity as social restrictions eased, whereas detachable tablets continued on a strong positive trajectory, gaining from the notebook-like experience, new product launches, and versatility that supports hybrid working and learning.”

Harrington shifts to Aryaka

Posted on August 26, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Aryaka has appointed industry veteran, Steve Harrington, formerly of Talk Talk Business, as its managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Taking the reins from Ian McEwan, recently promoted to global Chief Revenue Officer, the company said that Harrington’s remit was to offer a viable and alternative to slow-moving traditional telcos and PTT. His priorities include reviewing go-to-market models, strategic hiring and supporting the growing number of EMEA clients for Aryaka’s SaaS model including WD-40, Coats and SAP.

The enterprise sales team Harrington is building has already seen success with Aryaka Proof of Concepts (POCs) which demonstrate to customers just how powerful improved digital experiences can be as a business driver, it’s claimed. This is especially true of transnationals who need access to large markets like China and those working with Aryaka partners such as Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom and Computacenter.

Sophos shacks up with Amazon

Posted on August 26, 2021 by - News

Former British security outfit Sophos has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Level 1 Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) Competency status and is apparently the first to be named a Level 1 MSSP Competency programme partner. Parse that, if you can.

Scott Barlow, Sophos vice president of global MSP and cloud alliances said that it has never been more critical for organisations adopting cloud services to optimise their security “posture”, block advanced threats, and have expert resources available to monitor environments all the time,  to stay secure.

Babble announces three year deal with Threshold Sports

Posted on August 25, 2021 by - News

Cloudy unified comms, contact centre and cyber solutions provider, Babble has announced a  three-year deal with Threshold Sports to be the official cloud partner of the iconic Ride Across Britain (RAB).

Babble said it will use the partnership to drive tangible positive social impact, as the leading cloud technology company seeks to support young people. Over the course of the three-year deal, Babble has committed to raising in excess of £500,000 for The Prince’s Trust and The Buffalo Foundation.

The cycling challenge takes 1,000 cyclists 980-miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats, showcasing Britain’s most breath-taking scenery over nine days. A quarter of FTSE100 companies have been represented in the last three event years, with over 600 companies taking part.

PC industry grew by three percent in Western Europe

Posted on August 25, 2021 by - News

The PC industry has still managed to grow across Western Europe by three per cent according to numbers crunched by Canalys.

A market analysis from Canalys has found that 15 million units, desktops, notebooks and workstations were shifted across Western Europe in the second quarter. Things would have been even better without the component shortages that have been plaguing the industry throughout the past year.

Canalys research analyst Trang Pham said that demand was still strong.

“Western Europe has emerged into a post-Covid ‘new normal’, a rapidly digitising world, as shown by the robust shipment numbers. Had supply issues been resolved, we could have seen even higher growth in the PC market.”

The top three in the market – Lenovo, HP and Dell – have managed to keep sales moving and the battle for market share has involved making sure there are enough units to meet customer orders.

Arcserve offers new MSP product

Posted on August 25, 2021 by - News, Products

Channel-based data security outfit Arcserve has improved its StorageCraft Cloud Services Basic so that MSPs can offer best-in-class cloud backup and disaster recovery services to a broader range of customers with unprecedented ROI and profit potential.

StorageCraft Cloud Services Basic now comprises 500GB backup per machine, annual retention points, and cloud portal management at a GBP18 per machine price point which also includes an on-premises data protection licence for either ShadowXafe or ShadowProtect.

The company tells us that the product means  MSPs can service a wider range of customer use cases, including small businesses and data protection for small physical and virtual workstations. Thanks to StorageCraft Cloud Services Basic, these use cases are now economically viable.

Irish DCC Technology opens new unit over the pond

Posted on August 24, 2021 by - News

Irish DCC Technology is creating a new business unit in North America which will look after its recent Jam Industries and Stampede purchases.

Exertis North America will be headed up by Jam Industries president and CEO, Marty Szpiro. Stampede, which rebranded to Exertis in 2020, will operate under the Exertis Pro AV banner led by John Dunne, its president and managing director.  Meanwhile, Stuart Frenkel, Jam Industries’ current CFO, will become the new president of the renamed Exertis/Jam.

DCC Technology MD, Tim Griffin said that the rebranding of Jam Industries to Exertis/Jam was a natural next step.

SMEs a bit worried about a return to work

Posted on August 24, 2021 by - News

SMEs are worried about the return to work according to numbers crunched by JumpCloud.

The 2021 impact of Covid-19 on SMEs survey revealed that there were different attitudes from firms in Greater London, with 72.8 percent taking steps to mandate vaccinations, compared to just 44.9 percent in the rest of the country. That also correlated with areas outside of London being less likely to drive vaccinations.

The Delta Variant seems to be causing some delays and caution among SMEs that are pushing back-office reopening until the back end of the fourth quarter, or into next year. The JumpCloud survey found that 53.2 percent of respondents are currently rethinking the plan to return to the office and 14.8 percent have already delayed getting staff back in the office.

Hybrid working is an option for an increasing number, with 70 percent of SMEs on both sides of the pond offering the option to work remotely as a permanent option.

Channel is cautiously optimistic

Posted on August 24, 2021 by - News

IT channel businesses are “cautiously optimistic” according to the latest research from CompTIA.

In the outfit’s ‘International State of the Channel 2021′ report, CompTIA surveyed 880 global IT channel professionals during the second quarter.

It found that 90 percent of executives believed the channel was relevant in the IT industry – but they were split when asked about how it’s doing. According to the report, 46 percent said it’s holding steady, while 44 percent said it is rapidly changing.

Microsoft about to jack up the price of Office 365

Posted on August 23, 2021 by - News

Software King of the World Microsoft has decided that thanks to the pandemic enough people are hooked on its Office 365 product so it is time to hack the price up.

Like any good pusher, Vole had released Office 365 free access to software for certain periods and a chance to delay payments and then had a record number of sign-ups due to Covid.

Microsoft has given its channel and customers plenty of notice of price changes, with increases coming into effect from 1 March 2022.

In a blog post, Jared Spataro, corporate vice-president for Microsoft 365, explained the rationale for the increases and pointed out that the vendor had resisted making a move for quite a while.