Author: Nick Farrell

SAP projects kick off again

Posted on July 29, 2021 by - News

Enterprises in the UK have been restarting SAP projects slowed or suspended during the pandemic and modifying their SAP platforms to adapt to Brexit-related changes, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens SAP HANA Ecosystem Services report for the UK found  companies in the country had temporarily halted or slowed SAP implementations as they focused on maintaining operations and controlling costs early in the pandemic. But since the second half of 2020, many stalled projects have gained momentum and the outlook for SAP in the region is positive, ISG says.

ISG Provider Lens Research partner Jan Erik Aase said: “SAP S/4HANA transformations and cloud implementations are now gaining speed in the UK. Digital transformations are helping enterprises meet new challenges from the pandemic, and service providers are adjusting to new realities.”

Communicate wins key contract thanks to OPPORTUNI’s AI

Posted on July 28, 2021 by - News

IT, telecoms and cybersecurity outfit Communicate Technology have secured a lucrative contract with Kent Innovation Centre thanks to its association with tech start-up, OPPORTUNI. Why it’s all in upper case is a marketing mystery we can’t resolve.

OPPORTUNI worked with the team at Communicate to diversify and grow its customer base through its tender as a service platform, resulting in a contract win for the firm.

OPPORTUNI’s AI-powered tender portal service connected Communicate with relevant contracts by identifying the most appropriate tender opportunities as well as providing a community of bid writing experts to further support the team’s successful submission.
Communicate, established in 2011, has offices in Wynyard, Leeds in Yorkshire and Kent, and its existing customer base in the private sector sees it specialising in networking and connecting business parks, and multi-tenanted, office spaces on a national level.

Sharp UK scores a place on CPC framework

Posted on July 28, 2021 by - News

Sharp UK has been awarded a position as a supplier on the Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC) framework for Multifunctional Devices and Digital Transformation Solutions.

For those not in the know, the CPC framework is a resource for education and public sector institutions to find print and digital technology suppliers, providing compliance with UK Public Contracts Regulations through approved companies, ensuring value for money and saving time for purchasers.

The new CPC framework has recently expanded to include a wide range of digital transformation services, such as IT services and hardware, audio visual solutions, electronic document management, telecoms and cloud services which Sharp is now able to supply via the framework to its members and the wider UK public sector.

Sharp has been involved with the CPC framework since 2017, when it was first awarded a place as an MFD and print consultancy supplier. The company will now be able to offer a wider range of services to public sector customers through the newly expanded framework – including AV technology, IT services, telephony, and a greater variety of print services.

Sophos opens office number II [that’s two in Roman numerals. Ed.]

Posted on July 28, 2021 by - News

Sophos has announced the opening of its second UK office in Manchester which the cybersecurity vendor says will expand its sales presence in the region.

Sophos vice president of sales Jonathan Bartholomew said the new office was an exciting move to support Sophos’ strategic growth.

“With the additional sales resources, we can further our plans already well underway to focus on the fastest-growing part of our business – our next-gen cybersecurity portfolio. “Manchester is a vibrant city, the National Cyberforce recently announced an office there, and the location is rapidly becoming the biggest technology hub in the UK outside of London”, Bartholomew said.

Located in the Deansgate region of Manchester, the office will house sales, technical and account management positions.

Rackspace decimates staff

Posted on July 27, 2021 by - News

Rackspace Technology said that will lay off ten percent of its staff and shift most of the work to offshore service centres.

More than 85 percent of these roles will go overseas

The announcement said that Rackspace “committed to an internal restructuring plan, which will drive a change in the types of and location of certain positions and is expected to result in the termination of approximately 10 per cent of the Company’s workforce”.

Affected employees have already been told and are expected to be leaving the company buildings with their personal possessions in old photocopy boxes over the next 12 months.

Digital transformation is the key to manufacturing

Posted on July 27, 2021 by - News

Jason Chester, Director of Global Channel Programmes at InfinityQS, has warned that for manufacturers to attract the best talent, they need to adapt to their environment by making tactical investments in digital solutions

He said that as younger workers enter the manufacturing sector, it is imperative that manufacturers enhance their digital transformation initiatives if they want to attract the best talent.

To become more agile and competitive, manufacturers need to accelerate the adoption of emerging and maturing technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, analytics, and cloud computing. This will give rise to the evolution towards smart factories that are driven by data and intelligence, rather than merely sweat and labour, which will be key in attracting the right talent.

Logicalis restructures UK and Irish operations

Posted on July 27, 2021 by - News

Logicalis has restructured its UK and Ireland operations so that it is a single business unit with 336 staff.

The new outfit will be known as Logicalis UK and Ireland and it will have a new regional structure and management team.

The company was quick to deny that it was a cost-cutting exercise and confirmed that its UK and Ireland headcount won’t shrink as part of the process.

MSPs feel more cheery about the future

Posted on July 26, 2021 by - News

Happy man portrait

Datto’s latest Global State of the MSP Report has found that that the mood among UK managed service providers is pretty positive.

The report found that 98 percent agreeing that now is a good time to be an MSP and 81 percent reporting that they came through the pandemic with revenues either unchanged or improved.

More than 97 percent of UK MSPs expect revenues to increase over the next three years.

Datto found that revenue growth, competition and profitability were all issues that caused concern for MSPs with security being the main issue.

The impact of the pandemic could have changed views of the cloud, with 58 percent of UK respondents indicating that their customers now have between 50 percent and 75 percent of their workloads in the cloud.

BT promises unbreakable wi-fi

Posted on July 26, 2021 by - News

Telco BT is marketing a bunch of promises to micro-businesses including creating an unbreakable wi-fi.

BT’s latest promises to micro-businesses are ‘unbreakable’ WiFi across their workplace, with no blackspots, plus its fastest ever full-fibre speeds of up to 900Mbps.

The service enhancements for micro-businesses are offered in conjunction with BT’s new Hybrid Connect device, which delivers uninterrupted business connectivity by switching seamlessly to EE’s 4G mobile network if there’s a problem with the fixed-line.

Prices for BT’s Halo for business bundles start at £45 per month, plus an additional £7 per month for the Complete Wi-Fi option.

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Kent County Council wants service providers

Posted on July 26, 2021 by - News

Kent County Council is looking for service providers as part of a half-a-billion pound managed services framework.

The framework covers areas of interest to resellers and MSPs, such as cybersecurity services, management of software and hardware, connectivity services and IT maintenance.

The council says that its four year framework is a strategic method for transforming and improving business processes through efficiencies, effectiveness and cutting operating costs.

Kent County Council adds that each service will need to be “tailored to meet the customer’s requirement” to “improve efficiency, provide an agile and reliable solution that will transform and meet their business objectives”.

Other local authorities will also have access to the framework, but only “with the agreement of the contracting authority”.

Resellers and MSPs have until 27 August to register.

 

Sophos buys Braintrace

Posted on July 23, 2021 by - News

Sophos has acquired Braintrace, to unite Sophos’ Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem with Braintrace’s proprietary Network Detection and Response (NDR) technology, it said.

Braintrace’s NDR provides “deep visibility” into network traffic patterns, including encrypted traffic, without the need for Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) decryption. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, Braintrace launched in 2016 and is privately held.

As part of the acquisition, Braintrace’s developers, data scientists and security analysts have joined Sophos’ global Managed Threat Response (MTR) and Rapid Response teams. Sophos’ MTR and Rapid Response services business has expanded rapidly, establishing Sophos as one of the largest MDR providers in the world, with more than 5,000 active customers.

IDE considers off-loading its Connect business

Posted on July 23, 2021 by - News

MSP IDE Group is undertaking a “full review” of its operations, which includes getting rid of its Connect business.

The company is suffering after its revenue fell to £24.1 million, down from £28.2 million in 2019, while adjusted EBITDA declined to £0.5 million from £1.1 million in the prior year. The company had a net loss from continuing operations of £18.5 million, down from a loss of £8.5 million in 2019, following “a £17.2 million amortisation and impairment charge”.

The business made several cost-cutting measures last year, including redundancies in areas that saw a decline.

Non-executive chairman Andy Parker said in the results that 2020 was an important year in the ongoing rationalisation of IDE’s trading businesses.

Target becomes employee owned

Posted on July 23, 2021 by - News

Distie Target wants to become employee owned to protect staff if the company is swallowed by another company.

The West Yorkshire-based firm plans to adopt an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) model which will see its 70 employees become majority owners of the business.

Existing shareholders, MD Paul Cubbage and owner Ian Prescott will retain a 10 percent minority stake in the new ownership structure each.

As part of the change, Cubbage will step down from the daily operations and become a non-executive director. Target will begin the search for a new boss to lead the business.

Avast couples with RiskIQ to share intelligence

Posted on July 22, 2021 by - News

Security outfit Avast is forming an intelligence partnership with RiskIQ. Under the agreement, the companies will use their specific areas of expertise to develop combined threat intelligence that will be offered to their customer bases to enhance their security practices.

Avast Senior Vice President Nick Viney said that no one security company can see the whole picture and it was important to form alliances.

“Our global threat intelligence will contribute to RiskIQ’s understanding of the global threat landscape, and Avast will leverage RiskIQs intelligence to enrich our own data and further scale our threat hunting and response capabilities for companies and consumers.”

Computacenter says it is still growing like Topsy

Posted on July 22, 2021 by - News

Computacenter says that its 16-year growth streak will continue despite the pandemic.

While analysts think it unlikely that the company could continue its streak of uninterrupted earnings per share growth after 2020 which saw profits rocket by 46.5 percent to £206.6 million the company thinks otherwise.

But a trading update this morning said that it is “highly likely” the firm will continue to grow its earnings per share this year given a strong pipeline of business for the second half of the year.