Author: Nick Farrell

InfinityQS’ Global Client Survey shows positive upturn in manufacturing

Posted on August 11, 2020 by - News

Green shoots of recovery are emerging within the manufacturing sector, according to InfinityQS’ 2020 Global Client Survey.

The results show a positive upturn in the industry, with nearly 74 percent of respondents reporting that they are optimistic toward the future. These manufacturers are adapting and rebounding in the wake of the pandemic, adopting new technologies and processes for managing production and controlling quality, including 75 percent  who noted more of their workers are now working remotely. 

Public sector leads the way on using data

Posted on August 11, 2020 by - News

The public sector is leading the way when it comes to data usability – but still has a way to go – according to the latest research from Veritas Technologies.

The 2020 Veritas Public Sector Databerg Report on public sector data challenges was gathered from senior  decision-makers.  The report shows that 30 percent of the data stored by public sector organisations has a known value. This beats its general industry counterparts, which typically have 50 percent data that is dark, 35 percent deemed ROT and just 15 percent clean.

Absoft launches next gen SAP managed service

Posted on August 10, 2020 by - News

SAP consultancy Absoft has announced a step change in the way it monitors clients’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, with the launch of its next generation SAP Managed Service.

Claiming to be the first SAP specialist in the UK to offer this level of business process monitoring, Absoft has focused upon automated monitoring, incident self-healing and self-service features.

Real-time visibility of all critical business processes, the ability to eradicate repeated incidents and the option for users to request automated process implementation – without the need for human interaction – are set to revolutionise the SAP user experience and the results it can achieve, the company claims.

This development in Absoft’s Managed Service offering follows the company’s investment in an automated software solution created by Swiss software developers, Avantra.

Ignition cranks up new channel platform

Posted on August 10, 2020 by - News

Ignition Technology announced the launch of Catalyst Insights, the UK’s first “Cyber-Security-as-a-Service” aggregation platform, it claims,  designed exclusively for the channel.

Catalyst Insights currently supports 15 vendors spanning endpoint assessment, breach data reporting, MFA, EDR, IT Service Desk and Contact Centre, delivered within an integrated management and reporting service.

At launch, Catalyst Insights integrates with 15 security and infrastructure management products with built-in breach data reporting and Microsoft Active Directory support to allow channel partners to create configurable solutions for both single clients and as part of an MSSP/SoC offering.

Hickman appointed as Calligo COO

Posted on August 10, 2020 by - News

Managed data services outfit Calligo has appointed Mark Hickman as chief operations officer.

Hickman will be responsible for overseeing and implementing Calligo’s strategic plan and delivering exceptional world-class customer service. In particular, Hickman will be helping drive Calligo’s portfolio of managed data services – including data privacy, outsourced IT and data insights services – into data-reliant verticals such as financial services, legal, SaaS, medical and ecommerce, while ensuring exemplary ongoing delivery of every service line.

Hickman has over 20 years of executive management experience with roles in sales, marketing, customer service and operations within multi-national technology organisations. Prior to joining Calligo, Hickman was Vice President of the Data and Insights division at Tyler Technologies, a global information management services provider for local governments, and COO at WinMagic, a multi-national provider of enterprise-grade data security and encryption solutions.

Logicalis buys a third of cloudy Kumulus

Posted on August 7, 2020 by - News

Logicalis has snapped up  a 30 percent stake in Kumulus, a company specialising in cloud and data managed services. With this investment, Logicalis strengthens its ability to assist its cloud business.

Kumulus was founded in 2017 by former Microsoft engineers with expertise in cloud computing, application modernisation, DevOps, and data analytics, including machine learning and AI. Headquartered in Brazil, Kumulus is a player in public cloud services, having its team of experts certified by Microsoft and AWS.  The company has migrated dozens of customers to the cloud and has been sustaining cloud environments for companies of different sizes in various industries.

Workforce lacks the tech it needs

Posted on August 7, 2020 by - News

A study released today by Skedulo on the state of the deskless workforce and its use of technology found that this area of the workforce doesn’t have the technology it needs to adequately complete their jobs while in the field.

While deskless workers make up 80 percent of the global workforce, or 2.7 billion people, only 39 percent of company tech leaders say their deskless workers have a purpose-built platform made for deskless workers.

This means that these workers are left using multiple tools/applications to complete their jobs —  all CIOs admit their deskless staff must use at least two software tools to enable their daily workflows, and 43 percent say they’re using three or more. Additionally, 86 percent of respondents  said their deskless workers are hindered and less efficient due to the lack of proper technology than their desk-based counterparts.

You can see the full report here 

Outsourcers moving to advanced tech

Posted on August 7, 2020 by - News

Outsourcers are increasingly relying on advanced technologies to meet client requirements in the customer experience (CX) outsourcing services industry according to a new Frost & Sullivan’s report.

The report with the catchy title  European Customer Experience Outsourcing Services Market, 2020, reveals that the European market is mature and but has quirks like demands for specific languages, cultural affinity, and nearshoring.

COVID-19 has adversely affected the industry in 2020 and Frost & Sullivan expects total market revenue to reach €16.23 billion, a 7.5 percent decline.

Outsourcers, display exceptional agility and flexibility when meeting the business continuity challenge. Assuming a reversal of fortune in the next three  to four months, Frost & Sullivan expects the market to recover to €20.03 billion by 2024. To stay relevant in the rapidly evolving market, outsourcers must develop new tools to address digitally native customers, cybersecurity challenges, and business continuity as a service.         

Customers are unhappy with their data management and data warehousing

Posted on August 6, 2020 by - News

SnapLogic research claims that 83 percent of organisations are not fully satisfied with the performance and output of their data management and data warehousing initiatives.

IT leaders cite a growing number of disconnected applications and data sources, outdated legacy systems, and slow and manual data movement as reasons for their frustration, all of which are stalling progress and costing them millions.

The study,  You can read the research report, “The State of Data Management – Why Data Warehouses Fail” was conducted by independent research firm Vanson Bourne. It found that the average organisation has 115 distinct applications and data sources across their enterprise, but almost half of them are “siloed” and disconnected from one another. Respondents expressed clear concern, with 89 per cent of IT Decision Makers (ITDMs) from organisations where these apps and systems aren’t integrated worried that these data silos are holding them back. Indeed, ITDMs confirmed they are losing, on average, more than $1 million USD annually due to poor data management.

Proofpoint appoints Rose Resident CISO for the EMEA

Posted on August 6, 2020 by - News

Proofpoint has appointed Andrew Rose as its Resident CISO for the EMEA region. Rose was previously Chief Security Officer of Mastercard subsidiary Vocalink.

In his role as Resident CISO, EMEA, Rose will focus on driving Proofpoint’s security plans, strategy and initiatives amongst its customer base.

Rose brings with him industry expertise from a number of other CISO roles including at the UK’s Air Traffic Control provider, NATS, where he oversaw a security transformation and contributed to the design of the next generation air traffic control system.

Rose has held CISO roles at top tier global law firms Allen & Overy LLP and Clifford Chance LLP and was a Principal Analyst at Forrester Research where he covered the role of the CISO and Security Culture and Awareness as two of his specialty areas.

CompTIA provides threat intelligence tools

Posted on August 6, 2020 by - News

Technology solution providers, managed services providers (MSPs) and other organisations searching for critical cybersecurity threat intelligence have a new resource available from CompTIA.

The nonprofit association for the global information technology (IT) industry today launched the CompTIA ISAO (Information Sharing and Analysis Organisation) to serve as the focal point for dealing with cyber-threats to technology vendors, MSPs, solution providers, integrators, distributors, and business technology consultants.

CompTIA  ISAO Executive director of the  MJ Shoer, said: “We are in a time of unprecedented and malicious hacking activity, much of which is targeted specifically at technology product, service and solution companies. Many of these companies had no other option but to go it alone in defending against these threats. We intend to change the cybersecurity landscape by bringing together the know-how and power of the industry to deliver timely, relevant, actionable threat intelligence that companies can use to protect themselves and more importantly, keep their customers safe and secure.”

Corvid home working shift triggers eacs support extension

Posted on August 5, 2020 by - News

MSP eacs has decided that it needs to launch a 24/7 service model to take advantage of the CORVID-19 move to remote networking.

The firm has seen its customer base react to the coronavirus by demanding more levels of support and, given a recent refinancing deal, eacs is in a position to meet those changing market conditions.

Last month, the business scored a multimillion-pound refinance deal working with broker Knight Capital Funding and corporate lender Shawbrook Bank. The money is not only being used to refinance an existing facility, but also to upsize the debt on more favourably to help the firm invest in initiatives such as the extension of support.

Kevin Timms, chairman and chief executive of eacs said: “The driver here has been COVID and many of our clients are now beginning to investigate new ways of working, as exemplified by the rise in working from home. However, with greater flexibility in operations and working hours come additional challenges to many businesses as they seek to support their staff, both operationally and personally.”

Dixons Carphone says it is committed to stores

Posted on August 5, 2020 by - News

Dixons Carphone’s CEO claims the firm is “committed” to retaining its bricks and mortar presence despite announcing plans to shelve another 800 in-store jobs.

Mark Allsop said it was “not an easy decision” as he explained that a push to introduce a flatter management structure at UK and Irish stores would result in more job losses at the electrical retailer.

For those who came in late Dixons Carphone, pre-lockdown, announced 2,900 redundancies amid its decision to shutter all standalone Carphone Warehouse stores. Under the latest proposed restructure, the retailer plans to remove its in-store retail manager, assistant manager and team leader roles.

Although it also plans to introduce some new roles – including in the area of customer experience and operational excellence – the changes will result in an overall reduction of 800 roles.

UK outfits still want remote working kit

Posted on August 5, 2020 by - News

UK-based organisations are largely spending their IT budgets on tools and services to further enable remote working.

According to the latest research from  Delta, Cloud IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service), and connectivity, including WAN (Wide Area Networks) and networking technologies, top spending plans.

More than 16 percent of respondents expressed an intention to purchase IaaS and PaaS technologies, while ten percent said that networking technologies were their priority. Business continuity and disaster recovery was  eight percent of respondents, just ahead of end user compute and security software with seven percent each.

Softcat Richard Wyn Griffith takes over

Posted on August 4, 2020 by - News

New Softcat  MD Richard Wyn Griffith (pictured) has officially taken on the role, with incumbent Colin Brown set to stay on with the reseller to support the transition.

Brown said he would step down in March.  He had the top job since 2013 and now he said he wanted to do something different.

In a LinkedIn post he confirmed that Wyn Griffith would take on the role from today, although he would be staying on for “a few more months”.

“For now I would simply like to thank everyone that I’ve worked with this last eight years and pass the baton on to Richard Wyn Griffith, a Softcat veteran of 18 years who will be taking over from Monday 3 August”, he said.