Author: Nick Farrell

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia steps down from Salesforce

Posted on March 20, 2020 by - News

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia has stepped down from her role as Salesforce’s UK Chief Executive after six months

Gadhia apparently wants to spend more time with her price comparison startup Snoop, which recently won financial backing from Salesforce’s venture investing division. She will remain as an adviser to Salesforce.

Paul Smith, executive vice president and general manager for Salesforce UK and Ireland, will now take on the business responsibilities in the region, the company confirmed.

Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO. “We look forward to continuing to work with Jayne-Anne in her role as a strategic advisor to Salesforce and wish Snoop enormous success.”

Microsoft Teams goes boom in so many different ways

Posted on March 20, 2020 by - News

Microsoft Teams’ daily users figure is up to 44 million, having rocketed more than 37 percent since last week, the vendor has said. This is despite some outages which managed to hack many users off at the beginning of the week.

Vole said that the user count last Wednesday was 32 million, but 12 million have since been added. The total figure is up from the 20 million reported in November last year.

Microsoft VP Jared Spataro said that the COVID-19 outbreak will be “a turning point for the way people will work and learn. Our customers have certainly turned to Teams during this challenging time, and we’ve seen usage spikes in markets most impacted by COVID-19.”

IX Reach expands its LINX Manchester reseller services

Posted on March 19, 2020 by - News

IX Reach has doubled up its presence at LINX Manchester as they become the first partner to take a reseller port at new network PoP TeleData.

IX Reach are a diamond ConneXions reseller partner for the London Internet Exchange (LINX). This means they have multiple, dedicated reseller ports across the LINX network and bring members from virtually anywhere around the World to peer at these key interconnection hubs.

With one existing LINX reseller port located at the Equinix data centre facility in Manchester, IX Reach have added new LINX PoP, TeleData to their portfolio of remote peering locations.

Ingram says it will fight Apple cartel fine

Posted on March 19, 2020 by - News

Ingram has said that it will ‘vigorously contest’ its €62.9 million fine for teaming up with Apple to fix prices in France.

The French competition watchdog – L’Autorité de la Concurrence – growled and issued its largest ever fine, against Apple, Tech Data and Ingram Micro, amounting to €1.24 billion in total.

Ingram Micro has rejected allegations by an antitrust authority that it fixed Apple product prices in the French market, describing them as “absolutely false”.

The watchdog claims Apple and its distributors acted like a “cartel”, illegally preventing Apple Premium Resellers (APRs) from competing on price against Apple’s own stores and subjecting the French channel to “unfair and unfavourable commercial conditions”.

Coronovirus will change how companies see tech

Posted on March 19, 2020 by - News

The coronovirus outbreak and the worldwide reaction to the pandemic will force companies to radically rethink how they operate and embrace technological investment, states global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research.

In its new white paper, Taking Stock of COVID-19: The Short- and Long-Term Ramifications on Technology and End Markets, ABI Research Analysts look at the current and future ramifications of COVID-19 across technologies and verticals. Analysts also offer recommendations to weather the storm and strategies to help companies rebound and prosper after the pandemic has slowed.  

Coronavirus is a black swan says Kicking Pat

Posted on March 18, 2020 by - News

VMware CEO Pat “kicking” Gelsinger says the coronavirus pandemic is a“black swan” that changes the way the world works.

Writing in his bog, Gelsinger said: “As we navigate this global pandemic, the future of work is changing. As the work-from-home model becomes the norm and work itself becomes more distributed, we will continue to build infrastructure and technology solutions optimised for the workplace of the future. This is a ‘black swan’ event that I believe will permanently change the way we work, learn, connect, worship and simple how we live in community with each other.”

Softcat has no cough from coronavirus

Posted on March 18, 2020 by - News

Softcat has delivered a solid set of numbers and indicated that the business has not seen a snuffle from the coronavirus.

The reseller delivered 20.8 per cent growth in revenues to £524.1 million for its half-year ended 31 January. Operating profit climbed by 19.5 per cent, hitting £40.5 million.

During H1, the firm cut the ribbon an a new office in Birmingham, which already has a staff of 20, and increased the overall headcount by just shy of 13 percent.

Softcat CEO Graeme Watt said there had been a 4.2 percent increase in the firm’s customer base over the six month period.

AECOM and IBM rumoured to want out of “shit show” outsourcing deal

Posted on March 18, 2020 by - News

AECOM and IBM want to cancel the $2.3 billion IT outsourcing deal they signed in January 2017.

According to Computing the two parties are struggling to find a mutually agreeable approach to an exit but are finding it hard to come to an agreement.

“All the way up both chains know and acknowledge this is a shit show,” Ting’s Deep Throat added.

The deal between IBM and AECOM has been fraught with challenges according to numerous sources who have approached Computing since it was first announced. Many have cited poor support, lengthy response times, project delays and low morale.

Over half of UK SMBs risk serious financial loss through printer hacks

Posted on March 17, 2020 by - News

More than half of UK small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) are exposing themselves to a serious data breach because they are not protecting their office printers, according to research from Sharp. Obviously it has an interest here.

Despite latest analyst reports suggesting that print-related data loss costs larger businesses an average of £313,000 a year, the threat posed to a network by connected printers and MFPs is still being overlooked by businesses across the UK.

The new research provides a snapshot of office printing behaviour across Europe and revealed that UK office workers are oblivious to the potential risks posed by printers and multifunctional printers (MFPs) in their workplace, with 95 per cent not considering these devices as an IT security risk.

Tech Data and Ingram Micro hit by Apple’s fine

Posted on March 17, 2020 by - News

France’s competition watchdog has fined Apple, Tech Data and Ingram Micro for running an illegal cartel in France, fixing prices, and “sterilising” the French channel.

Apple and distributors Tech Data and Ingram Micro have been hit by a fine worth more than €1.24 billion by an antitrust authority for allegedly fixing prices in the French market.

In the largest fine the watchdog has ever levied, L’Autorité de la Concurrence claims Apple illegally prevented its Apple Premium Resellers from competing on price, subjecting the French channel to “unfair and unfavourable commercial conditions”.

Sabio buys Google Cloud partner DVELP

Posted on March 17, 2020 by - News

Contact centre VAR Sabio has snapped up UK-based Google Cloud partner DVELP.

The London-headquartered cloud consultancy was established in 2015 and counts Marks & Spencer among its customers.

It marks the second purchase by Sabio this year, having acquired Spanish firm Team vision earlier in January.

Mike Andrews, Sabio’s VP of commercial strategy, said DVELP’s acquisition will augment the contact centre (CC) specialist’s existing portfolio and gives it more “breadth” to deliver value to customers.

Universities tap TAP in COVID-19 crisis

Posted on March 16, 2020 by - News

A university technology platform is being rolled out as a front line tool in the fight to maintain control of admissions amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Access Platform (TAP) provides a virtual environment in which prospective university students can interact with ambassadors who are already studying courses at a given university.

It has proven to be particularly successful for universities which have high overseas student intakes – and in recent weeks has become an invaluable tool as COVID-19 has gripped the world.

TAP Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Nik Higgins, is currently in Australia where the platform has quickly established itself as the market leader.

Parcel delivery could be the next big e-commerce thing

Posted on March 16, 2020 by - News

The rise in e-commerce is fueling rapid growth in parcel delivery volumes, a market expected to grow to $665 billion by 2030 according to a new analyst report.

Consumers are increasingly expecting parcels to be delivered quickly. This demand is driving companies to explore using automated delivery technologies to cover the last leg of the delivery journey.

Lux Research’s new report, “Automating the Last Mile,” predicts that automated last-mile deliveries will generate up to $48.4 billion in revenue by 2030, even though automated deliveries will only address 20 per cent of all parcel deliveries.

Coronavirus recession will bring about a new business world.

Posted on March 16, 2020 by - News

A CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations has warned that the the recovery from a coronavirus-triggered recession will usher in a new era in which how we live, do business and invest will fundamentally change, 

Nigel Green, the chief executive and founder of deVere Group said: “Any way you look at it, it’s now almost certain that there will be a coronavirus-triggered recession as both global supply and demand are impacted. We can expect this recession to be deep but short. The slowdown will be temporary because it’s not caused by deep-rooted problems and imbalances in the economy, rather by a wholly unexpected shock that’s gripped the world.”

He said: “Every recession produces a new world. This one will too.  

Tech firms are hotbeds of sexism

Posted on March 13, 2020 by - News

Half of women have experienced discrimination while working at a tech firm, research from Studio Graphene has revealed.

The London-based digital agency commissioned a survey of 500 full-time workers in the UK tech industry. It found that 49 percent of women have experienced some form of discrimination in the workplace, while 20 percent have resigned from a role in the past because of discrimination or harassment.