Category: News

Retail tech might save the sector

Posted on August 18, 2020 by - News

It has been two months since Britain’s retail sector opened its doors for the first time after almost three months in lockdown due to COVID-19, which triggered an unprecedented transformation of the retail sector and has given way to a new era of retail operations and consumer behaviour.

The latest figures suggest that the retail sector is recovering well, remaining robust in July for two months of consecutive growth which has taken the sector back to pre-lockdown levels of sales. However, with the UK falling into recession and high-street giants shuttering stores and losing staff, companies across the country are scrambling to pivot and transform their operations to succeed in the new landscape.

Will Broome, Founder and CEO of retail-tech company Ubamarket, has been helping companies to revolutionise their operations by integrating with mobile technology. 

Data protection DIY is not always the best plan

Posted on August 18, 2020 by - News

IT teams are struggling with choosing between less critical, but important tasks, versus focusing on projects to help transform their business, according to  Sarah Doherty, Product Marketing Manager at iland.

She said that while both are necessary for your business and need to be actioned few are thinking should their teams do all of it?

Doherty said disaster recovery can take a lot of time to properly implement so it may be the right time to consider a third-party provider who can help with some of the more routine and technical aspects of your disaster recovery planning. This help can free up some of your staff’s valuable time while also safeguarding your vital data.

OutSystems gets new CTO

Posted on August 18, 2020 by - News

OutSystems has named Patrick Jean (pictured) as Chief Technology Officer and June Duchesne as General Counsel.

Patrick Jean joins the OutSystems senior leadership team as CTO with more than 20 years of engineering leadership experience in prominent roles at Citrix, Apttus, and Microsoft. Most recently, he was VP of Unified Cloud Engineering at Citrix, where he tripled the size of the cloud engineering team. Jean is a proven leader in cloud technology, with experience bringing innovative products to market, driving strategic direction, and leading organisational development. In his role as CTO, Jean is leading the global engineering team and OutSystems continued investment in innovation. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from McNeese State University.

Nearly every company experienced a cyber attack last year

Posted on August 14, 2020 by - News

Most companies experienced a cyber attack last year with more than two thirds hitting vital operational technology, according to a new Forrester report

The research, commissioned by Tenable, found that 63 percent of the 103 UK respondents had witnessed a dramatic rise in business-impacting cyber-attacks in the last two years.

In many cases, these attacks had severely damaging effects, from loss of employee data (44 percent) and financial loss or theft (36 percent), to customer attrition (34 percent ).

Two thirds of the surveyed UK security leaders claimed that these attacks also involved operational technology (OT).

Cisco abandons direct sales

Posted on August 14, 2020 by - News

Networking giant Cisco said it will move away from direct sales by the end of 2020 and export its entire product portfolio on a subscription basis.

The outfit claims it will make cost savings of $1 billion per year, including its core networking hardware portfolio.

The company said it  will accelerate its transition of the majority of its portfolio to an ‘as a service’ distribution model, with a view to shifting the majority of its products away from direct sales by the end of the calendar year.

CEO Chuck Robbins, speaking to investors in the wake of fairly disappointing quarterly financial results, said that Cisco plans to accelerate its investments in key strategic areas including cloud security, cloud collaboration, increased automation in the enterprise, as well as application insights and analytics.

MSPs keep the flag flying

Posted on August 14, 2020 by - News

A SolarWinds MSP study shows that most of them have held their staffing at pre-pandemic levels

The report with the catchy title “ Covid-19: Impact and response” said that 59 percent  of managed service players have applied for government financial relief programmes, but at the same time, 80 percent  have held their staffing levels at pre-pandemic levels.

The firm surveyed MSPs across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand to find out not only how the last few months have been, but what their plans are for the future.

The majority (66 percent ) said they had gone the extra mile for customers during COVID-19, with many offering delayed payments, temporary discounts and some going as far as to reduce the services offered to match shrinking user budgets.

7digital teams up with Triller

Posted on August 13, 2020 by - News

B2B end-to-end digital music outfit 7digital has signed a new contract with Triller to power what it claims is the world’s fastest growing social music video app with its Music Platform-as-a-Service offering.

Triller has more than 250 million downloads and works with some of the biggest global artists, counting Snoop Dog, The Weeknd, Marshmello and Lil Wayne as strategic investors.

Last week it overtook TikTok and issued a release citing data from analytics firm Sensor Tower, to announce that its app has hit No.1 in all categories on the App store in 50 countries, including the United States, UK, Brazil, Germany, France and Australia. In India, it has already become the a major social platform following the ban on TikTok last month.

Check Point starts distribution marketplace programme

Posted on August 13, 2020 by - News

Security outfit Check Point has opened its distribution marketplace programme, working with Arrow Electronics and Ingram Micro to reach more partners.

The plan is to start with those two distributors and add more over time to increase the options for resellers that want to sell security via those types of marketplaces.

Check Point’s head of worldwide channel, Frank Rauch, said that as more organisations move applications, data, compute and security to the cloud, or create their own private cloud environments, Check Point is perfectly placed to capitalise on this move with its cloud solutions portfolio.

“This new programme further strengthens our commitment to helping our partners win new business and build even stronger relationships with existing customers. We plan to partner with additional marketplace distributors over the coming months to extend the programme.”

Mobile business heading for another revolution

Posted on August 13, 2020 by - News

Mobile business is heading for another revolution, according to TSG lead applications writer Natasha Bougourd.

Bougourd said that technology has come a long way in the past decade, and the telecoms industry is no exception.

“Since 2010, this sector has seen incredible advancements and the worldwide revenue of telecoms services is estimated to be £1,026 billion. This year, we have seen an overwhelming move towards mobile and flexible working — a trend that was already gaining momentum before the COVID-19 lockdown made it a necessity for many businesses. Thanks to the telecoms industry and the innovations we are predicting to see over the coming years, working remotely is set to be more efficient than ever before”, she said.

She said that  cloud services have made flexible and remote working possible — something that has come in extremely useful in the recent months. Remote working has also benefitted from fibre broadband, which has become far more accessible for everyone in recent years — an estimated 96 percent of the UK now have access to internet speeds of at least 24Mbps.

Pulsant makes top hires

Posted on August 12, 2020 by - News

Data centre outfit Pulsant has announced Rob Spamer has joined Pulsant as Director of Data Centres and Demyon Wright has been appointed Head of Service Management.

As Director of Data Centres, Spamer is responsible for the management and leadership of Pulsant’s network of regional data centres, including driving best practice and standardisation and enhancing the company’s environmental strategy.

Spamer joined Pulsant from Equinix where he held the position of Operations Manager. Prior to this he worked as Data Centre Operations Manager London for Telecity Group UK. Spamer joined Pulsant at the end of 2019 in the role of Interim Director of Data Centres and has now assumed the role on a permanent basis.

Resellers scoop NHS security deal

Posted on August 12, 2020 by - News

Resellers have been winning parts of a £500 million framework that will provide “end-to-end” IT to the NHS  including Computacenter, Softcat, Total and Dell.

The Digital Workplace Solutions framework is managed by NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) and replaces the predecessor “Link: IT Solutions”.

Total Computers sales director Kieran O’Connor said: “We’re already working with NHS Shared Business Services through ‘The Edge4Health’, so are thrilled to be a ‘Digital Workplace Solutions’ supplier and see it as further endorsement of our ability to provide the public sector with competitive pricing, technical excellence and great service.”

The framework will run for an initial two-year period, with an option to run for a further two years after. Since publication, NHS SBS has told CRNthat the framework is worth an estimated £500 million.

Avaya makes $721 million, doubles value

Posted on August 12, 2020 by - News

Avaya’s shares jumped 15 percent after sales beat expectations. This means shares in the outfit have almost doubled in 2020.

The outfit’s third quarter revenue of $721 million was much better than the predicted $687 million.  GAAP Operating income was $53 million and Non-GAAP Operating income was $164 million and Net income was $9 million.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Chirico said: “The company grew sequentially and year over year, which marks a major milestone for Avaya. Software and services as a percent of revenue was 89 per cent – beating the record set this past March.”

MSPs struck gold during coronavirus crisis

Posted on August 11, 2020 by - News

MSPs have found that the coronavirus crisis was a chance to prove value and deepen customer relationships.

According to BitTitans’ Grady Gausman, while the coronavirus created challenging times, MSPs can play a vital role in helping companies maintain business continuity and adapt to new realities. Many companies are in need of implementing a plan for large-scale remote operations, and for that they’re turning to MSPs.

He said that the problem was that the market was crowded and what helped differentiate partners was being proactive in addressing the challenges of those working or learning from home long term.

Partners that are able to empathise with their customer base and understand the unique challenges facing them are in a better position to design technology solutions that support operations during this tough time. he said.

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.