Category: News

Insight boosted by higher margins

Posted on August 8, 2019 by - News

Insight might have had a disappointing sales year, but you can’t really tell because its increased margins made the outfit look extremely healthy.

The company saw its net sales remain flat year-on-year and earnings from operations decrease by three per cent but gross profit improved by four percent to $275.4 million as the business moved to higher margin areas, including cloud solutions and its hardware sales. Net sales in EMEA were down by seven percent in the quarter, coming in at $379.2 million.

Puzzel hosts free contact centre conference

Posted on August 8, 2019 by - News

Cloudy outfit Puzzel UK is hosting Get Connected 2019, its annual event for contact centre professionals on Thursday, 19 September at the China Exchange, a former BT telephone exchange in London’s Chinatown.

The half-day free conference, entitled Welcome to the hybrid workforce – humans and technology working together – will explore how contact centres are seeking to blend the best that man and machine have to offer to drive operational efficiencies and customer engagement.

Wearable tech set to become a $54bn industry by 2023, says GlobalData

Posted on August 7, 2019 by - News

The wearable tech industry was worth nearly $23 billion in 2018 and is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 per cent to reach $54 billion by 2023, according to GlobalData beancounters.

The company’s latest report: ‘Wearable Tech – Thematic Research’ says that the consumer market growth will be driven by sales of smartwatches, which are gaining in popularity as the range of features they offer (including cellular connectivity, health monitoring, and contactless payment) increases. In contrast, fitness tracker sales are falling, due to their limited capabilities when compared to smartwatches.

SMEs need to improve cyber security and cyber fraud credentials

Posted on August 7, 2019 by - News

UK SMEs are potentially losing out on a third of all enterprise contracts because their cybersecurity and cyber fraud credentials aren’t up to snuff.

Research from CybSafe, the training and data analytics platform, has revealed that the threat to supply chain businesses at an all-time high.

CybSafe’s survey of crucial SME decision-makers in the UK has discovered that, over the last 12 months, nearly 37 percent of organisations have been required to achieve a recognised cybersecurity standard by their enterprise customers before successfully securing contracts. This represented a rise of nine per cent from 2017’s study results when only 28 percent were obliged to prove their proficiency in cybersecurity.

Arrow Electronics lets channel access Greenwave Systems’ AXON Predict

Posted on August 7, 2019 by - News

Global technology provider Arrow Electronics and Greenwave Systems, a global software leader for managed services and Industrial IoT edge analytics have announced an EMEA distribution agreement.

The deal involves Greenwave’s AXON Predict that delivers the power of edge intelligence and provides businesses with the information they need to understand and optimise their assets. The solution will be available through Arrow`s cloud marketplace ArrowSphere.

Auth0 to double UK staffing

Posted on August 6, 2019 by - News

Identity platform Auth0 is to double the size of its UK team by the end of 2019 after seeing rapid growth in its European markets.

The company has announced 165 percent year-on-year growth in the EMEA market, which now accounts for almost 30 per cent of Auth0’s global revenue.

Acora merges with Plan-Net

Posted on August 6, 2019 by - News

IT service specialist Acora has merged with London-based counterpart Plan-Net.

West Sussex-based Acora reported revenue of £15.9 million for its year ending 31 October 2018, while turnover for Plan-Net was £10.6 million for the year ending 31 December 2018 so the merger is going to create a significant  Microsoft, Citrix and VMware player with more than 300 staff. It will deliver services from four service operations centres across the UK, providing all-hour support to over 250 clients.

Agilitas provides partners with channel services portal

Posted on August 6, 2019 by - News

Agilitas IT Solutions launched its first channel services online pricing tool for hardware maintenance services. The company’s InventoryAssure services product underpins the AssureMeNow portal.

Agilitas  provides the company’s channel partners with access to a multi-vendor workplace, server, storage and networking product portfolio, delivering maintenance services and hardware sales.

Cisco expands Velocity channel programme

Posted on August 5, 2019 by - News

Cisco is expanding its Marketing Velocity brand to help partners transform how they market their gear.

According to Cisco, the initiative is “first-ever” comprehensive programme  to support partners’ digital transformation. The big idea is to drive revenue opportunities.

The expansion has been designed to enable partners, Cisco said, from elevating their market practices and delivering marketing funds, to enablement tools that accelerate field activation.

KCOM disappears from Stock Exchange

Posted on August 5, 2019 by - News

KCOM has been delisted from the London Stock Exchange after  completing its £627 million acquisition.

The outfit has been the the target of a bidding war over recent weeks, with MEIF 6 Fibre – a subsidiary of investment firm Macquarie – winning.

The winning bid was over £100 million more than the offer first made by Humber Bidco, a subsidiary of the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

Sparta signs up for MOD

Posted on August 2, 2019 by - News

Sparta Global has signed the Ministry of Defence’s Armed Forces Corporate Covenant to introduce digital skills training to the ex-Armed Forces community.

The Armed Forces Corporate Covenant enables businesses and charities to voluntarily pledge and outline publicly how they are willing to commit to the Armed Forces community.

Those who serve in the Armed Forces – whether Regular or Reserve – those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services.

Ingram Micro expands AWS for UK and Irish resellers

Posted on August 2, 2019 by - News

Ingram Micro has expanded its US AWS partnership to resellers in the UK and Ireland.

Ingram has been offering Amazon Web Services on its Cloud Marketplace in the US for seven years but the distributor recently extended the countries it delivers AWS to include Canada, the Middle East and Spain.

It is part of Ingram’s cunning plan to get its partners to flog Infrastructure as a Service.

UK firms still ignoring security basics

Posted on August 2, 2019 by - News

UK businesses are risking becoming victim to data breaches by failing to take the most basic of cybersecurity precautions, new research has revealed.

A survey of 1,253 UK workers in full or part-time employment, carried out by technology services provider, Probrand.co.uk, has revealed that investing in new and expensive technology, while not considering the most basic of security steps, is potentially widening companies’ vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks, which cost UK businesses millions annually.

IaaS market grows

Posted on August 1, 2019 by - News

added up some numbers and divided by ther collective shoe size and decided that the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) market grew by 31.3 per cent in 2018.

This figure has risen from $24.7 billion in 2017 to $32.4 billion.

Amazon continued to lead from the front last year, retaining its status as the number one vendor in the IaaS market, followed by Microsoft, Alibaba, Google and IBM.