Category: News

Tintri looks for a buyer to save it

Posted on June 19, 2018 by - News

tintri1Tintri is exploring the possibility of a takeover as its financial situation is “likely” to kill it off.

The storage vendor has suffered since it listed on the NASDAQ market last year. It announced a wave of job cuts in September. Things have not got much better, and Tintri is in breach of covenants relating to its credit facilities with lenders. Tintri is currently $15.4 million in debt with the banks and owes $50 million to TriplePoint Capital.

Tintri said it is not in a position to repay the money it owes if its lenders declare an event of default.

In a statement to shareholders Tintri said: “Based on the company’s current cash projections, and regardless of whether its lenders were to choose to accelerate the repayment of the company’s indebtedness under its credit facilities, the company likely does not have sufficient liquidity to continue its operations beyond 30 June 2018.

“The company continues to evaluate its strategic options, including a sale of the company.

“Even if the company is able to secure a strategic transaction, there is a significant possibility that the company may file for bankruptcy protection, which could result in a complete loss of shareholders’ investment.”

The vendor’s revenue in Q1 was $22 million, alongside a loss of $1.14 per share.

Tintri could not publish the usual depth of information seen in quarterly results because some people involved in preparing the report have left the organisation, it said.

The vendor’s share price has been at under $1 since 22 May. If a company’s share price has been under this value for 30 consecutive days the shares can be de-listed from the NASDAQ market.

 

Customers still cloudy about clouds

Posted on June 19, 2018 by - News

lightning-cloudRackspace research shows that clients have significant problems with their cloud plans and identifies the critical role that the channel can play.

Rackspace’s report “Maintaining Momentum: Cloud Migration Learnings” found that indicated that 71 percent of businesses said that they were about two years into their public cloud journey and putting more workloads into a hosted environment was seen by many as a high priority.

But lots of customers are still to get genuinely into the cloud citing all sorts of problems, including costs and complexity.

The channel can help is with helping them scope out the costs properly and provide help with migration, the report said.

The report commissioned by Rackspace and conducted by Forrester Consulting surveyed the landscape across the UK, Germany, France and the US had some words of warning for those firms looking to try and do it all on their own.

The research found that 78 percent of users did recognise the role of a service partner and many said they were looking for experienced cloud providers that could help with migration issues.

Adam Evans, director of Professional Services at Rackspace said: “Cloud is the engine of digital transformation and a critical enablement factor for innovation, cost reduction and CX initiatives. But while most organisations we meet have started on their cloud journey, I would say the majority did not expect the scale of the ongoing challenge,” said A

“As a business generation, we are getting faster at new technology adoption, but we still seem to stumble when it comes to an understanding of the requirements (and limitations) of the business consuming it. Introducing new cloud-based operating practices across an entire organisation is rarely straightforward, as with anything involving people, processes and their relationship with technology,” he added.

 

Redstoneconnect boss moves on after sell off

Posted on June 18, 2018 by - Moving People, News

markbraundredstoneceo-580x358Redstoneconnect’s CEO has decided it is time to move on after finishing off the sales of the outfit’s managed services and SI units.

Mark Braund is standing down and from Monday chairman Frank Beechinor would take over the CEO role in a move which is part of a management reshuffle.

Braund will stay around for several months to ensure there is a smooth transition and current director Guy van Zwanenberg will become chairman.

Braund has been with the firm for three years during which he had to redefine the company’s strategy and re-position and further develop the Company.

The result was the disposal of the Systems Integration and Managed Services divisions for £21.6 million, in addition to other restructuring activities.

He said that RedstoneConnect was now in an excellent position to build-upon its growing solutions offering and to further capitalise on the opportunity that exists for workspace management software.

His successor Beechinor said that the business had been left in a strong position thanks to Braund’s stewardship and it was determined to grow the firm as a software specialist.

 

Shopping is too stressful

Posted on June 18, 2018 by - News

smartphone-shoppingA fifth of US consumers find that going shopping makes them feel stressed, while more than one in 10 experience high stress levels while buying online.

That’s according to a new Stress Shopping report from experience analytics firm Clicktale, which examines the role of emotions in shaping consumer experiences both online and in-store.

The report, which incorporates analysis from Clicktale psychologists, retail experts and a survey of over 2000 US and UK consumers, found that – despite finding offline shopping the most stressful experience – many consumers still feel high levels of stress when navigating ecommerce websites and apps. While 12 percent feel stressed when buying online, 15 percent go as far as to say they have ‘lost their temper’ when shopping online or on a mobile app.

Clicktale’s research also reveals that these stress levels rise as shoppers navigate through the customer journey, reaching a peak during the checkout process. In reporting their most stressful digital shopping experiences, 88 percent of shoppers feel stressed when a voucher code fails at the checkout, while 75 percent get agitated when mobile apps freeze at the point of payment. 83 percent are also stressed by slow loading times online.

Commenting on the new research, Geoff Galat, CMO at Clicktale said: “Despite a growing focus on customer experience across the retail industry, it’s a shame to see so many consumers frustrated and stressed out by online shopping experiences. It’s long been assumed that, because consumers are able to shop from the comfort of their homes, the stressful elements of the shopping experience have been removed. Clearly this isn’t the case.

“To overcome this fact, brands need to think much more carefully about the role of customer emotions throughout the shopping experience. By using experience analytics to examine mouse-movements, taps, swipes, and ‘rage clicks’, brands can understand where the frustration occurs and where the path to purchase is being disrupted. Even seemingly insignificant stimuli can have a strong impact on customer emotions, especially when it comes to irritation over poor page layouts and slow search speeds. While previously overlooked by brands, these seemingly minor stressors can significantly impact the customer experience, digital conversion rates and, ultimately, the business’ bottom line.”

 

Rimilia signs up for Microsoft’s Scale-up

Posted on June 18, 2018 by - News

satanic pactGlobal intelligent financial automation software provider Rimilia  has teamed up with Microsoft after being accepted onto Vole’s ScaleUp programme.

For those who came in late, the ScaleUp programme is part of the Microsoft for Startups initiative and connects companies with new customers and channel partners and is underpinned by a $500 million investment to drive innovation and growth.

The Rimilia solution automates the complete account receivables process, enabling organisations to control their cash flow and cash collection in real-time, using sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to predict customer payment behaviour and easily match and reconcile payments, removing the uncertainty of cash collection.

Rimilia already has a number of customers on the Microsoft Azure platform including Interserve, Speedy Hire, Securitas and Rentokil. Rimilia has commenced migrating its global blue chip customer base onto Azure, and recent customer wins are being deployed onto the Microsoft Azure application service, delivering enhanced security, resilience, scalability and responsiveness.

MD Microsoft for Startups, Warwick Hill, said: “We were struck by Rimilia’s solution. We constantly look to drive value for both Microsoft Clients and the companies being supported in our ScaleUp program – Rimilia is a perfect example of that sweet spot. The ability for our clients to leverage Rimilia’s solution to automate and digitally transform their accounts receivable and audit processes will drive the co-sell partnership for years to come. The power of Microsoft Azure and Dynamics365, coupled with Rimilia’s specific industry and software expertise is a powerful combination.”

Steve Richardson, CCO and co-founder of Rimilia, said: “We are delighted to be working on the Microsoft Startups programme. Microsoft has been tremendously supportive and professional throughout the whole onboarding process. Having never lost a customer to a competitor the extra “stickiness” of working with Microsoft will consolidate that position as well as create a base to support our ambitious expansion plans.”

Eurostop heads into Saudi Arabia with IMCC

Posted on June 15, 2018 by - News

IkhwanEurostop has announced a new partnership with IMCC Group, an engineering and construction services provider in Saudi Arabia, to widen distribution of Eurostop’s Tenant Management System (TMS) in the area.

As an appointed reseller, IMCC will be licensed to provide Eurostop’s retail management solution for shopping mall landlords in the Middle East. Eurostop already has clients using the solution in Singapore and throughout Asia. IMCC Group was established to accommodate the increased demand in construction services in Saudi Arabia, with a portfolio including Sephora, Saudi Post and Pepsi. The strategic alliance will enable shopping mall enterprises and other revenue-based leased properties to deploy Eurostop’s TMS, supported by local and established expertise.

TMS  enables mall owners and landlords to collect sales data from tenants in order to calculate the rental due, based on a percentage gross turnover (GTO) model. The solution operates seamlessly for the retailer, providing instant, up-to-date information to the landlord. It is provided as a fully hosted and serviced product.

Dr Halawani, Founder and CEO of IMCC Group, said: “We are pleased to have secured this partnership with Eurostop. Our focus will be to achieve the best results for our clients, implementing this innovative technology quickly and efficiently and driving maximum return on investment for the leaseholders.”

Richard Loh, CEO of Eurostop, said: “The retail landscape in Saudi Arabia is developing at a rapid pace and is an exciting opportunity. TMS will enable landlords to maximise leased space and will be particularly useful in the retail market in Saudi Arabia, where the number of sophisticated mega malls is increasing rapidly. We wanted a partner that could help us to deliver our technology to the region with a professional and quality approach, and I am delighted to be working with Dr. Abdulatef Halawani and his team.”

Eurostop’s current clients in Singapore using TMS include Frasers Centrepoint and Tanjong Pagar Centre (GuocoLand), Katong Square and SingPost. Eurostop provides sales and support to customers across Asia from its offices in Shanghai and Xiamen in China, Kowloon, Hong Kong and Singapore.

PCM open doors in Wellingborough

Posted on June 15, 2018 by - News

1280px-Wellingborough_whitworth_fc_welcome_car_park_signagePCM has opened its first fully branded UK office in Wellingborough.

The logic behind Wellingborough’s selection was the town’s labour pool with the necessary skills.

PCM has a UK headcount of 187 and plans to recruit significantly more with the Wellingborough office, which is big enough to accommodate 30 to 40 new employees, according to Hutchinson.

Its in-house engineers and technicians installed the office’s IT infrastructure. This was to show customers the companies’ abilities to create an infrastructure from scratch, as well as using its partner network for the build-out and cosmetic features in the building, according to PCM.

The outfit might be planning on making some more UK acquisitions. So far PCM has snapped up Provista UK and Stack Holdings Technology but said the primary focus is on integrating the new businesses.

Rimilia scales up

Posted on June 15, 2018 by - News

12561291953Financial automation software provider Rimilia has announced a collaboration with Microsoft after being accepted onto the current cohort of the select Microsoft ScaleUp programme.

The Microsoft ScaleUp programme, part of the Microsoft for Startups initiative, connects companies with new customers and channel partners and is underpinned by a $500 million investment to drive innovation and growth. Through a rigorous assessment, Rimilia beat hundreds of entrants to secure a place on the programme, as one of only 12 organisations accepted.

The Rimilia solution automates the account receivables process, enabling organisations to control their cash flow and cash collection in real-time, using sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to predict customer payment behaviour and easily match and reconcile payments, removing the uncertainty of cash collection.

While the Rimilia solution integrates with any ERP system, Rimilia already has a number customers on the Microsoft Azure platform including Interserve, Speedy Hire, Securitas and Rentokil. Rimilia has commenced migrating its global blue chip customer base onto Azure, and recent customer wins are being deployed on the Microsoft Azure application service, delivering enhanced security, resilience, scalability and responsiveness.

MD Microsoft for Startups, Warwick Hill, said: “We were struck by Rimilia’s solution. We constantly look to drive value for both Microsoft Clients and the companies being supported in our ScaleUp program – Rimilia is a perfect example of that sweet spot. The ability for our clients to leverage Rimilia’s solution to automate and digitally transform their accounts receivable and audit processes will drive the co-sell partnership for years to come. The power of Microsoft Azure and Dynamics365, coupled with Rimilia’s specific industry and software expertise is a powerful combination.”

Steve Richardson, CCO and co-founder of Rimilia, said: “We are delighted to be working on the Microsoft Startups programme. Microsoft has been tremendously supportive and professional throughout the whole onboarding process. Having never lost a customer to a competitor the extra ‘stickiness’ of working with Microsoft will consolidate that position as well as create a base to support our ambitious expansion plans.”

Salesforce starts UK expansion

Posted on June 14, 2018 by - News

Salesforce logoSalesforce will invest $2 billion in the UK over the next five years.

The cunning plan is to bolster its UK business – with the vendor’s second UK datacentre set to open next year.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said: “The UK is Salesforce’s largest market in Europe and our commitment to driving growth, innovation and customer success in the region has never been stronger.

“With this significant investment, we are well positioned to pursue the incredible opportunity for Salesforce, our customers and partners in the British market.”

Current Prime Minister Theresa May  said the investment cements the UK’s status as a country at the forefront of innovation.

“Salesforce offers a wonderful example of the benefits a successful technology company can bring to the UK economy, and I welcome their continued investment which will create interesting and high-skilled jobs for our workforce”, she said.

“The UK is already home to some of the world’s most innovative technology companies, and we will continue to drive investment in the sector through our modern industrial strategy.”

The vendor claims that, along with its partners, it will generate $65 billion of net new business in the UK by 2022.

Salesforce also expects to create more than 329,000 “direct and indirect” jobs over the same period.

RepKnight signs darkweb monitoring deal with StarLink

Posted on June 14, 2018 by - News

Repknight_GOPDark web monitoring outfit RepKnight has entered into an EMEA distribution agreement with StarLink, a $200 million value added distie.

StarLink will add RepKnight’s dark web monitoring tool, BreachAlert, to its portfolio of IT security offerings. BreachAlert looks for corporate data being posted on the dark web, and many other paste and dump sites used by cybercriminals. The platform works like a burglar alarm — alerting customers in real time as soon as their data appears on the dark web.

BreachAlert lets security teams configure searches around specific keywords, domains, and IP addresses, providing instant alerts if cybercriminals are discussing the customer’s applications, infrastructure or data on the dark web, or if compromised staff credentials appear in paste, dump and bin sites.

Commenting on the partnership, RepKnight’s Channel Director, Michael Koufopoulos, said: “We are building significant momentum around our BreachAlert platform as more and more enterprises wake up to the challenge of dark web monitoring. This makes scaling our channel operation a key priority for the business. StarLink’s True VAD approach, combined with their focus on security platforms and pan-European footprint makes them a natural partner for RepKnight.”

Avinash Advani, SVP Business Development & Alliances at StarLink, added: “The dark web is a key threat for enterprises across the world and organisations need to prioritise enhancing their capabilities when it comes to dark web monitoring. We were highly impressed with RepKnight’s focus on ease of use, and fast configuration. Simplicity is key for our customer base, so the fact that users can be up and running in minutes makes BreachAlert an ideal addition to any organisation’s cybersecurity measures.”

Blue Yonder thinks Brazil will win the World Cup

Posted on June 14, 2018 by - News

02515419Artificial intelligence (AI) specialist Blue Yonder has picked Brazil to win the World Cup and claims that England only has a five percent chance of holding the trophy.

The outfit analysed every international match played since 1872 and ran a million simulations to predict the outcome, with Brazil given a 22.5 percent chance of winning.

Brazil was followed by Spain at 11 percent, Argentina at 9.5 percent and France at 7.8 percent.

Christian Haag, the data science consultant at Blue Yonder, explained how the AI came to its conclusion.

“We took data from every available international match going to back to 1872 and then ran simulations accounting for different outcomes for each match for all 32 teams, with either team one designated as the winner, team two winning, or a draw.

“We ran over one million simulations and calculated the chances of teams winning or finishing runner-up in the group stage, and reaching each stage of the tournament.”

England did not fare too well in the simulations and was given a 5.7 percent chance of glory in Russia this summer.

The Three Lions are predicted to win their first two matches against Tunisia and Panama in Group G, but are only given a 41.7 percent chance of beating Belgium in their final group game. Of course, you don’t need AI to know that England is not going to win.  Channel Eye’s divination team thinks they will have a harder time against Tunisia and Panama because everyone expects them to win.

The AI has unexpectedly put host country Russia just behind in England in winning the World Cup with a 4.6 percent chance, with more famous teams such as Portugal and Belgium trailing behind.

“One of the interesting predictions that emerged from our simulations was Russia’s stronger-than-expected performance. The team has struggled in recent years, and the lack of a qualification process makes their strength hard to judge, but host teams often fare well, and Russia may surprise many at the tournament.”

Recruiters putting AI staff in universities

Posted on June 13, 2018 by - News

oxford-robesFour of the top six recruiters for AI professionals in the UK are universities.

Data released by job site Indeed shows that Imperial College London makes up 7.4 per cent of AI job listings on the site, followed by Amazon, who made up 4.9 per cent.

Oxford, Cambridge and University College London and IBM make up the top six companies competing hard to recruit AI talent to their organisations.

Shawn Bose, general manager at Indeed Prime said that the number of AI jobs being created by universities is “striking”.

“With AI technology still in its infancy, academic researchers are racing to discover its full potential. Just as the genesis of Silicon Valley came when the worlds of scientific research and business collided at California’s Stanford University, we could be seeing a similar pattern beginning to emerge with AI in the UK.”

The job site’s data indicates that AI skills are more in demand in the UK than in any other developed economy, “outstripping” its US counterpart.

Indeed’s UK site currently lists three times as many AI vacancies as it did three years ago, with candidate interest in AI-based jobs doubling since 2015.

“Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of Britain’s tech boom, and the UK has emerged as a world leader in the creation of both AI technology and jobs”, said Bose.

“The combination of high salaries and the chance to develop transformative technology continues to attract some of the brightest and best professionals to careers in AI. While automation will inevitably change the world of work beyond recognition, for now the AI technology behind it is creating thousands of job opportunities for highly skilled, and therefore well paid, individuals.”

Blueliv calls for radical socialisation in the security industry

Posted on June 13, 2018 by - News

soviet001_medSecurity outfit Blueliv announced its expansion in the UK with a call for radical socialisation in the industry to profit all cybersecurity practitioners.

Marking a 2018 Series-A investment of €4million and recent 50 percent year-over-year growth, Blueliv’s approach is founded on new collaborative models to tackle the industry-wide pain points of siloed security practices, information overload and a lack of resource.

Blueliv has been capitalising on growing customer demand for cyberthreat intelligence worldwide and is expanding in the UK market with real momentum as more enterprises focus on cyberthreat intelligence as part of their defence strategy. Blueliv’s unique pay-as-you-need modular offering means it must collaborate with end-users to define a suitable plan.

Rather than competing with one-size-fits-all solutions, Blueliv’s Threat Compass modules are relevant, targeted and aligned to specific intelligence requirements. This collaborative model has lent itself to a channel program, launched earlier this year, where managed security service providers (MSSP) and value-added-reseller (VAR) partners strengthen their professional services offering, with all the heavy lifting done by Blueliv’s solution.

Blueliv CEO and founder Daniel Solís, said: “To form the most effective deep defence lines against attackers, a hive mind of security professionals providing a collaborative approach is infinitely better than siloing ourselves. This doctrine informs all the work we do: in product development, delivering user-friendly intelligence through different modules; in our business strategy, forming technical alliances and channel partnerships; and our intelligence reporting, providing tangible value to all levels in an organisation.”

Socialising cybersecurity means encouraging parity and fighting cybercrime collaboratively and more effectively. Blueliv’s collaboration doctrine aims to strengthen the cybersecurity industry and help organisations protect themselves from the outside in. Its unique modular Threat Compass solution is built from a customisable group of targeted intelligence modules, radically reducing attack success rates and improving incident response performance.

Blueliv’s in-house analyst team is bolstered by the Blueliv Threat Exchange Network, designed to encourage members to share news and IOCs, grant access to Blueliv’s proprietary elastic sandbox for malware analysis, and offer a live cyberthreat map for tracking crime servers and malicious IPs.

Inoapps provides Scottish Legal Aid Board’s cloud

Posted on June 13, 2018 by - News

indexThe Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has ‘gone-live’ with Oracle Cloud. The move which, is in line with the Scottish Government’s Digital Strategy for Scotland means that it is the first public body to make this transition.

SLAB is responsible for managing legal aid in Scotland and enables people, who would otherwise be unable to afford it, to get help for their legal problems. Running efficient IT systems is an important element in delivering this successfully.

At SLAB’s Edinburgh HQ, Oracle Platinum Partner Inoapps has now implemented finance (ERP), i-expenses, and procurement in the Cloud, including sourcing and invoice scanning. Following shortly will be Oracle Cloud HCM and Payroll. This will also be the first public sector implementation of Oracle Payroll Cloud in both Scotland and the UK.

John McLeod, Head of Information Systems at SLAB, said: “We chose Inoapps to drive our implementation as it is a proven and award-winning Cloud adopter with a successful track record in delivering multi-pillar Oracle Cloud implementations. What impressed us was the strength of their implementation team, as well as their change management capabilities and the strong alliance with Oracle. There was also a willingness to listen to and interpret our needs in partnership.

“By consolidating financial, HR and payroll processes into one system, we hope to achieve far greater visibility of these activities across the organisation. This, combined with the improved reporting capabilities available in Oracle Cloud, should lead to improved insight and decision-making.”

Graeme Hill, Director of Corporate Services at SLAB, notes: “By embracing cloud technology, we hope to achieve greater system stability and lessen the need for internal specialist expertise.”

Inoapps is experiencing successful expansion across multiple sectors and the consultancy’s credentials in delivering best-in-class Oracle solutions within the public sector continue to develop from strength to strength.

Commenting on the implementation Andrew Norris, Head of Inoapps’ European Business said: “We’re very pleased to add SLAB to our growing list of public sector clients. We understand that, across the board, the sector is under mounting pressure to pursue a Cloud First agenda to streamline processes and achieve cost efficiencies. The nature of our Oracle Cloud solutions and Managed Services is highly transferable across many industries, and together with over a decade’s experience in Oracle and our status as Oracle’s Cloud First Partner of the Year, this has been instrumental in us securing ongoing work within the Public Sector.”

The SLAB implementation started in June 2017 with an initial launch for Finance in the Cloud in December 2017 followed by HR and Payroll being live by the end of September 2018.

Brexit be damned! UK is still Europe’s tech leader

Posted on June 12, 2018 by - News

ukflagThe UK remains the tech capital of Europe, according to beancounters working for London and Partners.

A report into which companies have received the most VC funding shows that British tech firms have received £5 billion worth of VC funding since June 2016 – more than France (£1.55 billion), Germany (£2.15 billion) and Sweden (£644 million).

Tech firms in London pulled in £4 billion, ahead of Paris (£1.14 billion), Berlin (£814 million) and Stockholm (£542 million).

In the last year, British finetch firms such as TransferWise secured £211 million and Monzo £71 million in investment. Meanwhile, a recent £177m injection for Revolut, has made it the UK’s latest unicorn company, valued at a cool billion.

It joins the list of 13 others, helping the country maintain the mantle of Europe’s unicorn capital with 37 per cent of Europe’s total unicorn companies.

London Tech Week ambassador and angel investor Sherry Coutu CBE said: “From Artificial Intelligence to cybersecurity, EdTech and GovTech, the UK is home to companies that are leading the way in developing and implementing the latest cutting-edge technologies.”