Category: News

French firm Sopra Steria’s is not that happy with its UK arm which has posted a year-on-year decline in revenues and profits.

The IT services outfit should have been happy, as the rest of its books were positive. Revenues for the year reached €3.85 billion – a 2.8 percent year-on-year increase  – while operating profits grew by nine per cent to €261.7 million representing 6.8 percent of total sales, up from 6.4 percent in 2016.

The firm’s domestic French sales grew by 4.5 per cent to €1.6 billion, while profits grew by eight per cent to €111.2 million. Its “other European” entities – which encompasses the Nordics, Switzerland, Germany, Benelux and Italy – enjoyed a 12 percent increase in sales to €827.6 million, with each country achieving at least 10 percent growth.

However in the UK revenues fell by 13.6 percent year on year to €801.7 million, while operating profit plummeted by 38 percent to €36.9 million.

Sopra Steria claims that its joint venture with the UK Cabinet Office – a contract drawn up in 2013 worth €1 billion over ten years – is going through a “transition phase” which is expected to continue into the first six months of 2018.

The IT services firm claims that longer decision-making cycles and a “wait-and-see attitude” from UK customers during the second half of last year affected UK sales.

Sopra Steria launched a plan last year to turn around its UK performance which will see the firm expand its private sector customer base and invest in its consulting business and sales team.

The firm plans to implement a cost-cutting programme to shave around €20 million from 2018 UK outgoings.

Tech Data is trebling the credit it gives SMB resellers to £1 million to boost growth for smaller partners.

Its Credit Elevator scheme offers resellers an initial credit line of £5,000, which will be increased automatically if the partner uses 75 percent of the credit in a month, and pays the loan on 30-day terms.

Tech Data credit services director Nick Tiltman said SMB sales growth was growing and by extending the upper limit on the Credit Elevator his outfit was making it easier for resellers to develop.

It means that the securing higher and higher levels of credit will not be a problem as new opportunities emerge they can take advantage, knowing that we will support them.  This move will remove barriers for customers who want to expand.

Converged IP Solution distributor Mayflex  been showing off its new channel Specialist Support Services package.’

Dubbed ‘Mayflex Channel Assist’ the packages are services which are aimed at projects with limited time available onsite or for rapid deployment projects.

The services available include product labelling, pre-terminated copper and fibre assemblies, the pre-staging of IP devices, camera and bracket spraying, configured racks, on site rack assembly, ‘Placement Plus’ delivery and Fluke support services.

Richard Cann, Technical Services Manager at Mayflex comments, “Having a partner that can deliver fully tested, readymade or ready configured and pre-assembled solutions helps remove the pressure of delivering a project in a limited amount of time. These services assist our customers with the fast deployment of products whilst at the same time reducing their costs by removing the need to invest in specialist equipment, labour and management costs.”

“Each service is carried out by our team of trained experts who are located in our Birmingham headquarters. The configured cabinet on site build service actually deploys members of the team to site to carry out an installation on behalf of our customers. Camera and bracket spraying is the newest of our services introduced towards the end of 2017. This is a service which sprays cameras and the associated brackets and fittings to a bespoke RAL colour. A service that we are seeing more and more demand for, providing clients with a discreet and stylish security system for their establishments,” he said.

“Our Fluke Support Services is ideal for customers that buy a Fluke tester with Gold Support but don’t have the time or capacity to keep track of when servicing or re-calibration is required. We will look after this completely and what’s more there isn’t a cost for doing so if the tester has been purchased from Mayflex,” Cann said.

Advanced has launched a new partner programme – TruePartner – to help resellers of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software accelerate their SME customers’ transformation to the Cloud.

According to the company, while appetite for Cloud technology is growing, only 33 percent of organisations admit to being experienced in it. Advanced believes some vendors are neglecting the needs of SMEs keen to reshape themselves for the 4th Industrial Revolution, leaving this backbone of British business in danger of being left behind.

The British software and services company plans to win over new partners keen to address the needs of the SME market but who aren’t getting the right support from their existing vendors – a move it hopes will generate an additional £1 million in revenue over the next 12 months. Its new Cloud-based ERP solution, Advanced Business Cloud Essentials*, is designed exactly to boost this opportunity for this reseller community.

The Advanced TruePartner programme will help resellers change their traditional business models as well as recognise what the Cloud is, and what it isn’t. Some vendors, for example, promote products as Cloud-based – when they are actually not true Cloud solutions – and there’s a danger of creating confusion amongst SMEs who rely on software resellers to guide and advise them.

Janette Martin, Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances at Advanced, sees this as a threat to the channel and a barrier to the Cloud becoming mainstream:

“Resellers have an incredible opportunity to adapt their business model to embrace Cloud technology. They have the chance to bet their business on those vendors that deliver genuine Cloud solutions and are willing to support them on their transformation, otherwise they risk losing traction, customers and revenue,” she said.

The channel, particularly smaller resellers, have become used to the revenue from upfront licences, a traditional financial management model where it is easy to manage revenue against forecasts. However, monthly subscriptions for Cloud services are disrupting that financial model and resellers will need to adapt quickly if they are to realise the benefits that this can deliver in recurring revenue.

Martin said: “We understand that moving to a Cloud-first approach isn’t straight forward, but we are seeing interest from businesses for the benefits that the Cloud can deliver. Together, we can make a difference and I believe it’s up to vendors like Advanced to develop long-term strategic channel partnerships, demonstrate the Cloud as the number one driver for business continuity, and provide resellers with the right ongoing training, support and marketing so that products can be sold and supported in the Cloud effectively.”

Some of the key features that Advanced is providing with its new TruePartner programme include:

• Close collaboration and support with resellers to develop market and sector insight that enables focused software solutions to be delivered to customers.
• Onboarding, training and marketing support for partners to sell solutions that provide real world-context and immediate business benefits.
• Comprehensive accreditation and generous financial rewards, at every level, helping to achieve sustainable business growth for both resellers and customers.
• Confidence that resellers will be providing SMEs with genuine cloud solutions, like Advanced Business Cloud Essentials, and working with a vendor that cares.

The new TruePartner programme is built around five levels of partnership: Reseller, Service, Alliance, Advisor and Software.