Category: News

Tollring renews its BT contract

Posted on May 3, 2023 by - News

Tollring has renewed its contract with BT for the seventh year.

The arrangement includes the supply of Tollring’s call analytics to nearly 100,000 users across the BT channels, supported by comprehensive customer engagement and sales enablement programmes to drive business growth.

The deal covers the continued provision of FMS (Fraud Management System) which protects the BT Group’s network from telecoms fraud.

Working collaboratively with BT, Tollring said it will continue to develop its customer engagement and sales enablement programmes, including fully branded support materials. Additional initiatives include tailored webinars, bitesize tutorials and libraries of sales support material.

Adding AI to Snapchat might be a disaster

Posted on May 2, 2023 by - News

Companies hoping to push AI as a product enhancement should take a step or two of caution as new figures show that it might cost Snapchat a lot of customers.

Searches for ‘delete Snapchat’ exploded 488 per cent as controversial My AI feature is introduced to every account.

Cyber security consultants CloudTech24 found that online interest in the term ‘delete Snapchat’ has skyrocketed over five times the average in the last three months. Searches for ‘how to delete Snapchat account’ have also risen 70 per cent worldwide over the last week, and the hashtag #SnapchatAI currently has over 180 million views on TikTok.

Dropbox CEO fires 500 humans for AI vision

Posted on May 2, 2023 by - News

Dropbox is laying off 500 employees, representing about 16 per cent of the company’s global workforce as part of a plan to become more AI-focused.

CEO Drew Houston said that while the business was profitable, thanks to humans, its growth has been slowing.

He said that the AI era of computing had arrived and there was an opportunity if the business was quick enough to seize it.

“Over the last few months, AI has captured the world’s collective imagination, expanding the potential market for our next generation of AI-powered products more rapidly than any of us could have anticipated.”

UK government investigating late payers

Posted on April 28, 2023 by - News

The UK government is carrying out consultations to see if cracking down on firms who refuse to pay up on time has much support.

The government has been running an open consultation on amendments to the Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017. The main aim of the consultation is to get a sense of the desire to see the existing regulations extended beyond the proposed expiry date of 6 April 2024.

Kevin Hollinrake MP, minister for enterprise, markets and small business, stated that the government aimed to stand behind businesses and make payments more transparent.

Aruba channel chief is retiring

Posted on April 28, 2023 by - Moving People, News

Aruba worldwide channel chief Donna Grothjan is retiring after 30 years.

Aruba Head of worldwide sales Alain Carpentier announced Grothjan’s departure, effective at the end of May, at Aruba’s Atmosphere conference in Las Vegas.

Writing in blog Carpentier said it was an understatement to say the company was proud of the unwavering commitment Grothjan has shown to HPE Aruba Networking’s 55,000 partners globally and the broader channel community throughout her career.

“Her focus has always been on helping the channel community adapt to, and thrive in, changing conditions through innovative, partner-focused programs and tools that set our industry’s bar high.”

North appoints Crawford as new CEO

Posted on April 28, 2023 by - Moving People, News

North has announced the appointment of David Crawford as its new chief executive officer.

Crawford replaces Glen Williams, who stepped down at the end of last year after almost two years in the role.

Crawford joins from European telecoms infrastructure company Cellnex Telecom where he was responsible for integrating the business into the group operating model, developing key customer relationships and driving local organic and inorganic growth.

Da Costa joins Celerway as chief revenue officer

Posted on April 27, 2023 by - News

Mobile connectivity outfit Celerway has hired Hubert Da Costa as its new chief revenue officer.

Da Costa will help expand Celerway’s 5G edge solutions deployment across EMEA and the US. He will be responsible for developing Celerway’s go-to-market strategy and create industry partnerships to support the global rollout of the companies’ connectivity solutions.

Da Costa has been making waves in the edge networking industry after successfully establishing Cradlepoint internationally as VP & GM EMEA. He joined Cybera as SVP & GM EMEA to expand the company’s cloud-based network and application services worldwide, before leading a global partnerships team at Zebra Technologies for nearly two years.

Greater Manchester is a bad area for cybercrime

Posted on April 27, 2023 by - News

New research has revealed the areas in England and Wales most susceptible to cybercrime, with Greater Manchester coming out on top.

The study by cyber security experts CloudTech24 found that residents of the Greater Manchester area were most susceptible to cybercrime, with Greater Manchester receiving 1,803 cybercrime reports in the last 13 months, which equates to around 6.33 reports per 10,000 people, the highest of any area.

The most commonly reported types of cybercrime include the hacking of personal information and the hacking of social media or email accounts.

Black box named as Juniper’s partner of the year

Posted on April 27, 2023 by - News

Juniper Networks has recognised Black Box as its 2022 Partner of the Year.

Juniper Networks Director of Commercial & Partner Sales for India & SAARC Harshavardhan Kathaley said that Black Box’s proven track record demonstrates its consistent contribution towards the transformational growth of Juniper’s business.

“Its unwavering commitment to enabling businesses in their digital transformation journey has made them an extraordinary partner for Juniper Networks. We extend our gratitude and congratulations to them for winning the 2022 Partner of the Year award.”

TD Synnex gives partners financial and leasing services

Posted on April 26, 2023 by - News

TD Synnex partners in the UK can now access a new range of financial and leasing services, including flexible customer payment options.

TD Synnex Capital will now offer a payment solution – or Tech-as-a-Service option – for any product in the TD Synnex portfolio that can be integrated into a product sale and will be funded for the full term up-front, “eliminating credit risk for the channel partner”.

The US distributor giant says these solutions are available in the UK and will be rolled out across Europe in the coming months.

Transparity Solutions snaps up DataShapa

Posted on April 26, 2023 by - News

Transparity Solutions has written a cheque for data and AI specialist DataShapa.

For those not in the know, DataShapa is a medium-sized consultancy providing strategic consultancy on data, AI and business intelligence solutions for enterprise customers.

Based in South England with customers throughout the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, DataShapa helps companies handle their data strategies .

Managed services deals increase in size and value

Posted on April 25, 2023 by - News

Managed services contact deals fell in 2022 but the average deal size grew by 22 per cent, according to IDC beancounters.

The number crunchers said that there were more than 1,700 managed services deals signed last year worth more than $125 billion in contract value.

The research firm reports that despite indications of a global economic slowdown, IT spending across organisations is steadily increasing.

There was an increase in larger deal signings (total contract value (TCV) above $100 million) in 2022 compared to 2021.

IDC said that as technology is increasingly becoming the backbone of organisational growth strategies, they are seeing more and more organisations upgrading their IT infrastructure leveraging cloud, artificial intelligence, and security.

Channel recruitment growing

Posted on April 25, 2023 by - News

IT channel recruitment will pick up in second quarter of 2023 and reach pre-Covid levels again in Q3 after a period of major culls to the vendor workforce according to new figures from Robertson Sumner.

Robertson Sumner’s Marc Sumner said that “overpaid” and “over-hired” staff who were laid off from vendors are now seeing channel partners as a safe haven.

He said that firms like Microsoft and Salesforce over-hired during Covid and overpaid people. That bubble was going burst.

During the first quarter the market was stagnant, with people re-evaluating salaries that plateaued during the quarter. However, the first two weeks of second quarter saw volumes of more than any week in first quarter, Sumner said.

CDW staff fear layoffs

Posted on April 24, 2023 by - News

IT solution provider CDW appears to be laying off hundreds of employees after the company warned that its first fiscal quarter 2023 revenue would fall below expectations.

The Illinois-based group expects first-quarter net sales of about $5.1 billion, well below analyst consensus estimates of $5.28 billion and significantly lower than the $5.95 billion in revenue the company reported for its fiscal first quarter 2022.

The outfit has 15,100 employees and several of them have complained on social media that they have been let go. The firm is offering a severance package, but laid-off employees are signing non-disclosure agreements.

One area hit by the layoffs is the field services unit which had some redundancies after CDW’s blockbuster $2.5bn acquisition of Sirius, the employee said.

Posts suggest that about a 1,000 employees are being laid off across the company with more coming.

 

 

Hammer time as Exertis expands cybersecurity product across the EU

Posted on April 24, 2023 by - News

Exertis is launching its Exertis Cybersecurity product throughout Europe.

Since the acquisition of Exertis Enterprise (previously known as Hammer) its cybersecurity unit has been boosted and is now looking for further expansion.

It has new vendor signings, including Seagate, eSentire, Progress, Scylla, Seceon and Veeam.

Exertis will be offering its Exertis Cybersecurity product in the Nordics, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France and Germany after training from UK security directors and managers.

Exertis Cybersecurity director of sales and commercial Dominic Ryles: “We’re delighted to be rolling out our cybersecurity solution stack across our European offices. We look forward to strengthening our relationships with our European colleagues, partners and customers.”