Tag: coronavirus

Coronavirus might not have had much of a silver lining for cloud 

Posted on November 13, 2020 by - News

A report has discovered that while cloud uptake increased during the coronavirus outbreak, three quarters of companies were not really happy with it.

iland, a leading VMware-based cloud services provider for application hosting, data protection and disaster recovery, today released the findings of its research into customer confidence in cloud services.

It found that despite the increase in cloud adoption due to the pandemic, three quarters of organisations surveyed say hyperscaler IaaS instance types may not meet their cost and performance needs for mission-critical applications, while more than one in five are not satisfied with key features of cloud provision such as security, performance, availability and support.

The research also found that a lack of migration resources is delaying or preventing cloud projects for more than 80 percent of organisations surveyed. 

Coronavirus causes insolvency jump

Posted on September 4, 2020 by - News

Insolvencies in the UK are set to jump 27 percent this year as the fallout from the coronavirus continues with a knock on effect on the IT channel.

Figures compiled by credit insurer Atradius show that that the growth in companies going bust will outpace the global figure (26 percent), with the UK also seeing the largest GDP contraction in Northern Europe.

Turkey is expected to see the largest growth in insolvencies globally at 41 percent, followed by the US and Hong Kong at 39 percent.

Simon Rockett, senior underwriting manager for Atradius UK, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has been indiscriminate in its spread across the globe, resulting in lockdowns and containment measures which have had a tangible impact on economic markets. This has included delays in production, a drop in business and consumer demand and widespread business closures.”

Cybercrime is already professionalised

Posted on August 4, 2020 by - News

HeimdalTM Security chief executive Morten Kjaersgaard claims that cybercrime is already a profession and the Corona Virus turned out to be good for business.

In an interview with Finbold.com, Kjaersgaard stated that tracking developments in the cybercrime sector will be a major trend in the coming year.

He said that it was important to have cybersecurity as part of the modern education curriculum. With cybersecurity undergoing rapid regulatory changes globally, Kjaersgaard explained how his firm has positioned itself to adapt to the changing environment.

For Heimdal, the coronavirus pandemic had a positive impact, with an increased demand for software that simplified remote management of devices and could help increase security on WFH devices.

“The change in consumption of our services also clearly documented the change the Coronavirus drove, as we saw a dramatic increase in the number of individual connections to our services.”

He said that the coronavirus pandemic really underlined the need for customer communication as there was a much faster shift for customers in thinking decentralized rather than centralized. What we delivered to them was tailored to meet those challenges.”

 

 

 

Dell’s job cuts are nothing to do with coronavirus

Posted on August 3, 2020 by - News

Dell has confirmed that an unspecified number of job cuts,was based on decisions made early in 2020 and unrelated to the  pandemic.

The vendor refused to put a figure on the number of employees affected, but it said: “Like all businesses right now, we’re taking a number of proactive steps to prepare for the uncertainties presented by COVID-19. We recently made some workforce reductions that reflect decisions made in early 2020 as part of regular evaluations of our business structure, and weren’t related to the pandemic.”

The number of redundancies have been rumoured to be about six percent of Dell’s 160,000 workforce globally and under 2,000.

A quarter of staff will resign once the coronavirus is over

Posted on July 13, 2020 by - News

A new poll of UK frontline workers responding to the COVID-19 crisis reveals how deeply concerned they are about their safety and are so hacked off with their employers’ response that they will leave once the dust has settled.

According to official research commissioned by Blink, the smart employee app, almost one quarter are planning on resigning from their job once the crisis subsides. In the context of an impending global recession and the announcement of 12,000 job cuts in two days, this data is all the more shocking.

Coronavirus forces a change in investment plans

Posted on July 7, 2020 by - News

The coronavirus crisis has pushed companies to review their investment strategies to survive according to M&A integration expert Mike Kiersey, Principal Technologist at Boomi.

Kiersey said that corporations like Mitsubishi are undergoing a major shift, where M&As play a crucial role – sparking the question of how to integrate both parties.  As the transition to digital speeds up, it can be expected that we will see a rise in mergers and acquisitions after the pandemic.

Networks experiencing disruptions due to work-from-home move

Posted on April 29, 2020 by - News

Nearly two thirds of companies experienced at least moderate disruptions to their network security business practices – and nearly a quarter (23 percent) experienced major disruptions – due to the sudden shift to a work-from-home model as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.

Security outfit Neustar has just released its Neustar International Security Council (NISC) report noting that that more than 29 percent of companies did not have a fully executable business plan in place to keep their network secure in the event of a major crisis such as the current pandemic.

Computacenter furloughs a tenth of workers

Posted on April 27, 2020 by - News

Computacenter has furloughed one in ten workers including engineers, project managers and consultants.

Computacenter said it had been off its feet as businesses reacted to COVID-19 by asking staff to work from home, even before the UK government imposed a lockdown on 23 March.

“There has been a marked difference in need from customer to customer dependent on which sector their business is in. There has been a surge in demand from many of our customers to enable business continuity particularly around home working and network resilience.

CompTIA moves exam testing online

Posted on April 20, 2020 by - News

CompTIA has launched an “anytime, anywhere” online testing option for its certification exams that is supported by computer-based player Pearson VUE.

CompTIA  CEO Todd Thibodeaux said “Current and prospective IT professionals, students, career changers and others whose plans have been put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic can resume their studies and schedule their exams with the full confidence that we’re here when they’re ready to take their test. They will do so on a platform that delivers a rich user experience and robust security protection, all from the privacy and security of their home.”

Tiny percentage get coronavirus business interruption loans

Posted on April 9, 2020 by - News

Hopes that smaller companies might benefit from government coronavirus cash have been dashed with the news that only a small percentage are getting cash.

Just one percent of inquiries from SMBs into the government’s coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) has resulted in approved loans, according to data compiled by UK Finance and obtained by City AM.

Just over 2,000 loans have been dished out to UK SMBs, indicating that 0.65 per cent of enquiries to the scheme has resulted in loans so far, with 52,710 phone enquires and 256,483 online enquiries made as of Monday 6 April, according to the financial services body, which compiles information from banks every day about their lending through the scheme.

So far £291.9 million has been handed out, City AM reported.

Extreme Networks modifies reseller channel

Posted on April 6, 2020 by - News

Extreme Networks has made changes to its channel programme to support its reseller community in navigating coronavirus challenges.

The updates are designed to offer maximum flexibility for partners to maintain their status, earn rebates and retain their certifications. The programme has further expanded its virtual training offering, including free remote cloud technical certification training, and provides  financial deferment options so that resellers can focus first and foremost on the needs of their customers.

The changes include:

HP spruces up channel programme to find coronavirus

Posted on April 3, 2020 by - News

Maker of expensive printer ink, HP, has made changes to its programme to provide relief to partners impacted by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

The vendor said it is implementing a predictable, flat-rate incentive programme, relaxing its compensation models and extending its deadlines for submission of proof of performance and reporting.

The big idea is to “arm” partners and help them overcome the operational and financial challenges caused by the outbreak.

Industry faces a server shortage

Posted on March 26, 2020 by - News

The COVID-19 outbreak has sparked a server supply shortage due to the shuttering of major hardware manufacturers in China.

Internet infrastructure provider Heficed has warned that the demand cannot be served by the current stock supply  has left firms without the resources to build and maintain their network infrastructure.

Inability to staff the production lines and during the lockdown has resulted in a “significant server supply shortage” in the market, Heficed said, and although many businesses have now restarted their work, they still have a long road ahead to mitigate long-term industry damage.

Vole slows Windows 10 updates

Posted on March 26, 2020 by - News

Microsoft will no longer release non-essential updates to its line of Windows operating systems during the  coronavirus outbreak.

From May 2020, businesses will only receive the most important critical security updates for a swathe of Windows systems, including the recently-published Windows 10 version 1909 through to Windows Servier 2008 SP2.

Coronovirus will change how companies see tech

Posted on March 19, 2020 by - News

The coronovirus outbreak and the worldwide reaction to the pandemic will force companies to radically rethink how they operate and embrace technological investment, states global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research.

In its new white paper, Taking Stock of COVID-19: The Short- and Long-Term Ramifications on Technology and End Markets, ABI Research Analysts look at the current and future ramifications of COVID-19 across technologies and verticals. Analysts also offer recommendations to weather the storm and strategies to help companies rebound and prosper after the pandemic has slowed.