Comms Dealer

Research from Claranet has found that a shortage of in-house skills and internal IT resources are two of the most popular reasons businesses give for using IT services providers (ITSPs).

For Claranet, the results confirm that ITSPs are playing a key role in plugging the technology skills gap, though the company has warned that businesses will need to select their partners carefully to achieve the desired results.

Vanson Bourne surveyed 900 IT leaders and decision makers across the six countries in which Claranet operates - the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Benelux.

The research found that 36 per cent of European IT leaders choose to use Service Providers to access skills that are not available in-house. Over a third (36 per cent) also said that a shortage of in-house resources - likely linked to the shortage of in-house skills - was a factor in engaging third-party ITSPs.

The digital skills gap has become a cause for increasing concern among IT decision makers over the last few years. In a recent survey, Harvey Nash talked to 3,352 CIOs and technology leaders across 82 countries, and found that 65 per cent of these were suffering from a technology skills shortage - the highest proportion since the recession, almost a decade ago. This figure is six per cent higher than in 2015, further revealing a deepening of the digital skills gap.

Andy Wilton, CIO at Claranet, commented: "The deficit in IT skills means that businesses must be more selective about the types of skills they employ in-house and those that they choose to outsource.

"Organisations are competing for a small pool of IT talent, which requires making tough decisions about which exact skillsets are required within the organisation.

"Public cloud is particularly specialised and it can be hard to find an in-house generalist who possesses the advanced skillsets to deliver the required capabilities with confidence.

"But there's a strong case to suggest that internal IT teams shouldn't be managing servers or any sort of infrastructure at all, and instead they should plough their energies into app development. Those businesses that are winning in their markets are those that have amazing applications, so that's where the focus needs to be.

"The future of any European organisation that wants to insulate itself from the growing skills shortage and compete at the forefront of digital transformation lies in the ability to work with an IT services provider who can provide the pivotal IT skills needed. By doing so, companies will be able to access individuals with specialised skills on-demand and at a cheaper price.

"However, it's essential for organisations to find the right fit when it comes to their outsourcing arrangement. To an unprecedented degree, this choice and relationship will become critical to the healthy posture of any business. Ultimately, you need experts to help you architect the best possible solution for your applications. This will add more value to the business and mitigate technological stumbling blocks."

South West Comms Group has stepped up its activity in the hospitality sector with a range of products that can be utilised separately or as a combined single solution.

Exeter-based swcomms has designed a suite of communications services for the hospitality sector, including Wi-Fi, Internet connectivity, telephone systems and guest TV, which can all be paid for with a seasonal finance package.

Sarah Flowers, swcomms' sales director, said: "Our business is situated right at the heart of one of the most popular areas for tourism and hospitality in the UK. We have developed our product portfolio with respected technology partners to meet the needs of the hotels and holiday parks that are right on our doorstep.

"We are also fortunate enough to have an in-house finance facility, SWT Finance, which enables us to offer a seasonal finance package to suit our customers' peak and off peak seasons."

The finance package allows businesses to pay less between October and March and more between April and September when their income is higher.

Flowers added: "We are finding guest Wi-Fi is a particular pain point for many of the hotels we are speaking to. Guests expect a decent service that can cope with multiple mobile devices trying to check email and social media, surf the Internet, instant message, live stream and so on all at the same time. When the Wi-Fi service is poor, guests are quick to complain and make their feelings known on travel review websites.

"We offer a Wi-Fi service designed for guest use while also supplying suitable supporting Internet connectivity. Our telephone systems and TV services are also designed for hotels so we can offer the whole package."

TeleWare has launched a new global mobile bill shock feature that protects travellers across the world.

TeleWare's new feature alerts users when they are roaming globally as they near their limits and in doing so protects them from going over their data package.

Users first receive an alert when they have reached 80% of their pre-defined limit. Then, when they reach the limit, the data session is automatically disconnected, unless the limit has been increased by the administrator.

Users are then given the option to increase data packages while abroad and then automatically move back down to their default limit at the end of the month, enabling them to maintain connectivity wherever they are.

Unlike the protection offered under EU law, which is set at 50 Euros, TeleWare's new feature allows the pre-defined limit to be set at the discretion of the account holder.

Danny Hensby, head of product management at TeleWare, said: "The EU safety net has been warmly welcomed across the board since its introduction in July 2010 but for some travellers there is an assumption this extends beyond EU countries, and many business travellers have been caught out with a nasty bill.

"We have worked with networks globally to ensure that we can offer this protection internationally. This service can be switched on immediately for existing customers."

Exertis joined forces with vendor partners to undertake a two day charity cycle ride in aid of Naomi House, raising £25,000.

Twelve cyclists took part in the 200 miles event (from Basingstoke to Shaftesbury and back) held on 16th-17th September which was supported by Dell, Fujitsu, Samsung, Lenovo, Netgear, BT/Hive and Medion.

Mark Kahr Exertis purchasing director said "Not quite the Tour de France but we are proud to have raised so much for our nominated Charity Naomi House, for children and young adults with life limiting illnesses. A big thank you to all the riders and particularly the sponsors that supported us with their time & donations."

avsnet has strengthened its northern presence with the appointment of Quentin Birchall as new Regional Director for the North of England and Scotland, and the opening of a new Manchester office.

Birchall brings over 25 years of experience in the networking, communications and AV industries, including a stint as Managing Director of Tiscali's Business Services division, SVP of a 4G wireless operator and Commercial Director of an AV business.

Graham Fry, Managing Director, said: "Our strategy is to support our customers throughout their collaboration journey with us and recently that includes a large number of companies concentrated in northern regions.

"Quentin's wealth of experience in the industry will be hugely beneficial to our customers, especially from a network and unified communications perspective."

Birchall added: "The north of England and Scotland are important regions for us and our expansion enables us to bring the benefits of business collaboration to more organisations than ever before."

Content Guru welcomed James Puxley, Lord Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire, who formally presented the firm with a Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation.

The Award recognises storm CONTACT, Content Guru's multi-channel cloud contact centre product, as an example of innovation. The award will be valid for five years and marks Content Guru as a leading innovator in the UK.

The Lord Lieutenant received a full tour of the company's Bracknell offices, speaking to members of staff and experiencing the winning product first-hand in Content Guru's Customer Experience Centre.

The tour was followed by the presentation ceremony which saw the Lord Lieutenant, assisted by his Cadet Sgt Holly Chamberlain, present a Queen's Award commemorative crystal bowl to Content Guru's CEO, Sean Taylor.

This was followed by a speech by the Lord Lieutenant and a reading of the Grant of Appointment, a document signed by the prime minister, by the Cadet. Mayor of Bracknell Forest, Tony Virgo, also delivered a short speech to celebrate the event.

Taylor commented: "We were honoured to welcome the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen to our offices. The award is the result of years of hard work from a highly committed and talented team and I'm so pleased that their efforts could be recognised in this way. It was a memorable day for all of us."

Going the extra mile for customers continues to pay dividends for North East IT company Synergi after it scooped a finalists' accolade at the recent Northumbrian Water GEM Awards.

The Gateshead firm picked-up the 'Greatest Contribution to Our Innovation Culture' award after seeing its expertise in delivering IT solutions recognised by the regional water supplier in the face of fierce competition.

Synergi is currently engaged in the roll-out of Nintex workflow automation software to over 2,900 employees as part of a strategic investment programme to embed Microsoft technologies into Northumbrian Water.

This includes the delivery of the Innovation Management Portal, health and safety apps and facilities management apps.

Synergi was praised for bringing a fresh perspective to work that's enabling the water supplier to quickly develop dynamic applications, which offer interactive multi-device user experiences.

The company was selected from dozens of other providers for the fifth annual 'Going the Extra Mile' Awards, which mark the achievements of Northumbrian Water's supply chain partners over the last 12 months.

Peter Joynson, managing director of Synergi, received the award along with fellow director Justin Short from the water supplier's CEO Heidi Mottram at a ceremony at Beamish Hall.

He said: "It's fantastic for the business and for the whole team to be recognised in this way.

"Our hard work, dedication, agility and innovation has been rewarded as we embark on a long and successful relationship with Northumbrian Water, who wanted us to share their appreciation for a team effort.

"Here's to another Team Synergi success and a huge thanks to all who have helped to make this happen with Northumbrian Water."

Synergi, which has seen staff and turnover increase throughout 2016 on the back of strong demand, also includes care home operator Hadrian Healthcare and Washington compressed air filtration and drying equipment company Walker Filtration among its customers.

Leyland-based radio communications provider TES has completed a project at 5 Broadgate, the new 'ground-scraper' in the City of London.

The newly installed system is set to serve the new 12-storey development in the heart of London's financial centre, whose four trading floors alone cover almost 67,000 square metres - the equivalent of four football pitches.

When fully operational this year, 5 Broadgate will be home to the biggest single concentration of traders in the City.

5 Broadgate has cost £500m, with the building's fit-out alone costing in the region of £100m. When fully operational the building will house businesses that manage assets worth £1.3trn.

TES Managing Director Keith Edwards said: "It's a stunning building and it presented massive logistical challenges for us, especially as our team had to synchronise activity around other contractors' timescales to install a distributed antenna system - they did a brilliant job!

"Our solution is part of a raft of first class technologies being deployed at 5 Broadgate. For example, the site will be packed with warm bodies seated in front of multi-screen data arrays. The designers had to find an innovative way of controlling the temperatures, so cold water will be pumped through desks to keep them cool.

"We have provided a Motrtrbo linked capacity plus system and approximately 170 handsets for secure, robust mission-critical communications. The system we've installed creates an integrated communications platform allowing radio users to communicate with mobile phones and tablet PCs.

"Always-on secure communications are vital to business security and a means to ensure a seamless customer journey - so we're really proud to have provided this solution in such a prestigious development."

In response to the new increased fibre tax rates from the Valuation Office Agency, ISPA Chair James Blessing stated:

"ISPA is extremely disappointed that the Valuation Office Agency has decided to significantly increase rateable values hitting companies that delivering superfast broadband hard.

"The Government rightly wants the UK to continually improve its digital infrastructure and our members are investing heavily in their networks.

"Significantly raising rates in this way is only going to put up barriers to investment and make bills more expensive to consumers and businesses.

"Brexit means the UK needs to show it is open for business, for Government to meet this challenge it needs to create a better environment for investment based on certainty and stability."

Internet service provider hSo has unveiled its new ‘Ethernet pricing powertool' that enables channel partners to view quotes for a range of connection speeds, contract lengths and carriers, with just one request.

"Connectivity buyers are often unsure about their options and uncertain about how much bandwidth they can afford," commented Avner Peleg, hSo's Customer Development Director.

"hSo:compare MultiQuote addresses this problem by lifting the lid on Ethernet circuit availability and pricing. hSo's channel partners will now be able to see hundreds of connectivity options on one screen.

"This will make it simple for our partners to give appropriate advice and provide their customers with pricing."

When using the tool, users can click on any price to be shown details of the underlying carrier and alternative quotes based on using alternative carriers' circuits.

"Typically, channel partners just want our best price, so that's what our tool shows by default," said Peleg, "However, some partners' clients may prefer to use a different carrier, to improve network resilience or to increase the chances of meeting a challenging delivery timescale.

"Whatever the situation, hSo:compare MultiQuote gives partners the facts they need to accommodate clients' preferences and identify the most appropriate connectivity options, within seconds."

hSo:compare MultiQuote was created by hSo's in-house software development team. It builds upon an existing Ethernet pricing tool first introduced in 2009 that compares pricing from national carriers.