Comms Dealer

Zest4's flair for turning market opportunities into business growth is reflected in the firm's relocation to new and bigger premises in Wilmslow, Cheshire.

The UC firm began its commercial life three years ago and is tapping into a rich of seam of opportunity in the M2M space following the launch of its partner programme earlier this year.

Mandy Fazelynia, Zest4's Operations and Business Development Director, said: "The move to larger premises is a reflection of our team's hard work. Our focus on M2M solutions will continue over the next 12 months."

IoT spending is on the up, driven by the promise of significant RoI and business transformation benefits, according to Vodafone's fourth annual IoT Barometer Report that found 89% of companies investing in IoT have increased their budgets over the last 12 months; while 76% believe that taking advantage of IoT technologies will be critical for the future success of any organisation.

The study also found that 63% of IoT adopters are seeing significant returns on investment, up from 59% last year.

IoT investment now accounts for 24% of the average IT budget, on a par with cloud computing or data analytics.

IoT technologies are playing a key role in mainstream business activities with 48% using the IoT to support large-scale business transformation, rising to 61% in the Asia-Pacific region.

More than half of consumer electronics companies questioned in the survey are using IoT technologies as the basis for a new generation of applications for connected homes; and 46% intend to develop new IoT-based products and services over the next two years. 

Vodafone Group IoT Director Erik Brenneis said: "Three-quarters of the companies we interviewed now recognise that the IoT is a new industrial revolution that will change how people work and live forever.

"Over 50% of the companies surveyed across multiple countries and sectors told us they're already planning to bring connected network intelligence to millions of devices and processes over the next two years. 2016 is the year the IoT entered the mainstream."

While the US may have the advantage of a huge single market for managed services, new international research shows that parts of Europe, especially the UK, are already seeing high returns on analysis of how data is used, and plan to drive this faster than the US.

92% of MSPs are not using data-driven automation strategies, and as a result, are missing out on benefits such as doubling servicing capacity, serving more complex IT estates as well as achieving 100% RoI.

This is the conclusion of analysis of the IT Service Management (ITSM) industry carried out by LOGICnow, part of the SolarWinds family.

It says data-driven automation is starting to change the course of global ITSM delivery. The majority of the market has already invested in collecting and using data on their customers' IT estates, with the remainder clearly planning to catch up.

A small minority has gone one step further and begun to use the data to power automated service delivery. These few are already enjoying dramatic competitive advantages and most importantly have already seen positive RoI.

The research also shows that of those that have not yet deployed data-driven automation strategies, 85% believe that doing so would offer them a competitive advantage, with some MSPs even saying that late or no adoption of automated processes will lead to them going out of business.

While it is currently a small minority, the returns they have seen are clearly setting them apart from the rest of the market - and the market is not planning to let them run too far ahead.

With the expectations of those who are yet to invest roughly matching the experiences of the few who already have, the chasing pack will not be disappointed.

This should in turn mean that adoption will accelerate as more and more service providers report the promise of data-driven automation being fulfilled.

Much of this will rely on the introduction of new data analysis skills into the workforce, and as the research showed, this is mirrored in account management and sales.

Recruitment priorities will need to be assessed and most likely changed, quite probably meaning investigating new sources of talent.

Once the tools and talent are in place, the next step is to alter the service provision itself. Service providers will need to examine their current service portfolio and identify where enhancements can be made and where the immediate wins are.

A roadmap for transitioning the remainder of the services then needs to be built, with a focus on realism and sensible prioritisation.

These enhancements then need to be reflected in new SLAs and KPIs. And then finally, this competitive advantage needs to be sold. This is potentially where the greatest shift occurs. Sales and marketing will need to learn new messages and how best to articulate them, who to target and how to promote the benefits of the new service.

This is as fundamental a change to the business as transitioning from break/fix to managed services - but potentially even more valuable.

This research led to a single conclusion: the ITSM industry is on the brink of an enormous shift. The importance of the use of data is widely accepted and the value of automating actions and recommendations is proven. Few changes in business computing are as dramatic as expected - the evidence so far suggests that data-driven automation is an exception.

Barracuda is transitioning to reflect the growth in managed services and security for Office 365 and its extensions.

Figures show revenues from subscriptions up 20% while appliances fall away. Earnings are up overall as the company returns to profit.

The importance of managed services has been reflected in internal structures with Jason Howells moving from running the UK operation to EMEA head of managed services.

He tells IT Europa that while the UK is the main base, it is seeing activity across the region with customers in France and moves in the Netherlands even without any focus.

New products announced in the US are coming to EMEA soon, and this will mean further stimulus. The company remains 100% channel focused,

The migration to Office 365 took many by surprise, he says, including Barracuda but it is engaged in working with both traditional resellers and the emerging MSP wave.

"For MSPs, integration is key and we are monitoring and working with the likes of ConnectWise and Autotask. The idea is to wrap other stuff to automate it and provide a total solution.

"We are seeing more action in all channels as we build the MSP community. The team in Europe will be expanded. But the emphasis will be on simplicity of engagement and fixed prices, although the conversations with channels are on sales messaging, marketing and getting security aligned with integrated products."

Barracuda is focusing on third-party cloud infrastructure and managed security service providers. Products aim to protect customers migrating to Office 365 and Azure as well as Amazon Web Services, with managed email security and managed next-generation firewall offerings.

Essex-based reseller Dataphone kicked its own disaster recovery plan into gear when its new offices in Hainault were flooded out during a storm early on referendum day.

"We all went out on a company outing on the day before the EU vote and came in on the big day to a flooded office, which had of course affected all the floor wiring and all the computers were down," explained MD Chris Wilce.

"Our engineers kicked in our DR plan straight away and we were up and running by the start of the working day.

"SIP is great because you can redirect it so quickly.

"Ironically we were celebrating moving into the new office after 25 years at our old premises in Riverside House next to the River Roding and we never got flooded there!"

Pictured: Wilce alongside the dehumidifiers drying out his new office.

Timico has made great strides to balance the number of males and females working in the technology sector.

The company has taken on 42 female recruits this year, representing 60% of all new starters.

Flying the flag for women in IT Timico has also joined forces with Microsoft as sponsor of the Women in Technology community within the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP). 

Last year saw 400-plus women from more than 30 countries share their experiences and explore how the IT community could change the male-female balance of the industry.

Lucy Butcher, Microsoft Alliances Manager at Timico, said: "The tech industry has been largely male-dominated but it’s inspiring to see a gender shift with more women coming into the industry from a range of different backgrounds.\"

Timico works with local schools and The Girls’ Day School Trust (a Timico client) to encourage young females to consider a career in technology or pursue STEM subjects. 

Contrary to press speculation BlackBerry is not backing away from BB10, stated COO Marty Beard.

"Our customers depend on the BB10 platform and they are the ones that drive our roadmap," he said.

"That is why we are committed to not just maintaining BB10 software, but advancing it to be more secure and provide greater productivity.

You'll see that with the next 10.3.3 update coming within the next month, which will be focused on enhancing privacy and security features."

Future BB10 software updates for 2017 are already 'in the works', explained Beard. "Meanwhile, BlackBerry 10 devices such as the BlackBerry Passport and Leap are still available to our customers," he said.

Chess Partner Services has formed a new distribution relationship with Vodafone UK effective August 1st 2016.

The deal sees Chess offer a wider range of airtime solutions to its partner base with a broader choice of tariffs, converged mobile, data and cloud solutions.

John Pett, MD of Chess Partner Services, said: "Chess is focused on growth and along with our recent IoT launch, Cloud PBX offering, wholesale and our own billing platform ebillz, we have a product set that gives us a strong foundation in the UK distribution marketplace."

Chess will host a series of webinars to help partners sell Vodafone’s range of products; and offer co-branded materials and promotions. 

Strategic Imperatives has been shortlisted in the Best Newcomer category at the 2016 international SaaS Awards for its Elevate telecoms platform.

The company goes up against contenders from North America, Australasia and EMEA.

Wail Sabbagh, MD at Strategic Imperatives, said: "SaaS technologies sit in an incredibly competitive global marketplace, so for Strategic Imperatives to be shortlisted reflects a huge achievement for the team and an endorsement of our billing as a service platform strategy.

"Previous winners of these prestigious awards include TalkTalk Business, British Gas, Dell, HP, Ubuntu and Redhat. We are honoured to have been recognised alongside these huge global names that are leading the revolution in cloud-based solutions to consumers and business customers."

Awards organiser Larry Johnson said: "We've welcomed a significant number of entries this year with a very high standard of submissions. To make the shortlist is an honour and a major achievement."

Final SaaS Awards winners will be announced on Tuesday 9th August 2016.

DMSL has signed-up more than 100 resellers for Virgin Media Business's ultrafast services in the first three months of working with the company.

It has also launched a new set of promotions with the aim of driving more interest and activity.

"Resellers have responded with enthusiasm to the Virgin Media Business ultrafast value proposition," said John Carter, Managing Director of DMSL.

"We are already building a healthy pipeline of business and helping resellers to get ahead of the game."