Comms Dealer

Global research by Freeform Dynamics shows strong adoption of intelligent machines used for automating and optimising business and IT processes.

The research found that 92% of IT professionals surveyed recognise the technology is now central to the success of their business, but 68% acknowledge it raises new concerns about network security, access and controls.

According to the research, investment in intelligent business systems and automation is well underway across the globe. The top current application deployment areas cited by respondents include digital customer engagement systems (55%), process automation and workflow systems (52%), and automated risk monitoring and management solutions (50%).

Despite the speed of adoption, the study reveals that IT decision makers are finding it difficult to assess the full extent of the risks, challenges and threats posed by intelligent business systems.

Security concerns (33%), funding constraints (30%) and lack of knowledge (24%) were all identified as areas of worry and named as primary obstacles to adoption and use.

To give just one example, a fifth of respondents (20%) said increased 'noise' on the network is making it harder to detect malicious activity, with automated/bot access to APIs causing system/application issues and creating unexpected security exposures.

"Organisations are harnessing the transformative powers of intelligent systems to gain competitive advantage.

"But IT decision makers recognise that, while a force for good, these technologies also expose the enterprise to new internal and external risk vectors," said Tony Lock, Distinguished Analyst at Freeform Dynamics.

"As the pace of adoption increases, there will be no escaping the impact of intelligent systems on the enterprise - regardless of whether or not organisations directly invest in such technologies."

Michael Hack, SVP of EMEA Operations at Ipswitch, added: "IT professionals should approach intelligent machines with their eyes wide open. As network managers grow more confident with intelligent systems, they will become increasingly willing to tackle more complex applications.

"However, they need to ensure they have the right tools in place to enable intelligent systems and support the IT team to manage the impact of internal and external intelligent automation effectively."

Exclusive Group's Non-Executive Board Director Neil Ledger has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, recognising his efforts in raising more than £300,000 for over 40 local and national charities over the last 20 years.

Armed with a simple idea of combining his passion of golf with comedy and business, Ledger created an annual charity event that has become one of the highlights within the IT channel calendar attracting people from all corners of the UK, Europe and the US.

"I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive this award," he said. "It just seemed obvious to me that we could bring successful people from the IT industry and channel together, look after them for the day and encourage them to give a little back to those who need it most.

"It has been its own reward, and I've made great friends along the way.

"I've loved every minute, and this year's event will be particularly special. But this hasn't all been down to me alone and I'd like to dedicate this accolade to all the people who have helped organise the events over the years, all those who have donated auction prizes and finally all the people who have dug deep and donated to so many worthy causes."

A market worth up to £40m could be unlocked by the sale of two-way radios according to Nimans.

The distributor says today's two-way radio solutions offer full integration with telephone systems and can perform seamless functions not available via other devices.

"There's a perception in some quarters that two-way radios are yesterday's technology and limited to niche markets, but that's not the case," stated Radio Communications Category Manager, Gary Redshaw.

"From leisure centres and shopping malls to warehouses, car parks, building sites and schools, demand is on the rise."

Nimans supplies licenced and licence free equipment with both Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) and Private Mobile Radio (PMR) devices available. It works with brands such as Hytera, Icom and Motorola.

"We've sold two-way radios for many years but we are now able to offer resellers access to more powerful licenced equipment that can communicate over much longer distances," added Redshaw.

"Depending on the model, two-way radios have the ability to integrate with telephone systems and also Wi-Fi. They can link the whole of the communication chain together, offering more than one-to-one communication as they can connect many relevant parties across multiple sites, similar to a conference unit.

"DMR is gaining market traction and represents the next generation in two-way radio services. Some DMR devices can switch back to analogue too for maximum user flexibility and convenience. Two-way radios are the final piece of the comms puzzle."

Comms resellers have an advantage over traditional radio installers who often look upon telecoms as a 'black art', reckons Redshaw.

"There are no radio dealers treading on the toes of telecoms dealers," he explained. "There's less competition and margin erosion. Incremental business, attractive margins and maintenance contracts for recurring revenue can all be enjoyed.

"Industry experts highlight how there's £40m of untapped UK sales out there this year. The advent of digital is worth £20m alone with the upgrade from analogue."

 The strategic direction of Avaya's UK business is now in the hands of Steve Rafferty (pictured) following his appointment as MD of the region, reporting to Ronald Rubens, Vice President for Northern Europe.

Immediately prior to his appointment Rafferty was Vice President of Service Providers and Systems Integrators for Avaya in the EU region.

He brings 25-plus years experience in the telecoms and enterprise software space, having also worked in senior sales roles for BT and SCC.

Previous roles include stints at ArmourSoft and Software AG before joining Avaya in April 2015.

Rubens stated: "We have seen Steve transform his teams to deliver deeper engagement with customers, and we look forward to seeing his skills in action in the UK market."

Lanarkshire-based Provista UK is to deploy and manage a Cisco collaboration solution
at the Glasgow Science Centre helping to improve the prospects of students developing their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills.

The collaboration technology will allow students and teachers to seamlessly connect, communicate and network with scientists from around the world through voice and video.

It will also allow visitors to the Glasgow Science Centre to join seminars as well as share experience and knowledge with experts around the globe.

Provista UK Director Stuart Little said: "There can be no better venue in Glasgow to champion science and STEM learning so are delighted to support GSC in partnership with Cisco.

"As a young but growing Scottish company we know the benefits of having a highly skilled and locally sourced workforce who are at the cutting-edge of STEM knowledge.

"We look forward to working with GSC in the future and enabling the best possible learning environment for the benefit of all who will visit and use the new facilities."

Dr Stephen Breslin, Chief Executive at Glasgow Science Centre, said: "The equipment and technology will allow pupils at the Science Centre to meet and engage with experts working in the STEM industry from anywhere in the world using the telepresence technology.

"It could be an engineer working on an oil rig in the North Sea, a physicist at CERN, a scientist at NASA or a researcher from a university. The possibilities are endless.

"We want to inspire young people to develop an interest in STEM subjects and enable them to pursue rewarding and exciting careers within the industry. This new programme element will help us bring these jobs to life in real time and demonstrate the many varied careers that are available to our young people."

Plantronics has agreed an out of court settlement with Corporate Direct (Europe), trading as Corptel based in Manchester, in connection with claims relating to the sale of non-EU Plantronics products that infringed EU trademark laws.

Details of the settlement remain confidential but the headset maker confirmed that Corptel had cooperated in addressing the claims and affirmed that it bought the goods in the UK believing them to be genuine.

Gigaclear aims to quadruple its customer base using the cloud-based ContactWorld for Service solution from NewVoiceMedia

Gigaclear provides ultra-fast fibre broadband - up to 1,000 Mbps - to rural properties, and has seen a big increase in business over the last year.

NewVoiceMedia offered Gigaclear a solution to help the company cope with its projected rise in call volumes.

NewVoiceMedia's ContactWorld for Service solution with Salesforce integration intelligently routes incoming calls based on Salesforce data, meaning they can be handled by the most appropriate advisor, improving handling time and customer satisfaction.

Real-time reporting, analytics and call recording functionality offer visibility of contact volumes, advisor performance and customer experience.

Keith Floodgate, Head of Customer Care at Gigaclear, stated: "People don't want to wait in queues. We track abandoned calls and the percentage of calls answered and have stringent targets which we now routinely meet.

"With call reporting we can also ensure we always have agents available at peak times, and agents are happier because ContactWorld is delivering calls in a structured, measured way."

  The Chess annual Summer Conference, staged at Manchester's Comedy Store, welcomed 550 people including those from its latest acquisitions Lanway and Pinnacle.

Speakers at the event included Chess founder and CEO David Pollock who spoke about the company's passion for technology, and Jodie Benson from the Princes Trust (one of Chess's chosen charities) who talked about how Chess's passion for fundraising has supported the Trust and what that's meant to her.

The overarching message delivered was for Chess People to reflect on how their Passion and energy can have a positive effect on others.

Pollock commented: "2016 has been an outstanding year for us so far. We've been re-listed as a Sunday Times Best Company to work for and this year were placed 2nd in the whole of the UK, an achievement I class as my proudest to date.

"The success we've achieved over the last few years has been down to our people and their commitment to our business, tirelessly going above and beyond for our customers. I strongly believe that if our people aren't growing we aren't growing.

We're an ambitious organisation with a desire to grow and we challenge ourselves every day to be the best of the best.

"Our conference outlined our ambitions for the rest of the year and how we want to continue to make Chess a great place to be a customer."

Chess also gave away three holidays as part of its ‘Gimme 5' recognition scheme under which employees are awarded a token for good deeds in customer service.

Picking up the prizes were Mel Hoy, Colin Dutton and Dan Savill (pictured with Pollock) who chose to witness the Northern Lights this year as their reward.

Nimans' in-house leasing division has reported a rise in demand for operational leases especially in the education sector.

Nimans is now authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and resellers working in the education sector are taking advantage of the company's capabilities and broad reach of services, according to Tom Maxwell, Head of Dealer Sales.

"Funding for local authority schools has changed following instructions from the Department For Education where they must now include an operating lease," he stated.

"This is where the end user only pays back 90% of the value of the lease in their rentals, so someone has to take a residual value risk, which makes the lease cheaper."

He also noted Nimans can lease on software-based technologies as well as hardware, and on big and small items including headsets and mobile phones.

"Sales aid leasing is fast becoming a major factor in any successful sales strategy," stated Maxwell.

"Adding a lease option with a reputable finance partner to a product can significantly enhance sales and overcome customer's budget restrictions. It's not about selling finance it's a way to win more business."

Ingram Micro has seen an unexpected shift to cloud, says its northern European Cloud Director Apay Obang-Oyway, indicating that as a percentage of partner's business it is hitting 30-40% (up from around 13% at the end of last year), and the distributor is adding new types of partner driven by cloud.

It comes as the distribution giant is upping its game in the cloud market, this week adding Dropbox Business in the UK, with other parts of Europe to follow in the next quarter.

Through the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, channel partners can purchase, configure, and manage Dropbox Business for file sharing and collaboration services, via a single automated platform.

Dropbox itself is probably well known to channels, he agrees, and this global agreement with Ingram Micro is not seen as disruptive, but the way firms can now collaborate securely makes it a logical step from the use of Office365, especially when looking at organisation working over multiple devices.

"Fast-growing cloud resellers are not our traditional type of partner," said Obang-Oyway.

"Looking at our top ten partners, there are some new faces. Looking back 3-5 years, we hardly knew them."

The cloud ecosystem which he is building will sell the wider portfolio of products, and will support the regulatory environment and services but it is also asking for help.

"It's a different conversation we have with their leaders, however," added Obang-Oyway. "The partners want to know a lot more on transforming their own businesses. We're having discussions on strategy, and they want to be more competitive in marketing and using social media."