Comms Dealer

A one-stop hardware and software supply proposition introduced by Daisy Group aims to secure the total comms and IT spend of customers.

Headed up by Daisy's Director of Group Vendor Alliances & Supply Chain Services Jeff Palmer, the new Supply Chain Services operation is moving to a purpose-built office at the Group's Nottingham site.

The unit has already begun trading around 200,000 products from over 4,000 suppliers, ranging from data storage to laptops, desktops, printers and headsets. Palmer aims to create a £100m turnover business within the next three years.

"Whatever technology products a business needs to function, Daisy's Supply Chain Services can now offer via a process that adds value to every customer engagement," he said.

"Many of our customers are buying other technology-related products elsewhere. That doesn't make any sense for them and it makes even less sense for us.

"The advantage of Supply Chain Services for our customers is that they transact with just one company that they already know and do business with."

US security specialist Unitrends has named Zycko as its EMEA distributor.

Unitrends is 100% channel and offers cloud-powered backup and continuity solutions.

Talking to IT Europa, Mike Dalton, senior vice-president of international sales at Unitrends says it has a sweet spot in the mid-market, though it sells its products to everyone from SMB to enterprise, offering both software and physical appliances in what it calls continuity solutions.

He says a key feature which is attractive to partners is its ability to work with both physical and virtual drives, on premise and in the cloud. "Not all vendors can do this," he says.

In particular he points to the attraction of offering SLAs with user-set terms as to time to restore, using either its own hosting sites, whether in the US, the UK or Germany, or using Amazon Web Services.

In this market, word of mouth is a key driver of new business. As part of its recently announced channel programme, Unitrends has said it will reward partners who are active in social media, promoting use of the products and engaging in discussions, he confirms.

David Galton-Fenzi, CEO of Zycko, says: "We aim to choose best in class, and there is a great synergy between our two companies - we both have a focus on networking, cloud continuity and recovery, and we share a common approach to the market." Since Zycko has AWS cerfication, it can offer this model of backup to its partners. The only certification required by Unitrends is for those partners wanting to sell its Boomerang virtual machine mover.

Unitrends announced in March 2016 that it grew its cloud business 250% year-on-year, says David Galton-Fenzi. "They are looking to replicate that success in the wider EMEA marketplace. At Zycko, we are uniquely placed to help Unitrends achieve that goal, though access to our established pan-EMEA channel network, and experienced sales, marketing and technical teams."

Paul Eccleston, head of Rigby Private Equity, owner of Zycko and distributor Wick Hill says: "The appointment of Zycko by Unitrends is a significant step forward for our expansion plans. Customers are asking for simplification in this market and we have seen this in other product areas such as apps performance management and networking. It also demonstrates that there is a strong need for a pan-EMEA distributor that can work with companies wanting to expand and grow internationally."

He adds that RPE is supporting the expansion of support teams at Zycko, building up its cloud capabilities.

It is also clear that the backup market is spreading beyond traditional channels and partners and that these companies are gearing up to address the backup and compliance for the wall of data expected to be generated by industrial scale data generation and capture.

Exponential-e has kicked off a five-a-side tournament for channel partners in a bid to raise funds for the Macmillan Cancer Trust. The first Channel Charity Cup was hosted at West Ham's Boleyn Ground and was one of the last games to be played at the stadium before the club relocates.

"The launch of the Channel Charity Cup raises awareness and support for causes that have an affinity with our customers and staff," said Michala Hart, Head of Channel Strategy at Exponential-e. "We also wanted to organise something that would enable us to get more involved with our channel partners."

Pictured: Tournament winner Focus Group.

RingCentral has rolled out Global Office to UK customers and bolstered support for local developers.

Global Office is a single global UCaaS solution designed for multi-national businesses.

"Connecting workforces across multiple countries, RingCentral Global Office reduces the complexity and high costs of maintaining multiple, legacy on-premise PBX systems with a single cloud solution," stated John Marlow, MD EMEA at RingCentral.

"Businesses no longer need to struggle with the onerous and expensive task of figuring out how to deploy their communications infrastructure globally.

"With the realities of a global and mobile workforce distributed across multiple offices, often in different countries, enterprises need a flexible, mobile-centric UC solution that fosters a collaborative working environment and scales globally.

"With the launch of RingCentral Global Office in the UK, local businesses now have the tools to communicate across multiple global offices for a single monthly cost."

RingCentral is also expanding support for its RingCentral Developer Programme in the UK.

Rising star car racer Josh Webster, son of Nine Wholesale MD Nick, secured a first win for the Renault RSO1 in the GT Open Series and his second win at Spa on May 23rd.

The 22-year-old received a last minute call on 21st May asking him to drive alongside ex-F1 racer Nicky Pastorelli at the International GT Open at Spa Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, the next day. They finished the race in second place before taking the flag the day after.

Webster commented: "What a feeling to cross the line as the winners! The V8 Racing team and GP Extreme were absolutely delighted with the win and it felt amazing to be back on the top step of the podium at Spa alongside Nicky after such a fantastic race."

VoIP and hosted dialler services are key to unlocking the full potential of cloud-based recurring revenue sales with 300% increases up for grabs, according to Hostcomm.

The company is hosting two webinars this month that will outline the three steps resellers should follow to significantly increase billable VoIP minutes, open up new revenue streams via value added dialler services and wrap workflow automation into the solutions.

"Diallers aren't just for making automated calls and they're no longer only used by contact centres," stated Chris Key, Director at Hostcomm. "For agents and sales teams, they turn making calls into a convenient one-click process, driving productivity.

"For managers, it's easier to delve into detailed reports about performance on an organisational, team or per-salesperson basis. Work can be quantified, tracked and measured effectively. And managers are empowered to make real-time changes as and when they need to.

"Over time, as that becomes the standard way to work and drives performance, it creates new efficiencies for customers and profit for partners."

The webinars will take place on 15th and 22nd June. Click link for more information

http://marketing.hostcomm.co.uk/acton/media/22154/3-steps-to-boosting-voip-recurring-revenue-wbs

Cloud-based security specialist iSheriff has named Simon Carr as Director of Sales for EMEA.

He joins from CMS Distribution and prior to that worked at Bell Micro, Ideal Hardware and Digicorp.

Carr is the latest addition to the iSheriff team and follows the recent appointment of industry veteran Carrie Roberts to the position of Vice President of Global Sales.

Isheriff says this is part of a growth strategy for expanding its local presence in the region. Simon Carr will be driving sales through existing and new channel partners for iSheriff's scalable, SaaS solution to protect endpoints, web and email.

"He will play a major role in empowering our resellers, distributors and integrators to meet the growing demand for robust and reliable cloud-based security solutions. High-margin revenue streams will also be a focus for us within EMEA," said John Mutch, CEO at iSherif.

iSheriff recently announced the release of iSheriff Complete, aimed at small and medium sized enterprises, offering a cyber security platform with no up-front costs and managed through an interface with a single set of enforceable security policies.

"Faced with increasing multi-vector threats and the success of Software-as-a-Service models, companies are turning to cloud-based platforms to deliver scalable, real-time protection," said Carr.

"iSheriff removes potential malware and viruses before they ever reach the network, allowing our customers to focus on running their business."

Large numbers of employees are circumventing IT, with 40% of workers currently using their personal smartphones for work and 69% claiming their personal tech is better than the options available at work. That's according to the new App Generation report launched by business communications provider Fuze.

The Fuze report, which examines the expectations of technology in the workplace through a survey of 5,000 workers and 2,500 teens across Europe, reveals the extent to which employees are now bringing their own devices, regardless of whether they have been approved by IT.

In addition to using personal mobile phones, 32% of UK workers use personal laptops for work, while 21% provide their own tablet computers.

The same is true of software and applications, with many employees ignoring IT policies and installing personal applications that have not been approved for business use. This includes 32% who are using instant messaging, 25% regularly making video calls and 21% using cloud storage, all without their IT departments' permission.

Commenting on the issue of shadow IT, Luca Lazzaron, Senior VP of International Operations for Fuze, said: "IT departments across Europe are faced with a stark choice, improve business technology or expect to be cut out of the loop.

"Unlike the employees of ten or 15 years ago, App Generation workers are not afraid to adopt their own technology. These are individuals who have grown up surrounded by laptops, iPhones and internet applications and the idea of installing an app to get something done comes naturally. IT departments do not represent security or consistency, they represent slow bureaucracies and unnecessary barriers.

"Businesses need to accept the demands of the workforce are changing. This means providing the latest technologies that ensure young workers, and in fact every employee, can work in the way they want to, but within the safe confines of a secure, managed IT environment. Until this middle ground is achieved, IT departments will continue to be circumvented by the new generation."

Worcestershire-based telecommunications firm Armstrong Bell has provided a new telephone system to South Bromsgrove School, improving connectivity across the school and enabling it to exploit new technologies.

Replacing a costly and inflexible ISDN system, Armstrong Bell supplied and installed a hosted VoIP solution complete with a package of features and benefits to support the school's internal and external communications.

With 150 staff and 1,300 students, the school required a local supplier that could provide a system that was easily adaptable, would provide advanced call handling features and one that would exploit the school's existing high-speed broadband connection.

Janet Lines, facilities manager at South Bromsgrove School, said: "Phones are an important service that we have to have, and our old ISDN system was archaic. Every time we wanted to make a change, such as someone's name on the system, we had to have people come in to do it, making maintenance of the system slow and expensive. We needed something that would allow us to make use of our high-speed internet connection, introduce voicemail for all staff and allow us to use headsets - something our previous system didn't support."

The system has put control of the phones back in the school's hands through an online portal. The addition of an auto attendant allows messages to be put onto an automated system, passing information to pupils and parents when they call. Phones can also be moved across the site, allowing for a phone to be set up wherever there is access to a data point. Integration with Microsoft Outlook allows for users to make calls directly from their computers.

William Copley, MD at Armstrong Bell, said: "Being local to the school really gave us an edge. We were able to visit the school, provide training and support, and demonstrate the system to them before they committed.

"Our team worked closely with the school's facilities and network managers to provide a smooth transition to the new system, keeping downtime to a minimum. A team of three Armstrong Bell engineers installed the system out of school time and we provided a full day of training for staff on the first day back."

After claiming a successful initial launch of the MatrixCube in Belgium this past year, Minkels is extending it to the Netherlands.

The Dutch market launch will then be followed by other countries including Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom and global export regions.

The Minkels MatrixCube is an modular data centre solution with racks, cooling, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), Power Distribution Units (PDUs), cable management and monitoring systems.

Minkels' customer research showed that not all companies are ready for outsourcing their IT infrastructure. Many of them prefer to keep their IT infrastructure, in whole or in part, within their own organisation.

This is the reason that Minkels and its parent company Legrand have developed the MatrixCube - aimed to be a turnkey and reliable mini data centre that is easy to set up. This mini data centre solution is now available in Belgium and the Netherlands, with other countries to follow in Europe and beyond.

"The new fully integrated solution meets the needs of small and medium sized companies that want to keep their IT infrastructure within the four walls of their organisation," says Vincent Liebe, Marketing Manager at Minkels.

"The MatrixCube is also well-suited for companies that want to keep parts of their hybrid IT infrastructure in-house, or some of it in the cloud.

"We will first introduce the MatrixCube to the Dutch market, followed by other countries where Minkels is active, including Switzerland and the United Kingdom. After that, we will introduce the MatrixCube globally depending on customer demand."