Comms Dealer

Olive Communications has secured a partnership with global beauty manufacturer Coty which will see the High Wycombe-based Managed Communications Provider handle all integrated communications for Coty globally.

With international traffic accounting for 60% of all voice and data used by Coty's workforce, both on fixed line and mobile devices, Olive has been chosen to implement a bespoke package that expertly manages Coty's domestic and international communications requirements in the UK and abroad.

The Olive managed solution will optimise domestic charging across UK fixed and mobile services with Vodafone, with the added benefit of predictable roaming communications when UK employees operate abroad, ensuring Coty employees do not incur unpredictable roaming charges, whilst at the same time allowing their permanent internationally-based staff to have a local number and not experience bill shock when travelling back to the UK.

Olive, through its billing management portal (OBM), will be able to proactively manage expenditure when Coty's workforce operates in the UK, splitting their integrated communications between their UK network and Truphone.

Martin Flick, Olive's Chief Executive, said: "Coty's requirement is not unique but does require management of a hybrid solution to achieve maximum value.

"We are looking forward to working alongside them and our strategic partners to offer a bespoke integrated communications solution for both their UK and European workforce."

Almost half (48%) of IT managers would move away from their current connectivity or virtualisation providers if they needed help to implement a new disaster recovery strategy, according to a survey by Timico.

The most popular port of call was an independent consultant (18%) followed by an entirely new IT provider (17%), while a specialist disaster recovery company was the favoured option for 10% of IT managers. The remaining 3% would use another unspecified option.

This suggests that the disaster recovery market is open to the channel, with customers currently spreading their loyalty across a wide range of options.

The research coincides with the roll out of Timico's Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) solution, which is available for resale in the channel.

DRaaS is a cloud-based and scalable service which negates the need to replicate a secondary environment - making it much cheaper and simpler to deploy than traditional disaster recovery services.

Darren Hilton, Director of Partner Services at Timico, said: "Our research seems to suggest that there is still a lot of confusion surrounding disaster recovery, with customers unsure of who to turn to. This means that existing IT and virtualisation providers could be missing out on the opportunity to provide additional services to existing customers.

"There is still a perception that disaster recovery is very expensive, and a bit of a nightmare to implement. However, by using a cloud-based system, testing and updates can be done quickly and cheaply. Everyone knows the risks of not investing in disaster recovery - and now it's easier than ever to make sure your business is adequately protected."

Those surveyed were asked to select the key priorities to consider when choosing a Disaster Recovery partner: 34% of respondents highlighted flexibility among their choices, service level agreements (32%), support (22.67%) and resilience (18%). A further 15% said online support tools were a key selling point and 11% appreciate a UK-based provider.

The most popular virtualisation platform providers were VMware, with just under 50% of those surveyed using it, whilst XenServer and Hyper-V were both relied upon by just over 20% of respondents.

Over three-quarters (76%) of senior IT leaders in the UK, France and Germany feel more personal risk when making decisions than they did five years ago because of IT's increasingly central role in businesses, a study commissioned by Colt reveals.

Meanwhile, 77% of CIOs say that pivotal moments in a business calendar (rather than day-to-day performance) define their career trajectories. This is compounding the sense of vulnerability felt during key decision-making moments, as highlighted in Colt's recent ‘Moments that Matter' study.

The study findings reveal a discrepancy in CIOs' perceptions of personal/career and company risk. The areas where this is seen are:

• Creating the business case for change is more important for the company than the career of the CIO - 35% ‘company' risk against 28% ‘personal' risk.

• Selecting the right team and skills is considered key to personal success - 39% ‘company' risk against 48% ‘personal' risk.

• Communicating with internal and external stakeholders is undervalued - 27% ‘company' risk against 19% ‘personal' risk.

The study also shows that the majority (73%) of CIOs believe the personal risk they experience is mitigated when working with a team they trust. Trust is also very important when dealing with external teams, as the majority of respondents (85%) believe technology issues are sometimes inevitable. A partner proves its value when things go wrong, they understand the impact of service interruption and act accordingly.

Carl Grivner, EVP at Colt said: "The advent of digitalisation and changing role of IT are clearly having an effect on the personal risk IT leaders experience. Playing such a pivotal role in the overall success of the company, IT leaders know that the boardroom has eyes on the key moments that will determine their success.

"But this increased responsibility also means CIOs feel more vulnerable than five years ago. They are facing a new set of challenges - their ability to drive change and innovate will determine the success of the business and ultimately make or break their career. Building a team with the right skills and working with trusted suppliers that know the business inside out, will allow the CIO to take this weight off their shoulders and make the decisions that matter most to their careers."

Virgin Media has launched a programme to identify and support the most innovative and disruptive digital start-ups from around the world.

In partnership with Techstars, a global technology accelerator organisation, the Virgin Media Accelerator is a three-month mentorship-driven programme designed to support companies working on innovative businesses.

Applicants can apply online with the deadline on 9th January 2016. Ten start-ups will be chosen to take part in the accelerator programme which will involve an intense, 13 week mentorship and guidance programme.

This will give the start-ups access to senior experts from Virgin Media and its parent company Liberty Global, as well as Techstars' global network of more than 7,000 founders, mentors, investors and corporate partners.

Once the 13 week programme has been completed, the 10 start-ups will take part in a Demo Day in London, where they will each pitch to some of the world's leading investors for the chance to raise capital and secure investment in their businesses.

Start-ups involved in a range of digital sectors are encouraged to apply. They could be involved in the Internet of Things, telecom infrastructures, customer data and experience, social enterprise, connected homes, connected goods and services, interactive home experiences, connected business services, home health and wellness, and connectivity for social good.

Virgin Media Accelerator powered by Techstars is sponsored by Liberty Global, the parent company of Virgin Media, and will be run in conjunction with Virgin Media Business, the arm of Virgin Media that provides products and services to start-ups and small business in the UK.

Virgin Media Business also manages Pitch to Rich, the annual entrepreneur competition to find the most innovative start-ups and small businesses from any sector, not just digital, who win a slice of a £1m cash prize. Virgin Media Business last week launched a report, 'The UK's £92 billion Digital Opportunity', which revealed digital technologies could boost the UK economy by 2.5% of GDP (or £92bn), as well as creating over a million new jobs across all industries over the next two years.

Peter Kelly, Managing Director, Virgin Media Business, said: "With the support of our parent company, Liberty Global, and our new partner, Techstars, we're delighted to support this exciting programme in the UK. Supporting businesses of all sizes is at the heart of Virgin Media's purpose. Virgin Media Accelerator will give the most exciting digital start-ups a phenomenal opportunity to learn, develop and grow."

Bruce Dines, Vice President, Liberty Global Ventures, said: "Innovation and the infinite possibilities offered by a connected world lie at the very heart of our business, which is why we're proud to partner with Techstars to launch the first ever Virgin Media Accelerator programme.

"There are endless possibilities for the kind of companies who should apply to this programme - we are interested in driving innovation, convenience and social well-being across our consumer and business connected world. We look forward to working with the best start-ups in the world to help them bring their brilliant ideas to life."

David Cohen, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Techstars, said: "New technologies enabled by improved networking and connectivity have become critical in all aspects of our personal and professional lives."

SMEs need to take cyber security seriously or face being frozen out of the procurement process, according to a KPMG survey
 
SMEs risk being disqualified from bidding for work because of the lack of importance they are placing on looking after their valuable client data, finds a survey of procurement managers by KPMG.
 
A multi-sector KPMG survey of 175 procurement managers across the UK from organisations with over 250 employees revealed that the general consensus (70%) of procurement managers is that SMEs should be doing more to prevent cyber attacks and protect valuable client data.
 
The vast majority (86%) of respondents said they would consider removing an SME supplier if they were hacked and nearly all of the respondents (94%) confirmed that cyber security standards are important when awarding contracts to SME suppliers. 
 
George Quigley, Partner in KPMG's cyber security practice, commented: "Cyber security is not just a technical issue anymore, it has become a business critical issue for the UK's SMEs. 

"Larger companies are placing an increased emphasis on the cyber security of their suppliers and increasingly the onus is on SMEs to show that they are tackling this issue head on.
 
"Unfortunately many SME still take a blasé approach towards cyber security and mistakenly don't see themselves as targets of cyber criminals. Unless these organisations take a more mature approach towards cyber security now, they face the risk of being frozen out of lucrative supplier contracts."
 
Already two-thirds of procurement managers ask their suppliers to demonstrate cyber accreditations (ISO27001, Cyber Essentials, IASME certifications or PCI DDS) as a part of their procurement assessment, with this number likely to increase in the near future. 

In addition, SMEs are increasingly being asked to self-fund their own accreditations. In the absence of accreditation, two-fifths (41%) of procurement managers expect their suppliers to pay for their own accreditations and reach a certain level of cyber maturity in the near future.
 
Quigley added: "In order for businesses to be awarded some public sector contracts they already have to demonstrate a certain level of cyber maturity and this is increasingly becoming the norm in the private sector as well. Companies are also embedding cyber security in their supplier contracts with about half (47%) of existing contracts already stating that suppliers are contractually obliged to tell if they have been hacked. 

"This means that if a SME supplier is breached and doesn't deal with it appropriately, they could be looking at the termination of an existing supplier contract.
 
"The government is looking to increase the cyber maturity of UK businesses, with accreditations like the Cyber Essentials Scheme. We can only expect the bar to be raised higher in the coming years. There is no time like the present for SMEs to start taking the  initial steps towards increasing their level of cyber maturity."

Avnet says it had strong performance in the September quarter as revenue came in at the high-end of expectations at both operating groups driven by strength in our EMEA region.

Both EM and TS EMEA grew revenue over 15% year-over-year in constant currency and even when you adjust for the estimated impact of our extra week, our combined EMEA region's organic growth was over 11% in constant currency.

Driven by the strong growth in EMEA revenue grew 8.4% year-over-year in constant currency to $7 billion which equated to a 1.9% reported increase.

Avnet TS EMEA grew revenues 16.1% in constant currency year-over-year and organic revenue increased 6.4% in constant currency driven by growth in our central and eastern regions.

Patrick Zammit - President, Technology Solutions, Global says that he sees TS EMEA market conditions "remaining solid".

"We feel pretty confident across the board on the guidance at this stage.

"Europe came out of the crisis later than in the US and we believe the investment cycle has been delayed so what we see is that companies have delayed investments because of cash flow issues and uncertainty about the future. Outlooks are improving in Europe and so the investment cycle especially for IT is accelerating so that's one thing.

"On the margin the reason for the slight decline in margin is a pure mix issue in fact we had significant growth in Southern Europe and Eastern Europe and the margins are slightly lower than in the West and in the South."

Ingram Micro's Q2 revenues came in at $10.5bn, within the guidance range and representing an increase of 2% on a currency-neutral basis.

The strengthening of the dollar had an 8% negative impact on revenues in dollar terms. Recent acquisitions contributed 2 percentage points of growth.

Gross margin was 6.31%, a 56 basis point improvement over last year.

Europe revenue of $2.9bn was up 8% year-over-year on a currency neutral basis, but down 8% in dollars.

Local currency revenue strength was driven by strong iPhone demand and solid sales of advanced and specialty solutions.

Additionally, the acquisition of ANOVO added 2 percentage points of growth. Demand in Germany, the largest regional contributor, improved in Q3 with strength from corporate resellers in categories including networking, data capture point-of-sale and mobility.

France and the UK also contributed strong growth and Italy and Spain delivered double-digit growth supported by an uptick in advanced solution sales in both countries and strong mobility sales in Italy.

Non-GAAP operating margin was 62 basis points. The European technology solutions business continues to deliver year-over-year improvement with expanding gross and operating margins, Ingram Micro says. However, this progress was diluted by efforts to build out the higher margin strategic businesses, including in mobility and to expand the cloud marketplace throughout the region.

CEO Alain Monie said: "For Q4, we continue to see stable markets globally, and we expect demand for higher value solutions to continue to outpace average IT growth rates. In our core business, we expect SMB to remain healthy broadly."

Sennheiser has unveiled its new wired headset series Culture Plus, designed to maximise the adoption of Unified Communications solutions, and certified for Skype for Business while compatible with all major UC and softphone brands.

Sennheiser Voice Clarity, which is based on wideband sound, provides a natural listening experience while the noise-cancelling microphone ensures optimum speech intelligibility by filtering out ambient noise. Sound enhancement profiles automatically adjust to optimise for either voice or multimedia, and with advanced ActiveGard technology, users are protected against acoustic shock and sudden sound bursts.

Calls can be managed intuitively and seamlessly via the functional in-line control unit, which also operates the switchable Noise at Work limiter compliant with EU's Noise at Work Directive. When not in use, the headset can be stored and transported in a practical carry pouch.

"Headsets are an important consideration in any UC deployment," says Lars Riis Rasmussen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, EMEA, at Sennheiser CC&O.

"Culture Plus is for organisations that want their office workers to rapidly adopt headsets in a UC environment. It combines Sennheiser sound quality and instant wearing comfort for a communications experience that will make it easier to enjoy the benefits and achieve the full potential of UC solutions."

The addition of the Culture Plus wired series complements Sennheiser CC&O's product portfolio of headset and speakerphone solutions for contact centres, office and UC environments.

Ghosts, ghouls and scary characters roamed the offices of comms specialist Nimans as a Halloween inspired theme day proved a 'spooktacular' success.

Ghoulish games, themed cakes and a pumpkin making competition proved popular as staff from across the business entered into the 'spirit' of the day, arriving for work as witches, monsters, scary film characters, zombies, Kiss rock stars and even a set of Mrs Brown's Boys lookalikes. Company Chairman Julian Niman also joined in the fun.

"We have many great characters, although they don't normally look this scary," joked Investors In People Manager Sue Goldfine.

A network security solution launched by Daisy Wholesale is certified against the regulations of PCI compliance, a compulsory requirement for all businesses that take card payments.

Called DaisySentry, the solution comes at a time when data breaches are again making the headlines.

"For resellers that are already selling broadband connections, DaisySentry provides a great value-add opportunity, with no internal upskill requirement," said Nick Harvey, Business Development Manager at Daisy Wholesale.

"Cybercrime is on the rise and it is not just large corporate businesses that fall victim to data breaches. The 2015 UK Government Data Breach Report claimed that 74% of small businesses had reported that they had suffered a security breach and these can be devastating for a business. Not only can they ruin the trust between a business and its customers, but the cost to the business can range upwards of £75k on average in the SMB space1."

Cybercrime has become a regular tenant in the headlines of late and for the very first time, the Office for National Statistics has included an estimate of fraud offences in its annual report. It published an estimate of five million instances of fraud last year in England and Wales - half of which are reported to be cybercrime offences.

"In our experience, there are a lot of businesses that aren't even doing the basics when it comes to securing their data networks," added Harvey. "Particularly in the SMB space, they struggle to find adequate security solutions without the in-house IT expertise."

DaisySentry simplifies the process of securing and managing a business' local area network (LAN) through an automated and fully-managed service, essentially taking the burden off the end customer.

Harvey concluded: "Built with the SMB market in mind, it provides enterprise-class network security at a low monthly cost - there are no large upfront sums involved. Customers can be safe in the knowledge that DaisySentry is providing network security and addressing the technical requirements of PCI and can concentrate on running their business."

The DaisySentry device provides firewalls, WiFi and LAN segments, 4G failover, VPN and content filtering - all managed via a cloud management portal that enforces pre-configured security templates.

With built-in Daisy WiFi, the customer is also able to provide compliant public hot spots and in turn enhance their customers' shopping experience, said the firm.