Comms Dealer

Trovus, a Logicalis company and provider of analytics dashboard solutions, has formed a strategic partnership with international business analytics firm SAS, joining its Alliance programme.

Ed Charvet, Head of Information Insights Business Unit at Logicalis, and formerly managing director of Trovus, said: "In many organisations, responsibility for data is still unclear. The tug of war between IT and line of business leaders is a common experience. Trovus and Logicalis talk the language of both. We can engage all stakeholders, ensure the seamless integration of data throughout the business, and help business leaders mine data insights.

"It's a top to bottom approach that maximises the effectiveness of a data strategy, allowing organisations to quickly identify and action the insights that enable transformation and create competitive advantage."

Richard Bradbury, SAS' Alliances Director in the UK, added: "When searching for partners we look for companies with both the right level of expertise and a fundamental understanding of analytics that will help end users create better, more informed business decisions. 

"Logicalis' global market reach and heritage in retail, financial, public and professional services are also industries for which SAS is committed to developing sector specific solutions."

Managed services company IT Specialists (ITS) has secured a contract to provide financial mutual Wesleyan and its team of financial advisers with IT support and services, whether they are working from home or travelling up and down the country.

Peter Wren, Head of IT at Wesleyan, said: "With a team of 400 financial consultants across the UK, it is vital they have access to IT support wherever they are in the country. This partnership with ITS enables us to provide a level of cover and support that will benefit both our staff and customers."

Matt Kingswood, Head of UK operations at ITS, added: "Nationwide IT support is highly important to information-based businesses such as Wesleyan, where loss of data would have a significant and negative business impact.

"We are delighted to support Wesleyan's remote workers with our break-fix service whereby we troubleshoot issues with laptops and other hardware."

"Our services are designed to fill the IT management overhead gap many SMEs experience. We can effectively cover the hours the business demands, support multiple locations and provide the skills necessary for comprehensive IT support.

"This allows the business to focus on its core competencies rather than on troubleshooting issues or managing a server infrastructure in the cloud."

Despite the Government's Cloud First strategy only 2% of public sector IT managers see their sector as highly pro-cloud according to research by UK cloud services provider Redcentric.

Technology obsolescence is what is really driving over half of the public sector to move to the cloud and three quarters of public sector IT managers claim that they are only taking their first tentative steps on their cloud journey, suggesting that they need to become more confident about their cloud approach and ensure they are taking the right route.

The findings of the research, conducted by Vanson Bourne, suggest that the public sector's tentativeness in adopting the cloud could be due to not fully understanding the benefits it can deliver.

The public sector's most common approach to cloud adoption, cited by 40%, was using standardised 'off the shelf' services offered by cloud providers, compared to around half of private sector respondents saying that they prefer tailor-made cloud packages to suit their individual IT needs.

Off the shelf cloud email services was by far the most common 'first use' of cloud in the public sector - for 46% of respondents.

'Gaining internal sponsorship' was the most common reason for a delayed cloud journey, for 40% of respondents.

An uncertain perception of cloud in the public sector appears to hold their journey back and could be the reason why many organisations in the sector are still in their early cloud stages, despite initiatives like G-Cloud being in place for three years.

Nine out of ten IT managers in the public sector say that the biggest concern in cloud adoption is integrating cloud services, showing this to be another predominant reason why the public sector may hesitate in implementing the cloud or prefer an off the shelf approach.

The public sector's most common diversion to their cloud journey - for 38% - is internal cost-cutting, despite this also being their top reason for moving to the cloud in the first place. This shows that despite much of the public sector moving to the cloud to reduce costs, further cost-cutting actually halts the cloud journey, showing that the sector's frugality could in fact work as a cloud hindrance.

The most popular ultimate cloud destination for the public sector, stated by a third, was 'a pick and mix' of cloud services for specific applications, suggesting that the public sector are most likely to cherry pick services in the cloud rather than moving their entire IT estate. Therefore, many public sector IT decision makers see the need to select specific cloud services to suit different areas of the IT environment.

Data sovereignty is the public sector's top cloud concern, with 54% saying that the most important service related factor when moving to the cloud is knowing where their data is held.

Andy Mills, Group Sales Director at Redcentric commented on the findings: "The public sector is under extra pressure to acquire the right cloud solution, as many organisations are currently using outdated technology and are pressed with adopting the cloud quickly.

"To make the journey efficiently, IT managers must ensure that they determine what they want from a cloud provider so that it best suits their needs. Due diligence is key, make sure that you check the references of cloud providers that you are considering, to ensure you select a reputable vendor.

"It is vital that IT departments engage the wider organisation at the start of their cloud journey to reduce the disconnect that we've observed between IT and service owners.

"This can often lead to costly delays. Every organisation is unique and therefore has a different set of cloud requirements that can be met by tailored solutions.

"By working across the organisation, understanding the breadth of options available to them and choosing a solution that is the right fit, public sector organisations can conduct their cloud journey with far more confidence of success."

Redcentric interviewed 200 IT decision makers from the public and private sector in spring 2015. All respondents had either adopted a cloud strategy or were planning to in the near future.

Network security firm ANSecurity has partnered with PulseSecure, a new company formed out of Juniper Networks to develop and market its SSL-VPN, security, and network access control solutions (formerly known as Junos Pulse).

Pulse Secure also acquired MobileSpaces a provider of mobile security solutions for iOS and Android operating systems.

David Hood, MD of ANSecurity, said: "The team at PulseSecure are putting so much investment behind the development of their technology and we're excited to see what's going to happen with it over the next few years.

"Prior to the formation of Pulse Secure, we sold Junos Pulse as an Elite Juniper Partner for many years, and we have delivered that technology to a number of clients across numerous sectors. It's that knowledge of how these systems can be deployed for our clients that makes a partnership so beneficial for both ANSecurity and PulseSecure."

John Mitchell, PulseSecure EMEA Partner Director, added: "ANSecurity has a long history of delivering the remote access security solutions that Pulse Secure provides.

"We are continuing to build out the product portfolio in order to help our customers meet their changing security requirements as a result of the cloud, mobile and Internet of Things."

Darren Bailey has joined network provider TFM Networks as Channel Sales Director, responsible for establishing a strong channel sales model, while supporting the sales team and strategic sales planning as part of the wider, complete solution offered by TFM Networks, said the firm.

Alison Irvine, Group Sales and Marketing Director at TFM Networks, said: "Darren's proven sales background, together with his business acumen, means that he brings significant value to our team as we enter our third decade in business.

"Key to our success over the last 20 years has been our dedicated staff, and a real care for our customers, no matter their demands, timescales or existing resources. We look forward to working with Darren to bring this high level of service to more companies in more industries over the months and years ahead."

Bailey added: "As data demands increase across all locations with the proliferation of devices, it's great to be joining a business that has a real hunger to meet these demands and the market-leading knowhow to make it a reality."

Previously, Bailey held senior managerial roles including Senior Sales Manager EMEA at Blackmagic Design, and European Sales Manager at Exterity.

South West Communications Group has sealed a multi-million pound deal to supply a new voice and connectivity solution to The Bradfords Group's expanding business.

The Group, which is made up of five operating companies - Bradfords Building Supplies, Snows Timber, Crendon Timber Engineering, Aspect Roofing, and YPS Plumbing & Heating Supplies - has 46 sites across the country.

Headquartered in Yeovil, Somerset, Bradfords employs more than 1,000 people and has an annual turnover in excess of £150 million.

swcomms was invited to tender for the project which included a requirement for a multi-site VoIP telephone system, a new wide area network and local area networks at every site, including Wi-Fi connectivity.

The project is in its implementation stage and is due to be fully rolled out later this year. swcomms will then support the entire solution on a managed service basis to enable Bradfords' IT team to focus on deploying new solutions and services.

Sarah Flowers, swcomms sales director, said: "Bradfords was looking for a resilient hosted solution that would serve the voice needs of all their sites and their mobile members of staff. The sites needed to be linked via a wide area network, primed for voice and data use, while each site would benefit from new cabling and an upgraded local area network. The Group wanted the entire solution to be outsourced and managed for them leaving their IT team free to deal with more profitable tasks. We are excited at the prospect of deploying this multi-faceted project and beginning this journey with Bradfords."

swcomms will install a ShoreTel UC solution to meet the voice requirement while services deployed from TalkTalk, Gamma and Cisco Meraki will link Bradfords' sites and will improve their connectivity.

Audio and communications technology specialist Jabra has launched the new Jabra SPEAK 810, the latest device in its SPEAK series.

The Jabra SPEAK 810 is designed to eliminate common pain points, for effective collaboration: technology challenges such as set-up issues, connectivity to platforms and poor sound quality, which all prevent effective meeting productivity.

"Bringing a plug-and-play, easy to use speakerphone experience with superior audio into large meeting and conference rooms for the first time, the Jabra SPEAK 810 complements the personal experience delivered by the smaller, portable SPEAK 410 and 510 products," said Nigel Dunn, Managing Director, Jabra UK & Ireland.

"With multiple connectivity options, the Jabra SPEAK 810 works with all types of smart devices and integrates seamlessly with all communication platforms - eliminating the need for dial-pad solutions and challenging the traditional hardware approach to conference calling."

He said the device was designed in response to today's knowledge worker environment and simplifies and enhances meeting time, addressing the challenges of effective collaboration and adoption of technology. It can turn any location into a productive conference room: enhanced with Bluetooth, an integrated USB cable to connect it to a PC or 3.5mm jack for your tablet or smartphone, meetings are ready to start in seconds.

Additional ease of use is delivered by integration with all communication platforms, removing the need for an IP end-point and also comes with a USB charge-out port for charging tablets or mobile devices during calls.

Today, a third of conference calls are delayed due to set-up issues with connections, 15% of meeting time is spent on 'getting started' and one of the most common frustrations is poor sound quality.

The Jabra SPEAK 810 is an intelligent audio device utilising Jabra's heritage in office audio solutions, as well as ear-related diagnostics and hearing healthcare technology. It facilitates conference calls in meeting rooms of up to 100 m2 with up to 15 people in one room, delivering crystal clear sound, without any unwanted background noise.

The plug-and-play speakerphone features powerful loudspeakers and ZoomTalkTM, an intelligent directional microphone that focuses on sound from human voices.

ZoomTalk is central to achieving productivity and flexibility as it makes meetings as clear as possible, filtering human voice from all of the ambient room noise, wherever the call is taking place.

The SPEAK 810 also maximises business investment in Unified Communications (UC). As more organisations invest in UC as a way to enable collaboration and support the increasing trend for mobility, devices such as the SPEAK 810 enable businesses to maximise and fast-track that investment. This is true whether they are starting their UC journey or have an established infrastructure.

Dunn added: "Businesses are becoming more focused on creating working environments and cultures that better enable them to compete. As a result, office environments are changing and becoming more dynamic, demanding and technology-enabled. New ways of working are adding flexibility to working spaces, practices and hours. Yet productivity must also remain a priority for business success and for this reason so should enabling effective collaboration and concentration."

Chess Partner Services has earned a 98% satisfaction score from its ebillz customers following the recent NGN regulatory changes.

The ebillz team managed system updates, data transfer, invoice design and training on behalf of its 260 strong reseller base.

Arvind Meghani, ebillz MD, said: "The actions we took to help our clients during these significant changes in NGN regulations reflects our team's commitment to deliver continual improvements to streamline customer processes and scale up business profits.

"ebillz gives its customers the technology to get the most out of their billing - and the fact they reward us with a 98% customer satisfaction score is a proud endorsement of our vision".

Success in the booming managed services market is as much about effective management as it is about cost-cutting innovative services, according to Nadia Karatsoreos, Community Manager at MAXfocus.

Addressing delegates at the Managed Services and Hosting Summit in London on September 17th she said: "Some MSPs can deliver serviced management, some believe it is a matter of service provision, but it is actually more about leadership and culture, people and processes."

The UK managed services market is expected to reach a value of £128bn during the course of the next three years, pointed out Karatsoreos, and while managed services are forecast to save customers 50-60% in some IT costs, service itself is hard to measure, she believes.

"Delivering good service is not necessarily about meeting customer expectations," said Karatsoreos.

"Everything starts from culture. This leads to more engaged employees, service quality and a better customer experience. If you don't have the right culture, your business strategy doesn't matter.

"MSPs must control customer expectations, identify their gaps and act, think about performance, and build a culture that empowers employees. This is a service excellence model."

Timico plans to loosen Broadsoft's grip on the market following the launch of its own hosted VoIP solution, Synergy, which the company says is a viable alternative to its more established rival.

Synergy was revealed to Timico partners during a launch event at the Goodwood Motor Circuit where 27 attendees also had first sight of the Synergy Solution Builder available on the PartnerEye portal, a function that enables partners to build and configure their own solution.

The system's functionality also includes one number to seamlessly connect fixed or mobile devices in any location; a geo resilient international platform that is built on Timico's enterprise grade network with geographically redundant platforms; Synergy also supports the latest WebRTC standards to deliver UC with just a web browser.

To help partners take the solution to market Timico provides technical and product training on how to sell and manage hosted VoIP, and has developed incentive schemes with rewards and cashback for signing up users to the cloud-based platform.

"It was a fun-filled day of fantastic food, fast cars and of course, deep insights into the Synergy solution, how it works and a demo of the Synergy Solution builder available on the PartnerEye portal," said Darren Hilton, Director of Partner Services.

"There was an overwhelming response from partners signing up to sell Synergy."

Pictured: Darren Hilton reveals Synergy to delegates