Comms Dealer

Jabra has introduced Intelligent Call Transfer functionality for Skype for Business into Evolve, its noise-cancelling headset series.

This allows users to keep the headset on and the conversation going while moving the call from softphone to mobile phone.

"The Jabra Intelligent Call Transfer feature is a natural evolution to the Jabra Evolve feature set," said Nigel Dunn, Jabra UK & Ireland Managing Director.

"The headset series' primary functionality remains to create that personal 'concentration zone' in open, loud and distracting workspaces, and the upgrade extends end user confidence of being in control of their device environment as they bring their 'concentration zone' with them."

The UK cloud adoption rate has climbed to 84% finds research by the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), with 78% of cloud users having formally adopted two or more services.

With the end of support for Windows Server 2003 later this year, the industry body expects the adoption and penetration of cloud services to show sizable increases over the course of 2015.

Alex Hilton, CEO of CIF, said: "Cloud computing has come a long way in just a few short years. When we commissioned our first major research project into the UK cloud market in 2010, just 48% of organisations had consciously adopted a cloud service.

"According to our latest research, that figure today stands at 84%. During this time, cloud has moved from the edge of the IT estate to its centre, and it is now largely regarded as just another way that we do IT.

"Importantly, it is, by and large, delivering the benefits the industry promised it would deliver. We know that 90% of organisations using cloud are satisfied with it, 70% expect to up their usage over the coming year, and that 56% believe that it has provided them with competitive advantage."

But, cautioned Hilton, cloud isn't yet all things to all men and will continue to sit alongside on-premise solutions for some time to come.

"Although more organisations than ever are committing to a 100% cloud environment, the vast majority are a long way from migrating their entire IT estates. Just 15% consider their primary IT model to now be cloud, and around half of businesses cannot foresee a time when they will move all of their IT to the Cloud - instead managing a blend of IT delivery models.

"Looking to the year ahead, we have every confidence that the cloud's momentum will be maintained, helped in no small part by the retirement of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Small Business Server 2003.

"While first-time adoption is likely to slow somewhat, penetration of Cloud services within organisations, which appears to be happening at a faster rate than we had anticipated, will continue unencumbered. Assuming, that is, that Cloud Service Providers can effectively put forward the business case for adoption and build further confidence amongst end users by improving levels of accountability, capability and transparency."

UK IT leaders are the most challenged in Europe, but also the most optimistic about the future, according to a study by Claranet.

While many of these challenges are expected to lessen over the next five years as IT services providers start to manage more of the IT estate, the extent to which they can be solved will depend on how effectively IT leaders can work with their partners, reckons Claranet. 

The pan-European research report, which surveyed 900 IT decision-makers from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the Benelux, from a range mid-market organisations, found that the biggest challenges facing UK IT departments are security and compliance (selected by 53% of respondents), optimising IT (50%) and increasing complexity (48%).

They do, however, predict the sharpest drop in terms of the challenges that they expect to face by 2020, which will bring the UK's figures in line with, or below, the European averages.

For example, 50% state that that improving/optimising IT is a challenge today, but just 32% expect it to remain one in 2020. Similarly, the proportion today that expects enabling collaboration across the organisation (39%) is expected to half within five years.

Michel Robert, Claranet's UK MD, said: "It's clear that IT leaders in the UK face, and will continue to face, a wide range of challenges as they look to manage an IT estate that is growing in complexity.

"And while it is encouraging that those in the UK expect these challenges to reduce over the next five years, the degree to which they will can be tackled will depend heavily on the relationships that they can cultivate with their IT services providers. The breadth and depth of the issues currently faced will make trust a critical factor in navigating them.

"Interestingly, improving and optimising IT appears to be a greater focus in the UK than in other parts of Europe, highlighting the opportunity for service providers, like Claranet, to help businesses run their current IT estates and freeing up time to work on aligning innovation options and market opportunities."

BT Business Partner Sales has launched an enhanced version of its Energiser Incentive Scheme for 2015/16, with a new structure introduced based on partner feedback.

Under the new scheme partners are able to set their own new business targets, enabling greater financial rewards to be paid out. The higher the threshold target set by partners, the greater the possible reward with the potential to earn up to 4% of the value of eligible new business sales in addition to the standard commission.

General Manager Martin Clarke said: "Last year we ran the successful Energiser incentive Scheme for a second year. There have been some great results again and we are looking forward to paying some big rewards at the end of May 2015. Due to its continued success, we are delighted to confirm the launch of the BPS Energiser Incentive for 2015/16."

NEC and Nimans have embarked on a toll fraud awareness campaign following the introduction of anti-hacking technology by the vendor.

Incidents of toll fraud are rising 15% each year at an average of £10,000 per victim. Global phone fraud costs are said to be £25bn per year with the UK the third most targeted country.

Tom Maxwell, Head of Dealer Sales at Nimans, said: "Statistics show that an estimated 84% of UK businesses are not safe from hacking.

"Regardless of whether it's an analogue, digital or IP-based system, fraudsters can gain access to a phone system in seconds.

"By the time a company discovers fraudulent calls have been made it's often too late. An average cost to a UK victim is around £10,000 and this may be undetected until the phone bill arrives."

Communicate Better CEO Wayne Cartwright completed the Virgin London Marathon (26th April) in a commendable 4 hours, 17 minutes, raising over £6,300 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

2014 was a particularly tough year for Cartwright and his co-Director brother Steve, who lost their father after several long battles with cancer.

"After the passing of my dad I wanted to do my bit and raise some money for all the people who helped him and my family through the last few months of his life," said Cartwright.

"I'm thrilled to have achieved the time that I did and it feels like a huge accomplishment. I am also proud of the amount of money raised for Macmillan. It's one challenge ticked off my bucket list and my dad was with me every step of the way!"

Aeromark Optimatics has secured a deal with Las Iguanas to provide service management including call handling, asset database, QR tagging, cost reporting and full update of sub-contract information.

The South American restaurant group has over 40 branches in the UK and its growing success created the need for an efficient Workforce Management System to enhance operations.

Aeromark has a track record working with large food groups most notably YO! Sushi and Greggs.

Optimatics will give Las Iguanas full visibility and ensure all assets including fridges, freezers, cookers and air conditioning units are kept up to date and maintained effectively.

The system will enable restaurant managers to report broken down equipment quickly by logging into a web portal and scanning the assets QR code.

The job will then notify a sub-contractor that service is required.

Once the subcontractor has completed the job, a request will automatically be created in advance for when maintenance is due and stored within the database providing management with complete visibility on all planned maintenance and total cost control.

"All service history will be stored and included in a monthly report saving management time and administration," said a spokesperson from Aeromark Optimatics.

Serial acquirer Elitetele.com has secured £20m in funding from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking to build on its acquisitions to date including Modern Communications and Qualitel Voice & Data which were snapped up during the last 12 months.

Elitetele.com reported revenues of £31m for the year ending July 2014, an increase of 31% on the previous year driven by the successful integration of its previous 11 acquisitions and investment in emerging mobile and cloud technologies.

The funding provided by the bank's Manchester Mid-Markets and Strategic Finance teams will aid Elitetele.com's ongoing search for businesses to complement its growth in the telco, IT, PBX and connectivity sectors.

Matt Newing, CEO at Elitetele.com, said: "We see organic acquisitions as a key part of our growth strategy and the best route to attract new customers and establish ourselves as the unified communications provider of choice.

"As technology continues to evolve faster than ever, our customers require increasingly complex solutions. It is our goal to acquire the expertise to meet these needs in the next 12 months and the funding from the Lloyds Bank team will enable us to take a huge step forward to ensure we're at the cutting edge of data, hosting and connectivity."

ShoreTel has been positioned by Gartner 'Leaders' quadrant of the 'Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications for Midsize Enterprises, North America'.

This is the first Magic Quadrant focused on UC for the mid-size enterprise in North America, with Gartner evaluating 10 UC solution providers targeted to mid-size businesses (defined as companies with between 100-999 employees).

The evaluation criteria included market understanding, marketing strategy, sales strategy and vertical industry strategy; along with product/service, sales execution and pricing, and customer experience.

Mark Roberts, CMO of ShoreTel, said: "We've always been laser-focused on the mid-size enterprise market. We feel this is the group leading the innovation in UC and the most likely adopters of hybrid solutions.

"We continue to innovate while we execute on our product roadmap, and with the upcoming launch of ShoreTel Connect we will deliver a new platform that will further enhance our market position."

The mobilisation of apps and content is gathering pace with total app activations up 160% over the past year, according to Good Technology's 11th quarterly Mobility Index Report.

More companies are enabling their workforces with enhanced collaboration tools and corporate content across an increasing range of mobile devices, says the firm.

Insurance emerges as an early adopter of custom apps with over a third of all apps activated focused on mobilising custom business processes. Over 1,600 Good-secured apps have been built on the Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform.

"As organisations continue their secure mobility journeys our customers are realising that they can transform their businesses with custom apps," said Christy Wyatt, chairman and CEO at Good Technology.

"The Good Dynamics Platform enables forward-thinking industries and companies with new business processes to drive new revenue, productivity and access into new markets through mobile."