Comms Dealer

Poor advice from vendors is the biggest barrier to a SME's agility, with nearly 60 per cent believing they don't have the technology to future-proof their business, according to TalkTalk Business research.

Often with no IT function, determining who and how to educate SMEs can be present a challenge for the channel with 32 per cent of SMEs ranking staff IT literacy as the key barrier for achieving a more agile business.

SMEs are looking to the channel for education and advice, not to just patch-up current systems.
 
Under investment, security, business continuity and regulation were cited by respondents as the primary agility barriers for corporate and enterprises, and 40 per cent of firms are dissatisfied with the time needed by IT to process requests.
 
40 per cent of enterprises feel they are being held back by their technology, with just under half looking to the channel to help find solutions.

The report highlights the need for the channel to implement change for customers as an iterative process, with three quarters of enterprises either being slow adopters of technology or only doing so as part of a mass adoption cycle.
 
Charles Bligh, Managing Director, TalkTalk Business said: "Agility is a key asset for businesses of all sizes and channel partners are in a unique position to help companies grow and adapt, by educating, advising and implementing updated IT and connectivity solutions.
 
"By providing the insight and knowledge needed, the channel can ensure that businesses maintain the bandwidth and network infrastructure to support data heavy applications and make British businesses better off."

UK software provider Advanced Computer Software Group has been acquired by Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm with over $14bn in committed capital, for an enterprise value of £750m. Shareholders will receive 140 pence per share equating to an equity value of approximately £725m.

The takeover puts Advanced in a powerful financial position to invest in and develop the business through the next phase of growth, supporting its ambition to become a major global player.

"This acquisition means we now have the major financial backing we need to support us through our next phase of growth and establish our position as a serious global player," said Vin Murria, CEO of Advanced Computer Software Group.

"Our customers will benefit from increased investment in our product and services as we continue to offer innovative and leading edge technology solutions implemented both on-premise and, increasingly, via a subscription model."

Founded in 2008, Advanced provides healthcare, business and learning management software and services. It has more than 2,000 employees and 20,000 customers.

The group has grown revenue to more than £200m through a programme of complementary acquisitions and strong organic growth.

"Advanced has a strong history of delivering mission critical and high ROI solutions to its customers," said Brian Sheth, Co-Founder and President of Vista Equity Partners.

"Vista will help Advanced build on that success by contributing professional expertise, proven best practices, and management techniques that will help Advanced continue to deliver operational, product and service excellence."

Despite a growing reliance among businesses on the Internet, recent research has discovered that slow Internet connections are costing the UK economy £11bn a year in lost productivity, as millions are left unable to work during periods of IT downtime.

The research commissioned by Daisy Group found that the average worker is unable to complete their normal job responsibilities for up to 44 minutes every week due to poor broadband speeds, while seven per cent admitted that their Internet connection grinds to a halt more than 10 times in any given seven day period.

According to the study, more than a third (39%) of respondents said that their home Internet connection was 'much faster' than the one they use at work. This is despite the government's effort to roll out fibre broadband across the UK and offer free grants to subside the costs of upgrading a connection.

Jan Wielenga, Product Manager for Data Networks at Daisy Group, said: "Too many businesses are still relying on basic ADSL connections that are aimed at the residential users. These are the businesses that struggle to cope with the high-bandwidth demands of software and apps that workers use.

"It is simply unacceptable for businesses that rely heavily on the Internet to experience periods of downtime, particularly at a time when fibre and dedicated Ethernet connections have never been more affordable and available.

"The Internet going down or running slowly for 44 minutes per week doesn't sound much, but the result of any loss of productivity is that businesses can suffer."

During periods of slow Internet access, more than half (60%) of those surveyed admitted that they turn to their smartphones for non-related work activities, such as online shopping and checking social media. Worryingly, nine per cent of respondents admitted to using their smartphones to look for other jobs when they have no Internet access.

The research suggests that the average worker loses 38 hours of productivity a year through slow Internet access or IT downtime. Taking the UK's average wage of £13 per hour, and 72% of the UK's workforce of 30 million that use the Internet in their job roles, it is estimated that £494 worth of productivity is lost per employee per year, which across the country mounts up to a staggering £11bn.

The research was conducted to assess the take-up of the government's SuperConnected Cities scheme that helps subsidise the cost of a superfast connection upgrade for SMEs. Businesses located within a defined postcode in 22 cities are currently eligible for a grant of up to £3,000, with more cities due to be added to the scheme in April 2015.

"A strong digital infrastructure has become the backbone of any forward-thinking organisation because it ensures that they are prepared for the future. However, there is a lack of awareness amongst SMEs that the SuperConnected Cities scheme exists which is hindering the UK economy. Now really is the time to upgrade to avoid being left behind the competition," added Wielenga.

To assist SMEs decide which connectivity solution meets their requirements, in conjunction with the CBI, Daisy is hosting a free webinar on the subject on 26th March.

The Government's ambitions for broadband are 'good news' says the Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA) which supports the Chancellor's aim to connect the majority of homes to faster broadband.
 
"ISPA is also pleased with the extra Government support for different technologies to deliver broadband to the hardest-to-reach areas and that the Connection Vouchers scheme will be significantly extended as the scheme starts to bear fruit," said ISPA Secretary General Nicholas Lansman.

"ISPA has always wanted to see as many users as possible benefitting from the benefits of broadband, so we note with interest Government's ambition to raise the Universal Service Obligation from 'dial up speeds to 5Mpbs'.

"ISPA will be exploring this with its members, looking at the practical issues a USO presents as part of our wider work on the future of the communications industry.

"ISPA will be working with the Government to understand how these ambitious plans will be delivered. Government will only be able to do so in tandem with the breadth of industry, to ensure Government support is properly targeted and fosters competition."

ZyXEL Communications has introduced a new European-wide partner programme using a purchase frequency based approach instead of a focus on revenue tiers.

Working on a three-tier partnership system - Reseller, Authorised, and Premium - new partners enter the programme at Reseller level and progress to higher levels through purchase frequency.

Meanwhile, longstanding ZyXEL partners can enter the programme based on their purchase history from the previous year.

This ensures that existing partners are rewarded for their loyalty, while new members enjoy the benefits of being ZyXEL partners regardless of their average purchase value.

Lee Marsden, President of ZyXEL Europe, commented: "Too many partner programmes focus only on the big resellers and those who don't bring in the biggest deals are often missed out. We wanted to change our programme to not just reward our biggest customers, but to ensure that all of our partners see the benefits of working with ZyXEL."

ZyXEL Vice President Channel Sales Europe Jean Michel Bielli added: "Alongside our new approach to partner rewards we have also introduced new benefits and levels of support."

Today's start-up community stands to make over £100bn from the Internet of Everything (IoE) in the next decade alone claims a new report from Cisco. To build on this opportunity and encourage more start-ups to gain from IoE Cisco is calling on businesses, government and education to develop closer partnerships.

This, believes Cisco, will help to better educate students and young entrepreneurs about the opportunities that STEM skills unlock, and position jobs in science and technology as an opportunity to engineer the future and drive innovation across the UK.

Last year the Prime Minister announced that the UK government will spend £45m developing technologies based on the Internet of Things (IoT); more recently Ofcom issued a statement that it would look to put in the appropriate regulatory framework to help the UK's IoT market flourish.

Broken down by four vertical sectors - healthcare, retail, transport and energy - the report, entitled 'The Internet of Everything: Unlocking the Opportunity for UK Start-ups', revealed that start-ups in the healthcare industry currently have the greatest opportunity, with the scope to access over £48bn over the next decade through innovations in the IoE.

The retail industry is not far behind at £37bn, with big gains also to be made in transport (£11bn) and energy (£7bn).

Businesses in all of these industries have significant opportunity to transform their respective industries by streamlining processes, removing inefficiency and creating better experiences.

The report coincides with the launch of Cisco's 2015 BIG awards, an initiative designed to reward the UK's most innovative IoE start-up digital businesses and SMEs with an investment of cash, technology and human resources.

Cisco predicts that the number of devices connected worldwide will rise from around a billion today to 50bn by 2020. But with less than 1% of the world currently connected, options for the startup community to exploit opportunities for digitalisation and connectivity are substantial.

Phil Smith, Chief Executive, Cisco UK and Ireland, said: "UK companies of every size are devoting time and ingenuity to designing and building IoE applications, from the smallest SMEs to the largest enterprises.

"These companies are not just digitising in the conventional sense but finding completely new ways to connect people, processes, data and things, from their supply chains to their office spaces and their customers.

"The UK's startup community is a great source of innovation, and we're confident that we're only witnessing the first wave. In the coming months and years we can expect these businesses to be at the forefront of the transformation of the UK economy as we fully embrace the possibilities of a digital future."

Cobweb Solutions has been named as the first Microsoft CSP to launch Office 365 using Parallels Automation.

The CSP APS package for Office 365 provides Microsoft CSP partners with a solution for automating customer on-boarding, service delivery, bundling related cloud services and building a reseller channel.

The Microsoft CSP program aims to increase the number of Microsoft Office 365 resellers worldwide.

The CSP program requires participating Microsoft channel partners to own the entire Office 365 customer relationship including provisioning, billing, invoicing, support and administration.

"Using the Parallels Automation platform partners have already delivered more than 1.5 million Office 365 and Exchange business class email seats," said Alex Danyluk, vice president, Alliances, Parallels.

"The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program opens up a new opportunity for the Microsoft channel - partners who deploy Parallels Automation will be immediately ready to offer new Microsoft CSP cloud services as they become available."

C4L is deploying a network-wide DDoS monitoring and mitigation solution for its high performance Data Centre network, coreTX.

A10 Networks Thunder Protection System hardware has been combined with FlowTraq network traffic forensics software to protect coreTX customers from DDoS attacks.

Alex Cruz Farmer, Technical Director of C4L, said: "The decision to deploy a network-wide protection against a variety of sophisticated volumetric, protocol, resource and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks involved an intense investigatory process which C4L took extremely seriously.

"We wanted a protection for our customers that matched the calibre of the coreTX network itself, so that the design stays on top."

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has announced a new membership scheme targeting IT and business professionals.
 
The new membership programme is in final stage of development with some services already available. 

Due to demand, CIF is offering early access with discounted fees for early adopters.

The new scheme aims to not only provide industry professionals with ongoing resources pertinent to cloud computing, but also provide a market-recognised and respected certification and an accreditation programme.
 
Individual members will be given direct access to a range of assets including the latest market research on trends and issues affecting the Cloud computing industry, as well as Buyer's Guides, Service Guides and information on Cloud procurement and management best practices.

The CIF has also developed a Cloud Adoption Roadmap as a framework to help its members identify key milestones in the cloud adoption journey.
 
The Certification Scheme - scheduled for launch in 2015 - comprises of three levels of certification - Basic, Advanced Tech and Commercial.

The Scheme itself has been designed for those who work in IT operations, IT management and IT Directors, as well as line of business personnel such as legal and procurement and members of the Board.

The Scheme will encompass Research & Strategy, Situational Assessment, Preparation steps, Adoption best practices and cloud management.
 
Alex Hilton, CEO of CIF, stated: "We have decided to extend our membership programme to encompass individuals working in the field, and not just the vendor community.

"For us there was a missing element in the services we offer the market and educating and informing the very people who work at the 'coal face' of cloud computing was a logical next step.
 
"With Cloud computing seeing a huge increase in adoption since 2010 - by some 61.5 per cent according to our own research - what is clear is that not only is cloud here to stay, but it is now permeating throughout the overwhelming majority of organisations, regardless of whether or not they have the skills in place to manage it.

"The launch of the accreditation and certification scheme is aimed at providing a respected accreditation for those looking to reskill to take advantage of the Cloud computing revolution."
 

The Barclays Employers' Survey 2015, which questioned 666 UK businesses on a range of employment-related topics, has revealed that 72% of telecoms companies surveyed will be creating new roles (2014: 77%).

While this is a slight dip in hiring intention compared to last year, the telecoms industry remains one of the leading sectors for job creation, second only to the facilities management sector.

The sector's intention to create new jobs is considerably further ahead of the national cross-sector average, which revealed 50% of all companies plan to create new jobs this year. In further good news, none of the telecoms firms surveyed are planning to reduce headcount this year.

Despite almost half (47%) of firms in the sector claiming that wage pressure isn't an issue, 62% will be increasing wages for their staff in the year ahead.

Of those telecoms firms which are hiring, there are opportunities for new staff at every level, with 26% planning to create senior management positions (2014: 47%). 89% will be creating jobs in middle or junior management or skilled positions (2014: 96%) and 54% are likely to create jobs at entry level (2014: 60%).

42% of firms in the industry will also be taking on apprentices this year, a jump up from last year, when 32% were planning to.

When asked whether they were feeling more confident about the UK economy, compared to the same time last year, 55% confirmed they were more confident. Looking further afield at the ongoing events in Europe, 22% said they were concerned about the impact these events could have on their business.

Commenting on these findings, Andrew Skinner, Relationship Director, Barclays' Technology, Media and Telecoms team, said: "Against a positive backdrop of continued falling unemployment and wage growth outstripping inflation in recent months, it's heartening to see that a significant number of telecoms firms are planning to create new roles and increase wages for their staff."

"The uptick in intention to hire apprentices is also great to see, as apprenticeships are extremely important in nurturing and developing the next generation of leaders and can also bring significant commercial benefits.

"At Barclays we firmly believe that quality apprenticeships are fundamental to our business and we're keen to support any company that wants to tackle youth unemployment."

Other national cross sector findings:

• Almost a third (32%) of businesses gearing up to take on apprentices (vs. 29% in 2014)

• 70% of businesses in the West Midlands are expecting to increase staff levels - the highest of all the UK regions surveyed

• 78% of Welsh firms to boost wages in the year ahead , the most of any UK region (up from 57% in 2014)

• 77% of businesses still think that sales lead to job creation - as opposed to job creation leading to sales.

• 78% of vacancies in the last 12 months have been filled from within the UK. A quarter (24%) said they had hired employees from inside the EU (not including the UK) and 7% from outside the EU.