Comms Dealer

Security vendor Bloxx is reporting year-on-year growth of 20% for its channel business. This record growth follows the appointment of Mark Gibson as sales director last year and a re-engineering of the company's business operations to become more channel-centric.

The new channel focused strategy is reaping dividends. Accelerating its diversification into the managed security service provider (MSSP) and cloud markets and demonstrating continued growth in education, Bloxx signed seven new partners in the last quarter of 2014 alone.

Gibson said: "Over the last year we've spent a lot of time listening to what the channel really wants from its relationships with vendors. We fed that back into the business to ensure we're working more collaboratively with the channel and providing the support they need.

"The channel's relationship with end user organisations is becoming much more consultancy based and we're helping a lot of partners understand - as well as take advantage of - new business opportunities that come their way."

To support its growing partner numbers the company has appointed Linzi Shepherd as a channel manager. She has a track record in developing high performing channel programmes at companies such as HP and Dell.

Key drivers for growth are coming from sectors which increasingly need to manage a hybrid of IT environments, ranging from traditional to virtualisation and the cloud.

In 2015, Bloxx will be responding to these drivers and evolving its solutions to help companies dynamically respond to these changes. Alongside this, Bloxx is focused on building new partnerships to develop its successful OEM business.

Gibson added: "Last year was a pivotal year for our relationship with the channel and we have big ambitions for 2015. Now that we have the right structure in place to support and work with the channel, we will be looking to expand our programme into EMEA and the US."

The core catalysts of innovation impacting all of humanity are connectivity and convergence, claims Frost & Sullivan's Growth, Innovation and Leadership (GIL) 2015: Europe.

The GIL congress returns to London for its seventh consecutive year on Thursday, 14th May at Royal Garden in Kensington. Over 200 industry leaders are expected to convene to share ideas and strategies to make their business choices successful.

With his keynote on 'New Convergence Business Models', EIA Partner & Director Dorman Followwill will discuss why convergence plays a key role in identifying new business models that drive growth.

Directly after there will be a keynote address showcasing global leadership in connectivity and convergence driven innovation in healthcare through the 100,000 Whole Human Genome Sequencing Project lead by Genomics England.

The Chief Scientist spearheading this project globally on genomics and personalised medicine, Professor Mark Caulfield, will explore this project.

"We are seeing that the core catalysts of step-change innovation across industries and geographies are connectivity & convergence, and one of the most incredible examples of global leadership in innovation is happening right here in the UK with the 100,000 Whole Human Genome Sequencing Project," said Followwill.

The one-day congress is part of Frost & Sullivan's Growth, Innovation and Leadership community that represents a global network of over 5,000 senior executives.

Resellers risk losing cloud customers because they aren't extending their product range fast enough, according to a study which found that 40% of IT leaders are now relying on outsourced providers to deploy UC solutions, while 78% have adopted at least one cloud service, according to recent statistics by the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF).

However, a recent report by 451 Research has also found that a third of all customers are not satisfied with the level of service provided.

Piers Linney, Co-CEO of UK-based Cloud Services Provider (CSP) Outsourcery says that one reason why one in three IT leaders are not satisfied with their provider is because their cloud supplier has not been able to keep up with their evolving requirements - and as customer awareness of the options grows, existing suppliers are not engaging in conversations with their customers about a world beyond on-premises deployments of ICT and managed services.

Linney said: "Adopting a cloud-based email or UC service is one thing, but moving compute and data storage wholesale to the cloud and then integrating it with legacy systems is something entirely different.

"It's great to see that more IT departments are approaching and using outsourced providers to deploy cloud-based services within their organisations. However, taking an incremental approach to adoption brings its own challenges.

"IT leaders will either need to continually extend the range of cloud suppliers they use, which could bring issues around accountability, service integration and value for money, or they would need to change their existing supplier to one that offers a broader cloud offering. Neither option is straight-forward.

"We have found that the UC market is highly fluid because of this issue. Cloud has been a particularly popular approach for this area of IT due to the complexities of converged solutions. As organisations become more comfortable with outsourcing IT service provision, they are looking to their supplier for a broader range of cloud deployment options.

"However, some only find disappointment. IT leaders need to look ahead to where they want their business to move in the future. They need to consider whether the outsourced provider under consideration has the ability to move at the same pace as their business and if not, how to handle this situation.

"The universe of IT and UC suppliers will divide into those that make the substantial investment required in new platforms, systems, intellectual property and personnel, versus those that focus on offering professional services and reselling subscription services. Many organisations in this space will not be able to achieve either.

"What's more, this means that resellers need to choose their target markets and service range carefully. If they are going to face demands for greater product and service offerings from their customers, they in turn need to assess their partners to make sure that they can swiftly respond in the same way."

Redcentric has been accepted for all four lots of the new G-Cloud 6 framework, called the Digital Marketplace.

The cloud service provider welcomes the amendments to the framework, as it believes it will lead to more effective and fairer procurement and a better end user experience.

Redcentric as previously a supplier of Lots 1-3 on G-Cloud but has now been authorised for Lot 4 to deliver Oracle-based consultancy services.

Peter Nailer, spokesperson for Redcentric, said: "Now that the search features for G-Cloud have been enhanced it is also much easier for public sector procurement managers to find cloud services that are relevant to their needs.

"This change is long overdue and will help to make the Digital Marketplace a fairer and more effective way to procure cloud services by making sure that buyers are presented with the best service providers to meet their needs rather than the largest or most sophisticated."

Small businesses need better digital infrastructure and technical talent if they are to fulfil their potential to turn UK PLC into a world-beating tech hub, a panel of business leaders heard today.

Tech City CEO Gerard Grech, Managing Director of Virgin Media Business Peter Kelly, and the founder and CEO of peer-to-peer lender Ratesetter Rhydian Lewis, called for improved connectivity across the UK to transform and support the country's burgeoning SME sector.

The chair of a panel discussion in the heart of East London's Tech City, Emma Jones MBE, noted: "London is undoubtedly the EU capital for technology and digital activity," highlighting the importance that hiring the right people and improving digital skills plays in small business success.

The founder of the campaign group Enterprise Nation also said that access to finance, manageable taxation and talent were key factors in success.

Today's discussion in the heart of Tech City coincides with Virgin Media Business now taking orders for its new technology trial, set to improve the connectivity of Britain's technology hub by making it faster, cheaper and more reliable for small businesses to get online, according to the company.

Kelly said: "Good connectivity is the lifeblood for small businesses and we know that it hasn't been great, not just in Tech City but across the UK.

"We wanted to shake things up in Tech City where the Silicon Roundabout is giving Silicon Valley a run for its money, by providing start-ups and SMEs with the fast, bespoke connectivity they need.

"This project builds on the small business products we launched in September, which are some of the fastest on the market. It's part of our continuing commitment to British SMEs."

Rhydian Lewis said that the UK has become too risk averse when it comes to investment: "People in the UK and EU are incredibly careful with their money. It's all about conserve, conserve, conserve.

"The tech boom of the 90s has left a massive scar on the City. Americans, on the other hand, are all about invest, invest, invest. American venture capitalists are rampant. In the UK, money managers badly burned in the early 90s and are still far-too-hesitant to invest in early-stage businesses."

Abbey Telecom is reaping the rewards of a correlation between its support for Lancashire's Be Inspired Business Awards (BIBAs) and a rise in local business leads.

A series of new deals for the company have come about from the BIBAs. New contracts have been signed with local firms like Mosaic Community Care, Colossal Training and Ribble Farm Fare, as well as a project to implement a multi user telephone system for high growth company Danbro.

Abbey Telecom managing director Tony Raynor said: "It's been our aim in recent years to get more involved in local networking and new business opportunities right here on our doorstep in Lancashire. The BIBAs are proving to be a vital cog in making this happen.

"As an awards sponsor, we get to meet many different people from across all industries, whether they are other sponsors, suppliers, organisers, judges or a candidate for a gong. This helps to build long lasting relationships which are vital to local business success."

North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Babs Murphy said: "This kind of feedback is the proof of the pudding in terms of how the BIBAs' pursuit of business excellence has positive spin off effects which nurture local economic growth. It's exciting to hear that firms like Abbey Telecom are thriving because of their willingness to get involved."

DTC International has maintained its BSI accreditations following the recent annual audit.

"The commitment to best practice shown by DTC International has enabled it to provide customers, staff and suppliers with the highest standard of performance through ISO 9001.

"Its additional focus on sustainability through ISO 14001 is also testimony to ensuring they maintain high standards of environmental management throughout the business," said Toni Jones, Head of Client Propositions, BSI.

DTC has held BSI accreditations for over 10 years. BSI ISO 14001 is an internationally accepted standard that shows effective integration of environmental considerations within management systems.

The standard is designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact.

ISO 14001 has allowed DTC to identify aspects of the business that impact on the environment and produce a management programme to achieve the highest possible standards.

BSI ISO 9001 is a quality management award currently being used by 897,000 organisations in 170 countries worldwide.

DTC International provides Reverse Logistics and After Market Services to the global telecommunications industry.

UC vendor Swyx has dubbed 2014 'the year of growth' following a 35% hike in sales over 2013.

A success factor for its record sales has been the distribution of Swyx's cloud solution delivered via the data centres of Deutsche Telecom.

Swyx CEO Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus said: "In 2014 we seem to have done everything right and in 2015 we intend to continue with our current strategy.

"Our goal is to expand the cloud business with our service provider partners and reseller partners.

"As a manufacturer, we will help shape more efficient and future-proofed solutions through continuous product innovations aimed at meeting the communication needs of SMEs, because it is here where we see enormous potential."

Strong organic growth and neat-fit acquisitions have bolstered Annodata Group's revenue figures with record profits in its latest financial year. The provider of communications, managed print and IT services has announced its annual financial results for the year ending 30th June 2014, revealing 9% organic growth in sales to £57.4m.

Operating profits increased by 682% to £5.2m, a record for the business. The company continues to maintain a strong balance sheet with no debt.

The figures reveal that with the recent addition of Keltec, which has annual revenues in the region of £15m, the Group's combined annual revenues now stand at almost £80m, putting Annodata on course to reach its stated goal of achieving an annual turnover of £100m by 2016.

The managed services provider intends to make further strategically important acquisitions to capitalise on its strong financial footing.

Joe Kelly, Annodata's Group Finance Director, commented: "Annodata achieved record results in the last financial year, thanks in no small part to our stable, growing and loyal customer base. The company has been working hard to grow its offerings and to consolidate its position in the market and as we move into 2015 I fully expect the business to maintain its strong growth profile.

"We are very optimistic about our future and the recent addition of the IT services provider, Keltec, further strengthens our service offerings and our ability to provide our customers with complete service solutions including hardware infrastructure, IT technologies, unified communications and on-premise or cloud-hosted solutions."

Martin St Quinton, Annodata's Non-Executive Chairman, stated: "This impressive growth is a result of the transformational work the business has undergone over the past 18 months. Our customers increasingly look to us to provide complete enterprise-grade managed ICT and print solutions for all their sites, which plays to our nationwide reach and our responsive service model.

"2014 marked the start of a new phase for the business and saw us make a number of senior hires to strengthen our management team and we completed the strategically important acquisition of Keltec.

"This latest set of financial results serves to demonstrate the strength of the business and sets us up for continued growth and expansion over the coming year."

Rob Buckton has rejoined Easynet as Sales Director for the Channel.

He has substantial expertise in managed data networking and hosting services, cloud, fixed and mobile comms, UC and managed VC services.

In prior roles Buckton was Managed Services Sales Director at MTI and Director of Corporate Sales for TalkTalk Business.

He also has a previous stint at Easynet under his belt when he held several leadership positions in sales, including Sales Director for Global Accounts.

"I am excited to rejoin Easynet and help our partners grow with us," he said.

"The market is rapidly evolving and offering great opportunities. I believe that we will achieve impressive results through collaboration with our partners to deliver value and differentiation to their customers by leveraging the full Easynet service portfolio."