Comms Dealer

Westcon-Comstor's global SAP platform is now live in 54 countries.

The company first deployed SAP in the United States in 2012 and two years later kicked off a global expansion project in New Zealand, concluding its global rollout by bringing its Africa businesses onto the platform earlier this month.

"Going live globally on SAP is game changing for Westcon-Comstor," said CEO Dolph Westerbos.

"Over the past few years we grew our operations to every corner of the world, generating $6bn in gross revenues for our vendors and customers. We could only scale further with a common business platform which gives instant visibility in our operations with the data to make the best quality decisions.

"There have been challenges and we must continue to optimise, but we now have a foundation to run a truly integrated global business with much improved analytics and data management that benefit our vendors and solution provider customers."

The company has also deployed an automated quoting engine in front of SAP and integrated its BlueSky cloud and services management platform onto SAP.

Dave Spencer, SVP and MD, East Market Unit at SAP North America, added: "This project was a true collaborative effort between Westcon-Comstor and SAP. The culmination of all our work together enables significant business process improvements for Westcon-Comstor and its partners."

Glamorgan Telecom has completed a management buyout with support from Finance Wales which takes a 15% equity stake in the group. MD and majority shareholder Kelly Bolderson (pictured) and members of the senior management team have bought out founding director Neal Pughe's stake bringing the company under the full control of the current board.

The move enables the Cardiff-based company to refinance its existing debt and push forward growth plans across south Wales and the south west and target revenues of over £5m by the end of 2018 having expanded its sales team by 40%.

Bolderson said: "This is the beginning of a new and exciting journey for the business. With a full buyout in place the management team has control to guide Glamorgan Telecom into an exciting new chapter, and with the investment we can continue with our expansion plans."

This is the latest investment from the Wales Management Succession Fund, a Welsh Government-backed £25m fund supporting business succession for growing Welsh companies.

Glamorgan Telecom was established in 1993 and has more than 1,800 customers and currently employs 32 staff.

The European Commission has called for 'swift action' to drive forward its Digital Single Market initiative across the European Union.

The Commission has published its mid-term review of its Digital Single Market strategy, which takes stock of the progress made, calls on co-legislators to swiftly act on all proposals already presented, and outlines further action on online platforms, the data economy and cybersecurity.

Since May 2015, the European Commission has delivered 35 legislative proposals and policy initiatives as part of its Digital Single Market strategy.

The focus is now on obtaining political agreement to boost investments in 'high-speed and quality networks', which are 'critical' for the full deployment of the digital economy and society, said the Commission. 

Andrus Ansip, vice-president for the Digital Single Market, said: "The European Parliament and member states need to adopt these proposals as soon as possible, for new jobs, business and innovation to take off across Europe. Two years on, we propose to update our strategy to reflect new challenges and technologies.

"We need cyber-secure infrastructure across all parts of the EU so that everyone everywhere can enjoy high-speed connectivity safely. We have already agreed on strong EU rules for personal data protection, we now need to make sure that non-personal data can flow freely to assist connected cars and eHealth services. And we need high-performance computing along with a digitally skilled workforce to make the most out of the data economy."

On the data economy, the Commission is preparing a legislative initiative on the cross-border free flow of non-personal data (Autumn 2017) and an initiative on accessibility and the re-use of public and publicly funded data (Spring 2018).

In cybersecurity, by September 2017 the Commission will review the 2013 EU Cybersecurity Strategy, and the mandate of the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), to align it to a new EU-wide framework on cybersecurity. The Commission will also propose additional measures on cyber security standards, certification and labelling to make connected objects - the Internet of Things - more cyber secure.

In the area of online platforms, by the end of 2017, the Commission will prepare an initiative to address 'unfair contractual clauses and trading practices' identified in platform-to-business relationships.

In addition, the Commission wants to address the need for further investment in digital infrastructure and technologies in areas where investment 'needs to go far beyond the capacity of single member states', such as high performance computing.

"A fully functional Digital Single Market could contribute €415bn per year to our economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs," said the Commission.

Hyperconverged storage firm Cohesity has pulled in Palo Alto's channel builder Todd Palmer. As the new VP worldwide channels he will expand Cohesity's channel presence and advance its Revolution Partner Program for resellers.

Palmer will be responsible for growing the company's footprint in the Americas, EMEA and APAC, bringing Cohesity's secondary storage platform to more mid-sized and large enterprise customers.

He joins from Palo Alto Networks, where he served as vice president of channel sales in the Americas, and will report directly to Cohesity's recently announced vice president of worldwide sales, Mark Parrinello.

"Cohesity has experienced incredible growth in North America and Europe, and we knew it would be important to bring someone with Todd's experience and talent to continue to build out our channel sales programme," Parrinello said.

"All of our business is ultimately executed through the channel, and Todd's expertise at building and promoting leveraged selling models with partners will be invaluable as we continue to bring on bigger customers from across the globe."

Prior to Palo Alto Palmer worked at NetApp, doubling revenues over his five-year tenure by expanding direct market resellers and national reseller relationships.

Datatec has issued another trading statement warning of a poor performance for the 12 months ending 28TH February, with the EMEA region continuing to disappoint at the global IT services and distribution firm.

The latest report follows one issued on 7th April that warned of a 50% decrease in group profits for the year.

The latest profit warning from the South African-headquartered group says that underlying earnings per share are expected to be 11 US cents for FY17 - 66% lower than FY16.

And headline earnings per share are expected to be 2 US cents for FY17 - 90% lower than FY16.

Consolidated revenue for FY17 is forecast at $6.08bn compared to FY16 at $6.45bn.

In a statement Datatec said, 'The year-over-year decline in earnings is a result of a worse than expected performance in the company's Westcon-Comstor subsidiary, particularly in the fourth quarter. Westcon-Comstor experienced disruption to the business as a result of the final SAP implementation in EMEA'.

Westcon-Comstor revenues declined by 7% year-over-year, and Datatec confirmed it was still considering whether to sell the distributor.

Negotiations with third parties on a sale were reported earlier this year.

Datatec said, 'Transformation challenges in EMEA led to a 12% drop in revenues of $263m in FY17 compared to FY16, which constituted 78% of the overall year-over-year revenue decline for Westcon-Comstor.

'The drop in revenue resulted in a reduction in gross profit of $31 million in EMEA, representing 76% of the overall year-over-year gross profit decline for Westcon-Comstor'.

Europe went live with SAP during November 2016, resulting in 'transitional challenges and delayed financial reporting', said the firm.

At IT services arm Logicalis, the performance was in line with expectation, producing revenues of $1.51bn (FY16: $1.53 billion), and EBITDA of $79m (FY16: $80.9m million).

Datatec expects to release its full year results on 22nd May.

BT plans to shed 4,000 jobs globally within two years, mainly across back office and managerial positions in its Global Services division.

The cuts come after an accounting scandal within the Italian operation of BT's Global Services arm that cost the company over £500m.

BT Group Chief Executive Gavin Patterson and outgoing Group Finance Director Tony Chanmugam will not receive a bonus for the 2016/17 financial year.

The Remuneration Committee also confirmed that Gavin Patterson and Tony Chanmugam understood the Committee's decision not to award a bonus and had indicated they would not have accepted a bonus should one have been approved.

BT also announced that Bas Burger is to become CEO, Global Services from 1st June. Burger has been at BT for nine years in a variety of roles, most recently President of BT in the Americas, where he leads BT's business in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Today's news coincided with BT's published results for year the to 31st March 2017 which disclosed that BT's annual pre-tax profits dropped 19% to £2.35bn.

F-Secure has acquired London-based security consultancy firm Digital Assurance, which provides an information security assessment service to governments and companies in the financial, petrochemical, retail, communication and defence industries.

AJens Thonke, Executive Vice President of F-Secure's Cyber Security Services, said: "Digital Assurance has a deep understanding of cyber security and delivers a broad range of security testing, consultancy and training services to organisations in both the private and public sectors.

"This acquisition will help F-Secure grow its service business to meet the increasing demand for cyber security services."

The latest iteration of Entanet's Ethernet Quoting Tool offers additional bandwidth options from a select group of carriers.

In addition to the previously available options of up to 100Mbps, resellers can get immediate quotes for 200Mbps, 300Mbps, 400Mbps and 500Mbps leased lines on 1Gbps bearers.

Resellers can add multiple options to each quotation, rather than having to generate separate quotes for each, making it easy for resellers to present customers with a simple set of choices.

Sales Manager Paul North said: "We've seen an increased number of requests for 200Mbps, 300Mbps or more on 1Gbps bearers in recent months.

"We could provide these before of course, but they weren't on the quoting tool which we have always wanted to keep as simple as possible. The desire for higher bandwidth now is very strong. That's being driven by increased use of the cloud and digital transformation, both of which are raising awareness of just how important connectivity is for the growing number of organisations that depend entirely on their digital systems."

Building on its programme of sailing-based corporate hospitality Koris has taken title sponsorship of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club's annual Double Handed race series, a run of eight races divided into two sub-series (Solent and Passage) of four races each.

"Among other things, we will be exposing our customers to the controlled mayhem of racing by taking them out to the start line on the committee boat," said Craig McCalley, Sales & Marketing Director at Koris.

"This high adrenaline sport mirrors some of qualities we see in our clients... the ability to remain calm and make good decisions under significant pressure."

Pictured: Paul James, Marketing Manager at Koris, who is taking part in the Solent Double Handed Series.

NG Bailey has recruited Peter Jones as MD of its IT Services division, taking over from Bob Dunnett who retires at the end of May.
 
Jones reports directly to NG Bailey's CEO David Hurcomb and joins from G4S where he was MD of facilities management UK and Ireland. He has also held senior leadership positions at CBRE and Carillion.

Hurcomb said: "Bob has done a great job and we wish him a long and happy retirement. He leaves us with a strong client base and an ever-expanding pipeline of new business opportunities.

"I now look forward to working closely with Peter to continue the development of the division, as well as actively pursuing opportunities to accelerate the growth of all of our services businesses.

"Peter has a well-deserved reputation within the facilities management, construction and commercial property sectors at both a national and international level and has a deep understanding of providing complex services to both the private and public sector.

"This, coupled with a background in engineering services and strong leadership skills, will ensure that we continue to innovate and grow our IT services capabilities."

Jones added: "Developments in Smart Buildings, the Internet of Things and increased digitisation of client businesses are all creating significant demand for our core structured cabling and managed services solutions, both within new build and major refurbishment programmes.

"I am looking forward to leading the IT Services business at such a pivotal time in its development."