Comms Dealer

Despite more than three quarters of CIOs saying that understanding the entire app portfolio is a key goal they rate the task as one of their biggest challenges, according to a survey of 100 IT professionals carried out by Vanson Bourne.

The study aimed to gain insight into the top challenges faced by those responsible for IT apps, especially when it comes to managing and understanding their app portfolios.

The top three end user app goals were reported as: Understanding the apps portfolio across installed, cloud and virtual, to enable planning and management; optimising the app portfolio to match business and user needs; and cutting the cost of running apps to free up more IT resource for strategic initiatives.

70 per cent stated their most challenging end-user apps issue with was managing too much complexity in the portfolio.

While, a high proportion of the CIOs surveyed (71 per cent) have IT asset management or software licensing tools in place for managing their end user app portfolio, they still struggle to know what's really happening across their desktop estates.

Aalthough the majority of organisations (71 per cent) use asset or licence management software, 38 per cent admit to using manual usage tracking such as surveys.

Most CIOs believe that only a very low percentage of app instances across their organisation aren't used (just over one quarter: 27 per cent). In reality, and according to Centrix Software's analysis of more than three million desktops, an average of four out of five (80 per cent) of app instances available to employees are never used.

"When we analyse usage data in real-time, organisations just don't believe the statistics we reveal - with 80 per cent of installed apps instances never being used," said Lisa Hammond, CEO of Centrix Software. "The findings are consistent across all sizes and types of businesses, including FTSE companies and major government institutions.

"This research confirms that understanding the entire app portfolio has to be the key end user app goal.

"Achieving this goal on an ongoing basis isn't possible without a much clearer and more detailed understanding of which apps are really important to the business, which are being used and which are delivering value.

"Business intelligence (BI) solutions have been available to decision makers for years, and the survey clearly shows IT leaders need BI analytics to really understand their app and device usage."

Elitetele.com has swooped on ex-Daisy Director Russell Horton who joins the business as its first Chief Operations Officer (COO).

The appointment signifies another important step in the expansion of Elite's board to achieve ambitious growth plans.

Horton brings a track record in starting, building and leading technology and telecoms businesses.

Horton said: "My aim is to ensure Elite continues to deliver excellent service to its clients as we grow the business and expand the range of products and solutions on offer.

"Elite's recent acquisitions bring complementary services for our client base, for example we have great expertise in depth in mobile now, so we are working on the best strategy to deliver these services alongside our historic portfolio to the benefit of our customers."

Horton has held senior positions at Daisy Telecom, Vodafone, and several telecoms resellers, he was also the founder and MD of a mobile phone staff benefits business.

Matt Newing, CEO of Elitetele.com, said: "Russell will fit in exceptionally well within the team and our culture. His wealth of experience in many different senior roles from CIO to MD means that whilst he's very technical, he's also very business minded.

"He'll certainly bring a fresh new outlook to the Group. His role is crucial to the direction and development of our company and I'm pleased to have him on board."

This summer employees at KCOM Group will be taking on some testing challenges to raise money for its charity partner Sparks.

Every day, one in 30 babies are born in the UK with a condition which may affect them for life and each year less than £10 per child is spent on health research. Sparks raises money to fund pioneering children's medical research to get this to change.

Madeleine Buckley, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Sparks said: "We're excited about all the fundraising activities KCOM Group has lined up for the summer. Last year their annual golf day alone raised over £36,000 and with some exciting new events in the pipeline too I know that they're in for a busy few months of fundraising."

In July KCOM Group will be hosting its tenth annual charity golf day which brings together customers, partners and celebrity sportsmen to play 27 holes at Forest Pines Golf Club in North Lincolnshire.

Buckley added: "This year we have two teams from KCOM Group taking on new challenges to raise money. A team of 29 employees will be rowing a longboat 250 metres across the lake at Pugneys Country Park, Wakefield, against around 30 other teams in a bid to get the best time.

"The third challenge KCOM Group will be embarking on is a four day, 300 mile cycling challenge across Italy from Venice to Genoa. The team will be made up of colleagues from KCOM Group and other businesses including Deloitte, Addleshaw Goddard and Lloyds Bank.

"This summer is packed full of fundraising activities that we know will raise a fantastic amount of money for Sparks."

Paul Simpson, Chief Financial Officer at KCOM Group said: "We have some of our biggest fundraising events coming up this summer. Each year the golf day has been more successful and with our two new challenges we're aiming to smash our fundraising target.

"It's great to see people come together and dig deep to help a good cause like Sparks. Our partnership with Sparks has been incredibly successful and we're looking forward to continuing this success throughout the summer."

KCOM Group has supported Sparks as its charity partner since 2012, raising £160,000 during that time to beat its original fundraising target by £60,000.

London-based Shape Networks is offering customers 10% credit on account under a new referral programme. The incentive runs until the end of this year.

James Munro, CEO, said: "We hope our new referral program will help us to show our customers how much we value them and their support."

Hats off to Samantha Bowers, a member of TM Solutions' Business Partner Support team, who abseiled down Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower in aid of JDRF, the charitable funder of Type 1 diabetes research.

Bowers, whose youngest daughter has Type 1 diabetes, commented: "There were six brave ladies that took part in this abseil and between us we have raised over £6,000!

"I watch my daughter Holly cope with Type 1 every day. Living with Type 1 is a constant challenge. People with the disease must carefully balance insulin doses (either by injections multiple times a day or continuous infusion through a pump) with eating and other activities throughout the day and night.

"They must also measure their blood-glucose level by pricking their fingers for blood six or more times a day. Despite this constant attention, people with Type 1 still run the risk of dangerous high or low blood-glucose levels, both of which can be life threatening. People with Type 1 overcome these challenges on a daily basis."

If you would like to make a donation, p[lease visit https://www.justgiving.com/Sam-Bowers/

South West Communications Group's Engineering Director Brian Lodge was saved by his ice axe during a fall on a charity climbing expedition to scale Mont Blanc.

"After hours of climbing in the dark with head torches we hit a new crevasse and ice wall at around 4,000m which had not been there previously," he said.

"We could not cross so had to turn around. I fell and performed a self arrest technique with my ice axe. The training clearly paid off.

"We ended up climbing along a rock ridge on the way back with a 3,500m drop on one side. I was genuinely scared to death."

Lodge was joined by his son Sam along with Greendale Farm Shop and Ladrum Bay Holiday Park owner Robin Carter and his daughter Joy for the expedition.

The plan to summit Mont Blanc was aborted when the mountain leaders deemed the conditions to be unsafe.

Attention then turned to Mnch, which is one of a group of three mountains including the Eiger and Jungfrau in the Alps, with its summit measuring 4,100 metres.

Lodge said: "Mnch was described to us as less plod and more technical. We needed to be confident in exposure at height as the summit was approached by a one foot wide ridge at over 4km high. We were roped to two mountain leaders just in case."

The climb aimed to raise finds for two local charities. The Exeter Foundation raises funds for a number of charities in the city while The C Group supports wounded Royal Marines. Lodge and his son Sam have raised £840 towards their £1,000 target.

Avnet Technology Solutions has launched the Avnet Security and Networking Solutions (ASNS) division in EMEA.

This will be supported by the opening of specialist technical and commercial ASNS Competence Centres in EMEA.

Industry analyst firm IDC predicts that market revenues will be in excess of $10 billion in the Network Security field by 2017, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.1 percent for the period 2012-20171.

As an integral part of addressing this growth market for the channel, Avnet is opening its first EMEA ASNS Commercial Competence Centre in the Netherlands this quarter.

The centre will act as an EMEA hub for delivering security and networking services and solutions across the region.

"The launch of our new division in this high growth, strategic market for security and networking is a natural fit to complement our extensive EMEA partnerships in this space," commented Graeme Watt, president, Avnet Technology Solutions, EMEA.

"By leveraging our resources, value-added services and skills we can help partners enter or expand in this complex marketplace, accelerating their time to market."

Olive Communications has acquired SafetyBank Solutions, a developer of SaaS-based products to the construction sector. SafetyBank was formed in 2010 to create and develop software to help the construction industry manage and administrate all aspects of health and safety, risk management, compliance, training and governance throughout the entire supply chain.
 
In acquiring SafetyBank, Olive will now be able to provide business-critical applications to companies employing field-based workers, in addition to its current portfolio of connectivity, equipment and converged communication solutions.

Olive is one of Vodafone's largest Platinum Partners in the UK, managing in excess of 120,000 mobile subscribers and supporting in excess of 2,500 business customers.
 
As part of the acquisition, Olive has acquired the entire issued share capital, along with the Intellectual Property Rights. It will retain all SafetyBank staff, including its 15-strong application development team. SafetyBank Chief Executive and inventor of the platform, Jody Kennedy, will join the Olive Board as its Chief Technology Officer.
 
Martin Flick, Chief Executive of Olive said: "This is our tenth acquisition in two years and is the most significant in terms of our broader managed services strategy.

"We have already been investing in and developing the SafetyBank platform jointly with Jody and his team, and following a soft launch earlier this year, we are now ready to incorporate the range of services into our core portfolio, hence the timing of the acquisition.
 
"This acquisition is a game changer for Olive. It demonstrates our commitment to continually add value to our customers by delivering cost-effective managed communications and connectivity, alongside device and user management, rich content and services."
 
Jody Kennedy, previously Chief Executive of SafetyBank and now Olive's new CTO, said: "Olive has already played an integral part in making SafetyBank available for those working on sites and remotely.

"The success demonstrated by Olive as the market leader in workforce mobilisation is a great enabler for all of our customers and partners in creating a limitless, streamlined and empowered approach to risk management and beyond. The once only dreamed of combination of SaaS, mobilised workforce and construction risk management is now not only a reality for enterprise businesses, but is affordable to all."

The inaugural Comms Dealer Alpine Society ski trip was a near sell out just days after details of the outing were released.

This new gathering is set to become a firm fixture in the comms calendar kicking off in January 2015 at St Anton, Austria, with just a few places left up for grabs.

Lining up on the piste so far are Union Street, Frontier Voice & Data, Virtual1, Daisy Wholesale and Nine Group.

Union Street's Head of Sales Vincent Disneur said: "Business is about getting to know people, and what better way to do that than by joining the Alpine Society."

For more information email: sturton@bpl-business.com

Predictive analytics specialist RapidMiner has appointed Marcus Adams as its new Head of Channels and Alliances for the EMEA region and the UK.

In his new roles Adams, who will be based in the UK, will be responsible for driving channel programme across the region and growing its channel partner, reseller and distributor base. This includes working closely with System Integrators and OEM partners who build on solutions on RapidMiner technology, it says.

Adams has over a decade of experience in channel and pre-sales roles in the UK. He joins from business intelligence specialist Qlik where he was the senior manager for global partner enablement. Prior to this, he worked in presales with consultancy Ciber, Source BioScience and was UK IS manger at Ecolab.

"Marcus comes to us with substantial front line partner enablement experience in our market sector and a proven track record of delivering and implementing successful partner programmes across multiple countries, essential skills and knowledge that will underpin our channel expansion across the EMEA region," said Ingo Mierswa, co-founder and CEO of RapidMiner.