Comms Dealer

A winter wonderland was the back-drop to Chess' annual Christmas Conference last month where senior board members set the scene for 2014, building on a 23% hike in turnover to £44m last year.

David Pollock, Chief Executive of Chess, stated: "2013 has been a great year for Chess, achieving our vision by continuously improving the knowledge, skills and performance of our people, including the introduction of our new Academy training for all new starters which strengthens our ability to provide great customer service."

The company rewarded staff who 'exceeded customer expectations' in 2013 with a £2,000 worldwide holiday, a £1,000 European holiday, a UK break and a pair of iPad Airs.

Nearly 80% of UK small to medium sized (SME) businesses have a positive relationship with their IT suppliers, according to independent research by data centre and communications specialist, Node4.

The survey of 250 IT decision makers in companies between 50-500 employees, revealed that 45% of SMEs are working closely together in a strategic relationship with their IT vendor and a further 34% agreed that their supplier totally understands their business and meets its needs.

This suggests IT suppliers are now becoming more focused on the real needs of their customers, helping SMEs to get the most out of the latest technologies. Half of those SMEs interviewed regularly update their IT infrastructure to take advantage of new technologies and 57% are already making use of at least some cloud services in their business.

Although these findings are in sharp relief to many people's perception of IT suppliers, there are lingering complaints. Nearly 1 in 5 SMEs felt that vendors recommend solutions that are not fit for purpose and 13% said suppliers continue to use confusing jargon. 14% said their IT suppliers are unreliable, and nearly 1 in 10 felt that their suppliers were just after their money.

"I think we can see that the IT industry and the channel has come a long way when it comes to customer service, and now the vast majority of SMEs have a much more positive experience in dealing with IT suppliers today," commented Paul Bryce, Business Development Director, Node4.

"Everyone wins when the focus is on developing long term relationships with customers, and really getting to grips with how technology can help businesses overcome the specific challenges that face them. The IT industry has managed to get itself a bit of a bad name for pushing solutions that customers really don't need, so there is still much more that can be done to improve customer service.

"However, technology like cloud services provide far more flexibility than ever before to meet the challenges businesses face in a very tailored way, and the continued rise of the cloud is good news for everyone in the IT sector."

Airtime provider Daisy Distribution in partnership with BlackBerry is set to mark this week's visionary 'Evolving Solutions' event with the launch of its first partner incentive of the new year.
 
Following a similar format to the BlackBerry accumulator incentive, registered partners must accumulate 'points' which can be earned through the sale of a BlackBerry10 device or a BES10.2 CAL - with added focus on T-Support.
 
The incentive is open to all partners, however, to reward partners attending the Evolving Solutions event, they will also be given a £50 'voucher' for T-support which can be used towards closing their first sale.
 
For every BB10 device sold, partners will generate two points; while every BES10.2 CAL sale will generate five points. Once they have reached the minimum 50 points target, cash rewards will be distributed. Partners can receive up to £1,000 should they accumulate more than 300 points during the period.
 
The promotion will run between 1st February and 30th April 2014.
 
Julien Parven, Marketing Director at Daisy Distribution, said: "This exciting incentive is open to all Daisy Distribution partners, but it also specifically rewards those who attend this month's 'Evolving Solutions' event. We anticipate that those who attend will be then able to use what they learn to make the very most of this incentive and deliver a greater experience to their customers."

Robert Stockford has been promoted to the role of Channel Sales Director, Jabra Business Solutions, UK & Ireland. He was previously Channel Sales Manager.

The promotion to Channel Sales Director recognises his achievements in developing Jabra's existing channel partner relationships as well as the nurturing new resellers, leading to revenue and market share growth throughout his tenure.

Stockford said: "I am thrilled to be part of an organisation that has achieved year-on-year double digit growth since joining. My team looks forward to being part of the strategy to accelerate this growth, by working with both existing and new technology partners in order to take our mutual businesses to the next level."

Nigel Dunn, Managing Director of Jabra UK & Ireland Business Solutions, added: "Rob will now have responsibility for the entire UK Business Solutions channel and this is a reflection of the outstanding year he had in 2013."

Exponential-e has launched its seventh Academy, the second such programme within six months that will see the recruitment of eight young people to trainee sales roles.

Exponential-e's growth in 2013 has led to the creation of 30-40 new vacancies in all areas of expertise, and the Academy aims to not only meet this demand but also kick-start young people's careers in technology.

The programme, which begins with assessment days in February 2014, will commence in March and see the successful recruits participate in an eight week training programme.

Exponential-e has also appointed an academy manager. The programme is designed to ensure the recruits are not only knowledgeable of innovative communications and Cloud services, but will also provide wider commercial knowledge and experience across the business.

Academy recruits are trained to enable them to sell leading ICT and network services into some of the largest businesses in the UK. Successful recruits will be trained on business technology issues and demands for secure, private networks and Cloud solutions, and fully integrated into Exponential-e's sales team.

Lee Wade, Exponential-e CEO, said: "As a successful and growing company, we are able to contribute to young people's careers from an early point and help them begin their careers in technology from a great starting point."

Union Street Technologies is hosting a customer roadshow on 20th March at Vinopolis, London's wine tasting venue located in Bankside near London Bridge.

The Union Street team plans to provide guests with demonstrations on some of the latest features in the aBILLity billing platform which recently won the 'Best Software Solution' category of the prestigious Comms National Awards for an unprecedented third year in a row.

Content for the roadshows will include details on the latest developments of aBILLity including recent upgrades to its end user customer portal WebaBILLity Pro and enhancements to the sales order processing functionality with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. There will also be an introduction to aBILLity's 'Contract Management Module', providing a wide range of functionality for managing tariffs, hardware assets and numerous other elements of a telecoms contract.

Following the demonstrations, clients will be treated to a wine tasting experience and tour of Vinopolis before a networking drink with the Union Street team.

Union Street's Managing Director Tony Cook commented: "The purpose of our Roadshow is to demonstrate how the innovative new functionality that's been added to aBILLity can be used to increase revenues, boost profitability and give our customers a competitive edge in the market. At the same time we're also looking forward to the opportunity to network with our customers and discuss ways in which we can help their businesses in a relaxed and friendly environment."

Juniper Networks has moved Gerard Allison up to vice president, partners for EMEA. He will be responsible for the structure, management and performance of Juniper Networks' channel partner and commercial business across the EMEA region, reporting to Sean Dolan, senior vice president, EMEA, Juniper Networks.

Gerard Allison was previously in a senior management role at the company as vice president of enterprise and area vice president, EMEA UK and Ireland. The partner job for EMEA was previously held by David Helfer, who was announced as Juniper Networks' vice president for worldwide channels and commercial in Q413.

"Juniper's Partner Advantage program continues to provide our partners with the tools they need to succeed. In 2014, with Juniper sales and partners working as one team, we will ensure our go-to-market structure remains strong and effective, particularly for our continued push into the security, mobility and data centre markets. Gerard is leading this evolution, across the service provider and enterprise sectors in EMEA. He is a proven, trusted leader for the team," says Sean Dolan.

Citrix has awarded Softcat the Citrix Service Provider (CSP) Partner Programme Distributor Award for its excellence in the overall desktop as a service (DaaS) approach.

According to Citrix, in 2013 Softcat delivered 100% on-time reporting and reporting accuracy and managed to sign a significant number of the new partners to the CSP programme. The company has been also recognised for expansion of its CSP partners' Citrix product selections, it says.

"We're delighted to receive this award, which demonstrates our commitment and expertise in driving growth in the Cloud and solutions for service providers. Softcat's Partner Services team has worked exceptionally hard to get us to this point, where, after 10 years of providing this particular service to this industry, we now deal with 50% of the UK's service provider hosting market," says Sam Routledge, who accepted the award on behalf of Softcat.

The award was presented at the Citrix Summit in Orlando, Florida, this month.

PC shipments in EMEA remained constrained in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13) as consumer demand continued to be weak while commercial demand improved, says IDC.

Overall PC shipments declined by 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Total shipments have now declined for six consecutive quarters in the region but the pace of contraction slowed during the second half of 2013. The fourth quarter results bring total EMEA PC sales for the full year 2013 to 88.3 million units, and to a decline of 15.7% compared with 2012. Portable PC shipments contracted the most in 2013, declining by 19.0%, while desktops declined by 9.6%.

"As expected, the PC market contracted across EMEA in 4Q13. The holiday season offers were unable to inspire an upturn in consumer spending, which continued to concentrate on tablets. As a result, notebook sales continued to display negative trends in the last quarter of the year, with portable PC shipments in EMEA reaching a decline of 9% in 4Q13," said Chrystelle Labesque, Research Manager, IDC EMEA Personal Computing. "On the other hand, enterprises have been maximizing their budgets before year end, resulting in stabilization on the desktop PC market. Desktop PC shipments in EMEA posted a slight decline of 1.7% while in Western Europe there was a small rebound with growth of 2%."

In Western Europe, commercial shipments increased 1.9%, while consumer sell in declined 8.3%, leading to a regional overall decline of 3.5%. The end of Windows XP support and some aging of the PC installed base fueled enterprise renewals. For the third consecutive quarter in Western Europe, commercial PC shipments were larger than consumer shipments, following a disappointing Christmas season. However, a healthier inventory situation at the end of 3Q did stimulate replenishments in retail in the run up to Christmas and until end of December.

"For 4Q13, the overall PC market in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) recorded a year on year decline of 10%, which is in line with expectations," said Stefania Lorenz, associate VP, IDC CEMA Systems. "As predicted, the market remained constrained during the quarter, with 2013 proving to be one of the worst on record for PC sales in CEE and MEA in both the consumer and commercial arenas. Altogether, shipments plummeted by more than 17% year on year. The reasons are many: economic slowdown, political unrest, the build-up of inventory throughout the year, and the consumer switch from PCs to tablets. The good news is that 2014 should see some turnaround. Renewals in the commercial space along with an expected increase in consumer confidence should give demand a boost over the next twelve months."

"In 4Q13 the CEE region reported an annual decline of just over 7%, with the portable PC market contracting by nearly 9% and the desktop by just over 4%. Thanks to some major deals in large markets such as Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic, the commercial space reported a less drastic decline," said Nikolina Jurisic, Product Manager, IDC CEMA Systems."

The PC market in 2013 was marked by ongoing evolution of the PC form factors with an acceleration towards mobility, social networking and cloud business. "Better results in the commercial desktop PC shipments and continued decline in the consumer space, particularly in portable PCs, confirm the trend we have been observing for several quarters that while PCs remain very relevant in the business area, consumers increasingly favour new mobile technologies, opting for tablets and smartphones as their preferred computing devices and extending the life cycle of their PCs," said Maciej Gornicki, Senior Research Analyst, IDC EMEA Personal Computing.

HP maintained its leadership in EMEA in line with slow market conditions. The vendor leveraged from stronger commercial demand and posted a good performance in Western Europe, gaining market share in that region. Key drivers to HP's success were innovation with the rollout of an extended product portfolio and a strong focus on strategy execution, says IDC.

Lenovo consolidated its 2nd position in the overall EMEA PC ranking, recording another strong quarter of growth in EMEA. The vendor gained shares across all subregions. Consistent strategy and execution combined with new product introductions were key to Lenovo's success and expansion across EMEA.

Acer ranked in 3rd place, outperforming the market in the portable PC area and gaining market shares in Western Europe. The introduction of Acer Chromebook was successful. Overall the performance was supported by seasonal retail replenishment and solid progress in commercial strategy execution.

Dell achieved another good quarter, gaining slightly in market share and ranked 4th in the EMEA PC market. Product innovation and partnerships with cloud and other software companies are some of the elements of the new end-user computing strategy that had great resonance for the company during the quarter.

Asus kept its fifth place thanks to growth in notebook shipments and gained market share in the region. The vendor launched a lot of new products in the PC and tablets area that were positively received by the market.

Outside the top 5 vendors, Toshiba gained sixth place with some product line refreshes but facing challenging consumer demand. Apple ranked seventh, supported by new product launches and benefiting from favorable YoY comparison. Sony declined by 22.8% in EMEA impacted by declining consumer PC spending. Fujitsu ranked 9th with good results in the desktop space. Samsung closed the top 10 ranking in EMEA, with strong focus on Chromebook.

CipherCloud, cloud information protection specialist, has snared CloudUp Networks, a privately held provider of SaaS application security.

According to CipherCloud, the integration of CloudUp Networks will broaden its capabilities to protect sensitive organisational information. Additionally, the new technology will provide integrated visibility capabilities into CipherCloud's platform to help customers detect data anomalies, it says.

"We continue to raise the bar for cloud information protection. The consumption of multiple cloud applications into the enterprise requires security to be in lock step with visibility. This acquisition reflects our strategy of growing our business with the tools our customers need to go to the cloud," said Pravin Kothari, founder and CEO of CipherCloud.