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BULLETIN
IT channel optimistic
about future
New technologies like the cloud and
growing demand for managed services are
giving the IT channel cause for optimism,
according to the CompTIA
State of the UK
Channel 2015
report.
Over half of the 202 UK channel organisations
surveyed by IT industry association CompTIA are
optimistic about the future of the channel, with
just 12% describing themselves as pessimistic.
The cloud was identified as the main growth
area, cited by 55% of respondents, followed by
security (49%) and custom software development
(45%).
More than half of channel companies surveyed
(52%) are making money from consulting services.
Supplier consolidation
threat to single-service
resellers
Managed services provider Annodata
warns that efforts by businesses to
consolidate the number of suppliers they
are working with will drive significant
changes in the channel over the next five
years, as single-service resellers struggle to
compete with competitors that can deliver
a wide range of services.
Rod Tonna-Barthet, CEO of Annodata, said:
“Many clients we serve are now actively looking
to cut down on the number of suppliers they
work with. It is a nonsense, not to mention
inefficient, to use one supplier to provide your
print, another to supply your communications
and someone else to provide your IT and desktop.
All of these services are connected to the same
network and are increasingly becoming unified
in their application, not to mention the fact that
it’s just impractical today to rely on half a dozen
suppliers to provide these services. Ease of vendor
management is increasingly becoming key to
many organisations as they look to improve
efficiencies and reduce costs.
“Businesses don’t want to deal with multiple
points of contact if they can just deal with one
trusted and strategic partner who can support
and resolve a range of services for them. We are
experiencing this across both private and public
sector organisations. Currently many single service
support businesses are making it extremely
difficult for themselves to succeed. If you can only
supply one item on your clients’ shopping lists,
you’ve either got to be extraordinarily good at
that one thing or extraordinarily cheap. Otherwise,
your business will become extinct.”
He added: “Over the past decade, with the
advancement in mobility and the Internet of
Things, this convergence has become more
evident. The challenge many single-service
providers now have is that you’ve got to invest in
the infrastructure behind the scenes to be able to
deliver and employ a multi-service strategy. That’s
a big investment that I suspect a lot of resellers
aren’t in a position to make, so I think the drive to
consolidate suppliers will see many struggle over
the next year.”
Mobile apps on the up
Nine out of 10 IT decision-makers in the
US and Western Europe expect to increase
their investment in mobile application
development within the next 12 months,
according to a study by Vanson Bourne for
open source solutions provider Red Hat.
One third of those polled say mobile apps are
changing the way they do business by reinventing
business processes, compared to 37% who say
they are primarily used to automate existing
processes.
People News
CMI Companion
Phil Jones, managing
director of Brother
UK, has been named
a Companion of the
Chartered Management
Institute (CMI). The
appointment recognises
Phil’s business
achievements and his
contribution to management and leadership.
John Morgan, Chairman of the CMI in the North
West, said: “Our goal is to raise the standards
and practices of management up to those of
other professions, and companions play a crucial
role in this. We’re pleased to be welcoming
Phil into the fold so he can share his leadership
expertise developed through the forward
thinking approach he has brought to Brother.”
Sharp Head of Marketing
Sharp Business Systems
UK has appointed a new
Head of Marketing to
drive growth across its
indirect and direct sales
arms. Elia Giovanni joined
Sharp in October 2015,
following 18 months
at Toshiba TEC UK as
Marketing Manager for
the Indirect Channel. Elia has over 14 years of
experience in customer-centric B2B sales and
marketing roles.
Leasing move
Societe General
Equipment Finance has
created a new Office
Equipment division
headed up by Simon
Rodway. As Head of
the Office Equipment
Division, Simon will
help Societe General
Equipment Finance grow and expand into the
small ticket flow market. Simon has more than
20 years' experience working in the finance and
leasing industry.
New UK MD
Epson has appointed Rob Clark as managing
director of its UK business. Rob, who has
been with Epson for over 20 years, will take
on this position while continuing to drive the
company's European business strategy as
senior vice president for Epson Europe. Tony
Petford, his predecessor as UK MD, has been
made vice president for CISMEA (Russia &
associated territories, Middle East and Africa),
with responsibility for establishing a new
management team for the region.
SCC named MSP of
the year
SCC has been named Managed Services
Provider of the Year at the CRN Channel
Awards 2015, underlining its success in
making the transition from IT reseller to
Europe’s leading independent IT services
business and a Top 3 UK Data Centre
Services provider.
As part of this strategy, SCC has invested
heavily in its own data centres and cloud services,
including expenditure of more than £60m on the
expansion of its COL1 data centre in Birmingham
and the acquisition of FAR, SSE Telecoms’ flagship,
Tier 3+ data centre in Fareham.
Since 2012, SCC has also acquired Managed
Print Services provider M2, data telecoms provider
Fluidata and global Cloud Services Provider
SIPCOM.
Last year, SCC’s revenue from Data Centre and
Cloud services hit £26m, following a succession of
key customer wins.
SCC Chief Executive James Rigby said: “To
win Managed Services Provider of the Year is
particularly special as a reward for our hard work
in the strategic transition of SCC. We’re firmly on
track to achieve our 2017 target of £50m EBITDA,
through organic and acquisitive growth and
delivery of a market-leading, end-to-end Cloud
Delivered Managed Services proposition.”
