Opinion

Opinion

Cloud Computing Services

• The cyber security channel – what’s in store for 2021?

  Ben Richardson, head of channel EMEA at Forcepoint, shares his thoughts about what cyber security could look like in the year ahead  Continue Reading

• Ransomware has MSPs in its sights

  Peter Geytenbeek, senior manager of channels EMEA at Thycotic, shares a warning about the need for managed service providers to take their own security seriously  Continue Reading

• The problems of brand association

  Billy MacInnes wonders whether SolarWinds MSP partners might have been asked some questions over the past few weeks  Continue Reading

• How has the cloud changed life? Let's ask a vendor and channel player

  The cloud has changed the way many of us operate, and Nick Booth has gone out to take a closer look via a couple of examples  Continue Reading

• Why consultation helps IT service providers keep customers for longer

  Managed service providers need to focus on the ‘partner’ aspect of their role, says Mav Turner, group vice-president of products for SolarWinds MSP  Continue Reading

• Covid-19 pandemic highlights a crisis of data

  Paul Evans, CEO of Redstor, shares his views about why he feels the ‘new normal’ offers unprecedented opportunities  Continue Reading

• The sustainability challenge

  Epson research indicates that users do care about sustainability, but it's not as easy as just tapping into that sentiment  Continue Reading

• How the GSI partner model has supported customers with distributed workforces

  Adam Tarbox, director of the global system integrator business for EMEA at Nutanix, shares his thoughts about the impact of the pandemic and the GSI partner model  Continue Reading

• Four disciplines for maintaining staff productivity to meet service level agreements in pandemic

  Datto’s vice-president of engineering for remote monitoring and management, Ian van Reenen, shares some views about productivity during the current crisis  Continue Reading

• Providing more value to your customers over time

  Maintaining your client base means your technology offerings, services and reporting must evolve  Continue Reading

• What will the next phase of working look like due to Covid-19?

  Andy Jane, CTO at Olive Communications, looks back at the past couple of weeks as the UK has been on lockdown to see how businesses have coped during the initial stage of the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis  Continue Reading

• How managed services can help SME security teams take back their time

  For those uncertain about investing in managed services in 2020, doing so could be the answer to freeing up your IT team to turn its attention to areas where it’s needed most. In the first of a three-part series, we look at the services you will need  Continue Reading

• Zero clients: The future of mobile security for the channel?

  As cyber attacks and security breaches continue to grow, IT managers are seeking new ways to secure their critical business data. While thin clients have been a good option in the past, they have limited benefits for remote working. That is where ...  Continue Reading

• Digital transformation for print: Four traps to avoid

  In the final part of her series on the world of print, Nicola Narey looks at how print providers can keep on the straight and narrow  Continue Reading

• Moving with the times – how PSPs can adapt their skills for the digital age

  In the first part of her two-part series on the world of print, Quadient’s Nicola Narey shares her views on why print service providers need to evolve their businesses  Continue Reading

• Distribution model is alive and well

  Warren Buffett’s interest in Tech Data represents a very strong endorsement of distribution and the channel’s role  Continue Reading

• Opportunities and threats with Microsoft 365 Business Voice

  The latest announcement from Microsoft brings significant business benefits and increased revenue to its resellers  Continue Reading

• Digital transformation: How far are we really in the journey?

  Are customers really in as much of a hurry to digitally transform as the shrillest advocates of the technology would like us to believe?  Continue Reading

• Will IAM make you more secure in a less secure world?

  There are growing opportunities for the channel with identity and access management, as migration to hybrid environments gains pace  Continue Reading

• The five challenges SMEs face due to poor internet connectivity

  What are the leading problems for small to medium-sized enterprises when it comes to internet connectivity?  Continue Reading

• Westcoast and iland present a tale of two disties

  Talking to just a couple of distributors reveals the evolution and determination from those firms to remain ahead of the market  Continue Reading

• Supporting intelligent workspaces

  As new technology continues to drive new ways of working, IT departments need support in facilitating the flexibility and connectivity demanded by today’s tech-savvy workforce  Continue Reading

• Are you ready to trade with the world on Brexit day?

  While some claim there are no freight management systems in place to help businesses trade after Brexit, the vendors of such systems – both traditional and newer, more user-friendly versions – would disagree  Continue Reading

• The hybrid cloud and clearing technical debt

  When done properly, hybrid infrastructure can deliver efficiency, cost savings and performance, but with so many options available, good advice from a channel partner is key to achieving these benefits  Continue Reading

• What makes a great managed security service provider?

  With an increasingly challenging threat landscape, being a successful MSSP can be a struggle. Making sure customers stay safe is critical to the success of your business, which is why understanding what makes a great MSSP is crucial for you to be ...  Continue Reading

• Securing SD-WAN – beyond the base level

  Software-defined networks has sophisticated security features built in, but additional layers of security are required to ensure robust protection against increasingly advanced cyber threats  Continue Reading

• What are the risks of not responding to a critical alarm in time?

  When selling management tools, managed service providers need to educate users about the importance of acting on the alarms generated by such equipment  Continue Reading

• Apstra stops the cyber criminals from loitering with intent

  Intent-based networking fine-tunes all the complicated variables that influence the performance of a network infrastructure and can head off any potential cock-ups  Continue Reading

• Shifting business model to benefit from the rise in cloud

  Channel partners will need to undergo their own version of digital transformation to take full advantage of the shift to cloud  Continue Reading

• A bridge too VAR

  The expedition from VAR to MSP is not short of challenges but, equipped with the right map, ambitious companies can feel more confident in getting past first base. In the second part of his series, Predatar CEO Alistair Mackenzie takes a closer look...  Continue Reading

• Ransomware and the danger of MSP lock-out

  Recent attacks on managed service providers have highlighted remote monitoring and management vulnerabilities, reinforcing the need for a security-centric approach in MSPs’ foundational practices  Continue Reading

• VAR from the madding crowd

  Predatar’s CEO reflects on the transformation from VAR to MSP, highlighting some of the key milestones and the obvious pitfalls to avoid  Continue Reading

• Help us to help you – how the customer-first model helps you empower your business

  We are in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution, with technologies such as the internet of things, data analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud-based business management tools a regular talking point. But technology alone won’t solve ...  Continue Reading

• What has the channel ever done for digital transformation?

  How the channel can play an important role in the drive for digital transformation  Continue Reading

• Channelling the cloud – building healthy CSP relationships

  Creating a successful relationship with cloud service providers is essential for channel partners looking to increase their cloud portfolio. iLand 's director of channel sales has five tips to make the most of the opportunity  Continue Reading

• Insight 2019 technology predictions

  Michael Guggemos, CIO of Insight, shares his thoughts about what will be the key issues for the channel in the months ahead  Continue Reading

• Tech Data’s Advanced Solutions: 2019 channel predictions

  Miriam Murphy, Senior Vice President EMEA , Advanced & Specialist Solutions at Tech Data shares some thoughts about what next year will hold  Continue Reading

• Improving processes with the cloud

  Dominik Birgelen, CEO of oneclick, has some advice for those looking to harness the cloud to improve their operations  Continue Reading

• There's a cloud partner to cover every need

  The recent Cloud Industry Forum report into how customers spend their money on infrastructure caught the attention of Billy MacInnes  Continue Reading

• Are the good old days coming back?

  Long lunches and conversations of substance are things that Nick Booth hopes will return  Continue Reading

• Nuxeo aims to help companies with problems of subject access review and digital transformation

  Subject access reviews cost money and Nick Booth finds someone that not only understands how to save customers a few pennies but also how to help the channel make some  Continue Reading

• What has HP Inc got in common with Manchester City and Chelsea FC?

  Comments made by the HP boss about the context of the recent acquisition of Apogee got Billy MacInnes thinking about other operations that buy strategically to deny rivals  Continue Reading

• Virtustream is about to get biblical on the channel and its Aas

  The vendor gathered the great and the good together to outline its cloud strategy and Nick Booth was in the audience  Continue Reading

• MSP Day 2018 - Only the beginning

  Jason Howells, EMEA Director, Barracuda MSP, shares his views about building on the success of the first MSP Day  Continue Reading

• AI Cops Walk the Thin Line Between Fin Tech and Fiend Tech

  Steps are being taken to ensure that AI and machine learning do not damage consumers finds Nick Booth  Continue Reading

• You don’t need to treat clients mean to keep them keen, says WP Engine

  The technology that made WordPress so easy to use is something that has caught Nick Booth's eye  Continue Reading

• Considerations on a European channel strategy

  Brad Parks, VP of business development at Morpheus Data, shares some of the thoughts that go through then mind of a vendor looking at increasing European channel coverage  Continue Reading

• The rise of IoT

  Craig Smith, director IoT and analytics solutions and services at Tech Data, shares his thoughts about the rise of the Internet of Things  Continue Reading

• 5 growing pains MSPs need to overcome

  Gregg Lalle, vice-president of international sales and strategy at ConnectWise, explores the business challenges that confront MSPs as they endeavour to scale their businesses without compromising the customer experience  Continue Reading

• Cloud appeals come rain or shine

  The recent hot weather got Billy MacInnes thinking about the benefits of paying for what you use  Continue Reading

• Looking beyond MSP Day to year-round sales opportunities

  Later this month the first MSP Day will be marked but supporting and encouraging managed service providers is not a one-off exercise argues Jason Howells at Barracuda MSP  Continue Reading

• Are resellers ready for the race to multi-cloud?

  Multi-cloud is here to stay and could offer resellers a chance to stand out from the crowd if they can rise to the challenge  Continue Reading

• Giving the NHS some IT treatment

  There are plenty of things that could help the NHS save money by using IT finds Nick Booth  Continue Reading

• Hugging hardware is outdated - the new trend is cuddling a cloud

  The world is changing and as Nick Booth finds out after a chat with Arcserve the days of stroking the tin is coming to an end  Continue Reading

• There is no Margin for Error in Azure it’s Strictly Bill Room

  Nick Booth finds some inspiration in what Microsoft partner Astel Systems has been doing to deliver cloud services  Continue Reading

• Continuing in the face of disaster

  Paul Blore, managing director at Netmetix, cloud network specialists, writes about the importance of business continuity and how businesses can best implement it  Continue Reading

• In pursuit of agility: empowering the citizen integrator

  Agile IT is something that a lot of customers want help with and Erica Langhi, senior solution architect, Red Hat, casts her eye over the current market landscape  Continue Reading

• The multicloud dream

  Nutanix’s Jan Ursi looks at the new route to revenue for hyper-convergence channel partners  Continue Reading

• Focusing on the cloud reality

  It's easy to lose sight of what is actually happening in the market sometimes warns Billy Macinnes  Continue Reading

• Could the NPL be the good referee that helps the IT industry’s game?

  The National Physics Laboratory might have a role to play in keeping the IT industry on track explains Nick Booth  Continue Reading

• Charting a course to the new world

  VMware would like its resellers to be actively selling cloud products and services, something Billy MacInnes recognises as an issue for more than just that vendor  Continue Reading

• Whoa…we’re halfway there, and opportunities await if you’re a cloud player

  The future is the cloud and Jennifer Warawa, EVP of Partners, Accountants, and Alliances at Sage, has noted that the channel is already on the road to the future  Continue Reading

• The true value of mobile device management

  Ian van Reenen, vice president of engineering, endpoint products at Autotask, shares some thoughts about the challenges facing those trying to manage mobile devices  Continue Reading

• Demystifying the myths of the channel and the cloud

  Niko Mykkanen, head of partner channel strategy, Amazon Web Services EMEA, shares some thoughts about the way the channel can approach the cloud  Continue Reading

• Industrial Internet of Things: Redefining MSP service offerings

  Ian van Reenen, vice president of engineering, endpoint products at Autotask, looks at the opportunities IoT in the commercial sector offers MSPs  Continue Reading

• Channel people still play a vital role

  Hearing that channel firms are growing is welcome news for Billy MacInnes and he wonders just what is driving that success  Continue Reading

• Breaking down the barriers to Smart Tech in the home

  Rod Slater, head of Smart Tech & IoT at Exertis, has some advice about how the channel can take advantage of the wave of smart technology targeted at the home  Continue Reading

• People must think the cloud computing industry is a bunch of Yahoos

  Nick Booth has some thoughts on the revelations that Yahoo suffered a major security breach that went unreported for quite some time  Continue Reading

• Winning gold in the technology race

  It has been a glorious summer for Olympians and Gary Bell, executive director - outsourcing at Civica draws some inspiration for IT users  Continue Reading

• Cloud: Everyone else is doing it, why can’t we?

  Chris Roberts, director of Channel at Pulsant, looks at why some have been more successful than others in changing sales culture, remuneration approaches and business models when it comes to selling cloud  Continue Reading

• 8 tips for creating a successful sales methodology for IT services

  Mark Banfield, senior vice president, International, Autotask, shares some advice about how to create a successful sales methodology  Continue Reading

• Enabling a smarter state: delivering services based around people, not policy

  David Cameron might be on his way out but his vision of a smarter state is one the channel can still help deliver says Chris Ginnelly, managing director, Civica Digital Solutions  Continue Reading

• The negatives of legacy IT

  In the age of digital transformation Billy MacInnes muses over the increasingly negative associations that legacy IT suffers from  Continue Reading

• Does the UK slide down the cloud rankings matter?

  In light of the recent BSA findings that the UK has dropped down the rankings of a good place to use the cloud Billy MacInnes wonders if that is a terrible thing  Continue Reading

• Infrastructure as a utility – The next stage in cloud evolution

  Philippe Fosse, VP EMEA channels at EMC, shares his thoughts on the channel, innovation and the cloud  Continue Reading

• Speed and digital transformation might not be the best mix

  Few would argue against the need for more customers to embrace digital transformation but Billy MacInnes warns against rushing that process  Continue Reading

• Five technology trends that will define 2016

  Just what should resellers look out for in the year ahead? Brian Buggy, co-founder and vp products at Zynstra, has some suggestions  Continue Reading

• Office 365 – a sheep in wolf’s clothing

  The channel might have feared Office 365 but it could be an opportunity claims Aidan Simister, regional director at Lepide Software  Continue Reading

• Government fumbles around, unable to find the spot on the G-Cloud

  Nick Booth canvasses some opinion about just what is happening with G-Cloud  Continue Reading

• IT is not always to blame for a failed tech project

  IT projects failing to be delivered is a problem we have all grown used to but as Billy MacInnes discovers the reasons things go wrong are not always obvious  Continue Reading

• Channel opportunities in a time of change

  Customer transition could be a positive for the channel says Philippe Fossé, vice president of EMEA Channels, EMC  Continue Reading

• Salesforce.com strikes the right balance

  The balance between the subscription and support sides of the business seems to be well balanced at Salesforce.com argues Billy MacInnes  Continue Reading

• The BI managed service opportunity

  Peter Baxter, managing director EMEA, Yellowfin, looks at just what the BI market can offer those delivering managed services  Continue Reading

• Tempting the DIYers back to using the experts

  With the news that many SME owner managers try to fix their IT problems themselves Billy MacInnes wonders how they can be tempted to use the channel  Continue Reading

• Is BYOD DOA? Not for MSPs

  The bring your own device trend is far from over, particularly for MSPs, argues Ashley Leonard, president and CEO of Verismic  Continue Reading

• The future of managed print services is all about the service

  Vendors, distributors and resellers alike need to accept the world has changed says Giles Thorpe, managing director, CCE  Continue Reading

• WS2003 end of life – Is your business ready?

  Mark Scaife, head of technical development, Phoenix IT, looks at what the forthcoming support switch off for WS2003 means for the channel's customers  Continue Reading

• The mis-alignment between customers and service providers

  Recent findings from LogicNow revealed that many customers were not on the same page as their service providers and Billy MacInnes has some thoughts on why  Continue Reading

• Bett 2015 – time to make a play for managed IT services

  David Fearne, technical director at Arrow ECS UK & Ireland, gives his reaction to the BETT show  Continue Reading

• The Microsoft cloud case that could have far reaching consequences

  The ongoing legal battle between Microsoft and the US government over just what can be shared in the cloud is one that Billy MacInnes thinks could have a far reaching impact  Continue Reading

• Mind the gap and find the right skills

  Billy MacInnes looks back over some recent market coverage and exposes skills gaps at different ends of the market  Continue Reading

• Moving to the cloud: why resellers need a helping hand

  Moving to the cloud can be a challenge and the advice from David Ellis, director of strategy at Arrow ECS, UK and Ireland, is to find the right partner to help  Continue Reading

• Onward and upward at Innovate UK

  Britain’s technology strategy board (now rebranded as Innovate UK) held an exhibition of the inventions that can make Britain’s industries leaner and greener  Continue Reading

• Served from the cloud

  Graham Harris, product director for cloud at Daisy Wholesale, discusses cloud and why the channel shouldn’t be intimidated  Continue Reading

• Can you really motivate the channel with boot camps?

  Stand by your beds! There’s a rash of military style training courses for the channel. But Nick Booth wonders if they work?  Continue Reading

• Confusion in the cloud

  The IT industry is awash with jargon and acronyms – BYOD, CYOD, COPE, PaaS, IaaS, SaaS, … the list goes on and now there is an new one according to Adam Davison from Cloud Distribution  Continue Reading

• The cloud takes the green tint off SAP

  The shift by users towards the cloud has also pushed the responsibility for emissions away from the user causing SAP a few problems finds Billy MacInnes  Continue Reading

• Data – the lifeblood of a business

  David Ellis, director of technology and services, ComputerLinks, looks at the importance of protecting data  Continue Reading

• The internet of dumb, nasty things is on the way

  Machines – we can’t live without them, but they’re about to gang up on us and do us in. Nick Booth is worried  Continue Reading

• Can Twitter really be worth more than $24bn?

  As Twitter shares start trading Billy MacInnes wonders if the social media firm really is worth its valuation  Continue Reading