Technology Reseller v09

technolog y reseller.co.uk COMMENT 3 On page 42, Lucie Greene, Worldwide Director of J. Walter Thompson’s Innovation Group, picks 10 key technology trends to look out for in 2018. Oddly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not one of them. Perhaps in the fast moving world of advertising, AI, while not exactly old hat, is already blunted by familiarity. It is certainly promoted as a key selling point of many new products, like the new version of M-Files 2018 (page 36) and the SD Worx Digital Assistant (page 38). Both the content management and HR industries already have a high degree of workflow automation and are now using AI to take it to the next level. Other industries have been much slower to embrace automation, often to the detriment of their customers. One such, if David Carroll, CEO of XQ Cyber, is to be believed, is penetration testing. He told Technology Reseller that due to the shortage of skilled practitioners ‘pen’ testing today rarely involves the exploit phase. Instead, it has become a ‘very expensive tick-box exercise’. He said: “What generally happens is two pen testers turn up at your offices on a Monday morning. They scan your network, which takes anything up to a day. They drink coffee and then for the next four days they shoe-horn raw data into various formats. Two weeks after they leave your office, they produce a report that was accurate at the time of the scan. It’s a very mandraulic way of doing things. The pen test industry has been a turkey that has not been prepared to vote for Christmas simply because it would cannibalise its business model.” With the launch of CyberScore (page 20), XQ Cyber is hoping to disenfranchise the turkeys – to take away their vote and unilaterally declare Christmas, bringing great joy to Managed Service Providers, for whom ‘pen testing as a service’ represents a potentially profitable new source of revenue. Another article that touches on the subject of automation is this month’s Briefing on Blockchain (page 31). In it, Erik Johnsson, chief architect at Epicor Software, does a great job of explaining what blockchain is and how it can streamline and improve business processes, especially those that still rely on paper. If, like me, you only know of blockchain in relation to bitcoin, it is well worth a read. James Goulding Editor , [email protected] Technology Reseller is published by Kingswood Media Ltd., Amherst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT • Tel: 01732 759725 Email: [email protected] www.technologyreseller.co.uk No part of Technology Reseller can be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. © 2018 Kingswood Media Ltd. Design: Sandtiger Media www.sandtiger.co.uk 05 Bulletin What’s new in the channel and IT 16 The Insider Phil Jones explains why it pays to tackle the gender pay gap 20 Product of the Month A smarter approach to cyber security 22 Displays Highlights from ISE 2018 24 Opinion Why the time is right for a fairer, less complex cloud pricing model 26 What’s New Our pick of new technology products and services 28 Cloud Computing What to look for in a cloud services provider 31 Briefing There’s more to blockchain than bitcoin 36 Content Management Content management with added intelligence 37 Talking Point Is Robotic Process Automation workflow automation by a different name? 38 AI Meet your second brain 40 AV Sharp expands its AV portfolio 42 Top Trends Ten top tech trends for 2018 43 60 seconds... with Vincent Disneur, Union Street, Head of Sales & Marketing v09 · 2018 technology reseller.co.uk Comment Register online To receive your regular FREE printed copy of TECHNOLOGY RESELLER Magazine simply fill in our online registration form at www.technologyreseller.co.uk/register Read Technology Reseller online, on tablets and smart phones www.technologyreseller.co.uk Join us : Follow us @techreselleruk www.facebook.com/TechnologyResellerMag technology-reseller-magazine Editor: James Goulding 07803 087228 · [email protected] Advertising Director : Ethan White 01732 759725 · [email protected] Publishing Director: Neil Trim 01732 759725 · [email protected] Group Sales Manager: Martin Jenner-Hall 07824 552116 · [email protected] Social Media and Web Editor: John Peters 07711 204011 · [email protected] Art Director: Nick Pledge 07767 615983 · [email protected] Editorial Assistant: Tayla Ansell 01732 759725 · [email protected] Advertising Executive: James Trim 01732 759725 · [email protected] ISSN 2055-3110 (Print) ISSN 2055-3129 (Online)

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