01732 759725 VOX POP 44 ...continued Martin Roberts, Managing Director, Neuways “I think that people are going to take the experience that they’ve had through the pandemic to recognise that flexible and agile systems are really what everyone should be investing in. When we as an MSP, had discussed business continuity in the past, it has always taken time for people to understand the need for it – people get it now as we’ve had the ultimate business continuity challenge with the pandemic. “We helped many customers switch to more agile ways of working, by looking at new systems and new approaches. We’ve seen fantastic moves to Office 365 and Azure – and we expect that these types of moves will only keep accelerating, as well as moves to new ERP systems and business systems which help organisations to carry out processes with increased efficiency. “There are businesses who have had a tough time over the last 18 months, who are now ready to make the switch to more agile systems. Unfortunately, it is coinciding with a skills shortage in our sector. The ‘logjam’ effect caused by the pandemic, means there are now a lot of businesses ready for their digital transformations, and the supply is struggling to meet demand, at the moment. “Additionally, we are continuing to see major cyber security threats arise. Cyber criminals continue to develop new and smart tactics that test businesses, with a sole aim of exploiting and extorting victims that they manage to infiltrate. “We actively try to inform and educate with a regular cyber threats bulletin issued via email. But the problem now is that cyber-criminal groups are selling their exploits and hacks to other, smaller groups. This means that the majority of businesses are being bombarded by cyberattacks on a daily basis. “I hope that more can be done to take down these criminals and bring a halt to the crimes they are committing. As a society, we have more resources than ever and they need to continue to be put into fighting cybercrime. “But, yes, through investments in more flexible systems and ERP business systems, businesses can drastically improve how they operate. We have witnessed lots of supply chain disruption over the last year and a half, due to COVID and Brexit, but technology will be a massive part of the solution. “Digital insights can advise businesses whether they need to hold more stock – because of potential supply chain disruption or slow down. This is why it is worth investing in proper warehousing technology, like barcoding or RFID scanning. “To summarise, businesses need to establish how much they can afford to spend, and what they would like to achieve. Then, find the right IT partner and understand how you can meet those goals and objectives through an investment in technology.” www.neuways.com Clive Hamilton, Managing Director, Pinnacle “Post pandemic has given real technology issues in terms of acquiring and delivering some parts of the portfolio, especially from the hardware side of things. Other challenges have been to rethink, retrain and redevelop the skillsets of staff, the go to market strategy and of course new services and solutions to offer to our clients. “All this drives opportunity, in the short-term it allowed us to approach the marketplace and clients with new services and products that we may have only been talking about or planning for The opportunity is not so much about the printed document anymore, but the whole journey of the document from creation, mobility, flexibility, security storage and accessibility pre-COVID, so there was a real need to change what we were doing and how we were doing it to get improved coverage in all areas of the business. Print slowed right down so we needed to look at different ways to support that annuity revenue within the business. Print will recover to an extent and the volumes are already creeping back, albeit in a different way than it used to be accounted for. The opportunity is not so much about the printed document anymore, but the whole journey of the document from creation, mobility, flexibility, security storage and accessibility. “Future trends must lean toward, in our sector, with us being more collaborative with other sectors bringing together bigger skills, disciplines and services for all our clients and new business opportunities. Where each partner at the table brings and adds realtime value to the customer by working together whilst having a share of the wallet. This will I believe following on from the recovery stage of the pandemic, open the doors to a possible increase in the mergers and acquisitions of businesses.” www.pinnaclecos.co.uk Richard King, Channel Partner Manager, iTS “A decade ago, the MPS to hardware attachment ratio was pretty low, however, over the last ten years we have seen a seismic shift with in-house print management solutions now included across the hardware contract as standard. “That said, are the MPS solutions out Andy Ratcliffe Martin Roberts Clive Hamilton
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