ISSUE 99 · 2022 www.printitreseller.uk PRINT, MFP, SOFTWARE, SERVICES, DOCUMENT & CLOUD NEWS & INFORMATION FOR VARS, CONVERGED RESELLERS & MFP DEALERS TUESDAY DECEMBER 6 ROYAL LANCASTER, LONDON Winners Announced
BUSINESS BRIEFING In association with: MAGAZINE &WEBSITE The Print IT Awards 2022 will celebrate the achievements of this vital, ever changing technology sector with a comprehensive programme of awards, covering all aspects of the industry. Entries/Voting are CLOSED! The awards shortlists are now available online or turn to page 22 of this issue. BOOK YOUR TABLE TODAY! Tables and spaces are selling fast – secure your place at this must attend event – call us now. SPONSORSHIP To get even more involved we have a number sponsorship opportunities available leading up to and at the event. To Book a Table or to enquire about Sponsorship Opportunities call Ethan or Neil on 01732 759 725. www.printitawards.co.uk December 6 2022 The Royal Lancaster Hotel, London
The countdown is on, it’s just a few short weeks until THE event of the year. I’m delighted to announced that Kerry Godliman will host and compere the 2022 PrintIT Awards which will take place on Tuesday December 6 at the Royal Lancaster, London. See page 22 for another look at the shortlists and I look forward to revealing the winners and celebrating your successes on the night. Tickets are selling fast, but there’s still time to book your place – call Ethan or Neil on 01732 759725, download the booking form at www.printitawards.co.uk or email [email protected] Tech Live 22 took place at the Business Design Centre, London on September 13. Hundreds of visitors from across the industry joined 40+ exhibitors from the worlds of IT, comms, networking, cybersecurity, managed print and circular IT, plus related services like billing and leasing, to network, forge new relationships and develop existing ones. Running alongside the main exhibition was an informal, but informative, seminar programme. We’ve curated some edited highlights from one of the panel discussions focusing on how resellers can build on existing relationships to develop additional sources of revenue – page 39. Kerry Rush, Product Marketing Manager – Hardware and Facilities at Sharp Business Systems UK, picks the work tools she uses every day and couldn’t do her job without (page 18). This month’s Q&A is with Toby Hales, CSO, United Business Group and PITR spent 60 seconds with Nick Taylor, UK & Ireland Office Print Channel Manager, Epson. If you’ve got any news about your business to share, would like to be included on our monthly VOX POP panel, have a compelling business success story or simply wish to comment on any industry issues, please get in touch with us at: [email protected] Michelle Ryder, Editor PRINT.IT Reseller is published by Kingswood Media Ltd., 10 Amherst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT • Tel: 01732 759725 Email: [email protected] www.printitreseller.uk No part of PRINT.IT Reseller can be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. © 2022 Kingswood Media Ltd. Design: Sandtiger Media www.sandtiger.co.uk 04 Bulletin What’s new in printers and printing 16 People A round-up of new hires 18 I couldn’t do my job without... Kerry Rush picks her favourite work tools 20 Research The employee-centric hybrid workplace 22 PrintIT Awards Kerry Godliman announced as this year’s compere 26 Focus on: What’s New A round-up of recent product launches 30 MPS Why are more businesses switching to MPS? 33 Acquisitions Valsoft enters MPS space 36 Events Golf society events and 2022 winners 39 Big Issue Panel discussion at Tech Live 2022 42 VOX POP Print Predictions: part one 48 View from the Channel Toby Hales, CSO, United Business Group 50 60 seconds with... Nick Taylor, UK & Ireland Office Print Channel Manager, Epson ISSUE 99 · 2022 printitreseller.uk Comment Register online To receive your regular FREE printed copy of PrintIT Reseller Magazine simply fill in our online registration form at www.printitreseller.uk/register If you no longer wish to receive PrintIT Reseller magazine please email your details to [email protected] Read PrintIT Reseller online at: www.printitreseller.uk Join us : Follow us @PrintITReseller Issue 99 ISSN 2055-3110 (Print) ISSN 2055-3129 (Online) Group Editor: James Goulding 07803 087228 · [email protected] Editor: Michelle Ryder 01732 759725 · [email protected] Publishing Director, Social Media and Web Editor: Neil Trim 01732 759725 · [email protected] Advertising Director: Ethan White 01732 759725 · [email protected] Account Manager: Jeff Root 07976 950285 · [email protected] Art Director: Nick Pledge 07767 615983 · [email protected] COMMENT PRINTITRESELLER.UK 3 December 6 Royal Lancaster London printitawards.co.uk BOOK NOW Kerry Godliman Toby Hales
BULLETIN 01732 759725 4 Addressing security challenges of hybrid work After two years of the pandemic, confidence in addressing certain security risks and threats arising from hybrid and remote work has improved among businesses and organisations around the world. The 2022 Thales Access Management Index, a global survey of 2,600 IT decision-makers, revealed that when it comes to secure access to applications, data, and systems, 84% of IT professionals said they have some degree of confidence in their current user access security systems to enable remote work securely and easily, compared to 56% in 2021. In addition, 60% said this year they were highly confident compared to just 22% last year. Overall, the report findings suggest that firms remain concerned about the security risks of remote work, but those concerns seem to be less severe. At the same time, firms are also growing more confident in the ability of authentication and access management systems to manage those risks. Only 31% of IT professionals surveyed reported having very high concerns about the security risks and threats of remote work in 2022, down from 39% in 2021, while those who said they were somewhat concerned – the most popular response – increased from 43% to 48% in 2022. www.thalesgroup.com Ransomware attacks continue increasing Nearly a quarter of businesses have suffered a ransomware attack, with a fifth occurring in the past 12 months, according to a latest annual report from cybersecurity specialist Hornetsecurity. The 2022 Ransomware Report , which surveyed over 2,000 IT leaders, revealed that 24% have been victims of a ransomware attack, with one in five (20%) attacks happening in the last year. The report highlighted a lack of knowledge on the security available to businesses. A quarter of IT professionals either don't know or don't think that Microsoft 365 data can be impacted by a ransomware attack. Just as worryingly, 40% that use Microsoft 365 in their organisation admitted they do not have a recovery plan in case their Microsoft 365 data was compromised by a ransomware attack. The survey also showed that more than one in five businesses that were attacked either paid up or lost data. Hackers have an incentive to run these ransomware attacks because there's a decent chance that they'll get a payday – 7% of IT professionals whose organisation was attacked paid the ransom, while 14% admitted that they lost data to an attack. hornetsecurity.com Prioritising flexible working A new YouGov poll commissioned by Working Families and SF Recruitment underscores the impact and importance of employers prioritising flexible working as part of their recruitment strategy. Flexibility (66%) is second only to pay (73%) in terms of priorities when looking for a new job and over half of UK working parents (55%) would likely consider leaving their job if they found another one that offered more flexible options. Eight in 10 UK parents would be likely to apply for a role that listed flexible working options, while only three in 10 would be likely to apply for a role that did not list flexible working options and of the UK parents currently in work, three in 10 are in jobs below their skill level because their jobs offer greater flexibility. https://workingfamilies.org.uk/ IPIA kickstarts careers in print In 2021, the Independent Print Industry Association (IPIA) became a pioneering gateway for its members to benefit from the Government’s Kickstart scheme; it even shaped the way the programme was administered. It helped place 33 young people with 25 members and today, more than 80% of them have permanent positions in the printing sector. “Our industry has a skilled but ageing workforce and often struggles to recruit young people at a roots level. Through Kickstart, we feel very proud to have not just contributed tangibly to the sector but also helped transform the lives of some bright young people who otherwise were facing long term unemployment,” said Brendan Perring, General Manager of the IPIA. ipia.org.uk Focus on climate change Across the world, people are stepping up personal efforts to avert climate change, according to the latest findings from Epson’s second Climate Reality Barometer. Despite a year of unprecedented climate impacts, the survey found that people are increasingly optimistic that climate disaster can be averted in their lifetime. Prior to COP26 in November 2021, 46% of global respondents were optimistic that climate catastrophe could be averted within a lifetime. As the world prepares for COP27 this year, optimism has risen to over 48%. While fixing the economy (22%) and rising prices (21%) top the list of respondents’ priorities, climate change ranks a very close third (20%). The data also shows that there are significant variations in confidence levels, driven by factors such as economics and age. The oldest and youngest age ranges are most concerned about climate change. Those 55 and over are the only group to cite climate change as its most pressing global issue (22.2%), while the 16 to 24 group is the only one to rank it second (19.3%) – all other age ranges rank it third. www.epson.co.uk December 6 Royal Lancaster, London printitawards.co.uk BOOK NOW
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BULLETIN plan.com furthers expansion plans plan.com has acquired Telserve Group for an undisclosed sum as part of an ambitious strategy that will see it expand significantly over the next five years. The enlarged business has also unveiled plans for Telserve to expand to a second office in Birmingham, giving the group a presence in four locations and a combined team of over 170 personnel. The deal will see Telserve Group become a plan.com company, with its senior leadership team, including Managing Director Stuart Box remaining with the business to support the group’s UK expansion. The newly expanded business will continue to be headquartered in Douglas on the Isle of Man, where it plans to unveil its recently constructed, state-of-the-art HQ in early 2023. CEO and co-founder Dan Craddock said: “I’m delighted to welcome the team at Telserve into the plan.com group. They have an established and successful business model that complements our partner-led route to market perfectly. Our combined expertise will provide a strong foundation for continued expansion in the UK and presents exciting opportunities to build on our market-leading reputation.” www.plan.com Woodbank acquires Datatech Systems Woodbank Office Solutions has acquired Wirral-based print management business, Datatech Systems, furthering expansion of its presence in Liverpool and the Wirral. Founded in 1989, Woodbank, a supplier of Konica Minolta, Sharp and Kyocera document solutions is headquartered in Stockport and has regional offices in Liverpool and Leeds. Founder and Managing Director Janet Bowden said: “We’ve been looking to expand our business for some time, and when the opportunity arose for us to acquire Datatech, it was evident throughout the process that they are a natural fit for us. We have the same values and the same approach, and the acquisition has been a smooth and seamless transition for us and Datatech customers.” The deal was supported by Mark Penketh, Managing Director for Penketh Group, office interior suppliers and former owner of Datatech. “As a group, our focus now centers on furniture & interiors, business supplies, and technology. We chose Woodbank as their extensive expertise in printing, photocopying, and document system solutions will enhance the service and customer experience that Datatech customers receive.” www.woodbankoffice.co.uk 01732 759725 6 ASL acquires for growth Ely-headquartered managed office services provider ASL Group has acquired Gemini Office Solutions, a managed print and related services business based in North London. The acquisition is the 14th that ASL has completed in the last decade and will bring two hundred valued customers to the group, with opportunities for further growth. ASL Group Managing Director Duncan Forsyth said: “This acquisition is an exciting addition to the ASL Group and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the company’s acquisition growth strategy. We are delighted to welcome Gemini on board.” Warren Levison, Managing Director, Gemini Office Solutions added: “We have been discussing this opportunity with ASL for a while and are very happy that we have chosen a company who will continue to maintain the values and customer service levels that Gemini’s customers expect moving forward, whilst giving them access to further services.” www.asl-group.co.uk Quick quote calculator Tech Data, a TD SYNNEX company, has launched a Quick Quote Trade-in calculator, giving partners a fast and easy way to generate instant indicative quotes for customers on the potential value of used or end-of-life equipment. The tool is available to partners on Tech Data’s InTouch e-commerce platform. The only information needed to generate a trade-in quote is the name of the device and memory capacity. This will provide an indicative offer almost immediately. As well as making new purchases more attractive and affordable, encouraging customers to trade-in devices helps with sustainability. All traded-in devices are either recycled or refurbished, and data is securely wiped, so nothing goes to waste and customers are fully protected. Mark Glasspool, Services Director, UK and Ireland, Tech Data, said: “Our trade-in services are really popular and growing fast – and the Quick Quote Trade-in calculator makes it an even easier and more attractive option. You can get an indicative quote in seconds, which is ideal if you are having a live conversation with a customer or need to build an outline quote as quickly as you can.” There is no minimum quantity for tradeins and following the initial quote and it is a straightforward process to get the quote confirmed. The trade-in calculator button appears in both the product search and on the product description page of Tech Data’s InTouch e-commerce system. https://eu.techdata.com/ New unified business A new name has entered the UK managed services sector with the launch of Espria. The new business brings together Connection Capital-backed Mode Solutions, a provider of turnkey digital managed services and IT managed services provider, eacs, which it acquired in June 2022. Espria delivers an easy to access and extensive range of digital transformation services and solutions for UK businesses of all sizes, from a single source. The new unified business offers a comprehensive range of integrated digital workspace solutions encompassing managed IT, cloud, communications and connectivity, hybrid/remote working and document solutions. CEO Alex Tupman said: “IT outsourcing is now well established as a key driver of increased business agility and resilience. Our offering, underpinned by a dynamic, fresh brand, brings together an extended range of digital solutions designed to help businesses power their digital transformation and workspace. “In essence, business leaders can focus on what matters most for them – managing builtup debt, reducing costs and growing revenues, safe in the knowledge their IT infrastructure is operating efficiently and securely.” www.espria.com Mark Glasspool Alex Tupman Janet Bowden
BULLETIN Great British beach clean Apogee has taken part in the Great British Beach Clean, partnering with the Marine Conservation Society to remove litter from Folkestone, Kent, Cleethorpes, in the Humber, and Silverknowes, Scotland. Helmed and overseen by the Marine Conservation Society, The Great British Beach Clean is a science event where thousands of volunteers clean UK beaches over the course of a week. All litter collected is then sorted and disposed of responsibly, directly contributing to the conservation work of the International Coastal Clean-Up. Apogee volunteers removed 19kg of litter from Cleethorpes, 30kg from Silverknowes, and 178kg from Folkestone – coming to a collective total of 227kg. This marks the second year that Apogee has taken part in the Great British Beach Clean. In September 2021, Apogee volunteers collected over 40kg of litter from beaches in Whitstable, Kent, and Paull on the Humber – amounting to less than one fifth of what was collected in 2022. www.apogeecorp.com Agilico welcomes Capital Document Solutions Workplace technology provider Agilico has announced the acquisition of Capital Document Solutions, its biggest acquisition to-date by revenue, headcount, and machines in the field. This latest deal significantly expands the group’s capabilities across the UK; increases MiF to over 40,000; and expands the customer base to 13,000 largely SME customers. Agilico’s Agile Print division is now the largest independent MPS business in the UK, a feat achieved over four years under CEO, Simon Davey. Davey said: “Tom Flockhart and I spent two years working together on this deal to make sure every aspect of it was carefully considered. Though he very sadly lost his battle against cancer before we managed to complete, I know he would be immensely proud of his board of directors and family for honouring his wishes to become part of the Agilico group.” www.agilico.co.uk PRINTITRESELLER.UK 7 BCN Group strengthens cloud services Manchester-based IT cloud and managed services specialist BCN Group, has announced the strategic acquisition of Evo-Soft, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central specialist. The acquisition follows the recent investment by ECI Partners, the growthfocused mid-market private equity firm and will bring the combined annual business revenue to over £50m. BCN is a digital transformation solutions and managed service provider delivering cloud first data strategies, including Microsoft Modern Workplace, Microsoft Azure, analytics, development, and IT security services to the mid-market and public sector organisations. The acquisition of Evo-Soft provides BCN with a platform to provide solution driven services for businesses across the UK. The move enhances the group’s focus on and capability of delivering services and solutions from the Microsoft ecosystem. CEO Rob Davies said: “The acquisition of Evo-Soft enables BCN to provide more value to our customers, enabling them to continue their digital transformation journey, exercising the full benefits of the Microsoft ecosystem. The existing capabilities around development, Microsoft Modern Workplace, analytics, and Microsoft Azure is heightened with the delivering of core business applications services with Microsoft Dynamics. As such we are delighted in supporting further growth with Evo-Soft as part of the BCN Group and even more excited in delivering further digital benefits to our midmarket customers.” www.bcn.co.uk Kocho’s accelerates growth strategy Cyber security, identity, cloud transformation and managed services provider Kocho, has acquired Surrey-headquartered Mobliciti, an MSP specialising in enterprise mobility, security and wireless connectivity solutions. The deal adds strategic mobile management and security capabilities to Kocho’s growing service portfolio, allowing customers of both organisations to benefit from an end-toend range of best-in-class services that will further accelerate their digital transformation programmes. https://kocho.co.uk XBM expands managed print base XBM has purchased iDoc Services, a London-based, UK-wide reseller of Epson and HP printers, copiers, and digital document solutions. XBM rebranded in 2021 and in July this year announced plans to rapidly expand through acquisitions and new business to become the UK’s largest managed print provider. The company is already Epson’s second largest reseller and one of only three Epson Platinum Partners in the UK, an award based on its expertise and high levels of customer support. Managing Director, Richard Taylor said the company is now set to aggressively pursue growth across the UK, with other yet un-named businesses already being considered as the next step in a well-defined growth plan. “Over the last four years XBM has repositioned itself as a leading supplier of sustainable office technology and iDoc Services already has a large number of Epson heat-free business inkjet devices in the field. As an Epson Platinum Partner, XBM is ideally suited to maintaining and growing that even further. This is a great first step in an aggressive growth plan.” www.xbmltd.com December 6 Royal Lancaster, London See page 22 Hosted by Kerry Godliman BOOK NOW
BULLETIN TD SYNNEX to extend Pure Storage reach TD SYNNEX has formed a new distribution partnership with Pure Storage. The addition of Pure Storage complements the distie’s current portfolio of infrastructure products and extends choice to partners and their customers. Systems integrators and solutions providers can offer customers a complete end-to-end proposition – from on-premise servers, networking and storage, through to private and public cloud options and complete management and orchestration of hybrid infrastructures. In addition, with its professional services offerings, TD SYNNEX can support partners in delivering consultancy, installation and ongoing support and managed services, bridging skills gaps and enabling them to deliver more value to customers and grow their business. Jason Boxall, Senior Vice President Advanced Solutions, EMEA, said: “As the capacity needs of large and mid-sized organisations continue to rise, there are tremendous growth opportunities for partners with Pure Storage. Its high performance solutions deliver the quality and reliability that organisations need to support modern hybrid infrastructures and this agreement enables solutions and systems integrator partners to take advantage of our exceptional services, technical expertise and business development capabilities to support the evolving needs of their customers.” www.TDSYNNEX.com 01732 759725 8 Exertis launches UC service Exertis has launched Exertis Voice, a cloud-based (IP) unified communications platform. The platform brings together software-as-aservice and class-leading technology products wrapped with a deep analytics layer. The system can scale from just a few users in a small business up to thousands in a large corporate, making it ideal for businesses of all sizes. The solution, powered by Boom Coms in partnership with Exertis, provides an intuitive portal which allows resellers to provision and manage their customers as well as a customer end-user interface. Customers can access the platform in several ways including via Microsoft Teams, which becomes both the dial pad and control panel as well as mix and matching other endpoint devices across IP phones, mobile, desktop, and CRM systems. This results in Exertis Voice providing a solution of an exceptionally high quality whilst being device agnostic. Additionally, Exertis has leveraged its cloud platform to ensure ease of use for customers investing in Exertis Voice. The Exertis cloud platform enables customers to pay no upfront costs and they are instead billed monthly, reducing admin and complexity. Rik Hubbard, Exertis Cloud Services Director, said: “The synergy between our cloud business unit and Pro AV business unit is an exciting proposition for Exertis Voice. There are millions of businesses which are still using on-premise networks for their telephony, but with big changes to set-ups like these because of the forthcoming switch off of ISDN and PSTN, it’s important that businesses research cloud providers now to ensure no disruption to their systems in the near future. The flexible and programmable features that Exertis Voice can provide enables the ideal solution for customers of any size to make their telephony cloud-based.” www.exertis.co.uk Midwich to support staff Midwich has launched a significant cost of living package aimed at supporting its team of +350 staff. The company has put together a package of initiatives that will benefit every employee. Most activities will take place at Midwich’s Head Office in Diss, and include a supermarket voucher, fuel voucher, hot drinks, biscuits, and cakes provided at the onsite café, hot and cold lunches, everyday items for staff to take home if needed, such as food, toiletries, and cleaning products, family treat bags, help yourself firewood and themed ‘all-welcome days’ in the office with promotions, competitions, and local food vendors. Managing Director Mark Lowe, said: “We have worked hard in recent years to continually improve what we offer our people. We have paid particular attention to regularly reviewing salaries and perks. We also operate meaningful incentives like our profit-share scheme and free share awards. In addition to this, if there are small gestures that we can make to help our people whilst the cost of living is high, then we are absolutely committed to doing everything that we can.” www.midwich.com Integra announces price freeze Integra Business Solutions has announced a further price freeze on its Initiative Office Products range, designed to support members during another challenging quarter and as a thank you to dealers for supporting the group over the last 25 years. Purchasing Director Allison Fishlock, said: “We recognise the ongoing challenges our members are facing. This price support will give dealers an opportunity to not only boost sales but also to retain margins. The range continues to give members a competitive advantage particularly when it comes to pricing and accessibility.” The group has also forged a new partnership with Rocada, a leading European office furniture and visual display manufacturer. Members will have access to the full range of over 4,500 products direct from Rocada’s distribution centre in Barcelona together with an initial 50 core lines held in stock at its East Midlands warehouse for delivery to dealers or drop ship to customers. www.integrabusiness.co.uk Jason Boxall Rik Hubbard
KYOCERA Document Solutions (UK) Limited Pocket friendly, planet friendly. Kyocera's ECOSYS range is the result of a long-term commitment to green innovation. Our devices' low power consumption is perfect for a time of soaring energy costs, keeping customers’ bills and carbon footprints in check. They're also 99% recyclable with 100% recyclable toner cartridges, making ECOSYS a more sustainable choice too. To learn more about Kyocera's ECOSYS range of printers and MFPs, scan the QR code or visit: www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk/ecosys-tco Discover more: kyoceraduk @KYOCERADUK kyocera-doc-solutions-uk • +44 (0)333 015 1855 [email protected]
TIBCO named a top vendor TIBCO software has announced its recognition as a service leader and a credibility leader in business intelligence by Dresner Advisory Services in the 2022 Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence market study for the sixth consecutive report. The company also achieved best in class for consulting continuity, earning a perfect recommend score. In addition, Dresner Advisory Service named TIBCO a top vendor in the inaugural Master Data Management market study. www.tibco.com Updates and incentives Nutanix has evolved its Elevate global partner program focus to provide a better experience for the entire partner ecosystem and customers throughout the customer lifecycle, this includes an expanded benefits package to build a partner profit continuum. The company has extended program incentives to include not only partner organisations, but individual sellers and systems engineers to ignite new customer acquisition growth. The new business individual incentive will reward individual sellers and systems engineers at eligible resellers and services providers each time they sell Nutanix into net-new accounts. In the coming months, Nutanix will begin to roll out a pilot program incentive designed to reward select partners for the delivery of consistent, on-time renewal rates with their Nutanix customers. Updates include the launch of a channel led selling rebate incentive for Elevate, built to reward resellers who drive deals through the entire sales cycle autonomously and a continued focus on building partner competencies through education and certifications. Adam Tarbox, Vice President Channel Sales EMEA said: “The latest updates to our Elevate programme have been designed to ultimately give more freedom to partners to better meet the needs of their customers, whilst being rewarded and supported effectively across the whole customer lifecycle. This will allow them to grow their customer base and revenues.” www.nutanix.com 01732 759725 BULLETIN 10 Intelligent automation partnership OutSystems and UiPath have announced a partnership to combine the power of the UiPath business automation platform with OutSystems high-performance low-code. Together, they will enable customers to securely and intelligently automate core business processes and applications, while saving time, improving efficiency, and delivering transformational app experiences. The partnership integrates solutions and services with a new connector that allows UiPath software robots to be managed from within OutSystems applications. The best-ofbreed approach helps prevent vendor lock-in and maximises ROI. “The pressures of digital transformation are creating a mandate for all kinds of organisations to make smarter, more efficient workplaces and effortless experiences for customers,” said Rui Pereira, Vice President of Global Channel at OutSystems. “Our high-performance low-code development approach, combined with the power of UiPath automation, provides our joint customers with a proven roadmap to higher-order efficiency gains. The result of this integration enables IT leaders to bridge the talent gaps of their teams in order to accelerate innovation and generate massive value for their organisations.” www.outsystems.com GoTo enhances partner programme GoTo has announced major updates to its GoTo Partner Network, including a new GoTo Resolve offering designed for managed service providers as well as streamlined sales and demand generation support for all partners with its new partner concierge programme. GoTo Resolve for MSPs allows managed service providers to meet the evolving needs of today’s SMBs with frictionless, fast, and flexible support, without the hefty price tag. The solution provides MSP-specific account administration and reporting features, professional services automation integrations, and modern remote monitoring and management capabilities, all with GoTo’s remote support tools to easily support and troubleshoot clients’ IT assets. GoTo Resolve for MSPs is also backed up by a first-of-its-kind zero trust security architecture within an RMM solution. The GoTo partner network will be launching a new partner concierge programme providing additional investment and resources to drive higher demand generation and sales for all partner organisations. This programme offers tailored digital marketing campaigns, co-branded and targeted based on a partner’s unique audience, maximising visibility with prospective customers and bringing in new qualified leads. Members are also supported by a dedicated partner concierge resource at GoTo. www.goto.com Barracuda enhances its MSP offering Barracuda Networks has announced new enhancements to the Barracuda XDR platform, designed to boost its detection and response capabilities, as well as help MSPs streamline their security service offerings. The company is now introducing new integrations between Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and Barracuda XDR, enabling MSPs with a holistic managed security service offering that protects major attack vectors such as endpoint, email, cloud, network, etc., freeing them to focus on ways to grow their business. “We’re always looking for ways to empower partners, and MSPs specifically, to take their business to the next level and an important part of that is enabling them to confidently secure their clients’ environments,” said Neal Bradbury, SVP, MSP Business at Barracuda. “Earlier this year, we completed the integration of Barracuda XDR with our email protection portfolio. Now, by integrating the Barracuda CloudGen Firewall with Barracuda XDR, mapping detection rules to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, and adding SOAR to our SOC infrastructure, we can provide comprehensive visibility across multiple attack surfaces through the Barracuda XDR dashboard, while increasing the speed of detection and response time through our SOC.” www.barracuda.com Adam Tarbox 6 December 2022 Royal Lancaster Hotel, London SEE PAGE 22
SUPPORTING YOUR BUSINESS Established 30 years ago and 2021 winners of the Print IT EOS Distributor of the Year award, Data Direct is the UK’s leading dealer-only distributor of copier and workplace supplies. Data Direct Partner Programmes are chosen, trusted & integrated by hundreds of Dealers, benefiting business models from white label fulfilment, to nationwide service support and more. www.data-direct.co.uk Find out how we can help support your business today MODELLING THE WAY GROWING POWERING BOOSTING EMPOWERING SUPPORTING FACILITATING
01732 759725 12 BULLETIN Epson and Usain Bolt renew partnership Following the success of last year’s partnership, Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, will once again feature as the face of Epson's EcoTank in a new through-the-line campaign to promote its cost saving printer and ReadyPrint ink subscription service. The new campaign will also extend to more of Epson’s products including home cinema projectors, large format professional printers, business scanners and label printers. Maria Eagling, Marketing Director, Epson Europe said: “People may not find printers as interesting as other consumer technology products, but Usain is really helping to bring our low-cost printing solutions to life in fun, memorable and engaging ways. The feedback we’ve had from our customers, and the great results we’ve seen from the activity so far confirms that Usain really is the perfect partner for us, as more and more people realise that there is more to printing than cartridges. We can’t wait to share the new content we’ve created and I’m confident that everyone is going to enjoy watching it.” www.epson.co.uk Xerox reports CSR progress Xerox has published its 2022 Global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report outlining progress, data and goals tied to its ongoing societal, governance and environmental impact work. As part of the company’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2040, Xerox implemented climate change awareness training for all employees worldwide to educate them on the company’s net zero goal and how they can personally contribute. It also reduced energy consumption in its operations, which accounts for a majority of its GHG emissions, by 12.8% in 2021 compared to 2020. www.xerox.com Major player In its Cloud Print Services Market Landscape, 2022 report, Quocirca has classified Konica Minolta as a major player in the field of cloud print services. Quocirca highlights Konica Minolta’s ability to deliver cloud-based services based upon customer preference and elaborates on its broader support of customers during their cloud print journey. The report notes: “This approach includes integrating and developing new technologies across cloud, predictive analytics, remote monitoring, and other intellectual property to drive development of platforms to support not only print, but digital document and workflow solutions. One example of recent R&D investment is direct hardware integration with applications such as true cloud-based secure print and device security management applications.” Olaf Lorenz, Head of International Marketing Division, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe said: "With hybrid work environments taking centre stage for many organisations, our cloud print offering delivers a vital component of this with all the advantages that the cloud offers, such as low administration costs, low investment costs, high flexibility and scalability, high security, and workload relief for IT staff.” www.konicaminolta.co.uk Remanufacturing-as-a-service Sustainability focused tech disruptor Circular Computing, has launched its industry first remanufacturing-as-a-service (RaaS) offering to help businesses re-use their tech. The development is crucially timed to tackle the growing e-waste crisis – with electrical equipment discarded in 2021 weighing more than 57 million tonnes. The launch of RaaS will see Circular Computing take in current or incumbent laptop estates from companies and send them through its own remanufacturing process. At a fixed cost of £150 per laptop, the remanufactured laptops are built to serve another full lifecycle of use. The company says that its new as-a-service model will help businesses in the UK and across the world tackle three of their most pressing crises in the current climate: financially, the service offers companies an opportunity to lower their IT procurement costs, by up to 70%; mitigating supply chain issues, as Circular Computing remanufactures existing products to ‘equal or better than new’ – there’s no need to source new laptops; and meeting sustainability targets, using remanufactured laptops lowers Scope 3 emissions and protects precious natural resources. Rod Neale, Founder and CEO said: “Our new RaaS offering is an industry defining move, which offers larger companies the opportunity to reuse their hardware at scale, more sustainability and cost effectively, without a loss in quality or performance.” www.circularcomputing.com PaperCut ranked number 1 IDC has once again ranked PaperCut Software at number 1 for market share in its recently published IDC, Worldwide and U.S. Device and Print Management Market Shares, 2021 report. The achievement validates PaperCut’s partner-led channel strategy, which sees it working closely with its channel network to respond to its customers’ needs. PaperCut provides its partners with the resources and support needed to help them respond to their customers’ print requirements that change in line with constantly evolving market dynamics. PaperCut’s channel strategy empowers its partners to develop and grow while realising the print opportunities that exist in the healthcare, education and legal sectors, where PaperCut is already an established and trusted brand. Steve Holmes, EMEA Regional Director and General Manager, PaperCut, said: “Against an extremely turbulent and challenging market landscape, PaperCut is thrilled to maintain its position as the world’s number one print management solution by market share. This performance shows that our longterm commitment to driving sustainability is resonating now more than ever with customers, and that our channel-friendly solutions comprehensively address on-site, and hybrid print challenges while making print easy and secure.” www.papercut.com 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
01732 759725 14 BULLETIN Keeping the stress out of the Staff Christmas Party The annual Christmas party is often something employees to look forward to. But if you’re an employer it can often be quite stressful to plan. If you have been lucky enough to embrace flexible or hybrid working within your business, you may find yourself in the position of having multiple home workers that are spread across the UK. Although this could create a logistical problem in terms of your Christmas party options, travel time and cost, what it can offer is the chance to reinforce your company ethos and brand. As well as helping to create rapport between home and office workers that could pay dividends for your business longer term, it’s also a chance to reward your workers for their hard work and boost morale. Here are our top tips to get Employers through the Christmas Party season: 1 If you are considering a weekday party, then you should clarify what is unacceptable in terms of lateness or absenteeism post party before the event. It doesn’t have to be doom and gloom – you could allow staff to come in an hour late. If you need staff in on time you could consider providing a breakfast the next day. This way you’ll hopefully avoid any potential HR issues before they arise. 2 Be considerate of your staff… Offering free beer/wine only works if everyone drinks alcohol. Ensure you have soft drinks for those abstaining from booze or consider a drinks token instead. The same applies with food – ensure that there are appropriate selections available for Vegetarians/Vegans/allergies & intolerances. 3 Whether you are hosting a Christmas party during the day or the evening, be sure to consider the needs of staff when selecting locations. Is there safe public transport options home if people are drinking? 4 You’re still at work. You want everyone to enjoy themselves but be respectable of other staff and the venue – you may want to remind everyone that HR rules still apply to avoid some uncomfortable discussions the next day. Hopefully this will offer some inspiration into how best to proceed and solve the skills gaps within your business. If you are looking for advice on the market or would like help with your recruitment or recruitment planning, give Max Levenger or Lynsey Arnold at Henley Executive a call on 0333 567 4888. https://henleyexecutive.co.uk BUSINESS BRIEFING - RECRUITMENT Global commitment Konica Minolta has announced a new global commitment with US-based RealWear. The partnership will see Konica Minolta extend use of AIRe Link – a remote support application that allows service specialists to see what customers see and to remotely guide them visually to fix an issue on smartphones and tablets for use with RealWear headsets. Jon Arnold, Vice President of EMEA at RealWear, said: “At RealWear, we understand the importance of reducing response times, minimising unnecessary customer visits and improving first-time fix rates. With Konica Minolta’s AIRe Link application on RealWear Navigator 500, it’s now easier than ever to provide real-time assistance to Konica Minolta’s customers.” www.konicaminolta.co.uk • www.realwear.com KLM onboards PaperCut MF PaperCut has extended its relationship with KLM UK Engineering Limited, in line with the company’s long-term strategy to reduce its print output by 60%. The additional licences procured for PaperCut MF will also support the engineering firm’s growing print estate located across its recently expanded site in Norwich which accommodates 500 users, 500 endpoints and 54 virtual machines hosted on 12 physical hosts. www.papercut.com Next phase in strategic partnership Avaya and Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise have entered the next phase of a strategic partnership. Building on the existing relationship, which sees ALE offer Avaya OneCloud CCaaS to its customers and Avaya offer ALE Digital Age Networking solutions to its clients, both companies continue to progress on the integration of their solutions to build unique market value propositions. This integration is key to enable both companies’ customers to innovate using an expanding, increasingly rich and complementary set of capabilities from either company, and painlessly roll them out. www.al-enterprise.com • www.avaya.com Jon Arnold
SOGEA: CONNECTIVITY TO TRANSFORM BUSINESSES Take advantage of the all-IP transition opportunity by selling SOGEA and preparing your customers for the biggest change to communications in over 30 years CONTACT US TODAY t. 0330 100 1233 | e. [email protected] digitalwholesalesolutions.com Connectivity | Mobile | Voice | IP Communications Software Marketplace | Product Supply SOGEA – the Single Order Broadband Solution Available to over 28 million UK premises Bandwidth options from 0.5Mbps to 1Gbps at competitive price points Simple to sell, deploy and support with flexible terms Biggest trending Broadband product in 2021
01732 759725 16 BULLETIN : PEOPLE Northamber strengthens AV sales team Northamber has announced the promotion of Andrew Sharp to Pro AV Account Manager. “After three years at Northamber I see my move into sales as a natural progression for my career. I have a passion for our customer experience, and I look forward to further supporting the channel in my new role,” he said. Director of Sales Jody Hutchings added: “We are delighted to welcome Andrew to the sales team at this exciting time, Northamber has ambitious growth plans based around adding real value to the channel, across all areas of the business including audio visual.” www.northamber.com Cohesity appoints EMEA CTO Cohesity has appointed Mark Molyneux as CTO for EMEA. Molyneux will play a key role in advising customers, prospects, and partners on how next-gen data management can help them manage, protect, secure, and derive value from their data – their most critical digital asset. In his new role, Molyneux will work together with a variety of partners and customers, across a host of verticals, to ensure there is a continued and strong feedback loop between their rapidly evolving needs and the next-gen data management solutions and SaaS offerings provided by Cohesity. He will engage closely with Cohesity's leadership, engineering, and product teams to provide these customer insights and use cases for feature enhancements and future roadmap prioritisation. www.cohesity.com Nutanix promotes Grierson Rowen Grierson has been appointed to the role of Senior Director & General Manager UK&I at Nutanix. Grierson joined Nutanix in 2018, following a tenure in the leadership of Fortinet. During that time, he held a number of senior roles and was previously Nutanix’s Regional Sales Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. In his new role, he will be responsible for leading sales and customer support, strategic business development and strategy and management of Nutanix’s operational teams in the UK&I. Additionally, he will oversee the company’s partnerships, alliances and channel activities in the region. Commenting on his appointment, Grierson said: “With the wealth of talent Nutanix has in the UK&I, I’m very excited about the opportunity to help drive the business to new heights. I am also looking forward to working more closely with our customers and partners in the region as we help them successfully address the challenges and opportunities dictated by the current economic and business climate.” www.nutanix.com New specialist recruit IT consultancy experts Infuse welcome Pete Marsden in the new role of Senior Projects Engineer, as the firm celebrates a recent office move to Pride Park in Derby and continued expansion across the Midlands. Marsden has over 15 years’ experience in IT and has worked in a variety of sectors. As Senior Projects Engineer at Infuse, he will support the Derby-based firm in delivering a wide range of IT services, including managed IT support, cyber security, communications and cloud services. He will lead projects for businesses of all sizes and have responsibility for onboarding new clients, as well as managing server installations and network migrations. Managing Director Paul Howard said: “We are pleased to be welcoming Pete to the team, as Infuse undergoes another exciting period of expansion and we aim to grow our reputation for providing hassle-free IT solutions in the Midlands and beyond. I’m confident that his experience of working with SMEs and his variety of expertise will make him a valuable addition to the company.” https://infusetech.co.uk Eccleston to drive next phase of growth Exclusive Networks has appointed Paul Eccleston as Managing Director of its UK & Ireland business to lead the company through its next phase of growth. Eccleston takes up the role following the retirement of Graham Jones in May and starts with immediate effect. A highly accomplished senior executive and entrepreneurial sales leader, Eccleston has a proven track record in building and scaling successful channel organisations, driving innovation and accelerating growth, especially around cybersecurity, enterprise software, SaaS and cloud technologies. Through his career he has amassed a wealth of channel knowledge and experience having held executive leadership roles at Computacenter, SCC and Tech Data. He founded Nuvias in 2015, scaling it to a multi-hundred million dollar business across EMEA in just five years. He joins from cloud security company Zscaler where he served as VP International Channels & Alliances. www.exclusive-networks.com Sangoma announces major hire Unified communications specialist Sangoma has strengthened its channel division with the appointment of Mark Jones as Head of Channel UK&I. In his new role Jones will increase the number of Sangoma’s channel partners, help distributors onboard more resellers and expand Sangoma’s customer base, as well as grow its brand awareness and recognition in the UK. Jones has three decades of experience working in the technology industry and the channel and joins Sangoma from Beyond Connectivity. www.sangoma.com Rowen Grierson Pete Marsden Paul Eccleston Mark Molyneux
BUSINESS BRIEFING PRINTITRESELLER.UK 17 Brother Genuine Supplies Worth it every time. Brother’s Genuine Supplies are as reliable as they come, with more consistent performance and a longer lifespan. Meaning you can use fewer cartridges and reduce the amount of waste you produce. They’re much safer than non-genuine supplies too. It’s a dierence you’ll appreciate every time you need to print. brotherzone.co.uk/worth-it-every-time Worth it every time.
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