Comms Dealer

Softcat staff, friends, family and business partners converged on London's Grosvenor House Hotel for the IT company's annual charity May Ball.

The sell out event raised £300,000 surpassing last year's total of £236,000.

The main benefactor of the event will be Dreams Come True, Softcat's charity of the year for the third year in succession.

Over 900 guests enjoyed a champagne reception, dining experience, alongside entertainment, an auction and raffle.

Compere for the evening, X-Factor's Peter Dickson, treated event goers to an array of talent, including last year's Britain's Got Talent finalist Darcy Oake, and the FISH percussion.

Supported by Softcat's Tom Hayhoe and Tal Gandhum, Kiss FM's Charlie Hedges rounded off the night with a DJ set.

Auctioneer Jonny Gould took to the stage to auction off various prizes, including a Top Gear driving experience, African safari, and signed One Direction dolls.

Account director, Charlie Harman, who co-organised the event with Michael Walker for the fifth year running, said: "The acts were incredible, the support from our staff and partners has been out of this world, and everyone had a great time."

Colin Brown, MD, said: "This is our third consecutive year supporting Dreams Come True. Our staff selected the charity, because of all the amazing work they continue to deliver. We believe the charity has a similar work ethic to Softcat - they're hardworking and looking to grow further to make a positive difference."

The role of the channel in Content Guru's expansion strategy has been evidenced by the appointment of Shub Naha as Business Development Director.

Tasked with delivering profitable growth of storm cloud communications and contact centre services working alongside the company's strategic partners, Naha said: "The company is entering into its next phase of growth and our channel partners will have a vital role to play in this expansion."

Naha joined Content Guru from Airwave (formerly O2) where he worked in the UK/International market and business development roles for seven years.

Prior to this he was a member of the senior leadership team of two fast expanding technology companies where he played a key role in their successful stock market floatation/acquisitions.

He has also worked for Cable&Wireless within its Professional Services business unit.

Shub is also qualified as an Electronics Engineer from Kings College London and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Exclusive Networks UK has formed a distribution partnership with Elastica, a specialist in Data Science Powered cloud application security.

Exclusive has already recruited new Elastica reseller partners and has kicked off a campaign of marketing events and lead generation activity to generate momentum.

"The widespread adoption of cloud services by UK enterprises has raised big questions about how threats can be detected - and data protected - which in turn presents major revenue potential for resellers that understand how to jump on this opportunity," said Graham Jones, Country Manager at Exclusive Networks UK.

"Resellers have helped customers deploy SOCs (Security Operations Centres) but these urgently need augmenting for cloud app security.

"All the experts are predicting significant growth in the cloud app security market and we're seeing a big appetite out there from enterprises."

The Cloud Access Security Broker space, according to Gartner, is is the top security technology in 2014/2015. Gartner expects that in the coming year 27% of all enterprises will have over half of their IT in cloud applications. By 2017, 33% of enterprises will be adopting cloud applications, says the analyst firm.

TeleWare has launched its Intelligent Communications solution, a new offering that integrates the company's existing Intelligent Connect and Intelligent Office products, and provides extended functionality.

The enhancements include Mobile Assistant, an application that provides desktop communications features on a mobile device; Visual Voicemail, offering the visual management of voicemail; enhanced Reporting Services; improved IVR; and Data Bridge, a function that links the inbound communication and back office management systems to recognise inbound caller information and react accordingly.

Steve Haworth, CEO , said "An increase in the influx of customer communications, from phone calls to text messages, emails and tweets has necessitated a shift towards integrated communications and customer management.

"The real value of intelligent communications lies in its ability to bridge the gaps between traditional services, mobile communications and emerging collaboration applications. This in turn can then support business growth through analysing the captured data."

A briefing event organised by Azlan (18th June, London's Blue Fin Building) aims to bring delegates up to speed with developments in the growing service provider market.

As well Azlan's own experts, there will be speakers and demonstrations from vendors including VMware, EMC, HP and IBM.

Interactive presentations and smaller breakouts will give MSPs and resellers the chance to explore services and offerings more deeply and meet with vendors one-to-one.

Nick Janus, MSP Business Manager at Azlan, said: "For resellers who are starting to find their way into, or explore the market, these events provide a panorama of what's going on right now."

Exclusive Group has finalised an investment agreement with Belgian firm Cobepa giving it access to a finance package of circa £72m, a tidy sum that is expected to catalyse the distributor's expansion plans.

Cobepa will take a majority stake in the business and be joined by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners who are re-investing for the third time.
The new investment package followed soon after the release of figures that showed a 40% jump in like-for-like sales.

As well as the investment, Exclusive has also secured a new finance facility from existing financing partner, UK-based Intermediate Capital Group (ICG).

These new financial arrangements provide the Group with a platform to deliver the next phase of business growth, including the geographic expansion of the distribution businesses, further development of Big Technology, increasing the footprint of the IT leasing division Exclusive Capital, and more growth for ITEC, the global logistics and services business acquired in December.

CEO Olivier Breittmayer told IT Europa that it was looking to acquire a UK leasing business as part of its plans.

Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Group, said: "The Group's 1bn euros revenue goal by 2017 is assured by this investment, which will allow us to develop more services and identify and capitalise on new opportunities within the markets and sectors that we operate in."

Vocalcom has been awarded a significant contract to provide one of the UK's largest distributors of fuels and lubricants Certas Energy with its multi-channel contact centre solution.

With a network of over 150 depots, 1,000 tankers, over 800 retail forecourts and 2,500 employees, Certas Energy required a solution capable of handling up to one million or more contacts every year.

Michael Pavlou, UK MD for Vocalcom, said: "Bringing many of their brands together and being able to service those brands with an Omni Channel solution was viewed as a potential headache that could take many months, if not years, to implement.

"The Vocalcom solution, accessible from anywhere in the country, at any time, addressed these concerns, allowing Certas Energy to implement changes easily and simply at a convenient pace."??The initial phase of this project is for 50 call centre agents but over the next 12 to 18 months this will potentially grow to over 250 agents.

Training and selection specialist Gradtel promises to find the best sales people and fully prepare them for placement by putting them through an all-encompassing training and development process delivered by proven industry experts.

Gradtel MD Paul McEwan said: "The old method of using a CV and a brief interview is flawed. Gradtel will only place the brightest people and equip them with the skills they need. A small percentage of outstanding people will be put forward."

The recruitment firm also applies its methodology to roles other than sales and is currently holding a series of Assessment Days across the country.

www.gradtel.co.uk
 

The Apple Watch is more hype than substance, while streaming video apps are among this year's top priorities for marketers according to a new survey by Greenlight. The survey claims that demand with one in five (19%) marketers planning to use apps like Periscope and Meerkat in campaigns, according to ‘Hype or Ripe' study. However, with both apps caught in a cutthroat battle for users, marketers fear backing the wrong horse, with one in ten (12%) having made this costly mistake before.

Greenlight commissioned a survey of 100 senior marketers to understand which technologies are seen as overhyped and which are ripe for investment. The ‘Hype or Ripe' study reveals that 70% of marketers think wearables and smart watches are more hype than substance - twice as many that think crypto-currencies like Bitcoin (36%) are overhyped. Around one in four marketers think virtual reality (27%) and beacons (24%) cannot live up to the hype, while one in five (20%) aren't convinced by augmented reality.

With Facebook mulling over plans to make it easier for brands to contact consumers via its Whatsapp service, it's not surprising that mobile messaging apps are viewed as being most ripe for investment. Almost three out of ten (28%) marketers plan to experiment with mobile messaging in 2015. Live-streaming apps like Meerkat and Persicope are also proving popular, bolstered by high-profile campaigns from brands like Spotify and DKNY, and celebrity fans such as Madonna and Jamie Oliver.

Greenlight found that peer pressure plays a major role in marketers' decision to embrace new technologies. A third of marketers are influenced by what competitors are doing (34%), while a further 33% pointed to the example set by major brands. A good gut feeling is important to almost two-fifths (37%) of marketers, while opinion is divided over the need for solid ROI. Just one in two (51%) marketers said that they would need reassurances that new technology would generate results before investing.

Commenting on the study, Andreas Pouros, Greenlight's COO and Founder, said: "It's easy to be dazzled by the industry buzz around shiny new playthings like the Apple Watch or Oculus Rift, however our research suggests that marketers are increasingly reluctant to drink the kool-aid. Hardened by past mistakes, we are seeing marketers take a wait-and-see approach to new technologies and platforms before making an investment. The live-streaming market is a classic example. As the battle for market share between Meerkat and Periscope heats up, we could see some marketers get burnt if they back the wrong horse. As ways, our advice is to invest in technologies that are proven to deliver ROI."

The ‘Hype or Ripe' study reveals that two-fifths of marketers (41%) regret investing in a new technology or platforms. The main factors for disappointment include user adoption being lower than expected (24%), poor business results (13%), the belief that a competitive service would have been a better choice (12%), wasted money (8%), or a lack of understanding about what they were getting in to (4%).

Commsworld has advanced its growth plan in the north east of Scotland with the appointment of Bob Baxter as Senior Sales Executive.

He brings 22 years experience in the oil and gas industry and a track record of delivering results having previously worked in senior business development roles at Schlumberger Information Solutions, Harris Caprock and Vodafone.

He joins from CGI where he was tasked with bringing in new accounts within Oil and Gas upstream (petroleum industry). He said: "I was attracted by the huge appetite for growth and the self-belief that is apparent at Commsworld.

"I grew up with IT & Telecoms in the Oil & Gas sector and my experience working for the big firms like T-Mobile and Vodafone makes me appreciate the flexibility and personal approach provided by Commsworld, which is something that more and more businesses are looking for in a network provider."

Commsworld has seen strong interest from some large Aberdeen based businesses in recent years, working on several projects with Bright Solid, Stewart Milne and Sub Sea 7 among others.

Commsworld CEO, Ricky Nicol, said: "Bob's background servicing the Oil and Gas industry has allowed him to build a network of highly influential business people in some of the largest and most notable firms in the industry."

In 2014 Commsworld celebrated turning 20 by expanding its network services across Scotland and generating record revenues surpassing the £9 million turnover from the previous year.