Comms Dealer

Redcentric has been accepted for all four lots of the new G-Cloud 6 framework, called the Digital Marketplace.

The cloud service provider welcomes the amendments to the framework, as it believes it will lead to more effective and fairer procurement and a better end user experience.

Redcentric as previously a supplier of Lots 1-3 on G-Cloud but has now been authorised for Lot 4 to deliver Oracle-based consultancy services.

Peter Nailer, spokesperson for Redcentric, said: "Now that the search features for G-Cloud have been enhanced it is also much easier for public sector procurement managers to find cloud services that are relevant to their needs.

"This change is long overdue and will help to make the Digital Marketplace a fairer and more effective way to procure cloud services by making sure that buyers are presented with the best service providers to meet their needs rather than the largest or most sophisticated."

Small businesses need better digital infrastructure and technical talent if they are to fulfil their potential to turn UK PLC into a world-beating tech hub, a panel of business leaders heard today.

Tech City CEO Gerard Grech, Managing Director of Virgin Media Business Peter Kelly, and the founder and CEO of peer-to-peer lender Ratesetter Rhydian Lewis, called for improved connectivity across the UK to transform and support the country's burgeoning SME sector.

The chair of a panel discussion in the heart of East London's Tech City, Emma Jones MBE, noted: "London is undoubtedly the EU capital for technology and digital activity," highlighting the importance that hiring the right people and improving digital skills plays in small business success.

The founder of the campaign group Enterprise Nation also said that access to finance, manageable taxation and talent were key factors in success.

Today's discussion in the heart of Tech City coincides with Virgin Media Business now taking orders for its new technology trial, set to improve the connectivity of Britain's technology hub by making it faster, cheaper and more reliable for small businesses to get online, according to the company.

Kelly said: "Good connectivity is the lifeblood for small businesses and we know that it hasn't been great, not just in Tech City but across the UK.

"We wanted to shake things up in Tech City where the Silicon Roundabout is giving Silicon Valley a run for its money, by providing start-ups and SMEs with the fast, bespoke connectivity they need.

"This project builds on the small business products we launched in September, which are some of the fastest on the market. It's part of our continuing commitment to British SMEs."

Rhydian Lewis said that the UK has become too risk averse when it comes to investment: "People in the UK and EU are incredibly careful with their money. It's all about conserve, conserve, conserve.

"The tech boom of the 90s has left a massive scar on the City. Americans, on the other hand, are all about invest, invest, invest. American venture capitalists are rampant. In the UK, money managers badly burned in the early 90s and are still far-too-hesitant to invest in early-stage businesses."

Abbey Telecom is reaping the rewards of a correlation between its support for Lancashire's Be Inspired Business Awards (BIBAs) and a rise in local business leads.

A series of new deals for the company have come about from the BIBAs. New contracts have been signed with local firms like Mosaic Community Care, Colossal Training and Ribble Farm Fare, as well as a project to implement a multi user telephone system for high growth company Danbro.

Abbey Telecom managing director Tony Raynor said: "It's been our aim in recent years to get more involved in local networking and new business opportunities right here on our doorstep in Lancashire. The BIBAs are proving to be a vital cog in making this happen.

"As an awards sponsor, we get to meet many different people from across all industries, whether they are other sponsors, suppliers, organisers, judges or a candidate for a gong. This helps to build long lasting relationships which are vital to local business success."

North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Babs Murphy said: "This kind of feedback is the proof of the pudding in terms of how the BIBAs' pursuit of business excellence has positive spin off effects which nurture local economic growth. It's exciting to hear that firms like Abbey Telecom are thriving because of their willingness to get involved."

DTC International has maintained its BSI accreditations following the recent annual audit.

"The commitment to best practice shown by DTC International has enabled it to provide customers, staff and suppliers with the highest standard of performance through ISO 9001.

"Its additional focus on sustainability through ISO 14001 is also testimony to ensuring they maintain high standards of environmental management throughout the business," said Toni Jones, Head of Client Propositions, BSI.

DTC has held BSI accreditations for over 10 years. BSI ISO 14001 is an internationally accepted standard that shows effective integration of environmental considerations within management systems.

The standard is designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact.

ISO 14001 has allowed DTC to identify aspects of the business that impact on the environment and produce a management programme to achieve the highest possible standards.

BSI ISO 9001 is a quality management award currently being used by 897,000 organisations in 170 countries worldwide.

DTC International provides Reverse Logistics and After Market Services to the global telecommunications industry.

UC vendor Swyx has dubbed 2014 'the year of growth' following a 35% hike in sales over 2013.

A success factor for its record sales has been the distribution of Swyx's cloud solution delivered via the data centres of Deutsche Telecom.

Swyx CEO Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus said: "In 2014 we seem to have done everything right and in 2015 we intend to continue with our current strategy.

"Our goal is to expand the cloud business with our service provider partners and reseller partners.

"As a manufacturer, we will help shape more efficient and future-proofed solutions through continuous product innovations aimed at meeting the communication needs of SMEs, because it is here where we see enormous potential."

Strong organic growth and neat-fit acquisitions have bolstered Annodata Group's revenue figures with record profits in its latest financial year. The provider of communications, managed print and IT services has announced its annual financial results for the year ending 30th June 2014, revealing 9% organic growth in sales to £57.4m.

Operating profits increased by 682% to £5.2m, a record for the business. The company continues to maintain a strong balance sheet with no debt.

The figures reveal that with the recent addition of Keltec, which has annual revenues in the region of £15m, the Group's combined annual revenues now stand at almost £80m, putting Annodata on course to reach its stated goal of achieving an annual turnover of £100m by 2016.

The managed services provider intends to make further strategically important acquisitions to capitalise on its strong financial footing.

Joe Kelly, Annodata's Group Finance Director, commented: "Annodata achieved record results in the last financial year, thanks in no small part to our stable, growing and loyal customer base. The company has been working hard to grow its offerings and to consolidate its position in the market and as we move into 2015 I fully expect the business to maintain its strong growth profile.

"We are very optimistic about our future and the recent addition of the IT services provider, Keltec, further strengthens our service offerings and our ability to provide our customers with complete service solutions including hardware infrastructure, IT technologies, unified communications and on-premise or cloud-hosted solutions."

Martin St Quinton, Annodata's Non-Executive Chairman, stated: "This impressive growth is a result of the transformational work the business has undergone over the past 18 months. Our customers increasingly look to us to provide complete enterprise-grade managed ICT and print solutions for all their sites, which plays to our nationwide reach and our responsive service model.

"2014 marked the start of a new phase for the business and saw us make a number of senior hires to strengthen our management team and we completed the strategically important acquisition of Keltec.

"This latest set of financial results serves to demonstrate the strength of the business and sets us up for continued growth and expansion over the coming year."

Rob Buckton has rejoined Easynet as Sales Director for the Channel.

He has substantial expertise in managed data networking and hosting services, cloud, fixed and mobile comms, UC and managed VC services.

In prior roles Buckton was Managed Services Sales Director at MTI and Director of Corporate Sales for TalkTalk Business.

He also has a previous stint at Easynet under his belt when he held several leadership positions in sales, including Sales Director for Global Accounts.

"I am excited to rejoin Easynet and help our partners grow with us," he said.

"The market is rapidly evolving and offering great opportunities. I believe that we will achieve impressive results through collaboration with our partners to deliver value and differentiation to their customers by leveraging the full Easynet service portfolio."

An app that enables users to control incoming calls via a smartphone has been launched by Invosys.

Called Agent Ready, the system enables remote users to log-in and out of hunt groups on their mobile device at the swipe of a button, something that would previously have required a phone call or access to a website.

The administrator has the ability to add and remove the agents they manage wherever they are, controlling when and where calls are delivered without the need to find a computer, said the firm.

"This is ideal for managing teams and monitoring performance while on the go, as well as for saving a considerable amount of time amending call routing to match rotas," said Invosys Sales Director Steve Glaister.

He also pointed out that users can personalise the app for added functionality, with the ability to preset a list of contact numbers which can be activated at the swipe of a button, set up time schedules for when they should be logged on to their relevant hunt group and use a configurable weekly diary to preset their availability.

Both the administrators and the standard agents also have access to a detailed reporting suite which monitors a range of statistics from calls answered to the times of the day that are receiving the highest volume of calls.

"We are excited about the launch of Agent Ready and we use it every day for our own sales and support functions," added Glaister.

The app is now available on iOS and Android devices and must be used in conjunction with a service created on Invosys' Number Manager portal.

Agent Ready is the company's first major product launch since its rebrand in April 2014.

Formerly In Call Solutions, Invosys has sharpened its focus on communications software and product innovation.

Entatech UK has launched its February Frontier promotion which, based on a futuristic space theme, offers resellers a number of deals and on selected days from 17 Entatech vendors including Microsoft, Kaspersky, Cooler Master and Fujitsu.

In addition to special deals, each customer who places an order for any participating vendor will be entered into a daily prize draw to win a YEZZ Billy 4 Windows Phone, YEZZ Andy 4E Android phone or a Zensorium Tinkè health and fitness gadget for the iPhone or Android.

In addition to daily prizes, Entatech is also offering resellers the chance to win £2,000 worth of Love2Shop vouchers, with a top prize of £1,000 and four chances to win £250.

Steven Parker, Entatech Marketing Manager, commented: "Our month-long promotions are always our most successful times of the year, providing brand and product awareness for our participating vendors, while also offering something great to our reseller database, with great deals and prizes up for grabs."

Unify is on target to achieve its transformation goals announced in June last year, according to CEO Dean Douglas.

Key areas includes innovation in software development, enhancements to its channel strategy and progress in its restructuring.

"Since outlining our transformation plans, Unify has taken tremendous steps towards our goal of delivering, with our partners, an innovative software and services oriented business that will measurably improve the productivity of our customers with New Way to Work software products, services and solutions," he said.

"We are already seeing the positive results of our transformation, as Unify achieved or surpassed internal forecasts in both of the last two quarters, and we continue to move forward to deliver software and services that enable our customers to address their business needs."

A key milestone in Unify's transformation was the launch of its next generation communication and collaboration platform, Circuit, in October 2014.

Circuit provides a single-pane-of-glass that brings together voice, video, screen sharing, messaging, and file sharing.

Unify has also launched its Dev.Labs.Athens, a diverse group of 350 Unify developers based in Athens, Greece, and focused exclusively on using their real-world experience and cross-cultural expertise to take collaboration technology to the next level.

A cornerstone of Unify's transformation is a shift to a more channel-focused business model, which drove the introduction of the new Unify Partner Program.

Officially launched on January 1st, the Unify Partner Program rewards partners for expertise and specialisation.

The third strategic initiative, to streamline the organisation, is also progressing on target. The company has come to an agreement with the German union and employee representatives regarding its transformation steps, terms and timeline for its Germany organisation.

This also allows Unify to continue the various transformation plans underway in other countries around the world.

"Some of the steps in our transformation have been difficult," added Douglas. "Continuing market changes mean we must be nimble and ready to respond at all times. We are now in a much stronger position to continue to deliver superior solutions and service to our customers."