In Depth

In Depth

• 2020: A year of accelerated change in the channel

  A look back over some of the main themes of a year that will be long remembered thanks to the pandemic  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Emanuel Salmona, Claroty

  MicroScope speaks to Emanuel Salmona, vice-president of global partnerships at Claroty, to find out some details on his work and life  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Olen Scott, Aryaka Networks

  In this interview, MicroScope asks Olen Scott, senior vice-president of worldwide channels at Aryaka Networks, about his life, career and inspirations  Continue Reading

• Reasons to be positive about 2021

  Optimism across the industry about the year ahead remains good thanks to the ongoing digitisation trend  Continue Reading

• The challenge of solving the partner programme puzzle

  Getting relationships with the channel is critical and many look to make that simple – but achieving it is a complex ambition  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Todd Carothers, CounterPath

  This time around, our probing questions are posed to Todd Carothers, chief revenue officer at CounterPath  Continue Reading

• Digital transformation doesn’t mean pain, say Apstra and Deloitte

  Nick Booth hears some advice from some of those trying to make digital transformation easier for customers  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus puts security at the heart of the agenda

  Securing mobile workers has been key to getting through recent months and the security channel is far from finished when it comes to protecting people in the emerging ‘new normal’  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Darren Laurie, Versa Networks

  It’s time for another channel executive to share some details about their life and career  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Jan Ursi, Rubrik

  MicroScope asks another channel executive a series of questions designed to help you get to know them that little bit better  Continue Reading

• Buying and selling: this time, it’s personal

  People buy from people, so the saying goes, and the coronavirus pandemic has tested the channel’s ability to do just that  Continue Reading

• Is the channel missing the ‘human touch’?

  Research from Kaspersky suggests vendors need to improve their relationships with channel partners, with experts weighing in on how to develop a closer bond through programmes and education  Continue Reading

• What will the ‘new normal’ look like?

  With thoughts starting to turn to a post-coronavirus world, the channel is trying to work out what changes made in the past few months will stick  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Remco Postma, Tufin

  Remco Postma, director, channel sales EMEA at Tufin, takes the questions and reveals what gets him up in the morning and shares his ice-skating credentials  Continue Reading

• Channel starts considering the legacy of the coronavirus

  As lockdown starts to ease, considerations are turning to what the “new normal” will look like, and how it will impact the channel  Continue Reading

• MSPs have shown their value

  In this time of crisis, the response of managed service providers has been strong as they have stepped up to support customers  Continue Reading

• Interview: Bob Bailkoski, CEO of Logicalis

  The recently appointed chief executive of Logicalis, Bob Bailkoski, discusses coronavirus and his vision for the business  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus: How Covid-19 kick-started a shift to home working

  Lockdown has forced people to work from home and turn to the channel for help in supporting the ‘new normal’  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Jason Skelton, Acxiom

  Through a series of questions we find out a little bit more about another channel executive, this time Jason Skelton, Acxiom’s platform alliances head  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus: It’s time to support partners

  Vendors have started to respond to the challenges that partners are facing with more flexibility and support  Continue Reading

• The channel and sustainability

  There is no doubt that the climate change crisis has put the issue in the spotlight and resellers are being asked to not only help customers but show their own credentials around sustainability  Continue Reading

• Five-minute interview: Ian Ashworth, Netwrix

  MicroScope puts its questions to Ian Ashworth, channel director for EMEA and APAC at Netwrix  Continue Reading

• Cloud tops the menu in 2020, with helpings of HCI, security and 5G

  We ask the channel what technologies and trends they see dominating in 2020 – cloud tops the list, with hyper-convergence, security and 5G also featuring  Continue Reading

• Channel faces another year of evolution

  Distributors, vendors and trade associations share their expectations for the year ahead, with the need to embrace change a key part of the message  Continue Reading

• Channel predictions: Opportunities in AI, hybrid cloud, edge and security

  Some of the great and the good in the industry have shared their predictions for what they expect in 2020  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Alex Walsh, Manager of Channels UK&I at Veeam

  The recently appointed UK channel chief at Veeam shares his thoughts on his favourite band and the movie he wish he hadn't seen  Continue Reading

• Aligning managed services with needs of SMEs

  We look at how managed service providers can ensure they make the most of the SME opportunity and how prepared they are to support SMEs as they shift spending to managed services  Continue Reading

• UC roundtable part 2: Unified comms and channel support

  In the second part of the UCC roundtable the discussion moves on to the voice and contact centre world and the vendors share how they are supporting partners  Continue Reading

• UC roundtable part 1: Digital transformation, CX and MSPs

  In the first part of our coverage of the MicroScope roundtable covering unified communications and collaboration the discussion centres on the current market landscape and the increasing interest from MSPs  Continue Reading

• How to improve customer experience

  Billy MacInnes questions experts on what they’re doing to digitally transform the customer experience and asks what advice they have for channel partners  Continue Reading

• Q&A: Angela Whitty, managing director, UK&I partner organisation, Cisco

  Cisco’s UK channel chief shares some views on the year ahead and the progress made in the 2019 financial year  Continue Reading

• SD-WAN: How channel can make net gains

  How prepared are channel partners to take advantage of the rapidly growing SD-WAN market?  Continue Reading

• What to expect in Q4

  AI, contact centres and security are among the areas where the channel might gain in this quarter, according to industry figures  Continue Reading

• Cyber security and the channel

  Leading lights in the industry give their assessment of where the cyber security market is headed in the second half of 2019  Continue Reading

• How to help businesses reach their digital goals

  With digital transformation a hot trend in IT right now, the channel’s ability to help organisations hit the sweet spot in this pursuit could attract a lot of attention from potential customers  Continue Reading

• Control or shift – channel’s role in the move to business-led IT

  What impact could the shift to business-led IT have on channel partners’ role with customers and the relationships they have grown and developed within customer organisations?  Continue Reading

• Interview: Simon England, Nuvias CEO

  With the first quarter of his tenure completed the boss of Nuvias shared his thoughts about his role leading the distributor  Continue Reading

• Interview: Graeme Watt, CEO of Softcat

  Softcat boss talk about office openings, organic growth and why he doesn't lie awake at night worrying about the future of the channel  Continue Reading

• OpenText looks to channel to fulfil ambitious growth

  EIM software specialist OpenText reveals plans to grab enterprise market share from rivals  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Greg Bailey, Veeam

  MicroScope puts its questions to Greg Bailey, director of channels and cloud at Veeam UK&I  Continue Reading

• Brexit crisis: How are businesses coping?

  Theresa May’s impending departure has only deepened the confusion surrounding Brexit – so what does the business community make of it all?  Continue Reading

• GPC 2019: Dell Technologies highlights channel growth

  Dell Technologies demonstrates progress with partners while encouraging cross-selling across expansive portfolio  Continue Reading

• Channel enjoys a strong start to the year

  Just how has this year been going? There is no better way to find out than ask a number of those working in the channel  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Matt Bruun, regional vice president at Forcepoint

  We catch up with Matt Bruun, regional vice president at Forcepoint, to find out more about what makes him tick  Continue Reading

• How to protect your intellectual property

  Just what is intellectual property and why does it matter to a small business? Here is some practical advice to protect the unique aspects of your business from competitors  Continue Reading

• Channel opportunities stack up in managed print services

  We identify the opportunities presented by managed print services and consider the pros and cons for partners seeking to sell such services  Continue Reading

• Nuvias moving to the next stage

  Before he moves into the executive chairman role Paul Eccleston the CEO of the distributor talks about the journey the firm has been on  Continue Reading

• Adapt for the era of virtual distribution

  Virtual distribution – the delivery of subscription services rather than physical products – is a growing IT trend. We consider what this means for channel businesses and how they can remain relevant in this changing IT world  Continue Reading

• Roundtable: The challenges and opportunities of SD-WAN

  In the first part of our coverage of the MicroScope roundtable on SD-WAN, the speakers scope out the market and the opportunity for the channel  Continue Reading

• Commvault CEO: "Our best years are still to come"

  Just a week and a half after taking up the position of CEO at Commvault Sanjay Mirchandani took some time to talk of his decision to join the firm and his thoughts about the future  Continue Reading

• Electric cars could be the vehicles for a channel coup

  Electric cars could have a more profound effect than simply just helping drivers get from A to B argues Nick Booth  Continue Reading

• Cisco: Partners play a crucial role

  In an on-going series of Q&A's with channel executives the questions this time were put to Angela Whitty, managing director, partner, Cisco UK & Ireland  Continue Reading

• What lies ahead in the storage world

  Federica Monsone, founder of A3 Communications, speaks to industry shapers about the likely 2019 trends in data storage  Continue Reading

• Cutting through to the SD-WAN opportunity

  There is plenty of hype around software defined networking and plenty of opportunities for those channel partners that get past that and provide solid solutions  Continue Reading

• The IT security skills crisis and the Boniface Dike Test

  The security skills gap is well known but as Nick Booth finds out it is not as easy as getting people trained to fill those vacancies  Continue Reading

• AI's moment has arrived for the channel

  Vendors are making moves around artificial intelligence and more customers are starting to exploit the technology  Continue Reading

• The attraction of TaaS

  Offering technology and desktops as a service sounds like a good approach for the channel to take and the early adopters are urging more to get involved  Continue Reading

• Wearables 'a slow burn' but worth the channel backing

  The market for wearables is expanding and with it the potential revenue streams for the channel  Continue Reading

• Peer-to-peer lending growing in popularity

  P2P is an option that more in the channel are taking a look at as an alternative source of finance  Continue Reading

• Channel tensions rising

  Competition and strained vendor relationships highlighted as concerns at Canalys Channel Forum  Continue Reading

• Too much silence in the Brexit debate

  Business in general has been fairly quiet about Brexit and the channel has been no exception but that might not be the best strategy  Continue Reading

• Storage roundtable: Hyperconvergence and channel opportunities

  In the second part of the MicroScope storage roundtable the discussion moves onto hyperconvergence and how vendors are supporting their channel partners  Continue Reading

• Storage roundtable: Cloud and MSPs

  In the first part of coverage of MicroScope's storage roundtable the debate begins with a focus on the shift by customers towards the cloud and the movement by the channel to become MSPs  Continue Reading

• Plugging the security skills gap

  Government is doing its bit to raise the profile of the need for more cyber security skills but the IT industry is also picking up the baton and working hard to improve the situation  Continue Reading

• Agony aunt as a service

  Impartner’s chief marketing officer Dave R Taylor has some helpful advice for those trying to increase and improve their partner communities  Continue Reading

• The storage technologies of the future

  In the second part of this series, we ask vendors and channel companies for their views on the storage technologies customers will be asking for in the future  Continue Reading

• Channel can take the mobile high ground with UEM

  Margins in MDM might have been squeezed but according to MobileIron there is plenty of life in unified endpoint management  Continue Reading

• The “new Datto” outlines growth plans to MSPs

  Datto CEO Austin McChord details product roadmap and messaging to MSPs, post-Autotask merger  Continue Reading

• What storage technologies are customers looking for?

  In the first of a two-part investigation of the storage market the question being answered is around the current user demands  Continue Reading

• Q&A: Luis Murguia, SAP

  SAP is sitting down with partners and customers in Orlando next week, but before that one of its senior channel executives was prepared to give an update about its reseller base  Continue Reading

• Q&A: Tim Maloney, svp worldwide channels, Lifesize

  The video conferencing specialist has launched a partner programme and has shared the details with MicroScope  Continue Reading

• Sainsbury Management Fellows is engineering your next breakthrough in the IT business

  There is plenty of talk about reinvention and changing business models but there could also be something to doing some personal development  Continue Reading

• Cybersecurity the latest battleground for MSPs

  SolarWinds MSP says relationships with customers will suffer if channel doesn’t get security offerings right  Continue Reading

• How channel partners can prepare customers for GDPR compliance

  With just a few weeks to go there are still plenty of customers that could do with the channel's help when it comes to being on the right side of the data compliance regulations  Continue Reading

• How Kognitio mined the reality gap on London bus time tables

  The work was inspired by TfL’s open data policy and could spark ideas in other channel partners Nick Booth argues  Continue Reading

• Why GDPR spells a channel opportunity

  Next month's data compliance rules should generate plenty of chances for the channel to get talking to customers  Continue Reading

• Making the right exit

  Those considering leaving the industry and selling up need to think about the value of their firm and make sure they get the exit strategy right  Continue Reading

• Cloud and IoT to play key role for distributors

  Forecasts coming out of the Global Technology Distribution Council indicate that there is growth out there for disties if they focus in the right technology areas  Continue Reading

• Transformation continuing at Insight

  The channel player has been transforming its own business and the managed services side of the business continues to grow  Continue Reading

• What’s TechUK’s most inspiring data science story - Harry Potter, Mission Impossible or Susan Bowen?

  Nick Booth gets inspired talking about programming, coding and the next generation with Susan Bowen, VP and general manager at Cogeco Peer 1  Continue Reading

• The opportunities and threats of cloud

  The months ahead will give resellers plenty of chances to make revenue out of cloud but there are dangers for those that get it wrong  Continue Reading

• What's to come? Plenty of cloud and security

  The year is still young enough for the great and the good to be making predictions about just what technologies will make a difference in the months ahead  Continue Reading

• Top ten channel technologies of 2017

  The most discussed technologies of last year are also set to dominate 2018 so here is a look back with more than a hint of the themes to come  Continue Reading

• Q&A: Michael Sotnick, VP channels and alliances & Ben Savage, EMEA head of channels Pure Storage

  Microscope sat down with Pure Storage’s channel execs at its Accelerate 2017 conference to discover the Flash vendor’s plans for its partners  Continue Reading

• The problem with licensing and how to solve it

  Licensing can be an expensive business. Niv Lilien explores license management solutions, and how to optimise licenses that you've already purchased  Continue Reading

• Buying for business

  Commercial law expert Matthew Gough explains what legal rights businesses have when they purchase products and services  Continue Reading

• Distribution positioning for a smart future

  Distribution is making sure it has a role to play in a smart technology driven future  Continue Reading

• Interview: Microsoft's channel head urges IP development

  Phil Sorgen, Microsoft's worldwide channel head, is encouraging partners to develop their own IP as they embrace a cloud model  Continue Reading

• Windows of opportunity

  This summer's launch of Windows 10 promises to be a shot in the arm for the channel finds Amro Gebreel  Continue Reading

• Five Minute Interview: Simon Worsfold, Fujitsu

  In the latest five minute interview we catch up with Simon Worsfold, who heads the channel sales team for Fujitsu in the UK and Ireland  Continue Reading

• An A-Z guide to social media

  The use of social media across the channel has grown at an incredible rate, but is often lacking a strategy that really works  Continue Reading

• Marussia F1 Team keeps racing with Sage partner expertise

  Software specialists discuss how bespoke tailored apps successfully augment Sage ERP X3 sales into midmarket customers such as the Marussia Formula 1 Team  Continue Reading

• Two nations, one channel? The impact of Scottish independence on IT

  In September Scotland goes to the polls in a referendum to decide its future and that of the UK, Alex Scroxton considers what the prospect of independence could mean for the channel  Continue Reading

• Gartner’s Magic Quadrant: Sales tool or marketing gimmick?

  With businesses under pressure to find targeted solutions for their customers, Alex Scroxton asks if the channel can find value in Gartner's Magic Quadrant - or whether it is just a shabby sales ruse  Continue Reading

• The channel of the 1990s

  Simon Quicke revisits the events that made the headlines during MicroScope's coverage of the channel in a decade of mergers, acquisitions and the millennium bug  Continue Reading

• A trip down memory lane

  Simon Quicke revisits some of the events that made the headlines during MicroScope's first decade in print – the heady days of the 1980s  Continue Reading

• Making the journey from break-fix to MSP

  A lot of resellers will be embarking on making the transition from break-fix to managed services and Clark Integrated Technology has already gone through that process and can share some of the lessons it learnt  Continue Reading

• In-depth: Selling BI in the context of other market trends

  Business intelligence vendors and their solutions need to be more agile and adaptive than ever, says Amro Gebreel. The need for business intelligence (BI) has never been greater. Data volumes continue to multiply and the requirement for real-time ...  Continue Reading

• Interview: Sir Peter Rigby finds fortune favours the brave

  As is the case with most successful entrepreneurs, it is possible to look at the winner of this year's MicroScope Awards for Channel Excellence lifetime achievement award, Sir Peter Rigby, and gloss over the hard work and visionary career that has ...  Continue Reading