Opinion

Opinion

• Forecasting the future: Service provider trends and predictions for 2025

  Ciaran Bolger, general manager of UK&I, Nordics and South Africa at Acronis, shares some thoughts on what’s ahead for service providers  Continue Reading

• How to simplify security to build trust and agility for SMBs

  Ben Aung, chief risk officer, Sage, shares some tips and tricks to benefit partners  Continue Reading

• Preparing the channel for an AI-driven future

  Francis O’Haire, Group CTO at Climb, has noticed that AI is on everyone’s minds these days – and for good reason  Continue Reading

• Key considerations to prepare for a partner-first power play

  James Bradley, VP, EMEA partners and alliances, Okta, shares thoughts on how to get the most out of channel relationships  Continue Reading

• How MSPs can help customers optimise their AI Investments

  Chris Shaw, UK & SA country channel manager at AvePoint, discusses one of the hottest tech areas and the channel opportunities it is creating  Continue Reading

• Five steps to take the pressure off your IT team

  Lee Elliott, head of workforce solutions, HP Northwest Europe, shares some advice for those looking to make life easier for their technical experts  Continue Reading

• Green into gold: Ways to drive business benefits from ESG

  Ross Teague, CEO, Nebula shares eight tips on how to gain wider benefits from supporting ESG  Continue Reading

• How the AI trend is causing a shift in buying patterns

  Artificial intelligence is the technology of the moment and that has implications for the way the channel supports and sells AI, according to Peter Miller, sales manager at ETB Technologies  Continue Reading

• Validating security effectiveness: The secret to upselling in tough times

  Ryan Kunker, Picus Security, senior director of channels and alliances, shares advice on how to upsell during an economic downturn  Continue Reading

• Not all AI is created equally – and neither are humans

  Lance Williams, CTO at Distology, is convinced that the human factor should not be underestimated in the frontline fight against AI-generated threats  Continue Reading

• Tech Channel Ambassadors out to reduce stress and strife

  Billy MacInnes reflects on the TCA group’s recent launch and its ambition to help promote the channel as a positive career destination  Continue Reading

• Helping users embrace the future of secure remote access

  Fiona Whyte, Founder & CEO of Endida, discusses the unique opportunities that Zero Trust Network Access can bring to the channel  Continue Reading

• STIR/SHAKEN – a possible technology answer to spoof and spam calls?

  Justin Hamilton-Martin, director of product strategy, Enreach for Service Providers , looks at how those annoying robocalls can be reduced  Continue Reading

• What the drive for sustainability means for IT distributors

  Howard Davies, CEO & co-founder of Context, shares his thoughts about what the push towards net zero by vendors means for the channel  Continue Reading

• How to successfully be your customers’ pilot for Copilot

  Chris Shaw ,UK&SA senior distribution manager at AvePoint, outlines why the latest innovation from Microsoft is something MSPs must get involved with  Continue Reading

• How can security vendors react to the growing AI threat?

  Some of the great and the good of the cyber security vendor world share their predictions about what technologies will dominate this year  Continue Reading

• Where channel marketing is going in 2024

  As the year of the dragon, 2024 is likely to ignite new challenges, but will it spark a revolution in partner marketing? Asks Helen Curtis, founding director at Coterie  Continue Reading

• Why understanding the four phases of cloud reselling is key to growth

  Resellers have an opportunity to benefit from the cloud by de-mystifying solutions and focusing on customer needs, says Adam Tarbox  Continue Reading

• More managed services to come

  Stew Parkin, Global CTO at Assured Data Protection, thinks more channel players will use specialists for managed services, while customers will pay up front to beat inflation  Continue Reading

• The evolution of the distributor: From credit lines to sales acceleration

  Matt Paynter, vendor alliances director, UK and Ireland at Exclusive Networks compares the then and now in Distribution  Continue Reading

• Workforce Solutions: An untapped force for business growth

  Lee Elliot, HP’s Northwest Europe Head of Offer Execution for Workforce Solutions, shares some thoughts about the state of the market  Continue Reading

• Seven steps to a successful CX journey

  Rob Morris, head of customer success at Nebula Global Services, examines why it’s more vital than ever to keep customers engaged  Continue Reading

• Nurturing authentic partnerships in the security vendor landscape

  Phil Sansom, Director Business Development and Alliances at Barracuda MSP , shares some thoughts about the need to break the speed dating cycle in the security industry  Continue Reading

• NIS2: Why organisations need a unified cybersecurity standard

  Patrick Scholl, head of OT at Infinigate, shares some thoughts about the best strategy to take over the European directive  Continue Reading

• Hybrid work and peripherals

  Ahead of International E-Waste Day Neil MacDonald, UK&I Channel Director, HP , shares the vendor's progress on the recycling front  Continue Reading

• Thinking about the phrase ‘cybersecurity’

  The words ‘cyber’ and ‘security’ are always used together and often seen morphed into one as ‘cybersecurity’, but Billy MacInnes wonders if they should be  Continue Reading

• An Introduction to Microsoft 365 Copilot

  Richard Hutchings, chief technology officer at Littlefish, shares some thoughts on the potential offered by the technology  Continue Reading

• Avoiding making a waste of choice

  There is a lot of choice out there but getting it right is not always easy as Billy Macinnes discovers  Continue Reading

• How to get MSSPs and vendors on the same page

  The relationship between vendor and managed security service provider is key to success, accorind to Matthew Rhodes, regional sirector for MSSPs at Logpoint  Continue Reading

• Memories of Nick Booth

  MicroScope editor Simon Quicke reflects on his relationship with the publication’s long-time contributor  Continue Reading

• Bridging the channel’s skills gap for a stronger workforce

  Hayley Mooney, General Manager UK, Crayon, shares some thoughts about navigating the talent shortage  Continue Reading

• A closer look at XLAs and what they mean for managed IT

  Matt Baker, services consultant art Littlefish, lifts the lid on experience level agreements  Continue Reading

• Unlocking the combined value of the channel

  Adam Williamson, sales director at Exclusive Networks UK, takes a look at how to unlock the combined value of the channel  Continue Reading

• Be happy the mobile ate your computer

  Mobile First is a miserable slogan but people in the Nordics are far happier than us and they adopted this strategy. So what does it actually mean?  Continue Reading

• Why we need to change ROI – today

  Time-value creation, rather than just economic concepts, play a part in how we measure success when it comes to marketing and sales growth, says Helen Curtis, founder of Coterie Community  Continue Reading

• Ripe with opportunity: Helping women make their mark in the channel

  To mark International Women in Engineering Day Celine Cazali, UKI Chief Partner Officer at SAP, shares her thoughts on the importance of diversity across the industry  Continue Reading

• The balance between profit and purpose

  Billy MacInnes looks at the challenges for those that want to make money but also do the right thing by the planet  Continue Reading

• How poor IT can affect your employees (and your business)

  Richard Hutchings, chief technology officer at managed service provider Littlefish has some advice on how to lower stress and make life easier  Continue Reading

• Four ways to protect your OT environment from cybersecurity incidents

  Nick Ewing, managing director, EfficiencyIT, shares some advice on securing OT environments  Continue Reading

• Is it much fun being an MSP?

  It’s easy to concentrate on the results and the impact on customers but Billy MacInnes wonders if life in the managed services world is enjoyable  Continue Reading

• How genuine is Artificial intelligence?

  Using artificial intelligence seems to be a smart business move but Nick Booth just wishes those benefits could be explained a bit more clearly  Continue Reading

• Using Microsoft Power BI to leverage your data

  Callum Gillespie head of infrastructure operations at Littlefish, shares some advice on getting the most out of the business intelligence offering  Continue Reading

• Let's hope MVNOs put some virtue into virtual networking

  If you want to judge the character of a person, given them some power and see how they deal with the responsibility. Now lets take the mendacity out of the MVNO and accentuate the virtues in virtual  Continue Reading

• HP Amplify Impact: What’s next for the sustainability programme?

  Almost two years since its launch, there’s strong progress and an exciting future for the industry’s leading partner sustainability programme  Continue Reading

• Red Hat & Nutanix: a partnership forged in cloud-native leadership

  Adam Tarbox, vice president channel sales EMEA, Nutanix , shares his thoughts on the relationship the firm has formed with Red Hat  Continue Reading

• The important role of SIEM in the SOC Triad

  Sean Tickle, cyber services director at Littlefish, details why a SIEM is such an important element for the channel to understand  Continue Reading

• Efficiency, automation and integration key to partners’ success

  Michael Allen, vice-president of worldwide partners at Dynatrace, shares his views on what ingredients go into helping the channel succeed  Continue Reading

• Looking to make your business more sustainable?

  Flex IT’s UK sales manager, Ashley Ross, sets out six simple steps to help make a difference in green ambitions  Continue Reading

• Partner reality – what you need to know about the Metaverse

  Helen Curtis, CEO, Coterie Community, examines what the channel needs to know about emerging virtual worlds  Continue Reading

• What is Managed SOC and why should you care?

  Rowan Troy, senior security consultant at Littlefish shares his thoughts about the benefits of using a SOC  Continue Reading

• Why a Microsoft 365 security assessment is good for business

  Jason Rothwell, solutions architect at Littlefish, believes the auditing process delivers some positives for customers  Continue Reading

• Can ChatGPT revolutionise cyber security – for good and bad?

  AI tools are getting more commonly used, but Neil Langridge, marketing and alliances director at e92plus, wonders if that’s a positive  Continue Reading

• 2023: Multi-cloud, NaaS, sustainability and the IT skills gap top the agenda

  Sherifa Hady, EMEA channel vice-president at HPE Aruba, shares her thoughts on the prospects for the year ahead  Continue Reading

• Do you delight or alienate your customers?

  Are you doing the best to please your customers? David Tebbut shares some thoughts on the subject  Continue Reading

• Just how much can technology do for us?

  There is a debate about just how far IT can go to improve life, but as Billy MacInnes muses, it does sometimes deliver what the public wants  Continue Reading

• Incentives are a complementary activity

  Having investigated the current attitudes to incentives across the channel, Billy MacInnes shares some more thoughts on the issue  Continue Reading

• MicroScope at 40: The collapse of civilisation, time travel, and things that did not happen

  Long time MicroScope contributor Nick Booth looks back over the history of the magazine and ponders on which expectations failed to be realised  Continue Reading

• Tech skills problems continue

  It's a problems as old as the hills, but the pressure on skilled technical staff continues to cause headaches across the channel  Continue Reading

• How can business manage the financial cost of rail strikes?

  Colin Dean, major accounts director at M-Files, offers some advice for those struggling with the transport strikes  Continue Reading

• Threat hunting for MSPs

  Iratxe Vazquez, senior product marketing manager at WatchGuard, provides top tips for managed service providers to help their customers stay one step ahead of the cyber criminals  Continue Reading

• Powering strong partnerships for successful digital transformation

  César Cernuda, president at NetApp, shares his thoughts about the need for collaboration to support success  Continue Reading

• Providing the right tech to your employees matters more than ever

  Providing staff with the right technology is vital, says Tim Bodill, chief sales officer at Jigsaw24  Continue Reading

• MicroScope at 40: Billy MacInnes looks back

  The former editor of MicroScope shares his memories about his time covering the channel  Continue Reading

• UK systems integrator aims to untangle Ukraine supply chain

  Nick Booth catches up with someone who has the answers to making trade across borders happen more smoothly, with it being pitched as an answer to help Ukraine ease the flow of grain exports  Continue Reading

• The channel journey

  Ian French looks back over the evolution of the channel and shares his thoughts about those changes and some of the developments to come  Continue Reading

• Expanding the distribution footprint

  The Global Technology Distribution Council has shared some thoughts about the state of the channel, which has caught the eye of Billy MacInnes  Continue Reading

• How can MSPs minimise the risk of supply chain attacks?

  Jaime Arze, manager II of third-party risk at Datto, shares some thoughts on how managed service providers can avoid becoming the weak links in the supply chain  Continue Reading

• How can managed service providers remain competitive?

  Anthony Lamoureux, CEO of Velocity Smart, shares his thoughts about how an MSP can stand out from the crowd  Continue Reading

• That channel and vendor relationship really matters

  The channel is all about relationships and the latest insights from CompTIA have underlined that  Continue Reading

• Things sound good now, but will they stay that way?

  Broadcom is making the right noises to the channel after its acquisition of VMware, but Billy MacInnes has heard these sorts of positive soundings before  Continue Reading

• Striving for gender equality in the technology industry

  Vesela Nikolova, Bulgarian centre director at Amdaris, shares her thoughts on the need for greater diversity across the tech industry  Continue Reading

• Unpicking the cable mess

  There are so many different chargers and cables available now that Billy MacInnes is wondering how we got into this state  Continue Reading

• Flex and Peak supporting circular economy drive

  With recycling a key part of getting to net zero, we take a closer look at the actions of a couple of players in the market  Continue Reading

• How can technology drive environmental sustainability for the channel?

  To mark Earth Day, David Nelson, sales director trade-in services – EMEA, Tech Data, shares his thoughts on how the channel can make a difference  Continue Reading

• Sustainability is impacting public sector relationships

  Steve Haskew, head of sustainability and social leadership at Circular Computing, shares insights into how the growth in the importance of sustainability is affecting the market  Continue Reading

• Trying to fill the ever elusive skills gap

  Skills has been a problem for a long time, and it’s led to Billy MacInnes wondering if it can ever be sorted  Continue Reading

• The quiet revolution

  The channel is starting to act decisively on diversity, equity and inclusion. David Watts, managing director of Tech Data, UK and Ireland, explains why he thinks this is important  Continue Reading

• Customers are demanding sustainability from channel partners

  Caring about the planet is not just a nice thing to do but something that Karlton Gray, channel director at Schneider Electric UK & Ireland, believes the channel needs to do to continue to attract business  Continue Reading

• Channel tech predictions for a hybrid working future

  Nick Offin, head of sales, marketing and operations at Dynabook Northern Europe, shares some thoughts about the opportunities that are emerging for the channel  Continue Reading

• Predictions for the manufacturing industry in 2022 and beyond

  Jason Chester, director of global channel programmes at InfinityQS, provides his thoughts on what we can expect to see from the manufacturing industry over the next 12 months and beyond  Continue Reading

• The cyber risk threat landscape to MSPs and SMEs

  Ryan Weeks, CISO at Datto, shares his thoughts about what is happening in the market from a security point of view  Continue Reading

• Security has to be at the start of every cloud conversation

  NetFoundry’s boss shares his thoughts on how an expanding attack surface requires starting with security  Continue Reading

• Emerging digital service models: Addressing the need to prevent downtime

  Schneider Electric UK and Ireland’s channel director shares his views about the opportunities for the channel on ensuring systems remain powered  Continue Reading

• Lessons learnt and what lies ahead – security concerns in the channel

  Neil Langridge, marketing director at e92plus, shares insights into what lessons the cyber security world can take from 2021 to better inform against threats in 2022  Continue Reading

• Want to be green? Maybe look at production cycles

  This is the age of sustainability and environmental responsibility – but being green might be harder than some vendors think  Continue Reading

• As Dorsey leaves Twitter, what impact does a CEO have?

  The decision by the boss of Twitter to call time on his CEO role raises questions about the value of leadership  Continue Reading

• Nutanix: 2022 channel predictions

  Vendor’s EMEA channel chief shares what he believes will feature on the partner landscape in the year ahead  Continue Reading

• Circle of distrust: the security challenge for managed service providers

  The life of a managed service provider is tough, and the rise in security challenges could be set to make it tougher, with MSPs having to work hard to gain partner trust  Continue Reading

• Channel partners can leverage the subscription economy to grow

  Roman Rudolf, vice-president, strategy and services at Tech Data Europe, shares his thoughts about how the channel can get the most out of subscription models  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing in the public sector: a distant dream or the near future?

  The public sector has been slow to embrace public cloud, but Mark Vivian, CEO at Claremont, wonders if that might change soon  Continue Reading

• Why some businesses are struggling to get to grips with working from home

  We look at the reasons why some businesses have struggled to maintain productivity levels, staff engagement or creativity in remote working setups  Continue Reading

• The intern experience at SAP UKI

  Over the past year, Mary Anne Shaughnessy Cleary, a student at the University of Bath, has been on placement at enterprise software giant SAP UKI  Continue Reading

• Battling bad bots – how to escape the great data scrape

  The battle has been going on for a while, but there are signs that there is no let-up in the need to fight bad bots, says Spencer Young, EMEA RVP at Imperva  Continue Reading

• Bye ‘buy’ baby: subscription services are the future

  We take a look at the changing face of IT consumption  Continue Reading

• CCaaS is the role model for the contact centre of the future

  Anne-Meine Gramsma, chief commercial officer at ContactCenter4All, discusses the case for shifting to cloud-based contact centre-as-a-service (CCaaS) solutions  Continue Reading

• Channel can be peacekeepers in the ransomware war

  There is a lot of anger around ransomware, but there is also a lot of opportunity for those with the ability to help users keep criminals at bay, as Nick Booth finds out  Continue Reading

• Welcome to the age of insight

  HPE CEO Antonio Neri talked at the company’s recent shindig of the need to give customers insights into their data, but just how easy will that be?  Continue Reading

• Collaboration will be the key to driving innovation

  Resellers looking for growth across the rest of this year would be wise to concentrate on collaboration, says Gavin Jones, channel sales director, BT Wholesale  Continue Reading

• Has Mobile World Congress been fatally disrupted by Covid-19?

  Some are concerned that MWC might not be quite the same next month, but, as Nick Booth finds out, don’t say that to TelcoDR – it’s fighting talk!  Continue Reading

• XaaS has reached the tipping point

  There are signs from vendors, research from the GTDC and other developments that all point to this being the moment when anything-as-a-service goes mainstream  Continue Reading