Sales and Customer Management

What will the next phase of working look like due to Covid-19?

Andy Jane, CTO at Olive Communications, looks back at the past couple of weeks as the UK has been on lockdown to see how businesses have coped during the initial stage of the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis Continue Reading

By

• Andy Jane, Olive Communications

How Covid-19 has turned the IT events calendar on its head

With coronavirus restrictions in place, IT vendors are replacing their conferences with digital events. What does this mean for the channel? Continue Reading

By

• Christine Horton

Certification exams move online

Training bodies have reacted to the lockdown with moves to make it easier for resellers brushing up on their skills to sit exams Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Coronavirus: e92plus increasing practical support for resellers

Distributor e92plus increases financial aid for partners that want to keep the customer orders flowing Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

SecureAge and ITQuoter on the hunt for partners

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has not stopped some fresh arrivals landing in the UK with the intention of building up a channel base Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

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

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Helping existing customers is key for Forcepoint channel

Recently appointed EMEA vice-president of sales shares his view of how Forcepoint channel will get through the coronavirus and grow in the future Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Coronavirus: BT’s response to maintain service levels

Telecoms player is taking steps to arm partners with more support and minimise risks for those still working in the field Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Exclusive Networks sets up coronavirus support hub

Distributor steps up support it can provide resellers during these difficult times Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Coronavirus: Extreme makes partner programme changes to up support

Extreme Networks has become the latest vendor to use the tools in its partner programme to increase the support it can give resellers in this difficult time Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MicroScope: Seeking sustainability

In this issue, we look at sustainability in the channel, with customers increasingly wanting to know that their reseller has a handle on their carbon footprint. Also, read about SCC's insight on mobile working and workforce security, and take a closer look at Riverbed's return to its roots Continue Reading

Tech Data has a taste for Apple

Company’s recent results got Billy MacInnes wondering about the importance of the relationship between the distributor and its key vendor Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

Softcat weighs up furry choice

Channel player raises thousands for Mind as part of its April’s Fool campaign Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Coronavirus: Distributors can take a lead

Head of the Global Technology Distribution Council shares his thoughts on the Covid-19 crisis Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Coronavirus: Channel braces for challenging second quarter

There are growing signs that it is getting harder for partners and vendors to predict what will come next Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Brown to step down at Softcat as Hockin emerges at Arcserve

Softcat managing director announces his intention to step down at the end of the reseller’s current fiscal year Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Cherwell extends platform depth with developer support

IT services management specialist Cherwell has launched its Marketplace as it looks to extend the options in its CORE platform Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Tech bosses share messages of support with channel partners

A raft of CEOs from the largest vendors have assured partners that they are working to protect supplies during the coronavirus crisis Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Covid-19: Let's get through this together

The channel has always been about people at its heart, and as we all struggle to get through the coronavirus crisis, let's not forget to look out for each other Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Maplin boss looking to extend supply chain

The managing director of online electronics retailer Maplin is looking to grow the business, accepting that it will need to widen its supplier network Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Building customer trust with an open approach

In the final piece of our three-part series, Barracuda’s director International talks of the importance of delivering promises and being honest about services to build customer trust Continue Reading

By

• Jason Howells, Barracuda MSP

HPE marks a year of the Tech Pro Community

Vendor shares progress on growth numbers and interactions within its tech community Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Dell Technologies World joins growing list of events hit by Covid-19

Dell opts to turn its annual Vegas shindig into a virtual event as Covid-19 coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the industry calendar Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

CompTIA teams up with SkillsTX to extend training reach

Industry group is keen to get its certifications in front of more users and forms partnership with platform provider Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Feeling the impact of coronavirus

Although the number of cases in the UK is still low, there have already been some issues for the channel to deal with Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

HP Reinvent joins list of partner events hit by Covid-19

Vendor is the latest to react to the ongoing spread of coronavirus by opting to move its channel event to later in the year Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

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

By

• Billy MacInnes

Five-minute interview: Ian Ashworth, Netwrix

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

Cancellation of MWC will leave a gap

For those who wanted trade shows to die, the unexpected cancellation of Mobile World Congress could highlight the weakness of their argument Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Digital risk looks to be a good niche for the channel

Business leaders are concerned that their digital strategies are not going to lead them in the right direction Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Channel could benefit from SME Brexit bounce

With the UK just hours away from officially leaving the EU it looks like many SMEs are gearing up to start spending on tech Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

BETT: Lenovo calls for more tech investment

The hardware vendor has worked on a report that indicates that money needs to be spent on tech to keep education in touch with the digital demands of the future Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

IT security is broken: Six ways partners can help fix it

Many organisations have numerous non-integrated security point products installed across their enterprise, the management of which is a huge challenge. Here, we discuss how partners can help their customers to adopt a more holistic approach to security Continue Reading

By

• Ian Jenkins, VMware

Kaspersky rolls out licensing portal for MSPs

Security player aims to make licensing easier with online tools and more flexible with a monthly billing option Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Skills crisis threatens to derail customer growth ambitions

Getting hold of talent is top of the list of concerns for UK tech leaders and is causing many of them to cast doubts over the prospects for the industry in the next couple of years Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Beware of falling for the hype machine

With more companies resorting to hyperbole to sell products, Billy MacInnes warns of the necessity to see past exaggeration and look at the true effectiveness of products and technology Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

Synnex splits in two with Concentrix getting its independence

Distributor is looking to gain more flexibility and focus by splitting away from the customer experience specialist Concentrix Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Desmond returns as Exclusive strengthens executive team

After a year away from his role at Exclusive Networks, Barrie Desmond has returned to the distributor alongside three other hires to add muscle to the channel player’s executive team. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

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

By

• Billy MacInnes

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

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Motherhood is the necessity of invention, says Mellanox channel boss

Mellanox vice-president Yael Asseraf Shenhav talks about how her employer has enabled her to thrive in a male-dominated industry and sheds light on how we can all better manage our time Continue Reading

By

• Nick Booth

Resellers feeling good about 2020

Context has surveyed thousands of resellers across the UK and Europe and found that levels of optimism are higher than at this time last year Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

VMware arming channel with skills to unlock digital opportunities

Reaping the digital transformation rewards is more than just an IT conversation and VMware's UK channel chief is taking an approach based on helping partners increase their capabilities Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Distribution model is alive and well

Warren Buffett’s interest in Tech Data represents a very strong endorsement of distribution and the channel’s role Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

SCC chief heralds solid year

The last twelve months have been busy ones for SCC and its chief executive is keen to highlight its achievements Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MicroScope: Time for change

In this issue, we ask experts how they're approaching digital transformation to meet customers demand, and we look at whether the actions of the user should reflect on the accountability of the cloud provider Continue Reading

How to improve customer experience

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Veeam UK channel boss looking to widen partner support

The recently installed UK channel boss is planning to increase the support it offers a wider number of partners as well as looking to exploit its alliances for the benefit of resellers Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Support for business and tech called for from next government

Channel and business groups set out their wish list for whoever wins the keys to Number 10 next month Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

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

By

• Billy MacInnes

CompTIA: Pressure on channel to change

Industry association is encouraging resellers to step out of their comfort zones and embrace change Continue Reading

Customer experience driving collaboration investments

Improving customer experience is one of the main factors behind the decision by users to invest in unified comms and collaboration tools Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Tech Data accepts $5.4bn private equity offer

Distributor's board recommend the sale, which should give it access to more financial muscle Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

IoT security: A winning strategy for MSSPs

Don’t let your clients’ IoT initiatives make them vulnerable to cyber attacks Continue Reading

By

• Jason Howells, Barracuda MSP

What’s in a name? Inside sales versus telesales

Inside sales seems much the same as telesales, only dressed up for the modern age. What's brought the change about and is it really so different from what we already know? Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

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

What resellers want: Countering customer frustrations

Alex Tatham, managing director of Westcoast, discusses his conclusions from the results of the company’s recent survey Continue Reading

By

• Alex Tatham, Westcoast

Schneider Electric: Healthcare, manufacturing and education leading edge spend

Power management specialist works with Canalys to survey resellers around the opportunities and challenges customers are facing around edge computing Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

LzLabs moving to plug mainframe expertise gap

Pressure is mounting from various sides on those customers that are still using apps that are stuck on aging mainframes Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Westcoast uncovers reseller thoughts about distribution

Channel player asks resellers what they think of distribution and finds there is work to do to support digital transformation ambitions Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

CompTIA: Channel must “learn new tricks” to keep customers

CompTIA CEO urges channel to explore emerging technologies or risk losing business Continue Reading

By

• Christine Horton

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

By

• Billy MacInnes

Might be a while before someone orders from a reseller with Alexa

Personal assistants are gaining traction as yet another way customers can order services but concerns about data integrity are holding back widespread adoption Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

ScanSource paints a picture of a digital future

Just weeks after it revealed plans to divest its hardware operation the firm has updated UK partners on the strategy Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Channel has to help customers with confidence crisis

Those trying to go through the IT buying process are struggling with too much information and trying to make sense of vendor marketing messages Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Datto challenging MSP sales and marketing assumptions

Firm is using an event in London to challenge existing views of sales and marketing and provide advice for those looking to devise their own strategy Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Commercial PC growth better for channel than consumer PC growth

The commercial PC segment experienced a 15% sales increase in July, while consumer sales dropped by 2% – but that’s better than the other way round Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

Users struggling to get hold of digital skills

Research has found that a lot of customers are not able to take advantage of the latest technology because they do not have the in-house expertise needed to adapt and adopt it Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Tech Data CEO points to Q2 results as validation of strategy

Rich Hume is keen to move the firm to higher value solutions and viewed the second quarter results as a sign that the strategy is delivering Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Interview: Graeme Watt, CEO of Softcat

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How to help businesses reach their digital goals

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Channel advice: How to spend the holiday weeks

Staff might be coming and going topping up their tans but there is still plenty that the channel can do both internally and crucially externally with customers Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

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

By

• Billy MacInnes

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

By

• Billy MacInnes

Digital transformation leadership a problem for users

NTT research has highlighted issues around the expertise of those leading digital transformation efforts and Kyocera has highlighted the need to concentrate on people as well as technology Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Channel taking steps to improve customer experience

CompTIA has found that resellers are starting to get on board with improving customer experience strategies to remain competitive Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Cisco increasing channel digital marketing support

Vendor brings together various marketing initiatives under one umbrella to help the channel reach out to customers more effectively Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

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

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Ethos Technology building on Pure signing

Distributor has landed a relationship with Pure Storage and is looking to build on that moment over the rest of 2019 Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

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

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

What makes a great managed security service provider?

With an increasingly challenging threat landscape, being a successful MSSP can be a struggle. Making sure customers stay safe is critical to the success of your business, which is why understanding what makes a great MSSP is crucial for you to be able to make informed choices that will prove beneficial to the company Continue Reading

By

• Ryan Compagnone, Edgescan

Brexit leading to increased customer caution

CFOs and tech startup entrepreneurs are both showing risk aversion with Brexit the cause of most of the problems Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Retail driving spending in CX market

There have been examples of the channel gaining customer experience expertise in the past few weeks and no wonder given the IDC growth forecasts for the technology Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Connect Managed Services and G3 Comms merge

Customer Experience and Unified Comms players bought together to form a £55m revenue business Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

What are the risks of not responding to a critical alarm in time?

When selling management tools, managed service providers need to educate users about the importance of acting on the alarms generated by such equipment Continue Reading

By

• Klaus Allion, ANT Telecom

Amazon rolls out Business Prime offering

Etailer continues to enhance the offering for commercial customers with the addition of Business Prime Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Insight adds muscle on both sides of the Atlantic with PCM buy

Insight has forked out a significant amount to add IT products and services player PCM to the portfolio Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Why organisations cannot afford to get carried away with contact centre success

To build sustainable success in the contact centre world, you need a strong focus on business goals, incremental business gains, teamwork and a culture based on trust Continue Reading

By

• Jeremy Payne, Enghouse Interactive

IoT seen as key revenue and fresh business generator

CompTIA has turned to its emerging technology community to ask what technologies are going to drive opportunities and for the second year IoT has topped the list Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Shifting business model to benefit from the rise in cloud

Channel partners will need to undergo their own version of digital transformation to take full advantage of the shift to cloud Continue Reading

By

• Scott Murphy, Ingram Micro UK

DXC cuts the ribbon on London innovation centre

Firm open to bringing in partners to work on cracking customer digital transformation challenges Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MSPs told to be wary of the CSP model

A channel event in Canada will resonate with managed service players here who are worried about losing customer relationships Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

How to train channel staff

Having trained staff leads to better growth for your business and is something the channel needs to focus on – but how to go about it? Continue Reading

By

• Paul Clapham

HPE adds depth to SME targeted solution

Vendor looking to help SMEs with their digital transformation needs with server, storage and cloud software options Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Softcat provides investor cheer with Q3 update

Channel player continues to deliver the goods with an upbeat third quarter trading update Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

How to make channel sales work

To be effective in channel sales, you have to be a great project manager, able to influence without formal organisational power and operate effectively at every level in an organisation. Read on for advice on how to succeed Continue Reading

By

• Marcus Cauchi and David Davies, Sandler Training (UK)

A bridge too VAR

The expedition from VAR to MSP is not short of challenges but, equipped with the right map, ambitious companies can feel more confident in getting past first base. In the second part of his series, Predatar CEO Alistair Mackenzie takes a closer look at the importance of a strong culture and highlights why marketing should no longer be viewed as an afterthought Continue Reading

By

• Alistair Mackenzie, Predatar

GPC 2019: Dell Technologies highlights channel growth

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

By

• Christine Horton

Channel getting the transformation message

Research from Agilitas IT has found that an increasing number of resellers are going through a transformation process Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor