Selling to end users
Customer relationship management benefits for SMEs
Posted: Fri, 09 Jul 2010Every big business was a small business once. Therefore, selling to the present-day minnows will put you in pole position for selling to tomorrow's whales. They won't all make that...Read More »
Bridging the skills gap
Posted: Mon, 07 Jun 2010A sustained economic recovery might be on the horizon but persistent doubt about the immediate future has precipitated a crunch in the skills market as personnel in senior management positions...Read More »
Unified comms message is still too complex
Posted: Fri, 19 Mar 2010It is some time since the concept of unified communications (UC) became generally known, but it is clear that there has been a lack of education around it because challenging...Read More »
Windows 7 is good for business
Posted: Mon, 15 Feb 2010Overcoming application compatibility issues with Windows 7 will create opportunities for the channel, says John TateThe opportunities for Windows 7 are being widely discussed in the IT channel. After the...Read More »
Microscope Media Centre
Posted: Tue, 02 Feb 2010MicroScope.co.uk Media Information MicroScope is the longest established weekly newspaper for computer manufacturers, distributors and resellers who need to maintain a competitive edge in the channel. Hard-hitting opinionated editorial covers...Read More »
Analysis: Educators fear IT budget cuts
Posted: Thu, 28 Jan 2010Although the weather might have hit the numbers, more than 30,000 visitors were expected to walk the floors of London's Olympia at this year's BETT Show over its four-day span.One...Read More »
Analysis: Channel to play a vital role in battle for mid-market
Posted: Thu, 28 Jan 2010If you are looking for a theme for the year aside from the long-awaited recovery, there is one area of the market that holds great promise. The mid-market is going...Read More »
In-depth: Opportunities as BI vendors look to SMEs
Posted: Tue, 19 Jan 2010Research group Gartner says business intelligence (BI) is once again the top spending priority for large enterprises as they attempt to exploit corporate information more effectively to reduce costs, boost...Read More »
Analysis: Can SAP rise to the SaaS challenge?
Posted: Thu, 26 Nov 2009SAP reported poor third quarter results last month as attendees of its TechEd summit in Vienna saw a company at pains to show how it plans to reinvent itself and...Read More »
In depth: Selling Windows 7
Posted: Thu, 05 Nov 2009It is the biggest release of the year and arguably the most important in Microsoft’s history, but will Windows 7 live up to expectations and erase the ill will caused...Read More »
Five minute interview: Craig Whitney, Axway
Posted: Tue, 20 Oct 2009MicroScope puts its questions to Craig Whitney, vice-president and managing director of AxwayWhat is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom? Always have a ‘plan B’ – from...Read More »
Channel Summit: Approaching the cloud with caution and confidence
Posted: Tue, 20 Oct 2009In the second part of the MicroScope Channel Summit we asked a panel representing all tiers of the channel what impact they expect from the computing cloud.The panel:> Mark Nutt,...Read More »
In-depth: Tap into Middle East tech boom
Posted: Tue, 29 Sep 2009At a time when European markets have reached saturation and organisations in the developed economies are cutting back on IT expenditure, the Middle East offers sellers and resellers a rapidly...Read More »
In-depth: Selling digital displays
Posted: Mon, 28 Sep 2009Given the slow-down in corporate and domestic spending, the AV market has held up surprisingly well in the past 12 months. Although product pricing at the bottom end of the...Read More »
BSA stings four for £50k
Posted: Tue, 18 Aug 2009The Business Software Alliance has taken four manufacturing companies for over £50,000 in its latest clampdown on alleged unlicensed software use. The four companies involved, Samuel Brice Ltd,...Read More »
Establishing a channel Entente Cordiale
Posted: Thu, 09 Jul 2009The ancient Chinese proverb that says “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” may well be applied to the channel, for while we should certainly keep a wary eye...Read More »
Ride the recession with closer vendor partnerships
Posted: Tue, 30 Jun 2009In today’s economic environment, times are perhaps nowhere tougher than they are for the channel: squeezed on one side by the customer’s need to cut costs, to win a better...Read More »
Interview: Sir Peter Rigby finds fortune favours the brave
Posted: Thu, 11 Jun 2009As 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,...Read More »
Tapping into the revenue stream of hosted security services
Posted: Tue, 26 May 2009While many sectors in the UK suffer in the grip of recession, the reverse is true of the “dark economy”. Last year 23 million cybercrime attacks were detected, and in...Read More »
Channel marketeers urged to speak CFO's language
Posted: Tue, 05 May 2009There appears to be a gap between the metrics marketing departments are measuring their success against compared to the expectations of CFOs. As a result many companies...Read More »
Technical staff view 2009 as the year for upwards changes
Posted: Mon, 23 Feb 2009A large proportion of technical staff are planning to make this year the moment when they move to a better job. According to the IT Job Board nearly...Read More »
Unified comms strong, but help needed with ROI story
Posted: Fri, 16 Jan 2009Unified communications (UC) outfits claim they are busier than ever during the recession, but some say that resellers and service providers are still not getting enough support when it comes...Read More »
Comment: Risk and reward in automation
Posted: Tue, 13 Jan 2009As enterprise application software is used more and more to automate complex business processes, organisations expose themselves to risks introduced by having mission-critical operations reliant upon IT and, more significantly,...Read More »
Will 2009 be the year of the netbook?
Posted: Mon, 12 Jan 2009During 2007 notebooks outperformed desktops for the first time in sales, and the future of the laptop looked bright. But 2008 brought a new trendsetter with the arrival of the...Read More »
Buyers market for IT talent in 2009
Posted: Tue, 06 Jan 2009Recruiters will face a buyers market during the next few months when it comes to scooping IT talent, according to research analysts at Gartner. In its annual CIO...Read More »
Professional qualifications add to the salary
Posted: Tue, 09 Dec 2008Those wondering if it’s worth bothering investing in professional qualifications given the current economic landscape will find an analysis of the Labour Force Survey persuasive reading. According to a...Read More »
Services with a smile
Posted: Fri, 31 Oct 2008As product margins have progressively eroded over the past decade or so, providing value-added services has become increasingly important to many channel partners in order to make a decent living.“In...Read More »
Lighten the load to add value
Posted: Fri, 31 Oct 2008While most businesses increasingly rely on an extensive IT infrastructure just to stay operational, controlling the costs of the infrastructure is a constant challenge. This is all the harder for...Read More »
Financial meltdown impacts channel order books
Posted: Fri, 19 Sep 2008The meltdown in the global financial market has created a tidal wave of uncertainty among IT buyers that were already twitchy about ripples in the global economy, dramatically altering...Read More »
FAST working on forensic tool to curtial counterfieters
Posted: Fri, 19 Sep 2008The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) is a not far away from rolling out a forensic tool that will enable Trading Standards to search systems to find unlicensed software....Read More »
Call centres ring the changes
Posted: Fri, 19 Sep 2008Call centres - with their endless queues, incomprehensible menus and automatic voice recognition systems - have often been regarded as the stuff of nightmares. However, last week's Call Centre Expo...Read More »
Changes to Zanzibar should improve reseller public sector success
Posted: Thu, 11 Sep 2008Resellers selling into the public sector should find it easier to compete against large rivals under changes made to the Zanzibar Supplier Agreement. The Office of Government Commerce...Read More »
Customers face up to cyber criminal threat
Posted: Wed, 10 Sep 2008It seems to have taken a fairly long time for the message to get through to customers but finally the vast majority understand criminals are behind security attacks....Read More »
Credit crunch starts to show in contract delays
Posted: Tue, 09 Sep 2008A report by Forrester Research into IT services spending, overall services, strategies and priorities has confirmed the toll the economic downturn is taking on IT budgets. Even though European...Read More »
CBI points to dramatic rise in flexible working
Posted: Mon, 08 Sep 2008The movement towards flexible working, which has an impact on the potential technology being used in the home, is continuing to gather pace. According to research carried out by...Read More »
IBM finds CEOs keen to collaborate and partner
Posted: Thu, 04 Sep 2008The findings of a global CEO study carried out by IBM indicate that expectations of significant change in the future with a greater role for the internet is not...Read More »
Credit crunch provides some with opportunity
Posted: Fri, 08 Aug 2008The credit crunch is proving to be a benefit to those that are pushing services and products that might face a tougher sales pitch if buyers were sticking with...Read More »
Visibility is vital
Posted: Mon, 14 Apr 2008When the first ISPs started offering services to customers, the main features were web browsing, file transfer, email and news group access. Most of the internet content came from the...Read More »
Infosecurity Europe: product preview
Posted: Fri, 04 Apr 2008In an age when most people argue that the internet has started to replace everything, it is reassuring not only to walk the halls of an exhibition and do business...Read More »
Generating an attractive return
Posted: Thu, 03 Apr 2008The great attraction of the accounting software market has always been its recurring revenues. Tax changes and, increasingly, compliance regulations, mean businesses are willing to pay vendors a maintenance charge...Read More »
Delayed Vista deployments in schools raise skills fears
Posted: Wed, 02 Apr 2008Some sections of the industry have raised fears that the decision by most schools to delay the deployment of Vista could have a negative impact on skills. The killer blow for...Read More »
OGC adds managed print to procurement framework
Posted: Wed, 02 Apr 2008OGC Buying.Solutions has introduced extended and managed services to the latest MFP Catalist framework agreement with the aim of cutting printing costs in the public sector. Eight suppliers have been...Read More »
Opportunities at high end
Posted: Wed, 02 Apr 2008"Anecdotal feedback over the last 12 months has made it clear that resellers are finding it more and more difficult to motivate customers to see value in their offering. Differentiation...Read More »
Carphone Warehouse attacks BT
Posted: Wed, 02 Apr 2008Carphone Warehouse has dragged the telecoms regulator Ofcom into a row over changes to BT tariffs by claiming the telco giant is tying people into anti-competitive contracts. The owners of the...Read More »
Connecting to a diverse market
Posted: Mon, 11 Feb 2008by Christopher Walton Once upon a time the channel for mobile communications was an entirely separate industry from the IT channel. The data market knew what it did — servers, software...Read More »
Leading the way through Web 2.0
Posted: Mon, 04 Feb 2008No longer the sole preserve of savvy teenagers, Web 2.0 can now offer genuine business benefits, but how can the channel help customers to understand its potential and make it...Read More »
Making recycling pay
Posted: Thu, 01 Jan 1970For some time, businesses have been obligated to dispose of their end-of-life IT equipment responsibly. In June, however, the EU introduced its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which...Read More »
How ISVs can survive the recession
Posted: Thu, 01 Jan 1970Many independent software vendors (ISVs) have been feeling the pressure recently, trapped between procrastination over resellers’ and customers’ buying decisions and tightening margins. Cost savings, combined with administrative overheads and...Read More »
Rebuilding UK econonomy on the IT sector
Posted: Thu, 01 Jan 1970The current recession has caused the greatest damage to the UK economy for over 100 years, writes Stephen Kelly, CEO of Micro Focus. The industries on which we had relied...Read More »