United Kingdom
I write about all kinds of technology from a business perspective, specialising in the IT sales channel.
I currently contribute to Raconteur for The Times and The Sunday Times, Channel Futures, Nuzoo, UC Today and ERP Today among other titles. As well as all things channel, I cover areas such as cloud, networking, unified communications, customer experience, AI, cybersecurity, enterprise software and the C-Suite. I also edit Think Digital Partners, which focuses on cybersecurity, digital identity and data in the public sector.
In addition, I write and edit broader IT and cloud-focused news and features, as well as corporate work such as case studies, blogs, whitepapers, by-line articles and eBooks for a range of clients.
I also provide training for PR agencies on what the IT channel is, and why it's important to their clients.
The recent controversy over contracts put school management information systems in the spotlight like never before - but now, thanks to the rise of multi-academy trusts and a sharper focus on tech within education, schools stand to benefit from systems that better suit their needs
There often comes a point within a relationship when one party realises it's time to move on. They feel they have outgrown the relationship, or that their needs are no longer being satisfied. The same applies in business. The systems that may have served you well in the past will inevitably no longer be able to keep pace as the business matures.
When you think about the centre of the universe for technology, you probably think of Silicon Valley. But where is the same HQ for data? The answer is that there isn't one - yet. But London is embracing the challenge with an ambitious goal to become the heart of the burgeoning data economy, globally.
There's a new type of player in the digital landscape - or rather, a new type of old player. Recent years have seen an influx of digital natives disrupting industries, turning traditional business models on their head.
The role of the IT chief is changing fast. Recent research by CIO.com indicates that, within three years, more than half of corporate tech chiefs will focus less on overseeing functional work and more on developing strategies for the whole business.
The role of the CIO is evolving. Historically pigeonholed as 'tech bods', CIOs are making high-value contributions that are often inseparable from their companies' wider business strategies. It's natural to wonder what's next for them as their work becomes ever more pivotal: given their growing influence as strategic decision-makers, surely there's a strong case for more of today's CIOs to become tomorrow's CEOs?
Many organisations claim to be data-driven but the truth is that most are failing to maximise their return on investment on data. Indeed, Gartner estimates that 97% of data sits unused by organisations. This is clearly at odds with the huge investments in data teams and processes that organisations are making to secure an advantage in an increasingly competitive landscape.
The talent crisis continues to impact every aspect of the tech industry. There simply are not enough qualified individuals to support the work that is required - a problem that has been exposed by the acceleration in digital transformation necessitated by COVID-19.
Tackling Scope 3 emissions can seem like a daunting task - but it's a necessary aspect of any net zero plan Coming out of COP26, business leaders across all industries pledged to accelerate climate action throughout every aspect of their organisations. Customers, investors and regulators now expect clear, detailed plans for how organisations will achieve net zero.
Public cloud computing was poised on the edge of the mainstream for several years before the world was locked down in early 2020. Since then, firms' pandemic-driven digital transformation efforts have accelerated the uptake of these cloud services, making them widely popular.
Ever since its introduction in 2013, the government's so-called cloud-first policy has been at the heart of the public sector's digital transformation efforts. Put simply, the policy means that bodies seeking to update their technology should evaluate cloud-based systems before considering any other option.
Once lockdown is lifted and social-distancing restrictions ease, will business quickly get back to normal? Or will we see a profound and customer preferences? Here are six changes in consumer behaviour as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that marketing professionals should be aware of. Without question, lockdown has impacted the customer mindset.
Corporate cyber chiefs are high in demand, but many still report into chief information officers (CIOs). With cyber threats on the rise, some security leaders want greater clout. Chief information security officers (CISOs) are earning more than ever as demand for qualified security leaders pushes up salaries.
Recent research has revealed that a staggering 24% of Fortune 500 chief information security officers (CISOs) last just one year in the role, with the average tenure being just 26 months. C-level positions necessarily involve higher levels of stress and responsibility than other roles, but why is it so much worse for security executives than for their peers in finance, HR or marketing?
The B2B tech industry has become a prime target for investment by private equity (PE) funding. But does such investment ignore the value the channel?
The Covid crisis has accelerated innovation in payments, fuelling the development of low-touch transaction systems with an emphasis on customer convenience
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This report explores why data powers all transformation initiatives, and how IT leaders can make the most of the wealth of data at their fingertips.
COVID-19 has in many ways irrevocably changed the way we work. Almost overnight, organisations were forced to establish a new remote workforce. Kitchen tables became desks, and in-person meetings were replaced by video calls. Now, more than a year later, most organisations accept that remote working is here to stay in some form.
The ERP industry can no longer overlook the potential of the mid-market. The mid-market could be forgiven if it suffers from middle child syndrome. Underserved and ignored by the industry for years, mid-market firms have historically been forced to compromise when it comes to sourcing ERP software.
Buildings and motor vehicles are fundamental parts of the modern metropolis - and both are among the largest contributors to global carbon emissions, given the former's need for heat and power, and the latter's continuing dependence on the internal combustion engine.
How safe is your voice as an identity marker? As biometric technology continues to make strides, opinion is split on whether voice tech is a blessing or a curse when it comes to fighting fraud. Biometrics are based on physical or behavioural measurements, like facial recognition or an individual's hand movements.
In 2017, hackers stole several gigabytes of sensitive data from a Las Vegas casino. It was later discovered that their point of entry to the network was a newly installed fish tank, which had an internet connection enabling it to be monitored remotely.
The master agent model has been slow to take off outside the U.S. We look at the recent spike in activity in Europe and the benefits for partners.
AI has been at the forefront of the medical profession's efforts to fight Covid-19 and treat patients during the coronavirus pandemic. Enabling healthcare providers to make fast, accurate and data-driven decisions, the technology has been producing some extraordinary outcomes.
But m ore importantly, corporations now need to go a step further to ensur e that vulnerable customers are protected , says Jonathan Wax, Vice President EMEA, NICE Nexidia . "During the pandemic, there was a huge spike in vulnerable customers," he says , pointing to r esearch by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCS) which shows that more consumers find themselves in vulnerable circumstances due to the pandemic .
28th Apr 2021 The past 12 months have seen an enormous uptake in cloud services, with more than ninety percent of UK businesses saying it played an important part in their response to COVID-19. Channel partners have adapted their business models accordingly - meaning big changes to how vendors engage, classify, incentivise and renumerate partners.
21st Apr 2021 The IT channel is a people business. The relationship between vendors, partners and customers is at the heart of this very successful business agreement. Face to face meetings, conferences, networking and social events have traditionally played a significant part in building and maintaining these relationships.
13th Apr 2021 To enable success, you must first be able to measure it. So when it comes to measuring partner success in the channel, what are the metrics? Measuring partner success comes after first establishing what that looks like to all parties.
8th Apr 2021 In the channel, the partnership between vendor, partner and customer is critical. However, everybody has a different idea of what constitutes a successful relationship. What does partner success look like? Each stakeholder will have their own idea of how they define a healthy and profitable partnership, based on their own specific parameters.
At the same time, the pandemic and resulting work from home requirements has driven unprecedented adoption of new communication platforms . " Financial services organisations are embracing unified communications platforms like Microsoft Teams in record numbers, not just for voice, but also for video, chat, and screenshar ing," said Matt Caine, Sales Director, EMEA at NICE.
Women, and in particular Black women, are hugely under-represented in the IT industry. Research from the British Computer Society (BCS) shows Black women account for just 0.7 per cent of IT roles, 2.5 times below the level of other professions. Black British Business Awards released a report with J.P.
Worawut - stock.adobe.com By We've all experienced huge changes to our working and personal lives over the past year, with one of the biggest being the shift to remote working. And as the new year begins, it looks like remote working is here to stay.
Over the past 12 months we've seen a huge shift to digital as businesses were forced to close the door on physical trading. More than 85,000 UK businesses launched online stores or joined online marketplaces in just the first few months of the pandemic.
The coronavirus crisis has expedited the digitalisation of many everyday working processes as organisations around the globe rapidly implement technological solutions to ensure business continuity, but is security being overlooked?
We're encouraged to choose more sustainable options every day - and this extends to the decisions organisations make when purchasing technology. For any number of reasons, sustainability is an increasingly important factor in the IT decision making process today.
COVID-19 has accelerated the digital transformation plans of many organisations, in some cases bringing about years of change in just a few months. Whether those companies turn to one of the global systems integrators (GSIs) or enlist an independent system integrator (SI) to help them, they rely on the expertise and support of those firms to help them navigate those changes.
While organisations have dealt with many challenges caused by COVID-19, one that may have a lasting impact on their business is the shift to virtual sales. This has been particularly noticeable in IT, which is very much a 'relationships business'. It thrives on face-to-face activity, meetings, conferences and events.
As consumers we are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the choices that we make - especially when it comes to choosing the goods and services we use. Businesses too are starting to adapt their purchasing behaviour to take issues like sustainability into account.
Many partners wish the relationship with their vendors were better. But vendors continue to struggle with judging the health of the partner relationship.
Digital transformation has been a boardroom buzzword for some time, with organisations keen to deploy technology to gain a competitive advantage - whether that's increasing productivity, lowering operating costs, improving customer service or any other metric through which success is measured.
The UK faces urgent challenges if the benefits of a secure and efficient digital identity protocol are not to be squandered. Critics are calling on the government to ensure the right technology, processes and standards are in place to unleash a new, effective and prosperous era of digital identity.
As any organisation can confirm, the ability to recruit and retain qualified cybersecurity professionals is an ongoing struggle. Government figures last year confirm that a high percentage of UK businesses lack staff with the technical, incident response and governance skills needed to manage their cybersecurity.
Andreas Heyden, who spearheads the Bundesliga's digital transformation, explains the sports industry's 'late mover advantage.' While there have been many instances where professional sport has blazed a trail, it has been a little slower to embrace digital transformation - until now.
As the holiday season approaches, it's a good time to reflect on the year gone by. The world has always been VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous).
The biggest talking point in the IT channel in recent years has been the move away from the volume-based, transactional 'box shifting' model of sales to a services-led, consumption-based model that provides a recurring revenue stream to resellers.
While publishing struggles during the coronavirus crisis, Sweden's Bonnier News' digital strategy is paying off for the company with remarkable results. As with many traditional industries today, print media is struggling to compete in a world that increasingly favours digital channels for news and information.
Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, Professor John Pollaers OAM and Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Pascale Quester outline their bold vision for the future of higher education Like many other industries, the higher education sector is currently undergoing a period of huge disruption.
How can customer insights help institutions better serve consumer demands for convenience and ease?
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the UK economy. There were 5.9 million SMEs in the UK at the start of 2020, accounting for 99.9 per cent of the business population. However, SMEs have also been some of the worst-hit companies during the coronavirus pandemic so, while they will play a crucial role in the country's economic recovery, SME lending will be vital.
A few years ago, IDC predicted that by 2021 at least 30% of channel players will not exist in the format we know them today . This is down to an influx of non-traditional, and ' non-transactiona l', partners entering the ecosystem.
This report offers practical steps for business to overhaul their cybersecurity and embed a zero trust approach.
How can customer insights help institutions better serve consumer demands for convenience and ease?
By Christine Horton In the ERP software world, as with most big business, perception is everything - that's why software vendors invest so much in PR. Despite this, most of the software vendors we approached to participate in the writing of this article were reluctant to contribute.
When it comes to investing in enterprise software, organisations have many options allowing them to choose whatever technology or consumption method best suits their business requirements. Despite this, there remains a tendency within the industry to categorise software purchases into two opposing camps: suites and stacks.
The pandemic turned millions of office-based businesses into virtual companies overnight, inevitably resulting in a greater reliance on technology. This means it is arguably more important than ever to invest in employee development and tech skills. Even pre-pandemic, government figures showed eight out of ten advertised openings required some level of digital skills.
For many organisations, environmental sustainability has shifted from being a nice to have to a non-negotiable necessity. There are several reasons for this, not least the urgent debate over climate change that dominates the world stage. In many cases, organisations will be looking to comply with legislation; the UK, for example, has set a net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050.
SPONSORED BY AWS As former freelancers themselves, Ed Molyneux, Olly Headey and Roan Lavery decided there must be a better way to manage the books. In 2007, the trio founded FreeAgent, an online accounting platform for small and micro businesses.
Whether it's smart building technology, thermal cameras or temperature scanners, partners are helping customers get back to work.
Imagine being able to track a person's movement and do a real-time bio-mechanical analysis? Human pose has huge implications - but how are these set to play out
Understanding the evolution and economics of automation attacks is of utmost importance when adjusting security postures to reflect the realities of a digital threat landscape.
Companies must understand the application and potential of AI in cyber security if they are to stay ahead of a digital threat landscape in constant flux.
Software vendors are leveraging their expertise to help customers, employees and the community overcome COVID-19 challenges By Christine Horton The way in which companies conduct themselves during the COVID-19 crisis has come under intense scrutiny. As we have already seen, companies that fail to support both their customers and staff during this period are likely ...
Customers are demanding channel partners incorporate the idea of sustainable business into their proposals, or risk losing the deal.
Experts predict a surge of M&A in the channel in the aftermath of COVID-19. What will drive the market going forward, and how should firms approach this?
IDC research shows diversity in the channel is lacking, but firms are trying to improve on a lack of female representation. What can be done to change it?
yurolaitsalbert - stock.adobe.co By A recently published vendor survey suggests the IT channel today is missing 'the human touch'. This may come as a surprise, given the importance of relationships to the channel, but the research by Kaspersky shows that nearly seven out of 10 resellers and distributors want better relationships with vendors.
A common gripe levelled by the older generation against young people is that they spend too much time on their smartphones, immersed in messaging apps or browsing social media.
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Today we are inundated with choice as to where - and how - we consume products and services. This means we expect exceptional customer experience (CX) from suppliers; if we are left feeling frustrated by a purchasing experience, we won't think twice about taking our business elsewhere.
The channel faces business disruption, supply chain delays and economic uncertainty. So what are vendors doing to support partners with COVID-19 relief?
As customers demand greater assurance about the products they buy, more food producers are turning to blockchain technology to provide detailed supply chain information Transparency and traceability have never been more important to consumers when it comes to food.
5G is set to have a huge impact on the enterprise. With operators failing to deliver business-focused solutions, the channel can build new revenue streams by offering customers industry-specific expertise and solutions.
It is important that the IT channel mirrors the community into which it sells. So why are so many companies failing when it comes to diversity?
Barclays was forced to abandon its pilot of a controversial employee-tracking system that monitored the time staff spent at their desks. The system, which the bank said was brought in to raise productivity, tracked the activity of employees in real time.
As IoT proliferates, promising huge business benefits, this report explores the steps businesses must take to ensure their IoT is properly secured, to enable maximum success
Are these the droids you're looking for? Starship's robot fleet expands its delivery services as UK stays home With most of us confined to our homes to help contain COVID-19, the topic of food delivery services - and the current overwhelming demand for them - has taken centre stage.
As consumers we are more aware of the everyday choices we make, and their potential effect on the environment. In business too, organisations are starting to change their behaviour to take issues like sustainability into account, with many investing in the idea of the 'circular economy' - one that looks to eliminate waste and re-use resources.
Christine Horton is a freelance journalist and the founding editor of Channel Pro. She has 18-plus years' experience in B2B publishing, for the most part specialising in telecoms and IT journalism. She has covered the IT channel in depth for more than a decade and launched the industry's first website-only resource, Channel Pro, in 2009.
Despite the hype around 5G, many organisations are still in the dark as to the potential benefits the technology could deliver to their business. A 2019 study by global consulting firm Accenture suggests both business and technology executives underestimate the disruptive potential of 5G.
It's not unusual for new technologies to be accompanied by often intense levels of promotion, long before they even hit the market. There is perhaps no better current example of this than artificial intelligence (AI) hype. With widespread media coverage fuelling debate over its potential impact on society, AI has now expanded beyond the tech industry into the public arena.
The strict data privacy rules introduced by GDPR have cast a spotlight on the protection of sensitive consumer data and the financial and reputational damage that can occur if it is mishandled. It is therefore vital that your Chief Compliance Officer oversees the development and implementation of your data privacy strategy to ensure it is not vulnerable to falling foul of these data privacy regulations.
Running a business is a full-time job, and small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) in particular can often find their in-house IT resources stretched to capacity. As a result, it's difficult to devote the necessary time and effort to deploying and managing the latest business technologies.
The way we work is changing. Employees want, or even expect, the freedom and ability to work from anywhere, anytime, on any device. That blurring of lines between home and work life means workers will often use their own devices - whether that's a laptop, tablet, or smartphone - to conduct business.
Imagine you're a sales person, and when you try to visit a client's website, you get a message saying that it's blocked because it's not on your company's whitelist. Or maybe you're a programmer, and when you go to install the latest version of the Eclipse development software you use to write code, your computer (and your IT department) won't allow it.
IT teams can overcome complexity, maintain growth and enable remote working by embracing virtual solutions and simplifying their IT infrastructure.
Firms are embracing automation to gain greater insight into consumer behaviour, improve supply chain efficiency and reduce overheads More than ever, businesses are embracing automation.
The IT industry has seen a surge in private equity (PE) investment of late. Traditionally a source of funding for start-ups, larger vendors such as LogMeIn, McAfee, Sophos, Veeam and Veritas have all benefited from PE funding over the last year.
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The convergence of IT and operational technology is no recent phenomenon. Industrial control systems have been connected to IT architecture, providing remote connectivity for real-time data and remote support for years. Yet with the fourth industrial revolution, IT and OT integration is changing the way we do business.
Migrating to the cloud is not only imperative for many businesses to retain their competitive edge - it's also exciting. Cloud is opening up opportunities to work in faster and smarter ways than ever before and is enabling innovation to the benefit of businesses, consumers and society as a whole.
Inventory management is the cornerstone of ecommerce. It can be the difference between providing an exceptional user experience and one that leaves customers disappointed or frustrated, something retailers can't afford. For example, inventory management ensures advertised products are in stock; too often customers will click on a promotion to discover an item is only available in the wrong model, size or colour.
As the name suggests, multi-cloud sees organisations using multiple and often-connected cloud services to increase scalability, reduce costs or become more agile in their application infrastructure. This approach has huge potential, as specific business needs can be met with targeted cloud solutions, although it does come with certain risks and complexity.
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The last couple of years have seen the IT channel landscape evolve dramatically. The prevalence of cloud has changed the way increasingly tech-savvy customers purchase and consume technology. It's estimated that 73% of business buyers find the web more convenient to make purchases, and that 17% of all B2B transactions will happen through eCommerce by 2023 - potentially bypassing the channel entirely.
The lack of women in tech continues to be one of the biggest talking points within our industry. There has been much debate about the need for diversity and inclusion from all sides - and yet women in IT positions in the UK still only make up around 16% of the overall workforce.