THE EVOLUTION OF B2B BUYING Danny Bradbury explores the growing Policing appeal of digital marketplaces Page 26 Digital Procurement Peter Smith Page 30
Putting Machine Learning into Practice Rob Bamforth Page 18
CLOUD COMPUTING: TIME TO ADAPT OR DIE CIO: Building your Mark Lomas Digital Strategy Page 48 Mark Lomas Page 16
ISSUE 4
PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 1 23/01/2017 13:32 Champion of the buyer Partner of the supplier
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 2 23/01/2017 13:32 Welcome
Peter Robbins CEO, Probrand
Welcome to the latest edition of Probrand Magazine As 2017 begins to unfold, we’re already seeing how price, showing comparison across suppliers, as well the big trends in technology are impacting day-to-day as personalised discounts buyers are entitled to that working lives. Businesses are continuing to embrace often get swallowed up by the middlemen. Of course, the cloud, mobility and data solutions in new and our sector and technical specialists are there when inventive ways. buyers need help. The change this is bringing about is now clearly visible We’re immensely proud of this development, which in our buying habits – highlighted in our market review firmly sets our sights on enhancing the way the UK conducted by analyst Gfk (p 6-7). We’re not just seeing IT supply and services market works, for the benefit a difference in what businesses are buying, however. of both buyer and supplier communities. We’ve witnessed a fundamental shift in how people Always with an eye on the future, this edition of the are buying IT, with the B2B market being increasingly Probrand Magazine has also reviewed several areas influenced by online shopping experiences within the of emerging technology. Rob Bamforth has examined consumer market. the growing use of artificial intelligence within Whether it’s for hardware, software or services, IT businesses (p 18-19), while Mark Samuels talks to CIOs buyers are now looking for a simpler, more efficient embracing app development platforms within their way to acquire the tech they need. This is leading to a digital strategy (p16-17). rise in user friendly digital marketplaces, such as Azure There is also practical advice throughout the magazine and AWS. In our lead article (p26-27), Danny Bradbury on how technology can be incorporated within your looks at how these digital platforms are evolving and business. This includes a section on audio visual why IT buyers and procurement professionals are equipment (p12-13) and Jenny Brookfield speaking moving over to these marketplaces. The growth of with security experts to share the latest guidance on online self-service within procurement is something protecting against cyber threats (p38-39). Peter Smith also picks up in his column (p 30). Technology never stands still and it continues to It’s a trend that has seen Probrand collaborating reshape businesses – not least our own. As it does so, with sister company Mercato Solutions to adopt we continue to offer the technical expertise necessary and run our business on its game-changing digital to support businesses innovating. We’ll now also be marketplace platform. Probrand is challenging the supporting you with an expanded team and premises, norm in the IT market, connecting buyers with our with our new home in the iconic Alpha Tower of central suppliers openly via a consumer shopping experience Birmingham. So please feel free to drop by and talk to for business, and offering customisation for deeper us anytime. Until then, we hope you enjoy this edition procurement control and savings. of the Probrand Magazine. Our CIPS accredited marketplace connects over 40,000 registered users to 300,000 IT products and services
from multiple suppliers, with price and stock checked every minute. It delivers complete transparency on
PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 3 23/01/2017 13:32 CONTENTS
Products Business 6 Tracking the market Transformation P48 8 2-in-1s breakthrough 31 Business app trends 10 IWBs rise and fall 32 Enterprise mobility 12 Audio visual advice 34 Apps in practice 14 Growing Pains 15 MFPs in demand Security 36 Security landscape Driving Innovation 38 SMEs under threat 16 CIOs talk digital 40 Cyber Essential accreditation 18 Machine learning 41 Hybrid security 42 The https attack Cloud computing: Supply Chain Time to adapt or die 20 Benchmarking works Infrastructure 22 Being a savvy buyer 43 Infrastructure stats 24 Avoid high margins 44 Future proofing IT 45 Consultation is key P12 Procurement 46 SANs still dominant 48 Cloud – adapt or die 26 B2B buying evolves 50 College breaks free 28 The Amazon approach 29 Efficient procurement 30 Policing digital
P41 P18
Choosing the right audio visual device
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Probrand Magazine provides news, views, analysis and information on pivotal subjects relevant to IT, procurement and business leaders looking to thrive with technology.
Please get in touch and share Bringing mobility to Putting machine your views on any of the subjects the workforce learning into practice tackled or any you would like to read about. probrand.co.uk P22
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 4 23/01/2017 13:32 NEWS
Three quarters of organisations have embraced BYOD Almost three quarters (74%) of organisations have Technology implemented some sort of BYOD (bring your own device) programme, research from Accusoft has found.
Only half of these organisations require employees news in brief to have personal devices approved by their IT department, however.
The report said this is leaving many businesses vulnerable to data breaches, either by hapless employees accidentally sharing data or by malicious Employees value mobile working cyber attackers gaining access to private networks. more than company cars – Most employees would prefer mobile working options Ofcom says improved connectivity to a company car, research from BT has revealed. has boosted flexible working The company’s survey found two thirds think better Almost half of UK internet users think that being technology would enhance their working lives, with online has helped them to work flexibly, according employees looking for improved use of mobile devices to Ofcom’s 2016 Communications Market report. and remote network access. The study found the distinction between work and “It’s important for companies to future-proof home was becoming less distinct as more employees their business by investing in mobile collaboration check emails or finish off work at home. Nearly half technology to support a flexible working model. (46%) of those surveyed said that the internet is The more employees have a good experience of work enabling them to adopt these flexible practices. on the go, the more benefits their organisations will see,” said Andrew Small, vice president of unified “For those who have jobs which involve working on communications at BT. a computer and communicating with others online, greater connectivity has encouraged more working – on-the-go in locations outside the workplace, such Cloud computing has become a as at home or on public transport,” the report said. ‘mainstream powerhouse’, says IDG – More than half of business applications and Shift to cloud computing set to infrastructure will be hosted in the cloud by 2018, impact $1 trillion in IT spending according to an IDG Enterprise report. Widespread transition to cloud computing will The research found that on average 45% had already directly or indirectly affect $1 trillion in IT spent been migrated to the cloud, while IT decision makers by 2020, according to research by Gartner. plan to spend a quarter of their budgets on cloud services in the next few years. The report said IT managers are shifting their spending priorities away from traditional IT to “The concept of cloud computing has transitioned cloud-based services. from being an emerging technology to a mainstream powerhouse going beyond basic storage,” the report “As organisations pursue a new IT architecture said. “As digital enterprises continue to require agile and operating philosophy, they become prepared for solutions for their workforce and customers, the new opportunities in digital business, including next- growth in cloud technologies has proven beneficial generation IT solutions such as the Internet of Things,” from speed, to cost reduction and access.” said Ed Anderson, research vice president at Gartner.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 5 23/01/2017 13:32 TRACKING NETWORKING HARDWARE UP THE IT % PRODUCT +11 MARKET Demands of modern business culture impacted the B2B IT market in 2016
Dominic Ashford, of The IT business-to-business market was relatively buoyant in 2016 with the overall value of B2B leading market research markets tracked by GfK increasing by 2% company GfK, takes a compared with 2015 (NB: figures for December were not available at the time of writing). The look at the IT product decision to leave the European Union does not market to review the latest appear to have negatively impacted businesses’ trends and forecast the investment in this sector so far, with the value growth rate in the five months since the future of product buying. referendum increasing to 11%. In general, the big winners of 2016 were networking, computing and peripherals, while the value for printers, storage and software all declined.
Computing Within the computing market segment, laptop sales in particular have been strong, with the year- on-year sales value of these products increasing COMPUTING by 9%. This demonstrates the ongoing need that MARKET UP businesses have for mobile computing solutions. Organisations have been investing in more % advanced hardware, demonstrated by the fact that +9 the share of the laptop market for devices with 8GB of RAM grew 14%. Furthermore, the average price of laptops sold to businesses increased by 1% comparing the year-to-date, showing that the need for more comprehensive computing hardware is being recognised.
Networking Networking hardware is another area that has seen positive levels of demand, registering 11% year-on- year value growth in 2016. This growth has come
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LAPTOP SSD STORAGE SECURITY PERIPHERALS UP MARKET UP SOFTWARE UP +40% +12% +10%
from several areas including transceivers, routers, correlation here with businesses demanding higher access points and switches. This comprehensive specification computing hardware. It is a similar growth is the result of an across-the-board need story for memory, a category which has declined for strong connectivity. Another area of growth in value by 22% in 2016. The value of the DDR4 within networking is docking stations, which market, however, has increased by 29% over the links directly with laptop growth and this trend same time frame. could result in IT suppliers looking to offer more comprehensive solutions Software The fact that the software market declined by
Peripherals & printers 2% in 2016 is surprising. As with the storage Another area that has benefitted from the market however, there are areas where demand resurgent laptop market is peripherals, with both is evident. The value of security software sold keyboards and mice seeing year-on-year growth through business-to-business channels increased rates higher than 40%. The average price of by 10% comparing Jan-November 2016 with the peripherals sold through B2B channels has also same period of 2015. This demonstrates that increased 21% during 2016. What is significant businesses are recognising the need to protect is that the increase in peripherals sales is much their IT assets. In a similar way, the direction that greater than that for desk or mobile computing, companies are heading can be seen in the fact suggesting that these sales haven’t just been that the value of the client-server software market replacement or attached sales, but an area has increased by 14% year on year. This is software that companies are investing in independently. that facilitates remote working and shows how As mentioned earlier, however, printing is an companies are moving towards more flexible area of the IT market that is in decline. This is working cultures. understandable given the move towards paperless offices and the use of managed-print services. Overall To summarise, the B2B IT market saw a lot of Storage positives in 2016, and Brexit doesn’t appear to have Storage has also seen a fall in demand in 2016. had a major effect on demand. It remains unclear This is somewhat surprising given the amount how the decision to leave the EU will affect the of data and backup that businesses need. But it markets when the separation takes place. What may well suggest that organisations are making is clear is that businesses have demonstrated a more use of cloud storage solutions. Flash-based clear need for more comprehensive computing storage solutions are, however, an area of growth. hardware and networking infrastructure, as well as The value of the B2B solid-state drive market software that protects them and facilitates more increased by 21% year-on-year in 2016. There is modern working cultures.
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CASE STUDY
TECH TRENDS Evolution CONVERTIBLE 2-IN-1s BREAKTHROUGH TO THE MAINSTREAM When convertible computers first came on to the market in the form of the Lenovo Yoga and the HP Revolve, they were more cumbersome than the models we have today. Although Ian Nethercott, Probrand Supply innovative, they were hampered by heavy glass screens which Chain Director, reviews trends in the made them difficult to use in tablet mode. But as these devices current technology products market have become lighter and the keyboards have become fully detachable, they have become much easier to handle. We’ve been predicting for about 24 months that the convertible 2-in-1 is the computing form factor to follow Price closely – and in 2016 it appears they have finally made a Any new technology is expensive when it initially launches key breakthrough. on the market. You’ll pay a premium for the new functionality In contrast to the traditional laptop where demand is as R&D costs money. But as the technology becomes more waning, the popularity of the 2-in-1 is riding the crest of standard, it also becomes cheaper to produce, hence the a wave – FutureSource predicts that 2-in-1s will grow from price will come down. Thanks to this, devices that were 6% of device shipments in 2015 to 18% in 2017. once considered out of reach for ordinary people are This has been helped in no small amount by the huge now accessible to all. sums being spent to promote these devices. You may have seen Microsoft’s recent advertising campaign with Marvel Enterprise mobility Studios, featuring the Surface Pro 4. Microsoft was a slow starter when it came to embracing This increase in popularity cannot be fully explained by tablet and mobile technology. Business users looking for marketing spend alone, however. Here are five strong this functionality had to resort to iOS or Android powered reasons that explain the rise of the 2-in-1. devices. This left IT managers with the pain of connecting different operating systems within the corporate infrastructure. The hybrid concept However, with the convertible 2-in-1, business users now have mobile functionality with the added control and security The key selling point of the 2-in-1 is the ability to replace afforded by Microsoft’s operating system. two devices – the laptop and tablet – without losing functionality. Convertible 2-in-1s provide a full operating Continuum system, which allows the end user to be as productive as they would be on a traditional laptop. While the detachable With Windows 10 available on convertible 2-in-1s, business keyboard means users can switch to tablet mode whenever users can now have continuum across devices. If you want to they need to conduct presentations, collaborate with use the Office 365 productivity suite for instance, users can colleagues, etc. This offers convenience but it also makes now have familiar functionality whether they want to use a sense economically, as you don’t have to buy twice. desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile device.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 8 23/01/2017 13:32 CASE STUDY Reliance Precision saved three days each month on IT procurement
A specialist engineering company, Reliance Precision is focused on producing TECH TRENDS custom-built, highly reliable instrumentation to a range of global customers. A specialist engineering company, Reliance Precision achieving best value. They found their answer in is focused on producing custom-built, highly reliable Probrand’s Digital Marketplace. Europe’s largest instrumentation to a range of global customers. B2B IT marketplace, the platform helps save users time and money procuring IT by delivering price To ensure the smooth running of the business, the comparisons from multiple suppliers in one place. company requires more than 250 staff to have access to the latest IT equipment. The procurement team was Staff at Reliance Precision can also see pre-approved finding, however, that kitting out the business with discounts personalised to their sector, including deals the most appropriate tools was taking a significant on everyday items such as laptops, desktops and amount of time. servers or printers, for example.
As the team was keen to achieve best price, they In a fast moving market, the platform is allowing would conduct a series of price comparisons via web- Reliance Precision to browse and buy direct from based research, and have several conversations with a catalogue of over 300,000 products from 2,500 multiple suppliers. “Even for routine, everyday items, brands, all updated with price and stock by the we found we were spending a large amount of time minute. With over 10 million automated price going back and forth to different suppliers to navigate checks each day, it removes the need to call around the best price,’’ said Ben Sheard, IT Administrator and manually compare prices from three or more at Reliance Precision. “This was a labour-intensive suppliers. experience and not a good use of the team’s time.’’ By using the Marketplace, Reliance Precision has streamlined the whole purchasing process and “ Purchasing IT equipment now improved efficiency. The procurement team calculates takes us about 30 minutes per that this is saving nearly three team days per month. week. I can’t imagine going back As a result, staff can be more effective with their time, focusing on other priority tasks. to how we were operating before.” “The process we had in place previously was inefficient. We would typically spend a couple of hours The procurement staff were also finding that, in each week reaching out to suppliers before collating some cases, suppliers would take too long to answer all the information and manually benchmarking queries, by which time stock and price may have prices,” said Ben. ‘‘With the Digital Marketplace, we’re fluctuated. Other scenarios saw suppliers come back able to remove all of that; purchasing IT equipment with equipment that was not in line with user needs. now takes us about 30 minutes per week. I can’t Ben and his colleagues needed a more efficient imagine going back to how we were operating before. method that would save them time while still For us, it is a no-brainer!’’
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 9 23/01/2017 13:32 EVOLUTION IN AV: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD The interactive whiteboard was The technology did, however, enjoy a resurgence thanks in part to the prevalence of handheld devices – most people considered a major advancement in are now used to mobile and touchscreen technology and audio visual (AV) technology 25 years feel more at ease using interactive whiteboards too. ago. Yet, for all its promise and the Yet, according to vendors, investments in interactive whiteboards are now beginning to wane in the UK as the investments made, from the education technology has been overtaken by its glossier cousin, sector in particular, many were left the interactive flat panel display. Xenos said: “People will under-used – becoming little more now only buy an interactive whiteboard when they haven’t got the budget for the interactive touchscreen. Interactive than expensive projectors. whiteboards certainly have their place but touchscreens have superseded them. It’s more of an investment but you Analysts have suggested that this was because the target do get that investment back over the life of the screen.” audience simply wasn’t ready for this type of technology, there was a lack of training and the software was limited The future is flat panel in what it could achieve. Interactive flat panel displays are now expected to overtake “In the early 1990s there was an initiative to get interactive projectors and interactive whiteboards in market share by whiteboards in to every classroom but problems existed. 2019, according to interactive screen vendor Alpha Digital For example, if a teacher moved on you would often have Networks. “The forecasted uptake is on an exponential someone come in next who didn’t know how to use it,” curve upwards. Once you’ve seen an LED flat panel display said Rob Xenos, business and marketing manager at you’ll never want to put a projection-based system back in Sahara, which manufactures flat panel displays and place,” said Paul Vitali, managing director of Alpha. interactive whiteboards. “Extensive research and development is going on all the time and this has allowed us to use the screen as if it was a large Android tablet. We’ve also integrated Mirracast so you can cast up from a PC or laptop. In a classroom environment that means you can share information with other people, in other rooms and even other buildings around the world.” The vendors predict that, as interactive screens become the norm, users will end up demanding even more from this technology. Xenos paints a future picture that would not seem out of place in the sci-fi film Minority Report, with multiple users displaying desktops from multiple devices, all at the same time. For the time being, however, he says anyone wanting cutting edge AV features should ensure their devices offer the high level of connectivity needed to facilitate features such as Mirracast and Airplay.
Jenny Brookfield Business Journalist
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The best and most productive wireless technology allow presenters meetings are about collaboration, to access and share content from brainstorming and creatively solving colleagues anywhere in the room. problems. Unfortunately, traditional Plus, they look utterly stunning. Clear whiteboards have always been EVOLUTION IN AV: and deeply immersive displays with something of an obstacle to inspiring a phenomenal 5,000:1 contrast ratio true teamwork, as they tend to THE RISE AND FALL OF Making and an anti-glare touch overlay mean encourage one person to lead a that your content – whether it’s copy, meeting and the rest to follow. THE INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD infographics, videos or interactive meetings Too many meetings fail to stimulate applications – will be more eye- and motivate participants to contribute catching than ever before. their ideas and thoughts, for a variety work of reasons. Presentations might be An intuitive PC-less dull and lifeless, or there may be few “large tablet” experience opportunities for junior team members properly to share their opinions. Samsung’s PC-less interactive whiteboard has a pre-installed player Thankfully, interactive displays now built on Android that offers users an bring a touch screen experience to Samsung takes a experience that they are comfortable your large meeting room display. and familiar with – it is essentially an look at how the latest They allow you to browse the web, intuitive “large tablet” experience. show documents, share ideas, and interactive displays This means no more mid-meeting collaborate on the big screen. can promote creative lulls while you fiddle around with If you’re giving a presentation to your awkward slideshows or temperamental and collaborative colleagues, you want to captivate their presentation tech. imaginations and engage their brains. problem-solving This user-friendly nature of the You need your team to really think touchscreen means your meeting’s about and focus on your messages participants are far more likely to and arguments for them to respond interact with each other and become with creative and constructive input. involved in sharing ideas. It turns a Otherwise, why bother having a typical presentation into a two-way meeting in the first place? discussion, seamlessly merging visual content and essential data, and allowing teams to work together collaboratively. Sharing transforms team communication Samsung’s AirScreen app also makes sharing simple. It allows you to connect up to four Windows devices to your interactive whiteboard at any one time. This way, colleagues and delegates can get far more productively involved in group discussions – sharing documents, multimedia content and anything else on their screen with everybody in the meeting. Overall, better collaboration and innovation in meetings gives your business the edge. Sharing and With the Samsung Interactive Display engaging with ideas is the key to you can inject that much-needed improved decision-making at every energy and dynamism into your level. So why not transform your meetings. The latest interactive organisation from the ground up with whiteboard software and AirScreen a new interactive display?
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 11 23/01/2017 13:32 Choosing the right Audio Visual device Audio visual (AV) equipment was once more closely associated with schools, but these products are now common throughout modern workplaces. As teams look to collaborate and share content in group settings, interactive devices have become commonplace in offices. Yet for many, a traditional projector may be just as effective and cost a lot less.
The question is what AV device should Traditional projector and screen you choose: a projector and screen, an Perhaps the entry-level AV device, the projector and screen interactive whiteboard or the new kid on may also be the cheapest option. It has the advantage of being simple to control for all users but may be more suited the block, the flat panel display? There to occasional, rather than constant, use. If you are merely are several factors to consider depending replacing an existing projector and screen, there is the added benefit that the same brackets, cables and accessories from on your budget, how often you plan to your original equipment can be reused. use the equipment and for what purpose. We take a look at the three options in Top tips: more detail in order to help you decide. Decide on your budget and balance that against the quality of display required. Judge how often you will be using the projector. If you require regular use, this option may not actually be that cost effective – replacement bulbs are not cheap.
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Decide where the projector and screen will be Interactive flat panel displays situated. Rooms that are too bright will interfere with the quality, and it may not be practical Interactive flat panel displays are an all-in-one solution, to go around closing blinds and turning off offering high quality LED images with multiple touch lights before every presentation. Shadowing on points to enable several users to work at the same time. the screen caused by the user should also be The devices are pre-loaded with software so they can considered. be used in conjunction with mobile or desktop devices. In-built connectivity means that attaching cables is also Bear in mind that maintenance will need to less of an issue. be carried out at regular intervals, with filters needing to be cleaned and bulbs having to be Top tips: replaced after so many hours’ use. This is the most expensive option, so consider Take into consideration the time and effort how often you will be using the device and what required to calibrate the projector before functions you will need. every use. Despite the initial upfront costs, low wattage and Interactive whiteboard low power output could keep running costs down and should see a display lasting 10 years. Mostly used in education but now growing in popularity Screens are available in 4k or HD, so there is no for businesses, the interactive whiteboard has the bonus of need to alter the brightness of the room. Likewise having pre-installed software, which is used in conjunction there is no need for calibration. with a personal computer and a digital projector. Navigation via pens or fingers allows you to write notes, Allocate some of your budget to staff training drag, click and copy. Text or drawings can also be saved to ensure users get the most out of your or shared. investment. Top tips: Ensure your software enables all the features you require. There is no point of investing in multi- Allocate time for users to receive the training touch technology or 4k if the software is only one required to use the whiteboard to its full or two-point touch or you don’t have 4k playback potential. If you are not going to use all the technology. functionality then this is perhaps not the right option. Whiteboards are heavy and large, so work out a preferred location and assess how you will physically install it on the wall. While this technology encourages greater creativity than the traditional projector, the interactive whiteboard is still operated via a projector so it can cause similar issues with image quality. Although initially more expensive than traditional projectors, they can actually work out cheaper in the long run when factoring in Rob Xenos, business and marketing manager at Sahara, replacement parts. manufacturer of flat panel displays and interactive Whiteboards are not a stand-alone technology, whiteboards, says that before committing to the more so decide whether this will be right for all users. expensive options, buyers should be aware of some of the obstacles people encounter using interactive technology. “Common issues include technologies not working together and the limitations of a badly set up wireless network – meaning that products cannot communicate with each other. There are a lot of new options on the market and it can be confusing. Buyers should research the brand and evaluate what they are buying. They need to look at how they want to use the product, especially the software. Whatever the customer decides, it’s vital they leave budget for training, training and more training.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 13 23/01/2017 13:32 CASE STUDY Aston Manor Brewery gets support to tackle its growing pains Like many expanding businesses, Aston Manor Brewery has experienced its fair share of growing pains. Formed in 1983, the company is now the UK’s largest independent producer of own brand and labelled cider for supermarkets and wholesalers.
Its success has seen its workforce increase to more “With Probrand, IT has become a business enabler rather than a daily distraction,” said James Ellis. “We than 185 staff, based in Birmingham and Devon, and have been able to reduce and control our IT overhead supporting them had begun to create headaches for more efficiently, eliminate unnecessary downtime, the company’s IT department. But with the brewery’s maximise our IT estate and reduce cost of ownership. filtration and production processes also dependent on This is the first time we have used an outsourced and the IT infrastructure, the company needed assurance scalable IT support function and it is the best decision that its systems were reliable. This issue came to a we could have made given our growth forecast. head when Aston Manor’s IT manager decided to
leave the business. “ IT has become a business enabler With the company predicted to grow rapidly, finance director James Ellis recognised that a 24/7 rather than a daily distraction” IT support function was required. This support needed to provide business continuity that would “As financial director I now have peace of mind that insure against any potential IT disasters and future the cost-burden and operational overhead of IT has proof the company as it expanded. been brought under control. Fixed IT overheads mean we can plan and forecast more effectively. We get the Aston Manor’s solution was to employ a fully creative, proactive approach of a full IT department managed support service from Probrand. On a without the cost. This means we can focus our efforts foundation level this provided the organisation with more strategically on growth knowing that our IT a proprietary application that could identify IT issues system will support us all the way.” before they could impact production, as well as the technical engineers needed to proactively deliver the Probrand was also able to help the brewery increase maintenance needed to minimise potential incidents. flexible working across the business. By providing employees with secure access to the network, staff Further to this, the brewery also received anti-virus can now work remotely. security and cloud-based disaster recovery via Probrand’s remote storage vaults in Birmingham and “With our managed VPN, firewall and routing Manchester. A reconfiguration of IT and networking solution we have unlocked workforce capability. equipment on site also significantly improved The remote access functionality is helping employees internal communication speed and quality. Crucially, operate seamlessly from their desktop even if they the company achieved all this at a fraction of their are out of the office, opening the door for increased previous IT support cost. productivity.”
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CASE STUDY THE GROWING DEMAND FOR MULTIFUNCTION PRINTERS
RICOH EXPLAINS WHY THE DEMAND FOR THE MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER (MFP) IS INCREASING
There was a time when offices had to Ricoh has certainly made a huge impact with SMEs and micro offices by building functionality into a range of A4 be ready for anything, they would need printer copiers.
to invest in several machines, from faxes A drive to innovate, while listening to customers and the to printers to copiers to scanners. A lot challenges they faced, led Ricoh to create the UK’s most in- of time would be spent getting all these demand MFP. The UK market share for Ricoh multifunction printers is 22.4%, significantly greater than their closest devices connected to a network and competitor. What’s more, 10% of the single function colour working well. printer market space is taken up by Ricoh. However, that meant tying up IT departments and calling This market share has been achieved due to ongoing support lines. Fortunately, technology has made life a bit initiatives such as the Ricoh Quality Pledge. This pledge simpler. And a bit more cost conscious. offers customers the chance to return their Ricoh printer, from a selected range, if they’re not 100% satisfied with Multifunction devices are by no means new, but they are their purchase. really coming into their own. This is backed up by a recently reported 30% growth in the UK MFP market since 2011. A vision for a flexible workforce This growth is reflected in the need for businesses to find As a business, Ricoh is at the forefront of the development efficient, affordable solutions that are ‘all singing, all dancing’. of print and copy devices, with in-built innovations and In addition to this, and rather practically now that office technology to make life as easy as possible for the user. space is at a premium, space saving devices can make all These versatile machines are designed to offer a fully- the difference. rounded solution for any office space, as well as home offices. No one wants to choose between having desk space or a Workforce mobility has been a key part of that development stack of devices. There’s an even stronger case for this with workforce mobility on the increase, leading to the creation in recent years, building a portfolio that extends beyond of more home and micro offices. printers and copiers. In receptions and boardrooms around the world you’ll find Ricoh screens and projectors for Staying ahead of the game clear, easily editable digital signage. A range of Interactive Whiteboards has also revolutionised collaborative working, For decades, Ricoh has developed technologies such as allowing for real time editing and sharing. office printers, production printers, duplication, conferencing devices, software and imaging. Production houses and print It’s innovations such as these that are helping to make Ricoh rooms of businesses have relied on these products, whether MFPs a future-proof investment, shaping the world around that’s for small companies or large corporations. As a brand us for better productivity.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 15 23/01/2017 13:32 How are CIOs building their organisation’s digital strategy?
Mark Samuels Technology Journalist
“Fulfilment is a strategic opportunity,” she says. “Our customers have great access to technology now and retailers must look to meet ever-increasing service expectations. People are beginning to expect next day or same day delivery. Successful CIOs will piece all of those various elements together.”
Wide scale availability of mobile devices is pushing similar rises in expectation within enterprise. Internal customers want to use their smart phones and tablets to connect and collaborate. CIOs and their trusted partners must work to develop applications that meet fast-changing customer demands quickly and cost effectively. However, meeting such demands is tricky. Additional Gartner research suggests the demand for enterprise mobile apps will grow at least five times faster than internal IT organisations’ capacity to deliver them Digital transformation is the new through 2017. So how can CIOs help the business build a business constant. A confluence of strategy that meets the demand for change in an age of constant digital transformation? trends – such as consumerisation, cloud and big data – continues to have a huge Delivering on heightened impact on the way organisations operate. customer expectations The scale of change during the past Camden Council interim CIO Omid Shiraji says it is crucial to recognise that, despite the huge focus on expectation during decade has been remarkable, yet all the a digital age, customers continue to want the same things: evidence suggests more is to come. high quality services that are accessible and convenient. Half of chief executives expect their industries to be “The key change is that customers now want to access substantially or unrecognisably transformed by digital services on their mobiles or wearable devices,” says Shiraji. technology in the next five years, according to Gartner. “Your clients don’t always know what they’re looking for, but The analyst says examples of digital changes include self- they do want organisations to offer unique services that they driving cars, the rise of blockchain in banking and the can play with and create value. As CIOs, it’s our job to think potential impact of the Internet of Things in insurance. about what our customers want today and to then focus on the future of experience.” IT leaders, as the guardians of information technology within the business, will play a crucial role in building the Shiraji says the key demand is often to be able to access digital strategy. Take Jaeger CIO Cathy McCabe, who is services as efficiently as possible via any mobile device. He pushing digitally enabled change at the luxury retailer. says this kind of accessibility can provide great benefits. Yet She is running a range of transformation projects that CIOs should not make the mistake of mixing such advances are drawing on big data and mobility. in mobility with true innovation.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 16 23/01/2017 13:32 DRIVING INNOVATION
“Demand for enterprise mobile apps will grow at least five times faster than internal IT organisations’ capacity to deliver them.”
“That’s simply giving customers what they want – which is substantially shorter timeframes than would be expected access to as many channels as possible in order to deliver with typical mobile development,” says Ridley, suggesting new kinds of experiences,” says Shiraji. Real innovation the speed of deployment can sometimes be days, rather comes when technology provides the tools for organisations than months. to quickly automate their own business processes without He says the burgeoning low-code/no-code space offers the having to invest heavily in application development. potential for wide scale change. Ridley says these platforms, Here low-code and no-code platforms can help. Such like the cloud for hosting, offer a valuable tool when they are platforms allow non-developers to create and release selected for the right task. business software to end-users, typically using visual, drag “Enterprises have shown great success with apps designed and drop editors. Shiraji says CIOs should lead business to collect and share information across geographically change and think about how their organisations can fully diverse and mobile teams,” he says. “Low-code platforms exploit the value of this technology. are also valuable in enforcing and training business “CIOs must think about how they can use these digital tools processes, especially in situations where the user interface to build the kinds of experiences that customers might not can be implemented with standardised design elements have anticipated, such as communities of like-minded users that are visually pleasing and easy to use, rather than for engagement and self-help,” says Shiraji. completely bespoke.” “In all sectors, employees can really learn from other people’s The rise of these platforms, however, does not mean the experiences. It’s an incredibly powerful concept in social care, end of traditional developers. Ridley says consumer-focused for example, where using technology to enable those with applications, where app store ratings and satisfaction are complex needs to connect to people who have overcome critical, still often require custom development for Android similar challenges delivers a really positive social impact.” and iOS devices. Understanding the role of Where customisation is required, he says other platforms – such as Xamarin and Ionic, both of which are used at low and no-code platforms Reed.co.uk – provide a great way of maximising developer Mark Ridley, director of technology at online recruitment efficiency. The basic premise, however, is that low-code specialist Reed.co.uk, also recognises the potential power and no-code platforms are here to stay and are opening of shared experiences. He says low-code and no-code application development to a whole new audience. platforms are often held up as the next generation of “These tools are showing us a direction that will put mobile application creation. app development within the reach of many more businesses,” “Many enterprises have seen great success using these says Ridley. “Low-code represents the democratisation of platforms to push applications to their staff and suppliers in business logic and application development.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 17 23/01/2017 13:32 MACHINE LEARNING:
Rob Bamforth Principal Analyst at Quocirca
There have been many grand promises that IT would automate complex business DO LESS processes and boost productivity, but how (BUT BE MORE EFFECTIVE) successful have these actually been? What seems good on paper can be difficult to turn into reality as the automation process all too often requires a more sophisticated WITH MORE skill set than anticipated. So could computers learn how to do it themselves?
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 18 23/01/2017 13:32 DRIVING INNOVATION
One opportunity to take advantage of machine learning Adopt a business first strategy comes from the cumulative surge in the availability of The technology is fascinating, but as with all new technology business data. However, despite the huge potential to extract there is always the risk that initial attempts or pilots could more value from collections of data, the reality is again more resemble science projects rather than a serious investment complicated. Data mining, data warehousing and now ‘big in the business. Identify gaps in business knowledge or data’ all validate the concept that if having some data is understanding and use these as a starting point. good then having more must be even better. But gaining real business value comes from the ability to act quickly and gain Start with a real problem to model disruptive insights from combining different types of data, rather than simply accumulating sheer bulk. Focus on an outstanding business issue that needs to be tackled and it will be easier to get buy-in. It should be This analytical challenge is an ideal one to address with significant, but not crucial, as it might not be fixed first time. automation through machine learning. Combined with rapid But adopting a rapid application development approach will application development, it should lead to insights that can allow for different ideas to be quickly incorporated, assessed, be directly applied to the business, tested for their impact honed and refined or replaced. and then refined. Machine learning is not new. It is founded on principles such Data science grounding as pattern recognition and the idea that computers do not Build a team to include an understanding of multiple data have to be programmed to perform all tasks, but can learn science subjects: statistics, machine learning, and data as they feed on data to hone their results. Machine learning visualisation. It may or may not be composed of pure ‘data algorithms typically provide a degree of confidence alongside scientists’, but a strong understanding of statistics is critical any results. The more the process is repeated, through trial for correct data analysis and interpretation to avoid drawing and error or sometimes with an element of training, the the wrong conclusions. Machine learning provides great higher the accuracy and confidence will become over time. techniques and algorithms for data pre-processing and modelling. Subsequent data visualisation then ensures that “Putting machine learning the results can be shared with external stakeholders. into practice has historically not Automation and rapid application been for the faint-hearted. However, development this has changed dramatically.” Making technical data science accessible to create insights Many forms of machine learning are already in use. that drive efficiency for the average user is not easy. This is Pattern recognition can be applied to all types of data, where experimentation, automation and application builders but applications where the data is ‘rich’ provide an immediate will be useful. If new applications that exploit machine and often easily understood opportunity. For example, learning can be built rapidly, tested for their impact on user using images or sounds such as facial or musical recognition. processes and then refined, they are much more likely to There are also highly valuable uses such as spotting eventually prove of value to the business. anomalous use of banking services for fraud detection, or when recommendation engines learn how to serve up Measure, refine, iterate appealing offers. Really ground-breaking machine learning initiatives will take time. So machine learning will have a tangible impact Putting machine learning into practice (and into applications) if the adoption process starts small, addresses a real issue, has historically not been for the faint-hearted. However, this incorporates rapid app building and then tests the effect on has changed dramatically in recent years with third party the business process. This means identifying the business data sets and cloud-based services. For example, Google’s intelligence gap at the outset and then measuring how much recently announced Cloud Machine Learning makes it easy has been bridged. to build predictive models from scratch, but also has pre- trained modules such as its Translate, Cloud Vision and Cloud Machine learning as-a-service cloud platforms offer the Speech APIs. Microsoft has cloud based analytics as part of flexibility and elasticity required for dealing intelligently its Cortana Analytics Suite, and there are machine learning with mixed big data. Combining this with rapid application as-a-service offerings from Amazon, BigML, IBM (Watson development ensures that machine learning can be effectively Analytics), DataRobot and FICO. integrated into existing business processes and logic. Cloud services make machine learning readily accessible and At the end of the process, IT people get what they want - offer ever greater data sets to learn from. But it still needs a centralised, manageable and flexible system. The users to be intelligently and efficiently incorporated into business get what they need - something that is responsive and processes and applications. Organisations looking for new immediately useful. And finally the business gets what it will opportunities to exploit machine learning need to plan their benefit most from - big data insights in the quickest time approach and should consider the following key steps: possible and with the minimum cost and effort.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 19 23/01/2017 13:32 SUPPLY CHAIN
BENCHMARKING HELPS HOME GROUP SAVE £50,000 IN SIX MONTHS CASE STUDY It is not easy for procurement teams to purchase IT at the lowest cost possible. This becomes especially difficult when their own suppliers don’t even know the best possible price on the market. This was the situation that Home Group, the UK’s largest housing association, found itself.
With more than 4,000 employees a result they didn’t know what the Beyond these overt cost savings, best price looked like. Home Group also realised that it and a turnover in excess of £330m, was gaining a number of additional the organisation is a heavy consumer “How were we meant to know if we benefits from benchmarking. This of IT products. Its procurement could do better if our suppliers didn’t included the time saving achieved by even know?” said Laura Davidson, team decided to review spending in having easy access to live prices. The assistant procurement manager at this area when it noticed significant team previously spent up to a day Home Group. “The suppliers may discrepancies between the prices each month checking prices before have been getting a good deal on being quoted within its monthly making purchases. Having this framework and on ad hoc purchases. laptops but we could see they were information immediately available It found, on average, purchases being charged a mark-up of 60% on freed up the team to perform other made outside the framework were the laptop bags.” pressing tasks. costing 21% more. She added: “Before we had Furthermore, the ability to conduct KnowledgeBus, we would have To help understand why this was spend analysis and measure that to accept that the lowest price happening, Home Group decided against seasonal price trends submitted was the lowest available, to adopt the benchmarking tool enabled Home Group to identify and we couldn’t negotiate further.” KnowledgeBus, which automatically when prices are likely to be at their This is no longer the case at Home lowest. By analysing the stock levels reviews daily trade price guides and Group. The association has been in the market, they are now able to stock levels for more than 250,000 able negotiate contracts with determine the best time to make live products in the market. suppliers that stipulate that the large purchases. The procurement team quickly mark-up on all purchases is kept “We were already buying in bulk below 3% of the guide trade price. realised that some suppliers were but KnowledgeBus has given us quoting prices with mark-ups over As a result, Home Group has made confidence that we are getting the 100% of the trade price. On several huge savings. Laura said: “Our cost best price possible. We are now occasions they also found that the avoidance figures showed that Home taking advantage of the stock level suppliers didn’t actually know what Group saved £50,000 over the first notifications to help us spot the best the guide price was themselves – as six months of using KnowledgeBus.” times to buy.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 21 23/01/2017 13:33 THE SAV VY
BUYERIan Nethercott, Probrand Supply The emergence of convertible 2-in-1 devices over the last year has complicated the situation slightly as they can replace Chain Director, looks back over the two devices; your laptop and your tablet. There are savings last year to see how savvy buyers to be made there straight away, but even here further savings could have made big savings. are possible. A top-of-the-range Surface Book is likely to cost you close There are several factors that affect the price of an IT product to £2,000, but do you really need the most powerful mode? – and a savvy buyer needs to be aware of all these variables if they are going to extract the best possible deals. If you have a desktop in your office which you can access remotely (with a tool like LogMeIn) all that power could be New technology product launches have had a particularly unnecessary. And by choosing a less powerful model you big impact. Whenever new technology lands on the market, could save yourself hundreds. offering end users new features and functionality, it comes at a premium price. There are a few things to remember when this happens. Top tip - Buy at the right time Firstly, people will always be attracted to latest, shiniest Of course new technology is not the only factor impacting devices and this will move demand away from older models – prices. Over the last year the strong performance of the effectively devaluing products already in the market. Vendors dollar in the foreign exchange markets has been significant. selling these older products will then be forced to cut prices Every component going in to a computer device will have or face being left with stacks of inventory that nobody wants. been affected by these currency fluctuations – reducing the For example, the release of Windows 10 devalued machines margins vendors can achieve in European markets. As a using Windows 8.1 – they are looked upon as if they are consequence vendors have increased their prices. second hand but they are not. They are brand new machines It is important for buyers to know, however, that currency that will cost you a lot less. So ask yourself, do you really fluctuations do not necessarily mean prices will increase need the latest model or would an older product serve your straight away. For instance, if the vendor is at year end and purpose just as well? there is still a sales target to hit, they may resist an immediate rise – even if it means taking a 4% hit for that month. But if Top tip - Buy with usage in mind that happens, expect an 8% increase in the following month to compensate. A second thing to remember is that in a few months’ time another new product will come along. So it’s well worth If you know the vendor and the seasonal trends affecting considering whether all the latest bells and whistles are prices, you will know in advance whether prices are likely to an immediate essential. If you are not sure whether new go up or down on the back of currency fluctuations. Armed functionality is actually necessary, it might be better to wait with this knowledge, a savvy buyer will be able to judge the six to 12 months, when they will cost less. best times to buy.
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EVENTS THAT IMPACTED PRICES OVER THE LAST YEAR January July More than 28,000 product price rises took place in a single day Lenovo is one of several tech vendors to confirm it will push TrendForce predicts that virtual reality technology will provide a up UK prices by 10% following Brexit boost for the PC industry IDC says the 3D printer market will grow at a 28% compound February rate YoY until 2020 European Central Bank promises stimulus if the economy August doesn’t pick up IDC reports that global tablet shipments fell 12% YoY for the HP launches Windows 10 smartphone featuring fingerprint quarter, to 38.7m units and iris recognition security TrendForce reports that global notebook shipments fell by IDC claims a quarter of tablet sales in the last quarter were 4% YoY for the quarter, to 74.18m units detachable 2-in-1s September March British pound hits a 31-year low against the dollar UK’s EU referendum blamed for plunging confidence in IDC forecasts that the Android operating share will reach the euro to its lowest level in a year an 85.3% market share for the year IDC claims tablet sales will bounce back – due to the popularity of detachable 2-in1s October April FutureSource predicts that hybrid 2-in-1 devices will grow from 6% of device shipments in 2015 to 18% in 2017 27,750 new IT products were launched on to the market
on April 27 Samsung suffers biggest ever smartphone sales decline in Q3, following problems with Galaxy Note 7 Apple records 43.8% fall in iPhone shipments in Q1 2016, down to 42m from 75m November May Donald Trump achieves shock victory in US Presidential The global wearable device market grows 67.2% YoY, election on November 8 with Fitbit claiming 24.5% of market share Political uncertainty impacts Eurozone, and European TrendForce reports that Lenovo has become the top Central Bank considers quantitative easing notebook brand, surpassing HP on market share Printer and multifunction shipments fall 1.5% YoY to 5.3m June units in Western Europe Britain votes to leave the EU in referendum on June 23 December Probrand records more than 26,000 price rises in the TrendForce predicts notebook shipments will fall 4.5% in UK IT product market on June 24 2017 due to shortages in the LCD panel market Analyst firm Canalys predicts that IT spending in the UK IDC predicts that global PC shipments are set to fall is set to drop by 10% in 2016 another 2.1% YoY in 2017
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 23 23/01/2017 13:33 How to avoid paying high margins to suppliers
When an organisation is paying The majority of high margins are found on the low volume, spontaneous, ‘as and when’ up to 11 times the trade value IT purchases. These are the memory sticks, for an IT product, you know power adapters and cables. Usually perceived to be of a lesser value than major pieces of IT the procurement process has infrastructure, these purchases often fly under gone seriously awry. the scrutiny radar. Yet they can make up a good 25% of the IT budget. Yet this was one of the findings in the fourth annual KnowledgeBus IT Margins Awareness is filtering through Benchmarking Study. The case in point, a On the whole, the IT Margins Study revealed 1095% margin, was what one council paid to that greater awareness of the high markups procure SD memory cards. Given the political being applied by some suppliers is beginning climate in recent years, it doesn’t seem to filter through to organisations. The average believable that a local authority could agree margins paid across the board came down to to such an inflated price. 17.6%, from 19.7% in the previous study. The public sector in particular has done a lot to However, there are plenty of organisations reduce unnecessary expenditure. The NHS paying suppliers similarly huge mark-ups. The and housing associations have historically study found that a telecoms company had been amongst the worst culprits for paying paid a 989% on a printer product, while the high markups, but both have managed to NHS had paid a 962% on an IT peripheral. consistently reduce their averages since 2012 When set against the industry best practice – from 28% to 20% and from 36% to 19% level of 3%, these margins seem scandalous, respectively. but they are not uncommon. Analysis of However, the further education sector has purchases with these extreme markups also gone in the opposite direction, paying an show there is a clear trend – one that every average margin of 25%, up from an average procurement professional should note. of 12% in 2012.
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How to avoid paying high margins to suppliers
This was not the worst performing sector 1. Benchmarking however. That status fell on the utilities Organisations can empower their negotiators, sectors, paying an average margin of 28% and speed up the IT procurement process, on IT products. This is in contrast to the best by deploying benchmarking tools, such as performing sector, retail, which paid 11% on KnowledgeBus. This provides IT buyers with average. access to up-to-date and validated trade level information that will identify the exact How to reduce the margins margins that suppliers are charging. paid to suppliers 2. Cost plus contracts Although the easy answer would be to Companies can negotiate ‘cost plus’ contracts increase scrutiny on each and every purchase, with suppliers. This ensures that no IT product this is not always practical. The IT Margins purchased exceeds an agreed maximum study reviews more than 250,000 IT products margin level. Procurement teams can police on the market and their trade prices change these contracts with their benchmarking tools. on a daily basis. This is affected by numerous variables, not least by the constant arrival 3. Monitor trends of new products on the market and global When IT buyers analyse historic or seasonal currency fluctuations. In April 2016, we saw trade price trends they can identify the more than 27,750 products launched on the IT best times to buy. When trade prices are at market on just one day, while the pound hit a their lowest, suppliers often try to maximise 31 year low against the dollar in September. margins so benchmarking data procurement professionals can counter that behaviour. Keeping pace with this rate of change would be a full time job for anyone but there are, however, ways that companies can keep the margins paid permanently low.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 25 23/01/2017 13:33 The Evolution of B2B Buying
Danny Bradbury Technology Journalist
The internet should have been a boon for business A more nuanced approach procurement managers. After all, search engines and online Large public marketplaces don’t suit every buyer, however, catalogues offer up a universe of options when looking for especially when dealing with nuanced, complex sectors such products and services online. A growing glut of information as IT. Consero’s Mandell highlights some of the issues. (and misinformation) online has proven a mixed blessing, however. It seems that quantity is no substitute for quality. “B2B purchases are often conducted according to a ‘one size fits all’ approach to procurement,” he warned. “In addition, “The internet is not without limitations as a research tool,” some B2B marketplaces require a bit more effort on the argues Paul Mandell, founder and CEO of Consero, a niche part of procurement managers to develop the supplier conference company that organises regular industry forums relationships that provide for long-term procurement on strategic procurement and sourcing. “As there are no success.” official gate keepers or ‘fact checkers’ on the internet, it can be difficult to determine whether information yielded Consequently, B2B marketplaces are evolving to solve some is accurate. Moreover, when assessments are provided it’s of the difficulties inherent in complex business sales. More almost impossible to know whether these are tainted by niche marketplaces are emerging, where more intimate, conflicts of interest.” higher-quality relationships between buyers and suppliers The emergence of the digital marketplace are nurtured. The successful B2B purchasing portals will be those that As a consequence of these uncertainties, B2B marketplaces provide solid, reliable information, along with direct have evolved to refine this process. They make it easier for purchasing access and personalised information. They also buyers to find and deal with suppliers – and filter out bad or need to deliver complex information at a product code level irrelevant information by aggregating useful contacts and in a standardised format that makes price comparison easier. product offerings in one place. “B2B marketplaces should provide competition, information Gary Price, product and category manager at Probrand, and clarity. They should allow comparison, speed decisions, explains that this is increasingly important as technology and reduce lead-times and associated costs,” said John products and services have become more complex, creating Malloch, head of procurement for the University of Exeter. a requirement for information to be more structured. “Historically, picking the right product or service was Buyer-driven B2B relatively easy. The higher the number of the processer the According to Malloch, there are still challenges. “[These better it was,” he quips. “Now the choice is harder and there include] ensuring sufficient competition and linking the are so many options; ‘cloud’, ‘virtual’, ‘physical’, ‘two-in-one’, output (and input) to corporate systems.” He adds that public ‘mobile’ and so on.” sector organisations must also be careful to ensure that the Researching online can only get the modern B2B buyer so process is compliant with the Public Contracts Regulations far, he explains. “You cannot beat speaking to an industry 2015, which lay out specific rules for how government professional or vendor directly, or using guided tools that organisations can purchase goods and services. Buyers must can help you make informed decisions.” also ensure the continuity of any services purchased through marketplaces. He warns: “What will happen when a service We have seen many successful versions of this approach in ends? How is the service transferred?” the B2C space, with marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, and although B2B marketplaces may not yet have achieved Yet despite the challenges, Malloch sees an opportunity to the same recognition, they are catching up. Analysts Frost & establish B2B marketplaces in many UK industry sectors, such Sullivan anticipate a potential $6.7 trillion worldwide market as higher education, which have yet to embrace modern, for public B2B marketplaces, a prediction that puts them on automated procurement models. As uptake increases, it will course to eventually outpace B2C portals. be the buyers who become the key drivers of these services,
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 26 23/01/2017 13:33 PROCUREMENT
“There are no official gate keepers or ‘fact checkers’ on the internet.”
in contrast to the traditional large, public B2B portals which to small and medium-sized buyers wanting to get in on in the most part were supplier-focused. The new wave will be the action. focused on the customer, and will give them the tools they need to properly compare and evaluate products. And it’s about time. Buyers are more knowledgeable about their IT than ever before but it’s been a while since the broad As these marketplaces develop, they promise a range of web has been able to provide an easy answer to the questions benefits. Buyers will have access to more suppliers and being asked. It’s been even longer since calling around the sales cycle will be shortened, reducing procurement and inventory costs. Newer technologies will allow a more suppliers and asking them to fax or email over their quotes fluid and open transfer of information. Payment processing has been an efficient way of working. Perhaps we are now methods will be easier to integrate, reducing the entry barrier ready for B2B marketplace 2.0.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 27 23/01/2017 13:33 PROCUREMENT
COULD A LOCAL CASE STUDY AUTHORITY BEHAVE LIKE ?
Danny Bradbury Technology Journalist
In the consumer world, online G-Cloud. A cloud-based sites still typically filter suppliers procurement framework for digital brands like Amazon allow businesses through a single internal service services which has facilitated over provider. The concept of an internal to compete openly for customers by £1bn in sales since its launch in many-to-many marketplace, in which listing product prices and specifications 2012. local authority partners can choose on their platform. Businesses are also from a range of ICT providers, is starting to use B2B purchasing portals Digital Outcomes and Specialists. still relatively new. Although Derek to connect to multiple suppliers This has a simplified application McCallan, chief executive of the and vendors instantly – leading to process designed to help smaller Northern Ireland Local Government frictionless trading. But could we see suppliers get on the list of approved vendors. There are over Association (NILGA), believes that they similar marketplaces develop for local 1200 listed today. are possible. government? Crown Hosting Data Centres. “The principle challenge is getting one Traditionally, government contracts This is a joint venture between up and running. That’s an attitudinal are renowned for being cumbersome the Cabinet Office and Ark Data rather than a legislative issue,” he said. and mired in paperwork. Things have Centres for government-hosted “If overcome, then the councils who begun to change, however, as the UK data centre services. have clustered together are well on government attempts to modernise their way.” its procurement operations. And one When it comes to IT infrastructure contracts, things are less clear. of the key focal points has been the McCallan nonetheless issued a warning Suppliers are still forced to search use of digital marketplaces for public about the challenges of compliance. for contracts using tools such as the sector procurement. “Legislation and subordinate legislation government’s Contract Finder service, can often be seen to conflict with one The government has already which lists contracts currently up another in terms of procurement ‘must developed an internal market for for grabs. Would an Amazon-style dos’ and ‘must not dos’.” buying digital services online. Both marketplace be viable for these kinds central and local government buyers of sales? It seems likely that councils will can use the Digital Marketplace as a We have already seen some shared continue to follow the path towards procurement hub. It consists of three service solutions, such as One Source, more open models of procurement. different entities, designed to replace a joint venture between London’s Whether they can also find ways to individual procurement frameworks Havering and Newham councils to navigate complex sets of regulations between public sector organisations provide a range of back-end services and fully adopt the new breed of and suppliers. These include: including ICT. However, shared service digital marketplace remains to be seen.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 28 23/01/2017 13:33 CASE STUDY West Suffolk Council finds more efficient procurement process Being a public sector body, West Suffolk Council’s IT department is required to follow numerous guidelines when it comes to procurement. As buying IT equipment is no small job for West Suffolk, this creates a major challenge.
Being a public sector body, West Suffolk Council’s As the process of buying IT equipment was eating IT department is required to follow numerous up two full team days each month, Andrew started guidelines when it comes to procurement. As buying looking for a more efficient process that would still IT equipment is no small job for West Suffolk, this allow them to achieve best value. He realised that creates a major challenge. the answer lay in Europe’s largest IT marketplace for business users, Probrand. Its Digital Marketplace The 24 staff team supports more than 1,800 users helps users save time and money procuring IT by across the council and a number of service partners, delivering price comparison across products from which include the East of England Local Government multiple suppliers, and personalised discounts to the Association and Abbeycroft Leisure. As the guidelines customer’s sector direct from manufacturers. insist that purchases are unbiased – based purely on the requirements of the team rather than any Using a unique log in, West Suffolk Council can now particular brand loyalty – the team needs to compile automatically see pre-approved framework discounts a list of specifications for each purchase. This can exclusive to the public sector, including deals on require them to carry out extensive web-based laptops, desktops and servers or printers, for example. research. In a fast moving market, Probrand enables West “ No longer do we spend time bouncing Suffolk to browse and buy direct from a catalogue of over 300,000 products from 2,500 brands, all back and forth between multiple suppliers” updated with price and stock by the minute. Probrand conducts over 10 million automated price checks a In order to secure the best price for each purchase, day and saves users time over calling and manually the team would historically conduct price comparisons comparing prices from three or more suppliers. by telephoning various suppliers. The task was often elongated by suppliers coming back with quotes for “No longer do we spend time bouncing back and products that did not meet the exact specifications. forth between multiple suppliers, sourcing and comparing prices,” said Andrew. ‘‘Typical purchases might include consumables, network cables and toner cartridges – items that “Previously we would spend half a day each week are fairly routine or for everyday use,’’ said Andrew compiling, emailing and phoning around; it now Brindle, unified communications support engineer at takes us about 30 minutes. It has also proved West Suffolk Council. ‘‘We purchase these items as incredibly efficient. We no longer have to raise and when we need to, and having to go through this multiple purchase orders for different suppliers. whole process for a couple of network cables, That level of convenience, knowing we can source for example, would be really frustrating.’’ everything from one place, is a major help.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 29 23/01/2017 13:33 PROCUREMENT
DIGITAL BRINGS NEW CHALLENGES FOR IT PROCUREMENT Peter Smith Lead editor of Spend Matters UK/Europe
Life is tough for an IT procurement or category manager; is an obvious area of concern, as is the potential loss of it always has been. Over the last 25 years the pace of consistency. We are seeing this trend in our own core change has been greater than in any other period. Simply area of procurement-related software; imagine if every keeping up with product and supplier knowledge has been department or business unit in our organisation started a huge task. The need to find successful ways of working using their own local ordering and invoicing systems. with IT managers – the key internal stakeholder group – has Maintaining control of expenditure would be virtually added an additional challenge. Something which frankly, impossible, and deriving spend data across the whole only the best IT category managers were up to. entity could become almost impossible. The “digital revolution” has brought even more complexity In that particular case, we would suggest that a key role to the role. Previously, the internal stakeholders sat for the Chief Procurement Officer of today and tomorrow firmly within the IT department, now, every executive is is to define the procurement systems infrastructure potentially their own CTO. With the growth of cloud-based that the organisation will adopt, and explain to senior software and solutions, apps that can be downloaded in management why a certain amount of governance is seconds. We also have far greater technology awareness needed to implement and police it. However, it is vital that and capability among the Millennials now rising up our systems also meet the needs of the user – remember, our organisations. These factors have combined to make life colleagues won’t accept technology that does not match up challenging. to their expectations in terms of usability and functionality.
The business user now expects the software they use at As to the wider questions around what we might call the work to be as intuitive and user-friendly as the platforms “user revolution”, IT category managers need to work they use in their personal lives; such as Amazon, eBay, closely with the IT function to put processes in place that Facebook, YouTube. They expect high functionality and allow users some flexibility and freedom. Procurement resilience; but above all, greater usability. And if the IT should understand and highlight the commercial risks of department is not providing the right tools, the user of “spend anarchy” – but both functions need to recognise today will find, download and implement their own - that the world of digital is different, and it has led to a more and they probably won’t involve procurement. informed user community. So IT procurement professionals Now this brings real issues for the wider organisation as must work out how they can help users get the most out of well as for the procurement and IT functions. Security the digital genie – not try to put him back into the bottle!
“ If the IT department is not providing the right tools, the user of today will fi nd, download & implement their own.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 30 23/01/2017 13:33 BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION Trends in Enterprise Mobile Apps
In their modern form, The emergence of new technology Rapid mobile the smartphones we and changes to business culture development will have certainly helped mobile know have been with applications to mature within gain traction us for around a decade, enterprise environments. There are The lack of appropriate developer and the mobile app for now a number broad developments skills will drive interest in rapid beginning to surface within this application development tools with almost as long. But ten landscape. Here are five to watch mobile capabilities. These tools years on, what trends out for in 2017: will downplay traditional coding approaches with features such as are we now seeing in Indoor location tracking drag and drop interfaces – narrowing app development? Location data to within ten metres the gap between business analysis, app design and deployment. Gartner has been available for several years has predicted that this will enable on mobile devices. Now, companies those with no coding skills to build are experimenting with indoor relevant enterprise apps, using agile tracking using a variety of techniques. development capabilities that shorten Beacon technology, as pioneered by refresh cycles. Apple, connects with mobile phones using low-powered Bluetooth and IoT ready enables organisations to know exactly where specific phones are in the Integration with connected Internet building. Retailers are experimenting of Things (IoT) will create new with it for customer engagement, opportunities for enterprise apps. A mobile device communicating with but it could also be used for sensible, a ‘smart shelf’ sensor in a warehouse non-intrusive location tracking in could provide employees with real- work environments. Now, a new time information on what products standard called Wi-Fi Aware will need to be restocked, for example. enable wireless devices to identify each other and communicate their Value recognition capabilities. The result? Apps that can detect which employees are nearby The term ‘app’ has been devalued and invite them into a meeting. by cheap app store fodder aimed at consumers, but the maturation Developer skills of mobile applications for business has altered opinions. In 2017, in short supply enterprises are finally realising the Demand for mobile apps is growing, value of workforce mobility and and it is outstripping the supply of will invest appropriate amounts to developers to build them. Gartner generate results. has predicted that demand will “If you’re talking true, secure, outstrip the capacity to build these data-intensive, enterprise-class apps fivefold this year. This will lead applications that happen to be to mixed-sourcing approaches in mobile, then this has a cost and a which companies will be unlikely to value,” said Steve Vallis of application rely entirely on their own in-house developer Mercato. “If they don’t, Danny Bradbury development teams for application no one will create them. No one will Technology Journalist design and coding, the analyst have the ability to do this in a secure firm said. and auditable fashion.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 31 23/01/2017 13:33 Bringing Mobility to the Workforce While the first era of the web brought us websites, and the second saw the emergence of social media sites and user interaction, the third may not involve websites at all. Welcome to the era of the mobile app.
Danny Bradbury Technology Journalist
“Many business-focused considerations can get lost in translation when dealing with a traditional development team.”
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As enterprise mobile apps continue to develop they are The weak point in the process had proved to be that digitally transforming businesses, by making paper-based the technology providers did not fully understand the Bringing Mobility to the Workforce processes available electronically at the time and place requirements. Vallis explains that many business-focused they’re needed most. considerations can get lost in translation when dealing with a traditional development team that doesn’t Until now enterprise mobile apps have enjoyed mixed understand those nuances. success. Many employee devices are littered with apps that have failed to deliver on their promises, and often go Legends was able to circumvent this obstacle by using the unused by employees. One of the reasons for this stems rapid application development platform, KnowledgeKube. from poor decision-making at the start of the process of This allowed them to quickly build an application, using an app creation, explains Steve Vallis, of application developer iterative process, and make adjustments as the app was Mercato. developed. “We can produce anything on mobile,” he says. “The Application management question is not whether you can, but whether you should.” Astute design and development of mobile apps is crucial For one thing, there may simply not be a business case for if any enterprise app is to succeed. The team working on an application to be available in someone’s pocket all the the Legends app were able to draw on a cribsheet within time. Companies should be asking themselves who will be the KnowledgeKube platform to access common design using it, and whether those workers will find access on the elements and reusable assets. This enabled them to design move helpful. an interface appropriate for a busy gym environment with Some applications also don’t transfer to mobile devices large, stylised tiles for buttons. very well, adds Vallis. Applications that gather and deliver But there are other important considerations beyond design copious amounts of information are often difficult to fit and development, such as deployment and management. onto small screens, making it difficult to create phone or This includes a requirement to protect the enterprise data even tablet-based versions of them. In such circumstances, designers should consider the context in which the apps will gathered– especially information about customers. be used. For example, filling out extensive web forms may High availability is another key requirement for business not be possible for a field service engineer on the move. applications, as is solid performance. High-volume “Is there a requirement that could be cut down? Could you throughput and adherence to service-level agreements are have less of the application?” Vallis asks. When you have a necessity for mature apps that companies can rely upon. a complex insurance application process with a hundred This makes cloud computing an important part of the inputs, it may not transfer well to a mobile experience. puzzle, according to Cathal McGloin, VP of mobile “What might make sense is to have an application that platforms at open source solutions provider Red Hat. makes it easier to submit claims,” said Vallis. “The cloud is where data is stored and managed for Application development maximum performance and availability, while the mobile device is the point of consumption,” he said. “Storing How to manage huge amounts of information via a mobile back-end app code in the cloud not only allows for sized app was a problem encountered by Legends, a firm seamless updates to be made on the back end but also of personal trainers in the UK. The company had previously enables the scaling of mobile projects.” been using spreadsheets to map out and deliver training programmes to clients. Developed over two and a half Consequently, utilising platform-as-a-service providers like years, its worksheet had over a hundred interlinked sheets. Microsoft Azure can be useful when deploying mobile apps. Legends wanted a mobile app to take this functionality to The benefits that it offers in terms of business continuity the training sessions, where most of the data was gathered. and scalability on demand makes it far easier to develop The application, however, had to also support users in and deploy apps than it would be using an in-house different roles: clients, their trainers, and their back-office development team and on-premise resources. administrative staff. Trainers would use the app to assess Using a rapid application development tool in conjunction and record client fitness, while clients had to be able to with cloud-based mobile deployment can, therefore, book sessions and amend bookings using the app – remove the friction between software development and which would also automatically prompt them to book operations. This is paving the way for a DevOps culture in their next session. which the two work seamlessly together and maintain a Squeezing this business logic into a mobile app was a tall regular, rapid upgrade cycle for mobile apps. Ultimately, order, and attempts to develop such an application with a bringing these processes together will ensure end users will number of technology providers had proved unsuccessful have enterprise apps that will remain relevant and useful in in the past. the long term.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 33 23/01/2017 13:33 CASE STUDY CASE STUDY
People have great ideas all the How digital time. These may well be digital initiatives that have the potential to transform an organisation. transformation Even better, they could revolutionise an entire industry. is helping As exciting as these initiatives might be, many remain just pipedreams if they don’t get the buy-in from the decision-makers that matter. These are to reshape usually busy people who are quick to see obstacles and raise objections. “It will prove too expensive” or “it will take too many man hours to develop” organisations, and “where are the guarantees it will work?” Overcoming these barriers is difficult without a clear proof of concept that can remove the negativity and & industries fill those decision-makers with confidence instead of doubts. One business that found themselves in this scenario was U.S. start-up GAPro Systems.
The company had an ambitious idea. A plan was put in place to revolutionise the insurance industry by removing the admin-heavy paper-based system required for customers to demonstrate proof of insurance.
Although this is a fantastic concept, that will benefit all stakeholders, convincing investors that it was possible would not be easy. Chester Gladkowski, CIO of GAPro Systems, said: “We could have gone straight to investors for funding but they are naturally sceptical and would have said ‘nice idea, come back when you have something working’. As a start-up we needed a cost-effective solution and could not afford any more risk.” Proof of concept The problem was that the task was highly complicated and would require a sophisticated application that could integrate thousands of data sources. This included 2,500 insurance carriers in the U.S. alone. The application would also need to provide different stakeholders with varying levels of secure access so that they could view the data that would be updated in real time.
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CASE STUDY CASE STUDY
GAPro burnt through two separate technology Agile development partners simply trying to build their proof of concept. To get their concept on track, the business With a no-code rapid application development then turned to KnowledgeKube, a no-code rapid platform such as KnowledgeKube, amendments to application development platform, and within three the application can be made as the build develops, weeks GAPro had a functional prototype. giving companies complete control over their project. This iterative, agile development approach ensures Chet said: “KnowledgeKube allowed us to produce that companies are not relying on the interpretation a proof of concept at a significantly lower cost, 90% of a programmer. Nothing gets lost in translation and quicker and importantly, with deeper functionality changes can be made ‘on-the-fly’. than we imagined.” This ability to refine the requirements was something With this prototype GAPro has been able to approach that digital forensics business CCL Solutions Group insurers and investors and the feedback has been successfully exploited. The company needed to create fantastic. “People are genuinely excited about this a system that would ensure its analysts followed the and our GAPro Systems branded solution is truly a correct processes. This was vital as their work needed disruptive approach,” said Gladkowski. to be compliant with standards required by the UK courts. However, when the company realised the While Bill Wilson, VP of research at the Independent KnowledgeKube platform allowed them to add extra Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA), functionality they opted to do so. has gone as far as to say it’s ‘win-win for all parties’. He added: “This has the potential to dramatically Andrew Krauze, chairman of CCL, said: “It reduce the time and costs spent compiling and became clear during the development phase that verifying this information manually.” KnowledgeKube could create a tool more feature rich than we anticipated. Line managers and analysts could assess each job on a more granular level to Getting internal buy-in see how long each process takes and identify where The ability to quickly develop a prototype and efficiencies can be gained.” demonstrate that current systems could be replaced by something better is now helping numerous Commercial potential businesses turn ambitious internal projects into a As a result, CCL has been able to create a reality also. When market leading insurer in the small comprehensive application which has commercial ship sector, The Shipowners Club, wanted to see if potential. The company now intends to sell their it was possible to replace their existing system system as ‘ISO accreditation in a box’. Specialist they also turned to KnowledgeKube’s application landlord insurer Godiva, also found that their digital development platform. transformation project has opened up commercial The company struggled for years to develop a policy channels. management system that was both user friendly and The business originally wanted to automate its policy able to keep up-to-date with changing requirements management system in order to reduce manual such as the need to meet new regulations. Negative administration work. However, the digital platform experiences of bespoke software development in the created has allowed the company to form commercial past, meant that a proof-of-concept would be vital if partnerships, sell insurance out of hours and engage the company’s CIO was going to get buy-in from the in automated cross-selling. One partnership with management board. Property Mentor has helped the company reach “If all we had was some presentation notes, a 6,000 developers and lettings agents. functional spec and the ability to articulate what we Barrie Roberts, commercial operations manager believed the developers could achieve, it would not at Godiva, said: “With our own branded trading have been enough,” he said. With a proof of concept, website we are driving business with a more however, ‘the brakes were off’ and the company customer-centric approach, writing well-articulated decided to push ahead with the new system. business whilst we sleep.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 35 23/01/2017 13:33 THE SECURITY LANDSCAPE: IN NUMBERS & WORDS Cyber risk now encompasses more than our traditional view of computers: we’ve observed a sharp increase in attack activity involving the Internet of Things, including cars and household devices.
PwC
of mid-market firms are pausing mobility plans due to security reasons. 65% Dell
Everything from credit card details to hacker-for-hire services are now being sold online. While law enforcement remains vigilant, business appears to be booming, and underground forums continue to thrive.
Dell SecureWorks RDS of data breaches involve weak, 2/3 stolen or default password. Verizon
Ransomware attacks increased in frequency by 35% in 2015.
Symnatec
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Half of UK businesses believe they will suffer from cybercrime in the next two years.
PwC
of SMEs were the victim of cybercrime in 2015. 74% HM Government
The majority of [UK] companies are not prepared to respond to a cyber security incident. Only 18% have a well-defined cyber security incident response plan. Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute
of companies say they are fully Only protected from DDoS attacks. 34% Kaspersky Lab
Only 36% are confident in their ability to recover from a cyber attack.
Ponemon Institute
of phishing emails are opened. 30% Verizon
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 37 23/01/2017 13:33 We’ve all heard of any number of high profile SMALL cyber breaches. Companies like TalkTalk, Sony and Tesco Bank have all hit the headlines as the victims BUSINESSES of embarrassing attacks. There are many cautionary tales like these but it seems that many small to medium sized ARE PROVING businesses still don’t believe that cyber criminality will affect them. According to research conducted for the Department for Business, just 27% of EASY PICKING small businesses deemed this a risk worthy of insurance cover. FOR CYBER Maybe this is because smaller businesses don’t believe they will be targeted. The same study, however, revealed that 74% of SMEs have suffered CRIMINALS a cyber breach – and on average small businesses suffer four breaches a year. Business journalist Jenny It has been suggested that this increase is because small businesses actually present the Brookfi eld looks into why perfect target for a certain breed of cybercriminal. The type of criminal that doesn’t fancy taking on SMEs are often considered the sophisticated security measures deployed by large enterprises when there is easy money to be the ‘lowest hanging fruit’ made elsewhere. This is costing small businesses huge sums. The government survey revealed that the average cost of the worst security breaches falls between £75,000 and £311,000. But simply looking at the monetary value doesn’t paint a true picture of the real impact. You also have to factor in the intangible after-effects of business disruption, the loss of potential sales and intellectual assets, as well as the potential damage to company reputation. The growth of ransomware One of the fastest growing attack vectors causing this damage is ransomware – which saw a 172% increase in the first half of 2016, according to Trend Micro. This type of attack involves criminals breaching a company network and encrypting corporate data, which employees are then denied access to until a ransom is paid.
DS Gary Sirell, a cybercrime protect and prevent officer with West Midlands Police, says criminals will often use ‘spear-phishing’ emails. This approach uses personal information (often obtained on social networks) to appear trustworthy in order to dupe
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“ We have to make it harder for them and force them to invest more time and money into hacking. Hopefully, in the meantime, they’ll be caught.”
victims in to downloading ransomware. This technique is there to prevent these things from getting through, claimed a number of high profile victims in 2016, the criminals are adapting,” said Mark Lomas, IT including the social media company Snapchat and consultant at Probrand. data storage firm Seagate Technologies. He adds: “There’s often an attitude among SMEs that DS Sirell claims it’s important for companies to train it’s not going to happen to them because they’re not their staff how to spot these threats as ‘prevention is a big target, but everybody is a target by virtue of better than the cure’. them having IT and being online.
“ It’s important for companies to train “In the eyes of the cyber criminal you’re just an internet address and if they can get in they will probe their staff how to spot these threats as to see what they can do, regardless of the size of your ‘prevention is better than the cure’.” business or IT estate. If your system has vulnerabilities they will find them.” “A lot of companies think they need technical solutions, whereas often what is just as important is When it comes to ransomware, there are cases where regular staff training around cyber threats and how companies have managed to combat this by finding to spot phishing emails,” DS Sirrell said. “Obviously relevant unlock codes on the internet, but it appears the response to cyber threats isn’t just owned by the most businesses end up paying the ransom. To IT department, or the company directors. It has to be avoid such incidents DS Sirell advises organisations everyone’s responsibility, as anyone can click on the to consider the implications of any cyber attack and wrong email and leave the whole business vulnerable.” ensure a suitable business continuity and disaster recovery plan is in place. regular staff training around cyber threats and how to spot phishing emails,” DS Sirrell said. “Obviously “Compare it to physical security; you wouldn’t dream the response to cyber threats isn’t just owned by the of going out without locking your door but in a virtual IT department, or the company directors. It has to be sense many people don’t do these sensible things,” everyone’s responsibility, as anyone can click on the he said. “It’s becoming too easy for criminals at the wrong email and leave the whole business vulnerable.” moment and they are targeting the low hanging fruit. We have to make it harder for them and force them to The weakest link invest more time and money into hacking. Hopefully, in the meantime, they’ll be caught.” With individuals often seen as the weakest link in the corporate armoury, criminals are using any Top tips to avoid becoming a victim: number of methods to trick employees in to letting their guard down. Adopt the right attitude. Accept that if you have an internet connection you are a potential target. Tactics witnessed by IT managed service provider It is essential, therefore, to have a good firewall, Probrand have included the use of cloned email anti-virus software and that software patching is addresses which can look almost identical to an kept up-to-date. internal company communication. One such incident Train end users. Anti-virus can only provide saw a PA almost conned into believing her managing so much of a safety net. It’s important that director had requested a bank transfer. Other employees are aware of why they need to have techniques have included ‘brute force’ attacks – strong passwords and exercise caution when it where hackers try a large number of password comes to suspicious emails. combinations to try and gain access to your system. Put policies in place. Do you have a bring their “Hackers are out there with very heavy resources at own device (BYOD) policy protecting the network? their disposal, looking for computers to compromise. Think about who you are granting permissions to As much as any antivirus and anti-malware software and what areas of network they can access.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 39 23/01/2017 13:33 CASE STUDY The Children’s Family Trust gets Cyber Essential accreditation As an independent fostering agency, The Children’s Family Trust faces a number of unique challenges. With four regional offices across the UK, the charity works with over 100 local authorities supporting foster placements from Durham in the north of England to Hampshire on the south coast.
When it comes to IT, however, the problems it has work. For instance, our computers now require us to encountered have been similar to any business that re-enter passwords after a short period of inactivity has experienced rapid growth in recent years. This but we see this as a necessity when our staff are includes supporting flexible working arrangements frequently out and about.” for staff across the country, without compromising sensitive data. Given that many of the organisation’s “ Cyber security is an issue for staff work in the field, the charity specifically wanted to facilitate remote and paperless working for up to every company, but it’s especially 50 users across the UK. pertinent for a fostering agency” “We have a lot of staff out and about, often carrying physical documents. We wanted to help them “I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the near future, local go paperless and at the same time adopt simple authorities make cyber security a key requirement measures that would address our security concerns,” for all fostering agencies. Cyber security is an issue said David Homer, finance director at The Children’s for every company, but it’s especially pertinent for a Family Trust. fostering agency,” David added.
To address these worries, the charity asked Probrand After doubling in size over a four-year period, the to carry out a Cyber Essentials assessment, which charity also needed to upgrade to larger regional identified a number of ways the organisation offices but needed a new IT partner to support this could secure systems and processes. Probrand move. “We don’t have a lot of internal IT knowledge then implemented several security measures and and had previously worked with a small IT company developed a series of data security policies to be but we needed to find a partner that had deeper adhered to by the charity’s staff. resources,” said David. As a result of the changes to The Children’s Family A review of the charity’s IT estate also resulted in Trust’s IT security practices, the charity has now Probrand replacing a legacy email server, that had been awarded the government’s Cyber Essentials been experiencing capacity issues, with cloud-based accreditation. Office 365 – a solution which was better suited to David said: “We are a lot more confident in our a highly mobile workforce. “We’d eventually like to security processes since Probrand took the lead and move more to the cloud and we’re working... to see introduced new measures. There is of course a trade- what else can be done to improve the way we work,” off when it comes to the practicalities of how staff said David.
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CASE STUDY
Make sure your security keeps pace with the shifting IT landscape
With organisations rapidly taking If a physical server has 20 virtualised machines with 20 security products running anti-virus, this will advantage of major technological have an impact. As performance is already an issue trends such as cloud computing in virtual environments, you can see why this might and mobility, it is vital security be unpopular. That’s why Bitdefender developed GravityZone Enterprise Security, which can manage keeps pace. all those 20 virtual machines through one appliance. The security perimeters that traditionally protected This uses less resources, and we take great pride in businesses have been stretched thin by the growth of the fact that it offers 25% better performance than flexible working and bring you own device. Modern any other vendor. business are also utilising virtualised environments, Furthermore, it allows security professionals to often outside that company perimeter, to support monitor that modern hybrid IT landscape – end point new ways of working. computers or exchange servers, virtualised servers These developments cannot be ignored by and mobility devices – all through one console. security professionals. When it comes to virtualised infrastructures, however, you don’t see the same level When IT teams are already understaffed, this type of protection being applied as you do with physical of solution is allowing staff to spend less time servers and devices. Maybe this is because they worrying about vulnerabilities and more time are not as visible, or maybe it’s because they worry developing solutions that can provide a competitive security measures will slow performance. edge to their business.
Bogdan Botezatu Senior e-threat analyst at Bitdefender
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 41 23/01/2017 13:33 SECURITY
IS HTTPS PROVIDING CRIMINALS WITH A SECURE TUNNEL INTO YOUR NETWORK? The appearance of https in your web browser used to provide an assurance that it was safe to carry out a transaction on that website. Yet, in the ever-changing internet landscape we navigate, this is now often far from the case. Cyber attacks continue to evolve in order to evade security measures, and criminals have found ways to use https to do just that.
Https was developed to protect the privacy and integrity of the data being transferred via the internet. It encrypts data – using Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) – so criminals can’t see the information you are send. This inability to see what is being sent, however, is now being exploited by those criminals. Jenny Brookfield Encryption has, in effect, created a secure private Business Journalist tunnel which can bypass older legacy firewalls and provide ready access to a corporate network. With https connections accounting for 64.6% of web connections , this is serving up plenty of That malvertising campaign, which tricked an opportunity for cybercrime. A typical phishing automated ad network into delivering malware, campaign will now entice victims to click through found a way to target Yahoo users via vulnerabilities to an https website that, when visited, will begin in the Microsoft Azure platform and was reported to downloading malware on to their computer in the be one of the largest ever attacks of its kind. background without their knowledge. While older firewalls are not equipped to cope Florian Malecki, international product marketing with this type of threat, many vendors have director at Dell Security, says although the growth responded to this by producing next generation of SSL and TLS encryption is a positive trend in firewalls. This technology can dig deeper, scan many ways, it has provided this tempting new encrypted traffic and carry out deep packet inspection threat vector for hackers. (DPI) – ensuring nothing slips through the net. “Using SSL or TLS encryption, skilled attackers Malecki advises businesses to avoid falling victim to can cipher command and control communications this type of attack by making sure software is updated and malicious code to evade intrusion prevention and security best practice procedures are followed. systems and anti-malware inspection systems,” he He adds: “In addition to this, companies must upgrade said. “This tactic was used in a crafty malvertising to a capable, extensible next-generation firewall with campaign to expose as many as 900 million Yahoo integrated SSL-DPI inspection combined with adaptive users to malware by redirecting them to a site that sandboxing services, to ensure their networks monitor was infected by the Angler exploit kit.” clear and encrypted traffic simultaneously at all times.”
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 42 23/01/2017 13:33 INFRASTRUCTURE
INFRASTRUCTURE REVIEWED: Cloud-based IP traffic will rise from 3.9 zettabytes to 14.1 zettabytes between IN NUMBERS now and 2020 - Cisco & WORDS % No matter the level of adoption, cloud technology 38 is becoming a staple to organisation’s infrastructure. of mobile workers have As both cloud and businesses evolve, organisations never used a VPN (virtual continue to explore how cloud computing fits into their private network) - iPass workplace and applications while cloud vendors realise and accommodate the needs of their clients.” Two thirds of organisations IDG Enterprise report implementing hybrid cloud infrastructures say they are gaining a competitive Enterprises plan to reduce the number of workloads advantage - IBM housed in on-premise traditional and virtualised environments, while dedicated private cloud, virtual private cloud, and public infrastructure-as-a-service are JUST 37 % expected to see substantially higher rates of adoption. McKinsey & Co’s Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure survey of the UK’s IT decision makers know the location where their enterprise Loyalties to traditional, standalone servers are data is stored - VMware diminishing in today’s IT ecosystems as managers adopt innovative technologies that eliminate multiple % pain points. Innovation inherent in converged systems 40 and in hyper-converged infrastructure in particular, of enterprises have is driving process efficiencies and agility that are adopted hyper-converged increasingly tangible. infrastructures Christian Perry, research manager at 451 Research - 451 Research
The move to cloud Virtualisation is a strategic priority, yet computing will see on-site organisations are still not fully ready for the servers shipments security challenges this environment brings. % Hybrid infrastructures have become the major DROP 5 common architecture in the enterprise environment - McKinsey & Co and CIOs have to adapt to the new world. Bitdefender
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 43 23/01/2017 13:33 CASE STUDY Swanswell improves productivity by future proofing IT
Swanswell, a charity that hopes to create a society free of problem alcohol and drug use, provides a vital support service to more than 10,000 people each year.
As an organisation, however, it had found that the These changes have proved significant, according to Kasmir. “The statistics speak for themselves, support technology which was supposed to helping them calls have dropped by 40% per month within two deliver those services was beginning to prove more months of the solution being implemented. of a hindrance. The charity’s 300 employees found themselves struggling to send emails or ‘‘We have fewer team members wasting time on even open files. calls to the support desk and that clearly has a knock-on effect for productivity. People can get on “It all came down to the infrastructure at the back with what they are supposed to be doing without end,” said Kashmir Heer, Swanswell IT Infrastructure the distractions created when the tools of their job Manager. “Our ageing architecture had become the let them down.” cause of a major headache.” With a large number of employees Furthermore, the charity found working in the field, Swanswell also these problems had started to needed to improve remote access. affect productivity and morale, with “Support calls Given the nature of its work, and employees spending an increasing the data privacy requirements of its amount of time on the phone reporting dropped by 40% partners, it was imperative that systems issues to the IT team. per month within were accessed securely and that data was safe at all times. “We needed Probrand was asked to investigate two months” a robust solution which would give Swanswell’s IT infrastructure and access without compromising our discovered that several legacy systems or data,” Kashmir said. virtual servers in the data centre were responsible for many of the issues staff were To ensure remote workers can access systems safely encountering. As the inherited virtual environment and efficiently, Probrand deployed a Dell Sonicwall was proving to be unstable, it was decided to re- Secure Socket Layer Virtual Private Network (SSL provision and migrate ten servers to a more robust VPN). It also protected the organisation’s network VMWare environment. In addition, Probrand rebuilt with a Dell Sonicwall next generation firewall. three existing virtual servers to future proof the new infrastructure. “Our team members can now stay out longer in the field as there is less need to come into the office – Probrand also replaced several network switches with they can do most things remotely now. This is better the intention of removing potential bottlenecks and for our team members, our partners and ultimately increasing traffic speed. The physical hardware hosting the people we are here to help. It has radically cut the virtualised environment was also replaced by two admin time and has enabled us to deliver a better faster and more efficient HP servers. service in the field,” Kashmir added.
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When it comes to data centres, people’s CASE STUDY thoughts almost immediately turn to servers The importance and storage. But it was not a lack of computing of consultation in a power that Icomm Technologies deliberated over during a recent data centre update at its commoditised world Birmingham headquarters. As an IT managed service provider (MSP), Icomm’s range of solutions includes hosting, data storage and backup. In order to accommodate these growing services, the business was tasked with Brian Macnamara upgrading its data centre to ensure reliability, protect against failure VP of Sales - Europe at Tripp Lite and plan for future growth. The renovation included upgrading the fire suppression system, installing redundant air conditioning and designing a complete IT infrastructure solution to organise, protect, power, manage and connect the new equipment. When it came to ensuring these needs were met, Eugene Muller, Icomm’s project manager, decided to seek advice rather than go it alone. He reached out to Tripp Lite, the only consultant-vendor whose experience and product offering were extensive enough to address all of Icomm’s infrastructure needs. After speaking with a Tripp Lite application specialist, Eugene gained a deeper under- standing of the potential issues he was likely to encounter during the fitting out process. For example, each of Eugene’s racks contained 20 servers and 40 three-metre power cords. Tripp Lite pointed out that by changing to half-metre power cords, he could remove over 100 metres of cable clutter per rack and increase air flow by 70%. Tripp Lite also designed a custom expandable UPS solution which provided Eugene with the flexibility to add UPS capacity when needed. Furthermore, Tripp Lite helped Eugene overcome challenge of moving large cabinets through narrow hallways and stairways by recommending heavy duty cabinets that could be easily taken apart and reassembled in place. Tripp Lite provided Eugene with a detailed specification that included cabinets, power distribution, UPS backup and cabling, plus a KVM console to manage all the servers. This made it easy for Eugene to plan for the budget, manpower and time needed to complete the project. This was of the utmost importance because the omission of a single part could have resulted in a costly delay. Lastly, Eugene realised the hidden benefit of utilising a one-stop- shop as he was able to avoid having multiple meetings with multiple vendors to produce the single specification. As Eugene explains: “I was surprised by how willing Tripp Lite was to engage with us, the end user; as well as their breadth of product knowledge. Other vendors are just not willing to do that. They really knew what they were talking about and it went so well, we recently asked Tripp Lite to help fit out a second data centre for Icomm in Manchester.” Infrastructure equipment may constitute just five to 10% of total system costs, but it is the fundamental building block of the data centre, without which nothing works. Collaborating with a multi- tiered vendor who will provide valuable advice on data centre builds can help ensure that your project runs smoothly, under-budget and without surprises.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 45 23/01/2017 13:33 STORAGE GROWTH: SEPARATING REALITY FROM THE HYPE
The importance of data is undoubtedly A data bulge? growing in all industries. As evolving The answer appears to be ‘no’. A survey of almost 500 technology finds new ways to gather mid-market organisations, by Probrand, found that just 3% of firms are having to handle data growth rates higher than and process information, data is 25% year-on-year. The vast majority (77%) are actually becoming the life blood of any business. dealing with a steady growth of less than 10%. With every new tech trend that emerges, whether that is the When you consider the macroeconomic performance of Internet of Things or Big Data analytics, our reliance on data both the UK, and global economies, in recent years, that seems to grow. The analyst IDC has predicted that this will finding is not actually that surprising. cause the volume of data in existence to double every two “Data growth does not come out of thin air,” explains years during this decade. Mark Lomas, IT consultant at Probrand. “There will always The experts say that this ‘data bulge’ will create headaches be a correlation between the performance of a business for the organisations having to manage and store all this and the amount of data being produced.” data. The much proffered solution to this is cloud computing, For companies wanting to predict future data growth which can provide on-demand scalability. rates, Lomas claims it makes sense to simply look at the However, is this realistically what is happening in UK organisation’s performance in recent years and its historic businesses? Are they really scrambling to find a cloud partner levels of data accumulation, and match that against forecast to help them handle rapidly growing quantities of data? growth of the business. Cloud adoption? MORE THAN It is undeniable that some organisations are using cloud computing for storage. The Cloud Industry Forum estimates that cloud adoption in the UK has actually grown 75% over the last five years. The industry body expects half of businesses to move their entire estate to the cloud at some point in the future. But that point is not now. The Probrand survey found that just 13% of firms are using 3/4 cloud as their primary storage platform. The reality is that STATE THAT ANNUAL most organisations still prefer to keep their data on-premise. GROWTH RATES ARE Almost two thirds (61%) are using SAN solutions, while 16% NO GREATER THAN are still using NAS or DAS. There may well be an element of protectionism behind why % IT managers are not utilising the cloud – they might not fancy 10 the idea of making their role of maintaining this infrastructure redundant just yet. When asked about the future of storage
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MORE THAN A ONLY TH % ANTICIPATE CLOUD WILL BECOME THEIR FUTURE SEPARATING REALITY FROM THE HYPE 5 STORAGE STRATEGY 8
however, the number remains low – just 22% believe cloud will become their primary solution. “What is clear is that there is not a big rush to move to the cloud at the moment,” said Lomas. Demand for new innovations? This reluctance to convert to a new storage model is also notable with the emergence of another new technology, OF RESPONDENTS WANT TO converged infrastructure (CI). This solution seems to have a SEE GREATER INNOVATION lot of appeal; lower operating costs, reduced downtime and FROM VENDORS the ability to deploy applications faster. Adoption levels also grew 50% last year, according to Gartner. However, the study Improving performance found that only 29% see this as a serious proposition for their organisation, while 70% remain unsure of its value. When it comes to what improvements organisations would like to see in storage, however, performance (32%) What actually matters most to organisations when it comes tops the list ahead of lower prices (25%). Lomas points out, to storage is the cost (30%) and performance (20%). “Storage however, that improved performance may actually mean is often viewed from a utilitarian perspective by many paying more upfront – with the likely savings being delivered businesses,” said Lomas. “They may be willing to hear about in the long term. new features but they will not always be willing to pay for all those bells and whistles – especially when the FD takes a look “If your SAN can do more with your data, you start to get at the cost.” In fact, just 8% said they wanted to see greater additional value from storage. Features like deduplication innovation from storage vendors. allow companies to maximise the amount data on a SAN, and it’s not unusual to see organisations get an extra year out of a product before filling up the capacity available,” says Lomas ALMOST “Deduplication can provide positives for businesses of any size, and the bigger the capacity requirement, the bigger the savings are likely to be.” With the vast majority of mid-market firms choosing to keep their data on-premise – at least for the typical life expectancy of their next storage product – this may be the best way 2/3OF ORGANISATIONS forward for companies looking to sweat their assets and get USE SAN SOLUTIONS maximum value out of their storage.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 47 23/01/2017 13:33 Mark Lomas Icomm IT Consultant
IT managers can have very contradictory are managed in the wrong way, people will feel that they views when it comes to cloud computing. have less to do and that their jobs are at risk. In truth, it is the opposite. As the cloud makes sophisticated There aren’t many who would openly argue against it solutions more accessible to business, IT managers are likely playing a future role in IT. Solarwinds has even conducted a to have their work cut out. survey which shows that 92% of IT professionals believe the adoption of this technology will be important to the long- Opportunities are being created term success of their business. Currently, an IT manager may spend just 10% of their day The research found that key reasons for this view include managing hardware, nursing stacks of equipment. But reduced cost of infrastructure, increased flexibility and agility the vast majority of their time actually involves managing and the freedom it provides for IT personnel to concentrate software – and that work is still going to be there in on strategic projects. So in theory, IT managers should see cloud computing in a positive light. abundance. If you look at software-as-a-service (SaaS), the big players are “ There is a danger that if cloud projects producing productivity boosting solutions that would be too
are managed in the wrong way, people complex to deploy on-premise but they are in reach via the cloud. As companies demand this technology, they will need
will feel that they have less to do.” IT managers to act as the administrator.
CIOs need to explain that this type of deployment does not But in truth not everything is rosy in the garden. Gartner take anything away from anyone; it is actually providing analyst Tom Bittman recently produced a blog looking at us all with more tools. This development is providing an why some cloud projects are failing. Reasons included ‘IT protecting its turf’ and a ‘failure to get internal support’. opportunity for IT managers to branch out and be of greater Bittman added: “Your staff can be your biggest supporters, or value to the business. your biggest roadblocks. Google the possible etymology of A recent study by EMC and VMware revealed that 88% of the word ‘sabotage’.” businesses feel that they currently lack the skills necessary The contrast in attitudes doesn’t surprise me one bit. I’ve when it comes to cloud technology. This is clearly an area observed far too much conventional wisdom that IT is being where jobs will be created and the most likely people to fill ‘lost to the cloud’. And there is a danger that if cloud projects those positions are today’s IT managers.
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“ By allowing the cloud to take care of the operating system, IT managers will be able to focus on company platforms and applications.”
The evolution of the cloud A different path for SMBs As cloud computing evolves we are likely to see the role For small to medium sized businesses, however, it is a of the IT manager develop in two different directions, different world. We are seeing the ‘engineer’ style of role – depending on the size of the organisation. where the IT manager is concerned with keeping the lights on – move towards more of a ‘consulting’ position. Large companies will have more budget and this will allow them to take bits of their IT workload and see what can When companies are looking to deploy productivity go into the cloud. Research by JP Morgan has found that solutions, such Microsoft’s Skype for Business or Office 365, enterprise-size organisations will almost triple the proportion these types of IT managers will find they have their hands full. of their workloads being moved to public cloud services over They will need to help organisations extract maximum value the next five years. from these tools, especially as new versions are released. The report says: “A near- tripling of the public cloud-based There may be less installation work to do but there will workload mix represents a monumental architectural shift, be more administration as companies deploy more tools. which shows no signs of abating and is likely to create a Companies will also need to identify what new software can major ripple effect across the entire technology landscape.” be rolled out: what is available and what could create a real business benefit? As these workloads move to the cloud, large businesses will most likely look at a model that focuses on servers. These tasks will need to fall to someone who will also be When you look at the client server model, prevalent within responsible for ensuring there is buy-in at the highest level, organisations for 30-40 years, it did begin to change 10-15 and that there is the appropriate level of investment. And years ago with virtualisation resulting in consolidation. But there is a need to manage all the relevant third parties too. all that did was to reduce the size of the footprint, while the If IT managers don’t step up and take on these roles then model remained the same for IT managers. The cloud is they run the risk of allowing a younger generation – for changing this, however, as mainframes are now being created whom cloud computing will be second nature – to come using a cluster of servers in the cloud. along and fill these positions. By allowing the cloud to take care of the operating system, Cloud computing is the new game in town and it will become IT managers will be able to focus on company platforms and the norm. It will ensure that there is be plenty of work applications. This new approach is closely aligned with the available but if IT managers stand still and refuse to evolve concept of DevOps, as it is blending the administrative and they could well become obsolete. The time has come to the development side. adapt or die.
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PROBRAND_Issue4_Book.indb 49 23/01/2017 13:33 CASE STUDY Waingels College breaks free from proprietary technology When Waingels College converted to an academy in 2015, the school re-examined its operations. This process included a review of its IT supplier contract.
An agreement, signed on behalf of Waingels by the local Realising the benefits education authority as part of a major refurbishment of the With the installation complete, Waingels was able to recruit school several years earlier, had resulted in RM Education a network manager and two technicians, which has allowed proprietary technology being installed across its estate. This the school to take full control of its own IT infrastructure. agreement also tied the school into a RM service contract. It was an arrangement from which the school’s business This move away from proprietary technology and the manager John O’Keefe wanted to break free. associated service contract is also helping the school to make significant savings. “We will save about £90,000 in “We needed to do things differently because if we ever the first year because of the transition,” said John. wanted to change anything we found we couldn’t do it ourselves,” said John. “We also felt that, for the level of “I believe this is because Probrand saw our requirements support we received, the costs were astronomical.” in a more straightforward, sensible way. This has enabled us to do things much more cheaply. These savings alone The school wanted to end the service contract and to employ made the decision a no-brainer.” its own staff. John realised, however, that the proprietary technology installed at the school would make it difficult to Crucially, the school has also discovered that the IT network recruit IT staff from outside the education sector. is providing a significantly improved performance, compared to the school’s previous infrastructure. The decision was taken, therefore, to replace the technology in the school with equipment more familiar to the wider “The new network is noticeably faster, and the remote business environment. Waingels partnered with Probrand product is far superior,” said John. “Log-on times are now and completed the work over a summer vacation – when much quicker – and, when you often have 400 users all students would not be affected. “We wanted to work with logging in within a couple of minutes at the start of each an organisation that wasn’t just more tech savvy, but who lesson, this makes a big difference.” could also help us lower our costs,” said John. He added: “The old network was clunky and prompted a The project involved the installation of a new core network, lot of complaints. Since we moved to the new network, server and storage infrastructure. This work included the however, I’ve not had a whisper of a moan – which is all migration of numerous systems – from Apple learning suites you can ask for really!” to cashless catering – and the deployment of remote access and management tools.
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CASE STUDY “Probrand saw our requirements in a more straightforward, sensible way.” Waingels College
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