This week in the ICT Channel...
Comms Dealer magazine rounds up the top channel news that broke during the week.....
Lack of tech investment prompts IT skills drain
An IT skills drain will enter full flow if business leaders pull the plug on tech investments, particularly around emerging technologies like AI, according to a survey commissioned by Auxilion which also indicates a potential spike in demand for outsourced IT services as a result of IT bosses jumping ship.
The study of 100 IT decision makers in UK enterprises with 250-plus employees (conducted by Censuswide ) found that nearly two in five UK IT leaders plan to leave their role in the next one to two years if their organisation fails to invest.
Jumping ship is already a solid trend with more than one in four respondents (28%) having changed their job in 2023 and 35% have been interviewed for another job in the past six months. “The movement of senior decision makers, especially in business critical roles like IT, creates huge demand and pressure on organisations," said Niamh Cray , Chief People Officer, Auxilion.
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Britannic claims UK first with triple Zoom competencies
Britannic is claiming a UK first having achieved all three Zoom Up Partner Programme competencies with Zoom (Zoom Phone, Zoom Contact Centre Competency and ZCX Contact Centre Implementation Competency).
The company has also introduced NetX Direct Routing where calls are routed through its SIP platform enabling organisations to integrate Zoom with their existing phone systems.
Britannic CEO Jonathan Sharp commented: “Our journey with Zoom represents not only a milestone in our 40 year history but also a testament to our dedication to being the foremost partner for our clients.”
Channel Champions Awards - one month to entry deadline!
The 2024 Channel Champions Awards are open for entries. The awards celebrate the full range of teams who contribute to building winning channel organisations across; Sales, Marketing, Technical Support and Engineering, Executive Leadership, Billing and Finance and HR, People and Culture.
For details on how to enter your top teams, contact Jennifer Norman for entry forms or for sponsorship enquiries/details on how to attend our fabulous ICT channel garden party, contact Heather Miles.
The deadline for entries is the 7th May.
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3CX entices small firms with free offer
The just released 3CX SMB V20 is offered cost-free to businesses with one to ten users and includes six SIP trunks, unlimited video conferencing, free Live Chat and calls.
Having signed up customers to the free service resellers are strongly positioned to implement paid for versions when the customer is ready to scale up, according to 3CX.
For organisations with up to 20 users, 3CX SMB V20 is a paid subscription and includes more call centre functionality, giving small businesses access to enterprise features without an enterprise solution price tag.
"This means resellers can easily compete in the SMB market," stated CEO Nick Galea . "Just as WhatsApp revolutionised text messaging, 3CX SMB delivers on our vision to revolutionise business communications, to make it fair and freely available to all."
Air IT names Portus as Chief Experience Officer
Dan Portus (BSc, PhD) has joined Air IT as Chief Experience Officer (CXO). He moves from FCDO Services where he was Head of Customer Journey and was also Co-Chair of the Cross Government Customer Experience Network.
Prior roles include a near 12 year stint at Tesco where he became Business Planning Manager.
Air IT COO James Healey stated: "Dan's track record in leading customer-focused initiatives aligns with our vision."
Portus commented: “With a focus on both human and digital aspects I'm setting a clear vision for seamless service delivery.”
Zyxel clears pathway to Silver Partner status
Networking solutions provider Zyxel Networks UK has opened more routes for partners to become Silver accredited by removing the requirement to hit first year sales targets.
Rachel Rothwell , Zyxel Networks' Senior Regional Director for the UK and Ireland, emphasises this strategy aims to boost partner skills to better fulfil evolving customer needs.
She said: “Stepping up to Silver level will equip partners to do that and enable them to build greater loyalty and more profitable long-term relationships with their customers.”
Zyxel is also keen to bring new partners on-board, she added. “We’ve only just refreshed our partner programme and we want to bring new partners on board to ensure we can maintain our growth and increase our market share.
“Ideally, they will come straight in at Silver level with the ambition to establish themselves and go on to become Gold Partners.”
Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you back here next friday for the latest news update. Be sure to subscribe at the top of this newsletter to get your copy.