Two-Thirds of UK Firms Have Planned to Move Entire IT Infrastructure to the Cloud!

Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has given a new report according to which almost two-thirds (63%) of the companies in the UK are devising strategies to shift their entire IT infrastructure to the Cloud.

It is a fact that the espousal rate of the Cloud amongst the UK businesses has remained unchanged from the preceding year. The research began in 2011, and the report reveals that the rate is still at 78% which is considerably higher than when the research was initiated. The report has disclosed that in the next two years, this adoption rate will increase to 85%.

The Cloud is used for minimum two services by more than 77% of the companies and used for five or more by one in eight (12%). The report revealed that the applications which are hosted in the Cloud are the web hosting (57%), e-commerce (53%), email (56%) and collaboration service (52%).

Since the Cloud offers flexibility so this is the primary reason why more than 77% of the companies decide to go for the Cloud. This has been revealed from the businesses after interrogation which they have quoted as their motivation to adopt the Cloud. 24/7 services dependence and scalability were scheduled as the other reasons, with 74% and 76% respectively.

As per the research, it has been found out that the cloud aids in achieving the business goals of innovation (45%), enhances client service (31%) and improves business continuity (37%). Alex Hilton, CEO of CIF stated that digital transformation has improved the businesses' agendas which are helping them to stay at the top of the competition.

Source: http://www.misco.co.uk/blog/news/03719/moving-entire-it-infrastructure-to-the-cloud-is-planned-by-two-thirds-of-uk-firms

How to Overwhelm the Top Security Apps with Managed Services

In what way does the organisation lower the security risks related to applications while still prioritising the productivity and the ways to manage the costs?

There are some applications that can easily access the most sensitive data and information while some have the ability to support the tactical business processes. Compared to network security, it has been observed that application security is receiving the less budget. This has made business leaders and security experts realised why hackers are attacking the applications. To reduce the risk of cyber attack that becomes successful in most of the cases, the majority of the security leaders are believing that the application security programmes should be enhanced.

According to the survey of 2014 by CompTIA, it has been analysed that the security problems are being mostly resolved with the help of managed services and around 47% of the companies are using them to report their cyber security needs. Here we will discuss the application security challenges that an organisation may face and how the managed services can overcome these risks:

Recruiting and Retaining the Security Experts is Challenging and Costly

As per the Cisco’s 2014 Annual Security Report, the internal security experts are searching for the new roles and are few in number while around 1 million IT security jobs are vacant all across the world. In the case if anybody is able to satisfy its role, the area of expertise that an employee may need can cover numerous domains as security software programmes develop, for instance, data protection, authentication, testing, encryption, bugs, design flaws, client side applications and many more. The companies are required to make investments in these domains in order to ensure that the new experts are up to date and performing to their full potential.

Image Credit - Infosecurity

Quick Responses to Change is a Necessity

Whether it’s a technology or business, everything needs development. In the case of technology, it is necessary for the business to analyse whether the security team is able to respond the new threats immediately that have been inspected and addressed. It is essential that the security groups can quickly respond to changes.

Only Tools Are Not Sufficient to Save You

For the applications that handle the crucial business functions or can access the sensitive data, operating a standard set of automated scans is not enough to guard these applications. Performing a manual testing and interpreting the results is also required.

There is a continuous change in the application security. The testing and prevention strategies should be kept up to date because new threats and attacks may arise at any time.

Why Managed Services?

In the case, if you are striving to overwhelm the obstacles that arise due to the limited skills and fixed capacity, you may find your team overburdened and reactive to the newest crisis. This is the time when you can make onward plans, complete other projects and invest in new skills. With the assistance of managed services, the provider can manage the application security testing while you will be able to emphasise on the other business key areas.

Sourced from Jim Ivers, Chief Marketing Officer, Cigital

Source: http://www.information-age.com/technology/security/123461048/how-use-managed-services-overcome-top-6-app-security-hurdles

Echo Managed Services Picked PR Agency One to Aid Business Growth!

Engaging more than 650 people and with a turnover of above £30m in the last year, Echo is consistently growing with full strength.

PR Agency One, a consumer and B2B PR consultancy has been chosen by the Echo Managed Services so it can strengthen its brand awareness while exploring and penetrating into new markets, thus improving the overall online visibility.

Echo is a renowned name in the UK that works with all kind of businesses whether related to regulated or non-regulated industries. It provides outsourced multi-channel contact centre services, revenue management solutions and an end to end debt recovery services. It also offers the UK’s leading water market billing and client information software.

Echo Managed Services has employed more than 650 people while it had a turnover of above £30m in the last year. This has shown how Echo is constantly growing with its full strength.

Managing Director of PR Agency One, James Crawford stated that there is no doubt that Echo Managed Services is in a period of growth. They are excited to work with the business like Echo as its booked agency by choice. James informed that for the next 12 months, their job is to improve the market share of the business (Echo) by building a trustworthy and reliable voice while aiding it in breaking into new sectors.

James further narrated that their dedicated and experienced team will work hard to create a good reputation of Echo, improve brand awareness and help the Echo in gaining the vital links for its website that will, in turn, aid in increasing its online visibility.

Source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/media/pr-agency-one-appointed-echo-10858501

Can Mid-Market Businesses be benefitted from Bimodal IT Success via Managed Services?

IT experts are bustling about understanding the newly invented term by Gartner “bimodal IT”. It is a technique of delivering services in a way that allow the IT teams to rip their emphasis into two distinct, clear and logical models that are stability and agility. The second one involves day to day IT operations that are vital and meant for the security and reliability for an IT environment related to an organisation. The previous one is focused on innovation to let the IT teams to research and identify the new techniques of utilising the technology in order to meet the rapid changing demands of the business.

As per the information provided by the Gartner, around 45 percent of the CIOs use bimodal IT service management strategies and this percentage can increase to 75 percent by 2017 where the companies will execute the bimodal IT strategies.

Bimodal IT and Managed Services

It has been observed that some companies prefer to outsource essential IT functions like helpdesk so to let the IT group to play an all-inclusive role in the business. There is no doubt that the nature of IT sourcing has changed. Gartner is of the view that smaller IT suppliers will be capable enough to respond to the demands quickly and providing faster solutions by using the cloud capabilities.

Image Credit - IT-Regie

Outsourcing the IT functions to managed services provider enable the internal staff to invest time in IT innovation so to assist the business in remaining active and responsive in the competitive marketplace. In order to have a successful relationship with the IT managed service provider so that the business’s future progress does not detract, the companies should ask the following questions from the managed services provider:

Do MSPs Can Assist in Current and Future IT Needs?

Managed service providers must have experience of providing assistance in the particular functions that are going to be outsourced. For instance, if the services are being offered in the helpdesk, then IT support services provider should have engineers that are capable enough to repair equipment including new technologies.

To What Extent, the Support Can Be Offered?

We know that IT issues can disrupt the IT teams from new projects, so the companies should contract with the MSPs as to how much they will promise to resolve the IT issues. Usually, MSPs provide varying degrees of assistance, like 24/7, remote or on-site support. In the case, if a package in terms of budget and support coverage do not meet the needs of an organisation, the companies can ask for the customised solutions.

Source: http://www.itproportal.com/2016/02/02/can-managed-services-be-the-key-to-bimodal-it-success-for-mid-market-businesses/

Alstom Will Be Provided Developed IT Infrastructure from HCL!

On Monday, January 25, 2016, a new IT infrastructure deal has been signed between the HCL technologies and the French multinational firm Alstom. Throughout the France and Benelux, the engagement of the Alstom would be the HCL’s largest infrastructure services engagement as narrated by the Corporate Vice President of the HCL Technologies Ashish Gupta. According to this agreement, the HCL Technologies will influence and control its IT infrastructure support services capabilities in order to deliver the workplace engineering services, roll out PC as a Service (PCaaS) to 30, 000 clients across the world and allow the local client support services all over 360 locations in 62 countries.

Image Credit - PeopleofBoston

Furthermore, multilingual global service desk offers will be given to the Alstom in 11 languages that will be established by the HCL in which more than 50 percent of the French-speaking users will be involved. HCL has three global delivery centres that are situated in the Brazil, India and Poland while the services will be offered by controlling these centres. Being a part of the partnership, HCL will also establish the Services Integration and Management (SIAM) as an organisational function with a concept that will allow the Alstom to accomplish the multi-sourcing service integration.

As per the statement of the Alstom CIO, Christine Heckmann, they wanted continuous and smooth IT operations and it was their priority. Alstom needed an IT Partner that could easily define, develop and implement the roadmap involving the IT transformation for the following five years and HCL has been proved a right partner for them.

Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/hcl-to-develop-it-infrastructure-for-alstom_5153901.html

How Managed Service Providers Can Streamline Operations

There is no doubt that in this technological era, the networks have become multifaceted, complex and sometimes inflexible. To deal with these issues, technologies like NFV, SDN and open source projects have helped a great deal in this respect.

Cisco senior manager, Wayne Cullen, who is a service provider architecture, stated that a single network is insufficient. Mutually, they have the potential to bring the automation and self-service, lower operational costs and simplified processes. This also enables the expert personnel to free them for innovations by relieving themselves from the important low-value tasks.

The question arises that how the simpler operations can transmute your today’s business? Cullen disclosed that there are three ideas that can be considered in the current scenario which are as follows:

Take Into Account the Technologies That Improve Dexterity: Planning and automation strategies are required that could integrate SDN, NFV and other various technologies into the current networks so it can allow you to reposition and gauge the elements of the software rather than the hardware.

With the above strategies, the adjustments can be made in hours or days instead of the weeks or months. This will assist in driving down the cost and getting you ready as what next could be done.

Image Credit - Trustwave

Use Openness to Hasten Innovation: To get the advantages of the open partnerships, services and collaborations, there is a need to progress to a more flexible infrastructure that has a lower cost. The software defined network has the capability to integrate new services around numerous vendor technologies, as described by Cullen. To maintain the services framework so they can be vibrant, lucrative and speedy, there is a need to retain the developmental model and APIs simpler and open.

Promote New Business Models: In the case, you have a fast and dexterous network, more competitive pricing options and modifications as per the changing market conditions can be offered. The new market segments that were not practicable due to the cost, size and location can, later on, enable us to reach there. According to Cullen, it is necessary to know the means by which the clients can be pleased and where exactly the value can be added.

To gain success means to understand the connectivity that is changing the behaviours at a faster rate than before. Furthermore, the ability to accustom new behaviours can play an important role in success.

Cullen finally concluded that if steps are taken to enhance dexterity along with working on the SDN or NFV strategies so there can be an open working with the partners, the organisation can gain a powerful position in terms of profit.

For more details on solutions for service providers, go to http://www.cisco.com/web/EMEAR/offers/sp04/simplifying-operations/index.html.

This article was published in partnership with NetPartnering.

Source: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/industrynews/153295-3-ways-service-providers-can-simplify-operations.html

Managed Service Providers – Getting a Boost from Security Products!

A continuing overall growth has been observed in the managed service companies particularly the ones that are providing the security services, as revealed by the IT management specialist Kaseya according to the new survey.

The data has been gathered from the Kaseya’s Global Pricing survey in which 400 managed service providers across 30 countries were scrutinised that offer the exceptional visibility in IT services to the customers. The result which has been concluded is that most of the MSPs have gone through more than 20 percent growth over the last three years.

As per the results, the high growth managed service solution providers offer more evolving services than the ones that are facing the lower growth counter parts. This may involve hosting services and cloud monitoring for the clients owning the equipment. One of the most important thing that has been observed is that the high growth MSPs offer an effective portfolio of services such as the desktop and server management, cloud, backup and recovery services.

Image Credit - Aditya Techno Solutions

Increased security risks will be the top demand of the customers in the year 2016. Security is always considered as the high rated services that usually gets the competitive advantage in all age times.

Kaseya’s SVP and GM of MSPs, Miguel Lopez narrated that Kaseya is in the privileged position because it is the vendor that delivers IT security, management and automation technology to MSPs and this is what separates it from the crowd of managed services provider. For every successful MSP, clients’ concern is their top priority, so they design bolder strategies for this purpose. Their client success model is based on the year over year growth instead of the business’s sales, and this is what successful MSPs always do for their clients.

Besides this, around 85 percent of the high growth MSPs deliver hosting services to the clients owning the equipment while around three quarters of the high growth MSPs deliver desktop security services.

Source: http://www.itproportal.com/2016/01/21/security-products-give-managed-service-providers-boost/