Welcome to Cross Channel, a weekly round up of the most pertinent stories from our sister site ChannelBiz, where you can find out all the latest developments, views and strategies from the world of the channel.
Alanzo Blackstock is new VMware UK chief
VMware has named Alanzo Blackstock as director, partner organisation for the UK and Ireland.
Blackstock replaces Phil Croxford, who last year took up the the role of director, EUC alliances & channels, EMEA at VMware. He will be responsible for driving strategic alliances and managing VMware’s partner channel.
Prior to his appointment, Blackstock managed Cisco’s UK partners for 11 years. VMware cited his in helping sell services to finance, industrial, retail, telecoms and media companies with a focus on managed services, security, cloud services and mobility.
Cloud Industry Forum Absorbs EuroCloud UK
The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has swelled its ranks after absorbing EuroCloud’s UK chapter after it ceased operations yesterday (January 31).
EuroCloud UK’s 50+ members are all being invited to transition their membership to CIF with immediate effect and CIF will continue to honour the terms of their EuroCloud UK memberships with the additional benefits of CIF’s membership.
“EuroCloud UK has played an important role in the continued development of the cloud industry both here and on the continent so I’m delighted to be joining forces and welcoming its members to the CIF family. CIF will continue to honour the commitments made to EuroCloud UK’s members and I think we will be all the stronger for it,” said Alex Hilton, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum.
IT pros spend too much on support, not enough on innovation
IT pros are spending twice as long responding to support calls than focusing on innovation, according to a new report.
The study by Dimension Data says IT staff spend more than 30 percent of their time on new service requests and supporting issue resolution, with only 15 percent of their time allocated to innovation, which represents a 25 percent year-on-year decline.
The numbers are at odds with the growth of digital transformation projects among organisations, where the IT department is expected to play a leading role in the digitisation of the workplace.
CEO: Intermedia Acquisition Will Boost Channel Investment
Cloud software company Intermedia has said its acquisition by private equity firm Madison Dearbon Partners (MDP) will pave the way for more investment in its channel.
Speaking to ChannelBiz, Intermedia CEO Michael Gold, said the company planned to grow its channel programmes and sales enablement resources following the deal, announced this week.
“We’re improving partner management by decreasing the number of partners managed by each representative, so our sales team can engage more deeply. We also plan to offer increased training, more marketing and sales assistance, and greater opportunities for profitability and differentiation across our partner programme.
“This will be in addition to increased investments in our award-winning support and continued enhancement of our extensive product line to help our partners differentiate their offerings and run profitable businesses.”
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