Cross Channel: Notebook Sales, Tech Purchasing And The Cybersecurity Skills Gap

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.

Commercial Notebook Sales Grow Amid Falling PC Sales

Volume sales of PCs (desktops, notebooks and workstations) through Western Europe’s largest distributors continued to be affected by a soft consumer performance and weak business desktop sales in early Q1 2017 even though sales of commercial notebooks continued to grow, according to latest data published by Context, the European IT market research company.

The number of consumer-targeted PCs sold through distributors was down by -five percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2017, contributing to an overall drop of -four percent in consolidated PC sales during the period.

Sales of consumer notebooks were down by -three percent and those of consumer desktops by -14 percent as demand for the category remained weak.

Read the full story

IT Department Still Gatekeeper in Tech Purchasing Decisions

Despite IT purchasing decisions moving from the basement to the boardroom in recent years, the IT department still takes a primary role in the procurement process, according to new research.

The research from Spiceworks explores the role IT decision makers (ITDMs) and business decision makers (BDMs) play in technology purchasing. It found that ITDMs serve as organisations’ primary purchase influencers and technology ‘gatekeepers’, while BDMs are more likely to give final approval for technology funds and purchases.

The study shows more than 80 percent of ITDMs evaluate and recommend technology solutions while less than 40 percent of BDMs do the same.

Read the full story

Cybersecurity Skills Gap Means Opportunity for Channel

The channel can capitalise on the continued shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals by building their own managed cybersecurity practices, according to Palo Alto Networks’ EMEA channel chief.

“A number of studies have suggested that organisations will find it impossible to fill cybersecurity roles, so the industry must help education systems produce future cybersecurity experts to close this gap, but that’s going to take considerable time and care to happen, and public and private sector organisations lack the luxury of time,” Mike Herman, VP of EMEA channels at Palo Alto, tells ChannelBiz UK.

“For the channel this could be an ideal opportunity to offer managed services that can step in with outsourced cybersecurity services. This is especially true for the SMB segment, which will be unable to compete with bigger businesses for cybersecurity talent commanding growing salaries.”

Read the full story