Category Archives: IT Services

Cloud Migration, Cornwall News, Digital Transformation, IT Services, IT Support, News, Technology, Warwickshire

Techsol Group Acquires Charlton Networks and Expands to Gloucestershire

Techsol Group, a leading digital transformation company, are pleased to announce the acquisition of Charlton Networks, a Gloucestershire based MSP. The acquisition will enable Techsol Group to expand its presence to the West Country and to be able to offer a more diverse service offering to its customer base across the region.

Why Gloucestershire?

For more than 25 years Charlton Networks have been helping organisations and business users in Tewkesbury and across the region deliver and transform their IT systems. They have built up a strong reputation for delivering excellent levels of customer support and technical expertise.

“Techsol Group are delighted about our new partnership with Charlton Networks and are excited to see where this new chapter takes us,” said Gavin Morgan, Techsol Group MD. “We look forward to growing our new Tewkesbury base and providing our customers with the best possible service and solutions.”

Richard Perry of Charlton Networks added:

“We are all really excited about the new partnership with Techsol Group. Having founded the business almost 27 years ago, we built a loyal customer base and an excellent team, the continuity, succession and the fit of the businesses were all very important.

“We could not have found a better match in Techsol Group and we are delighted with the prospects this offers both customers and employees and wish the whole team every success for the future.”

The acquisition of Charlton Networks is part of Techsol Group’s ongoing expansion strategy. The company has been growing rapidly in recent years and has established itself as a leader in digital transformation.

Founded in 1996, Techsol Group has over 25 years of experience helping customers on they digital transformation journey.

Techsol Group now have offices in Cardiff, Tewkesbury, Coventry and Cornwall, and, with over a 90% retention rate, Techsol Group now have a customer base of over 600 customers.

Techsol Group is growing and the company now has over 55 members of staff located throughout England and Wales.

About Techsol Group

Techsol Group are experts in digital transformation, delivering robust and secure technology solutions.

By leveraging our expertise and industry-leading technologies, we help businesses improve efficiency, productivity and performance, assisting them with their transition to the cloud.

We have a proven track record of guiding our customers through their transformative journey with confidence, ensuring their systems are not just modernised, but also fully optimised for their individual needs.

Through strategic partnerships and continuous learning, our goal is to be at the forefront of digital transformation in the UK.

To learn more, visit https://techsolgroup.co.uk/

Business & Property News, Business Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships, Cardiff News, IT Services

Flotek Completes Tenth Successful Acquisition Branching into the Hospitality Sector

Prolific IT and Managed Service Provider, Flotek Group, has acquired IT & telecommunications company Orbiss in a deal advised on by the GS Verde Group. The acquisition marks the tenth successful acquisition for fast-growing Flotek.

The strategic acquisition of Truro-based Orbiss has enabled Flotek to expand its presence in the Southwest, to grow its team to 72 employees, and increase its revenue to £8.5m. The acquisition unlocks new areas of growth for Flotek, as Orbiss specialises in providing IT & telecommunication solutions to the hospitality industry (notably working with large clients such as Best Western and Holiday Inn).

Orbiss marks the first stage of Flotek’s growth into the hospitality sector, and the Cornish business will form a key part of Flotek’s offering in Southwest England, bolstering the Plymouth team to serve more clients in that area. Flotek has already dedicated resources to support the Orbiss team and its customers’ integration, retaining the expertise that Orbiss has established over the years.

Jay Ball, Flotek CEO, has known Orbiss owners, Karen McGowan and Karen Patterson for over 16 years, making Flotek Group well-placed to take Orbiss into the future.

Speaking on the acquisition, Jay said: “We are so pleased that Orbiss has joined the Flotek Group. I have worked with Karen McGowan and Karren Patterson for a long time, assisting them with engineers on the ground, and their 35-year experience in the sector is invaluable to us. The culture and passion at Orbiss align with the culture and values of Flotek, making it a perfect fit for the Group. The acquisition will enable us to accelerate our foothold in the hospitality market across the UK and continue to grow our services as a Managed IT & Communications solutions provider in the South West.”

Karen McGowan, co-owner of Orbiss, commented: “Working with Jay for over 16 years has allowed us to build a great amount of trust in his service, and we’re excited for our team and customers to be part of Flotek Group’s ambitious plans for the future.”

Karen Patterson added: “We are very much looking forward to being part of Flotek’s phenomenal growth and are delighted to continue serving our nationwide customers alongside our team that has helped us make the business what it is, now with Flotek’s service offering of nationwide IT & Cyber Security Support and client base behind us.”

GS Verde was delighted to have assisted Flotek on their landmark 10th acquisition in 18 months. Their multidiscipline team consisting of law, finance, tax, and communications expertise has advised on each Flotek acquisition from deal structuring through to completion.

Appointments, IT Services, IT Support, News, Technology

New influx of staff helps Smart Capital Technology keep pace with demand from clients embracing the power of data

IT maintenance company Smart Capital Technology (SCT) has recruited nine new engineers and two operational support staff to keep pace with demand.

The Reading company provides parts and engineers to maintain, install, replace and repair business-critical IT infrastructure on behalf of IT suppliers who support an extensive range of organisations – from household brands to industrial businesses – in need of connected devices including networking, servers and other workplace technologies.

Its more than 90-strong staff team, now including 50 engineers, and more than 25,000 parts stored at more than 40 locations across the UK, Europe and the US, enables it to guarantee delivery of replacement parts, and in many cases an engineer, for 500,000 devices in as little as two hours.

The new engineers will be supporting clients in London, the Thames Valley, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Scotland.

CEO Andy Morgan (pictured above) said a new contract bringing in maintenance of 60,000 devices for a mix of retail and hospitality businesses is only one part of the reason for the growth. “We’ve also seen an uptick across the whole business over the past few months so the new engineers are part of us making sure we can maintain our exceptional customer service,” he said.

“We’ve seen our customers switching to faster and more resilient networks, which has meant more equipment and therefore more servicing. We are also seeing those customers wanting to be better connected to their operations and requiring more data and analytics to monitor performance and inform decision-making.”

With more sophisticated monitoring of businesses, especially in the retail and hospitality sector where workplace technologies both promote products and track customer movements within stores to understand their browsing behaviour in order to best position stock or configure store layouts, there is a demand for reliable sources of data, said Mr Morgan.

“I think there’s a natural shift of people outsourcing more of the installation and maintenance of these devices and we have the personnel and expertise to capitalise on that,” he said. “So this demand for more and better data from our customers is seeing the demand on us grow to make sure these monitoring and analytical services are supported.”

In addition, SCT has also promoted from within a new project coordinator and operations analyst to take account of a rise in demand for maintenance and install services for end customers seeking to provide more reliable networking environments and workplace technologies.

“It’s all related to the growth in demand for connected devices really and we’ve been implementing similar tools to track customer satisfaction, which has been seeing our highly rated engineers averaging 9.7 out of 10 in their scores,” said Mr Morgan.

“Our customers are making key decisions on the strength of the data they gather about their business and they are relying on us to make sure that data, which is increasingly becoming a key component of their business, is resilient and has its highest possible uptime – and we are delivering that.”

Find out more about SCT at smartct.com.

IT Services, Law

IT pioneers support Welsh law firms in rising battle against cyber crime

ANTUR CYMRU ENTERPRISE is supporting the legal sector in Wales as cyber-attacks on law firms continue to rise.

Telemat IT Support, a division of Antur Cymru Enterprise, has been raising the profile of cyber security among solicitors and law firms concerned about a security breach, with financial and identity theft, loss of clients and regulatory penalties among the issues faced.

Business Development Manager Kevin Harrington has worked in partnership with Business Wales to deliver guidance and advice, workshop training, free IT security audits and recorded a video discussing the key points around cyber essentials and a certification and consultancy service provided by Telemat.

He said: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to protect a business from hackers given the sophisticated techniques and tricks being used to illegally access data and information.

“With law firms whose data is largely confidential and sensitive, the subject of an attack is hugely damaging from a reputational and financial perspective.

“There is a lot more that companies can be doing in partnership with the Law Society and by working alongside the authorities and organisations such as Telemat to educate themselves and minimise any future risk.

“Strong passwords which are regularly updated, training for staff and logging any incidents are among the steps that can be taken, and it’s important to tap into resources that offer peace of mind.”

In the UK alone, recent reports showed cyber-attacks have grown by more than 50% in two years, which led to the National Cyber Security Centre (NSCS) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) requesting the Law Society to remind its members of their advice – on ransomware in particular – after a surge in incidents.

The Law Society in Wales has recently received grant funding of up to £100,000 from Welsh Government to enhance the cyber and IT security of law firms in Wales.

And in 2020, a report from the Solicitors Regulation Authority found 75% of firms in England and Wales have reported being victims, with almost a quarter of those being directly targeted resulting in more than £4m of client money being stolen.

Kevin revealed that confusion over cyber security certifications is a notable grey area for law practices unaware of what approach best fits their business.

“Having a cyber-security budget and building it into future-proofing plans is a necessity at this point in time, especially when you consider the current economic and social challenges facing all industries post-pandemic,” he said.

“This in turn will have an impact on insurance, build trust with long-standing clients and ultimately, eliminate doubts and worries for staff and company owners.

“Always be aware, always be on your guard and get in touch for help and advice on what has become a major headache for law firms everywhere.”

Visit Get a Free Security Audit – Telemat for a free IT security audit.

For further information and to speak to the team at Antur Cymru Enterprise, call 01239 712345 or email  enquiries@telemat.co.uk.

Alternatively, visit the website: www.anturcymru.org.uk or www.telemat.co.uk.

IT Services

Lefebvre and Lexsoft present Smart Tags and Legal Review, two new tools for document management in law and consultancy firms

Carlos García-Egocheaga, CEO at Lexsoft: “Thanks to the application of AI it is possible to achieve anonymisation or classification of documents without human intervention.”

Madrid, Spain, 18 July 2022. Lefebvre, a leading provider of legal information solutions in Spain, and Lexsoft Systems, a leading provider of IT and business process solutions to the legal sector, have signed a strategic partnership for the development of solutions and value-added proposals in the field of document management and knowledge management (KM).

The first offering coming from this new partnership is the launch of Smart Tags and Legal Review, two solutions that automate some of the tasks currently carried out by IT and KM departments in law firms. Both solutions integrate into iManage, the document and email management system used by more than 75% of the Global Top 200 and 3,750 organisations worldwide.

Smart Tags automatically classifies millions of documents and enriches them with descriptors and identifies tags that allow professionals to perform qualitative searches on them. This application is positioned between document management and KM and provides considerable time savings in the study and location of key information when preparing a case.

On the other hand, Legal Review provides professionals with legal certainty and greater precision because it contextualises the legal information included in their working document. When the legal review process is launched, Lefebvre and Lexsoft’s services return a report of legislation and case law citations, alerts on repealed regulations, related doctrinal articles and additional information linked to the mementos.

According to Carlos García-Egocheaga, CEO of Lexsoft Systems, “With Smart Tags and Legal Review, we build bridges that facilitate the daily work of lawyers. We have managed to solve the gap that exists between the collection of perfectly analysed documents managed by the KM departments of law firms and the millions of unenriched documents stored by firms and companies.”

Alberto Larrondo, Legal Market Director at Lefebvre, explains, “We incorporate high-value information for the lawyer’s day-to-day work. With a simple click, Legal Review performs an exhaustive legal analysis of the client’s document and alerts on issues of particular interest before delivering the report to the client or a colleague, for example. It provides legal rigour and legal certainty, which are two issues of very high reputational value.”

Both solutions are the result of co-creation and co-operation between Lefebvre and Lexsoft and represent the spirit of the new Lefebvre Ecosystem where there is maximum integration across the toolset so that professionals can carry out their work with the highest possible ease and accuracy.

IT Services, News

Vortex 6 Launches V6 ProFusion Transforming the Way Organizations Track Employee IT Certifications to Build a Live Skills Taxonomy

ProFusion provides vital business intelligence to impact everything from strategy to L&D investment, through a comprehensive and holistic view of all employee IT certifications, skills, and capabilities.

BRACKNELL, UK, 28th June 2022 — Vortex 6, a leading cloud and services solutions provider, today announced the launch of V6 ProFusion to help businesses better manage their employees’ certifications in one simple, intuitive platform. ProFusion gives organizations a comprehensive view of their skills taxonomy, capturing certifications and skills information utilizing HR, vendor, and employee-sourced data to give a complete, and continually updated, view of the entire IT talent pool’s capabilities

Developed in conjunction with two leading global technology vendors and service providers, today the platform is used to manage and report on over 140,000 employees worldwide who combined hold almost half a million certifications across 380 individual vendors.

Peter Olive, founder and CEO at Vortex 6, said, “Since implementing ProFusion within our global early adopter partners, we now understand their difficulties in maintaining certification records. The challenge of maintaining a continually updated understanding of IT certifications held by employees is common across organizations of all sizes, especially within the IT sector and for other sectors that rely on certified talent to deliver their products and services.”

He added, “Frequently, companies have an incomplete picture of their employee capabilities, and struggle to keep the data current and accurate. ProFusion seamlessly captures certifications that have been sponsored by their employer, in addition to capturing those certifications gained at previous employers or that have been self-funded. This gives a truly comprehensive understanding of the total knowledge and skills assets of their employees.”

With expertise in the field of simplifying vendor engagement, improving efficiency, removing risk, and increasing income and profitability for businesses, Vortex 6 simplifies the challenging task of managing employee certifications for businesses in a quantifiable way. Many companies struggle with manual data collection methods, including CV scanning and surveying employees. ProFusion also provides employees with a complete and structured view of their certifications that ensures data integrity.

The Vortex 6 philosophy is to demonstrate ROI derived from its platforms and ProFusion impacts many areas of an organization including business strategy, vendor compliance, rebate optimization, competitor differentiation, productivity and efficiencies gains, optimization of L&D investment and employee retention and engagement.

In a recent implementation of ProFusion within a UK-based business, visibility of certifications across 250 employees almost doubled. Over just an 8-week period from the start of implementation, ProFusion uncovered an abundance of skills and certifications that were previously unknown and provided intelligence that could be used to create business value almost immediately.

To find out more about V6 ProFusion, and how it can help a business transform its skills taxonomy, visit https://www.vortex6.com/profusion/.

IT Services, News

USU provides comprehensive IT service management solution for SMS group

Möglingen, June 27, 2022 The SMS group, a leading international provider in the area of metallurgical plant engineering, has opted for the solution provided by USU IT Service Management (ITSM). It is aiming to centralize, manage and further automate IT service processes as part of its group-wide IT reorganization. The solution will replace an SAP-based asset and service system that was developed in-house, covered only sub-areas and no longer met current requirements to which international companies are subject in relation to fully integrated service processes with up-to-date usability.

USU was chosen after a thorough market evaluation by the expert partner responsible, ORBIT, due to the range and depth of functions provided by the modular, scalable USU solution. USU experts were able to professionally implement all use cases as part of a proof of concept. As well as the traditional ITSM modules, the integration of IT financial management and the option to implement the solution for software asset management in the future were particularly important. This guaranteed the level of planning certainty and future reliability required.

The first phase of the project is primarily to implement the asset, configuration management, service request and change management disciplines. At the same time, the software asset management project is to be launched by the end of the year. The expansion phase will begin when the new computer center opens in 2023, and will see the implementation of incident, problem, financial management and self service.

IT Services, IT Support, Telecoms

SA1 Solutions embarks on new chapter of expansion with senior hire

SA1 Solutions, a leading IT and communications company based in South Wales, has embarked on a new chapter of growth and expansion with more new hires, as it reaps the rewards of changes to its offering made during the pandemic and other investments in the business.

The business has appointed Owen Price as Sales Manager. His role will be to further push SA1’s unique offering as a one-stop shop to organisations across the UK, helping further integrate the different aspects of the business, which comprise: SA1 Solutions, its IT arm; SA1 Telecoms, its communications offering; and SA1 Creative, which offers website design and digital marketing including social media management.

Price has a wealth of experience in sales and has spent the last 10 years working within sales and recruitment for the education sector. He studied Accountancy and Finance at the University of the West of England.

SA1 has seen a great demand for its services post pandemic, especially in areas of IT security and remote working. It will now be Price’s responsibility to facilitate this growth and push SA1’s offering to a wider audience.

Owen Price, Sales Manager of SA1 Solutions, commented:

“It has been a steep learning curve, but that is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a new challenge, something that would excite me and push my capabilities. I already can see what a great service SA1 provides many organisations and just how much they have to offer any company in any sector. Their ability to cover all areas of IT is impressive and I look forward to participating to the growth of this great organisation.

“Even after only a short few months within the company, I can see that SA1 has so much to offer an organisation. SA1 is very much a group that represents a one-stop shop for any organisation as it provides IT, communications, web and digital marketing. This message is something I believe I can drive more, drive to new businesses and further drive to our existing customer base.”

Simon Ahearne, Managing Director at SA1 Solutions, added:

“At SA1 we believe more about a candidate being a right fit than their IT knowledge, we can teach someone the tech, but we need their personality to fit in well with our team first. Owen has the fundamental sales drive and ambition we were looking for in a candidate. I am looking forward to working closely with Owen, to build something special and take SA1 to the next level.”

IT Services, IT Support, Midlands, News, Technology

IT specialist issues payroll warning ahead of National Insurance changes

Businesses across Wyre Forest have been warned to update their payroll systems and software ahead of July changes to the National Insurance regime.

The timely alert has come from local IT and payroll specialist Susan Marlow who says she fears many businesses in the county are yet to revise their in-house systems despite the planned uplift to the National Insurance Primary Threshold and Lower Profit Limits – both of which will impact on worker’s wages.

Ms Marlow, managing director at Kidderminster-based IT and software provider Minster Micro, says employers must plan and implement the changes now, or face seeing an “administration nightmare” this summer.

The changes, which come into force on 6 July, were announced in March in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement as part of the Government’s tax plan to support the UK’s economy.

Under the new rules, there will be increases to the National Insurance Primary Threshold for Class 1 National Insurance Contributions, and also the Lower Profits Limit for Class 4 contributions. The move will align them with the equivalent income associated to the tax personal allowance which is set at £12,570 per year.

Susan said: “The Government is doing all it can to claw back losses following the devasting Covid pandemic and one of those solutions is to amend National Insurance which will essentially see millions of people paying more contributions.

“What I am concerned about is that the 6 July deadline is quickly creeping up and it’s clear from the business networks I am speaking to that they aren’t prepared – meaning that wages and deductions could be incorrect and cause unnecessary financial pain for employees.

“Essentially incorrect data would mean a huge administration nightmare for any company, large or small, so my advice is to take extra care to ensure their payroll systems and software are capable of adjusting to the change.”

Minster Micro Computers has more than 40 years’ experience in ERP and payroll systems and have delivered numerous payroll-related seminars. Supporting a range of business sectors, the company is an accredited provider of Pegasus business software.

The firm supplies payroll software, training and implementation as well as IT support services.

Businesses looking for advice on updating their payroll systems in preparation for the 6 July changes can email sales@minstermicro.co.uk or telephone 01562 68211.

IT Services

Survey Reveals Resiliency Remains Elusive for Organizations

71% of US companies cited supply chain disruption as the biggest issue; in the UK 73% Brexit remains the primary source of disruption

London, UK; June 9th 2022: Disruption remains a constant for organizations, with the majority struggling to build resiliency into their operations, a survey from Orbus Software uncovered. The poll of 1,000 IT decision-makers in the US and UK found that 89% of companies have experienced some form of disruption over the last two years. However, over half of enterprises are struggling to increase resiliency, with 44% lacking a dedicated team.

In response to the pandemic digital initiatives have accelerated for the vast majority (83%) of enterprises, with seventy-eight percent reporting dramatic changes to their business models, including 39% migrating to the cloud and almost half (44%) restructuring their teams during this period. However, despite these strategic shifts, only 36% were able to report business growth.

Those enterprises that suffered disruption experienced knock-on effects, spanning staff shortages (56%), supply chain issues and increased business costs (48%) coupled with technology costs increasing (44%). This highlights the interdependencies of organizations and the need to prioritize resiliency. Many are struggling primarily because of the complex web of disparate or legacy systems along with a lack of buy-in from management or other departments.

Looking ahead, 52% of IT decision-makers believe they need to account for regulatory changes. Among the top technology investment priorities for the remainder of 2022 were:

  • Digital privacy (37%)
  • Digital transformation (35%)
  • Cybersecurity threats (35%)
  • Business continuity (31%)

Rupert Colbourne, Chief Technology Officer of Orbus Software, commented, “With the tsunami of disruption that organizations have experienced, it’s clear that operational resiliency needs prioritizing. Without creating agility, businesses leave themselves exposed to the whims of change and can expect their operations to continue to suffer.”