Print.IT Reseller - issue 73

01732 759725 4 BULLETIN Vendors need to act The print industry channel has made it clear that more support is needed from vendors if the channel is to weather the COVID-19 storm. Respondents to the second edition of Quocirca’s study into the impact that coronavirus is having on the print sector were clear in their views on the need for vendors to act, with one participant saying that suppliers need to recognise what is going on at the coal face. 61% of channel businesses would now like financial support from vendors – up from 39% two weeks earlier. It is not just financial support that partners need. Demand for personalised guidance from vendors has risen to 27% from 9% in the first survey. Respondents recognise that enforced changes to working practices are likely to drive permanent change in the market. One respondent noted: “Print is no longer relevant to businesses. The crisis has accelerated the exit from hybrid document process to digital workflows.” However, it seems the sector’s ingenuity is still going strong, as 58% now plan to introduce new products and services to market to meet anticipated post-pandemic demand (up from 47%). Similarly, 77% see opportunities to drive innovation within their business. Quocirca Director, Louella Fernandes, said: “It is clear that, as time is passing, the scale of the pandemic’s effect on business is intensifying. We are seeing positive signs that channel partners are prepared to adapt their strategies and innovate to try to mitigate the effects of the situation, but also that they need help from vendors to do this. We have seen some vendors detailing support plans, but channel partners will be looking for more to lend their support before the worst is past.” www.quocirca.com Passwords on the rise According to the 2020 Thales Access Management Index nearly one-third of organisations in Europe and the Middle East still see usernames and passwords as one of the most effective means to protect access to their IT infrastructure, two years after the inventor of the complex static password admitted they don’t work. Surveying 400 IT decision-makers across Europe and the Middle East, the research found that the majority (57%) of IT professionals revealed that unprotected infrastructure is one of the biggest targets for cyber-attacks. With the COVID-19 global pandemic causing many companies to work from home, IT departments are battling to provide employees with both security and convenience. Over two- thirds (67%) of European IT leaders say their security teams feel under pressure to provide convenient access to applications and cloud services for users, but still maintain security – an indication they’re struggling to balance their digital transformation and security priorities. To this end, 96% believe that strong authentication and access management solutions can facilitate secure cloud adoption. Over three-quarters (76%) also revealed employee authentication needs to be able to support secure access to a broad range of services including virtual private networks and cloud applications. While some organisations still rely on legacy authentication methods like usernames and passwords, growing awareness of the threats is prompting action with almost all (94%) organisations having changed their security policies around access management in the last 12 months. Staff training on security and access management (47%), increasing spend on access management (43%), and access management becoming a board priority (37%), have all seen an increased focus. This is set to pay off in compliance terms too, with nearly all (98%) European respondents admitting controlling who has access to their company’s data. This will help them meet data regulation requirements like GDPR. www.thalesgroup.com Should people in IT be getting more sleep? Figures published by Core, revealed that three-quarters of IT professionals are suffering from sleep deprivation since the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the workplace. 71% of IT workers are getting less than two hours a day of ‘genuine downtime’ and 29% are now finding their jobs ‘too stressful’. To alleviate the pressure being exerted on IT teams, a range of solutions were proposed in the report, such as updating as much as possible to a cloud environment and reducing the amount of time IT teams are spending on maintaining outdated legacy systems. However, according to eacs, the role that managed services could play cannot be overstated enough, as finding the right partner can take the pressure off overworked IT teams, while also giving them the tools to get on with what they do best – using the latest technologies to drive their business forward. COO Stuart Dickinson, said: “As the lockdown eases, one way that business can lift any extra weight is by moving to a managed services model. Although there are other options at the disposal of businesses, such as ensuring staff have a clear-cut work/life balance, making the shift to managed services has the potential to immediately transform the job satisfaction of currently overworked and overburdened IT staff. After all, if staff are happier, more productive, performing better and adding greater value, businesses will soon be able to reap the rewards.” www.core.co.uk AWARDS 2020 ENTRIES & VOTING NOW OPEN www.printitawards.co.uk

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