Technology Reseller - v17 2019

Cyber insurance policies flawed Mactavish, the insurance governance expert, warns that most ‘off-the-shelf’ cyber insurance policies have serious flaws and, in the event of a claim, are likely to be disputed and pay out much less than expected. Its analysis of 30 UK cyber policies highlights seven common flaws: 1 Cover can be limited to events triggered by attacks or unauthorised activity, excluding cover for issues caused by accidental errors or omissions; 2 Data breach costs can be limited – e.g. covering only costs that the business is strictly legally required to incur (as opposed to much greater costs which would be incurred in practice); 3 Systems interruption cover can be limited to the brief period of actual network interruption, providing no cover for the more significant knock-on revenue impact in the period after IT systems are restored but the business is still disrupted; 4 Cover for systems delivered by outsourced service providers (many businesses’ most significant exposure) varies significantly and is often limited or excluded; 5 Exclusions for software in development or systems being rolled out are common and can be unclear or, in the worst cases, exclude events relating to any recently updated systems; 6 Where contractors cause issues (e.g. a data breach) but the business is legally responsible, policies will sometimes not respond; and 7 Notification requirements are often complex and onerous. Mactavish advises organisations of all sizes on their insurance requirements and recently launched a Cyber Risk Consulting Practice to help clients understand their exposure to cyber risks and source appropriate insurance cover. Its free report can be accessed at https://mactavishgroup.com/services/ research/cyber-risk-insurance-report/ Cyber security event Taking place at the Royal Garden Hotel, London on March 14, Channel-Sec 2019 highlights the growing cyber-threat facing businesses and the opportunities this presents to resellers, VARs, systems integrators, ISVs and managed service providers. Speakers include dark web expert Jamie Bartlett and Talal Rajab, Head of Programme for techUK’s Cyber and National Security programmes. www.channel-sec.com NEWS : TRENDS 01732 759725 04 The traditional sourcing market in 2018 contracted by 27% in the UK and by 6% in EMEA, as political and economic uncertainty, including Brexit, undermined business confidence. Analysis by Information Services Group (ISG) shows that the UK’s traditional sourcing market has slumped since the Brexit vote. Before June 2016, there were an average of three € 800 million quarters for traditional sourcing every year. Since the vote, there has been just one (Q1 2017). However, the latest EMEA ISG Index shows that the decline in traditional sourcing has been more than offset by a 48% increase in as-a-service annual contract value (ACV) in EMEA, leading to overall market growth of 9% in 2018. The rise in cloud services and as-a- service sourcing – which now accounts for 38% of total ACV for EMEA – continues to be driven by strong demand for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), both of which grew by more than 40% in 2018. Steve Hall, partner and president of ISG, expects demand for IaaS and SaaS to remain strong as enterprises continue to prioritise digital transformation. He said: “Despite ongoing political and economic uncertainty in Europe and resulting business caution, companies are making significant investment in digital technologies to improve their ability to compete and to engage with their customers. This is a clear testament that the tailwinds of digital transformation are stronger than the headwinds of political and economic issues. “We believe the industry will see an accelerating growth trend in 2019, driven by a growing appetite for digital transformation, even in the face of unforeseen macro-economic challenges.” Even though traditional sourcing declined in the UK, DACH region and France, there were increases in other parts of EMEA, including the Nordics, which saw a 20% increase in traditional sourcing, Southern Europe, Africa/Middle East and Russia/Eastern Europe. The EMEA ISG Index measures commercial outsourcing contracts with an annual contract value (ACV) of € 4 million. www.isg-one.com Sourcing market slumps Steve Hall Another year of growth for IT distribution After a strong 12 months, experts are predicting continued channel growth in 2019, with new opportunities created by digital transformation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution outweighing the negative impact of macroeconomic headwinds, including Brexit. In its new report, Technology and Channel Predictions 2019 , IT market intelligence company CONTEXT warns that year-on-year growth in the IT distribution channel will start to slow in Q2 2019 as Brexit impacts demand in EU economies. For 2019 as a whole, it is predicting year-on-year growth of 3%-6%, compared to 6.7% in 2018 (8.7% in the UK). CONTEXT is urging channel players to ensure they have contingency plans and adequate stock in place in the event of a no-deal Brexit and to make sure budgets cover any temporary downturn in revenues caused by social upheaval like the French gilets jaunes protests. It also warns that price pressure from etailers could lead to further industry consolidation. On a more positive note, CONTEXT points out that digital transformation offers a great opportunity for channel organisations to drive growth by meeting growing demand for secure solutions, hybrid cloud and hyper-converged infrastructure, whilst evolving their own value propositions to align with new consumption models. Meanwhile, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will bring continued growth opportunities in areas such as AI, IoT, 3D printing and autonomous vehicles. Nick Westcott, UK & Ireland Country Manager at CONTEXT, said: “Brexit is making any accurate predictions about UK performance extremely difficult, although all European markets are likely to continue with positive channel growth this year, even if some — like France, Spain and the UK — don’t quite match their strong 2018 numbers. For those distributors ambitious and agile enough to support their partners’ and customers’ digital transformation requirements, there are gains to be made in cloud, hyper-convergence, cybersecurity and solutions that deliver on the promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” www.contextworld.com MARKET SNAPSHOT CONTEXT CYBER RISK & INSURANCE REPORT NOVEMBER2018