PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Five for Friday is a weekly feature to give a brief roundup of our top five stories from the week that you might have missed. Think we left anything out? Let us know your favourite stories of the week by pinging us a tweet @pcr_online.
Security dominates in global software sales
yber security has emerged as the area that businesses have spent the most on in 2017, a new report claims.
According to ecommerce leader 2Checkout’s First Half 2017 benchmark report on Digital Commerce Trends in Software & Online Services Sales, security and privacy products have accounted for over 30 per cent of online sales. This is perhaps unsurprising given the prevalence of high profile security breaches such as WannaCry, Petya, Goldeneye and Equifax in the news and public consciousness.
Following in second place with 23 per cent is multimedia and design software (which includes audio-visual tools, such as those produced by Adobe) and online services sit in third at 20 per cent. Other categories tracked in the report include utilities, marketing tools, web tools, office tools and development tools.
UK online retail sales up 14 per cent but electrical sector is struggling
Online retail sales in the UK grew by some 14 per cent for the month of September year-on-year, according to latest figures by IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. And despite being the third-strongest growth rate seen thus far in 2017, industry experts have pointed out that not all sectors are doing so well.
The electricals sector suffered its first negative year-on-year growth , down 5.6 per cent for the month of September. It marked the sixth consecutive month of negative growth for this sector, which may be experiencing the impact of inflation more notably than some other sectors due to the relatively high cost of products. Several electrical manufacturers have already signalled that they have had to raise prices in response to inflation, which may be leading shoppers to wait until Black Friday to make more expensive purchases.
British CSP Calligo acquires Canadian service provider
Jersey-based cloud solution provider Calligo has acquired Canadian cloud service provider 3 Peaks. The acquisition of the Vancouver-based business is the latest step in Calligo’s ongoing expansion. Just last month, the British CSP announced the acquisition of AMS Systems PSF, a highly respected Luxembourg based IT Services business that provides managed services and cloud infrastructure to the financial services sector.
Founded in 2011, Calligo provides trusted, privacy-conscious cloud solutions to businesses across the globe. Calligo’s emphasis on GDPR services and data residency enables clients to leverage the advantages of combining innovative Cloud technologies, unrivalled expertise and a commitment to the highest level of standards based compliance and privacy. The business services hundreds of clients worldwide from its locations in United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, Switzerland, Singapore, Bermuda and now Luxembourg.
Tech Data’s accountancy firm fined £1.8 million
London-based professional services firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young) has been fined £1.8 million for misconduct around its audit of Tech Data’s British unit.
According to the Financial Times, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) – the UK’s accounting watchdog – fined the accountancy firm, along with former partner Julian Gray, for failings in the company’s dealings with the distie. It’s not specified just what these failings were, but the Council uncovered financial improprieties at its British arm in 2013.
EY was initially fined £2.75 million, but that has been reduced to £1.8 million after being adjusted and discounted for settlement. The FT reports that EY will pay £225,000 in legal costs and that Gray’s fine was reduced from £90,000 to £59,000.
Micron announces new executive vice president
Component vendor Micron has announced the appointment of Manish Bhatia as executive vice president of Global Operations. He will report directly to Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO.
In his new role, Bhatia will be responsible for driving Micron’s end-to-end operations, including the company’s global manufacturing fab footprint, back-end assembly and test operations. In addition, he will also oversee the firm’s supply chain planning and fulfillment, procurement, quality and IT teams. The company says that this new Global Operations organisation aims to enhance Micron’s agility and responsiveness to meet customer requirements through a tighter coordination and alignment of these critical business functions.
Bhatia has over 22 years of engineering and operations experience, including the last 17 years in the semiconductor industry. He most recently served as the executive vice president of Silicon Operations at Western Digital Corporation. Prior to that, Bhatia held several executive roles at SanDisk Corporation and was the company’s EVP of Worldwide Operations when it was acquired by Western Digital. Before moving to SanDisk, Bhatia’s career included positions at Matrix Semiconductor, McKinsey & Company and Saint Gobain Corporation.
