REVIEW
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Neil Langridge , marketing & alliances director, e92plus 2024 has seen growth in the expected themes of cybersecurity – ransomware, AI – plus some big shifts with new
been on the rise, but demands from insurers are increasing and guidance is needed to help ensure customers don’t have gaps in their security posture that could invalidate their cover. On a similar note, compliance demands are rising, especially with NIS2 and DORA impacting those business operating in the EU. which represent more potential to support customers through the process. AI has also moved from noise to action – while it’s not yet ubiquitous, the roll out of Copilot as part of Microsoft 365 has seen mainstream deployment in businesses, and frequently ahead of organisations realising they need a data security policy and relevant controls in place. This is partly due to pressure – Shadow IT saw everyone accessing business apps on their smartphones while organisations lagged in embracing personal devices, and we’re seeing the same with employees finding their own AI apps if they don’t get what they need from their IT teams. So while strategic plans for AI are being built, it’s essential that cybersecurity is designed into the plans alongside the rush for automation and efficiency, to avoid embarrassing data leaks from their own staff.
priorities. For e92plus, we’ve continued to see strong growth over and above the IT channel average, as more complex threats, and the increasing inclusion of cybersecurity as part of IT strategy and business continuity sees budgets remain strong. The opportunity for channel resellers and MSPs shows no sign of slowing, and we’re seeing that particularly with cloud, networking and Microsoft partners who are embracing the potential of the strong revenues and growth that can come with cybersecurity. In terms of changes, there’s a strong move towards resilience rather than simple defence. Cyberattacks, while not always succeeding, are being seen by businesses large and small, and there is an acknowledgement that no organisation is immune. Security needs to be fully embedded with corporate strategy and business continuity plans and is another opportunity for partners to add value around consultancy rather than just product sales. A perfect example is cyber insurance – it’s
Neil Langridge
e92plus.com
Richard Eglon , CMO, Nebula Global Services 2024 has been a challenging yet rewarding year for Nebula. As we pivot our business to deliver more remote and onsite managed services to our customers, we have had to make significant investments in our people, systems and processes. Any change process always puts strain on a business. However,
all aspects of the channel from vendors, disties through to MSPs and resellers, we have experienced a longer time to revenue with the end client taking longer to make decisions. As we move to a more 50/50 managed services/professional services split we also mitigate the risk on the business with longer annuity-based contracts. Meanwhile, the exponential growth of AI has resulted in more demand for data centre- related project work such as cabling, rack & stack and decomm. The growth of IoT into the business world such as physical security with the likes of Verkada has been an exciting opportunity for Nebula. I anticipate the trends of 2024 will carry on in 2025 as it feels like we are at the beginning of an exciting growth period across AI-related technology areas, whether that be cloud-based or the physical infrastructure to support it.
now we are starting to reap the rewards. This move has been in response to market dynamics where the end client is demanding 'as-an-outcome', which aligns well to our global, vendor agnostic approach to the provision of technology. In terms of trends this year, as channel firms look to reduce their overheads we are seeing more requests for the outsource of back-office services such as remote service desk, technical triage and managed cloud capabilities. As a channel services business supporting
Richard Eglon
nebulaglobalservices.com
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