Posted by Richard Strange on Mon, May 06, 2013 @ 09:00 AM
Network Group held its annual headline event, the Gala Awards Dinner and Exhibition last Thursday 2nd May 2013. Sponsored by Symantec, the event brought together members to share best practice, learn about new technology, and reward those partners that excelled in their support of the Group over the year.
The exhibition and event took place at the prestigious Whittlebury Hall in Northamptonshire, and was followed by a Black Tie Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony hosted by Kevin Johns and entertainment by Nina Conti. Nine break-out sessions during the day gave members a chance to engage with vendors and discuss key market trends and developments in retail, cloud solutions, e-commerce and managed print.
The exhibition was followed by an awards ceremony, and Wayne Cockerill, Group Chairman said: 'It gave me great pleasure to host a perfect evening of reward and recognition for all those that helped the Group to deliver 21% growth against a market that continues to be fiercely competitive and very challenging. The awards are voted for by members and demonstrate invaluable contribution to the group’s strategic growth. We are looking forward to continuing to offer our partners added value from Network Group next year with plans in place for more recruitment, grow our business, and continue to embrace new and emerging technologies. On a lighter note, the memory of our Purchasing Director Paul Rambridge on stage with Nina Conti is one I will never forget, my sides still ache from laughter!'
A raffle, from gifts kindly provided from vendors, distributors and partners, raised over £2,500 for Marie Curie Cancer which Network chose to support this year. Once again, the Network Group proved that it can celebrate success in style.
The winners of the 2013 Network Group Awards are;
Posted by Richard Strange on Wed, Mar 27, 2013 @ 12:00 PM
Following the growth of Network Group’s Managed Print Services Business that grew a whopping 459% last year, they have recently appointed David Tulip to lead the groups MPS offering. David will be responsible for supporting the group’s Business to Business resellers in developing MPS into their managed services in terms of strategy, systems, technology and marketing.
For the last three years, David has been at Karlson UK, comes to the group with over fifteen years’ experience in MPS solutions. Tulip says “I’ll be drawing on my past experience of running the Profit & Loss for the IT division of a Print/Copy organisation, the Network Group and MPS marketplace knowledge to help the members develop their offerings and secure valuable recurring revenues. What is exciting is that overnight we become a credible player in this marketplace with immediate national coverage.”
Wayne Cockerill, Group Chairman said: ‘This is an exciting year for Network Group as we continue with our ambitious growth plans. The addition of David to our team is further evidence of the success of NG in what has been a difficult few years for the channel. This adds further to our plans for a successful 2013.’
David will be working closely with MD Phylip Morgan who is delighted to have him join the NG team. “David is enthusiastic, driven and has a wealth of experience in the MPS market having consulted with SME through to multi-national clients. We’re delighted to have him join our team and drive forward the NG’s MPS offering; with his help we’re certain this will be another record year for us”.
Posted by Phylip Morgan on Wed, Mar 20, 2013 @ 09:30 AM
Over twenty companies across the technology and computing channel have become finalists for the 2013 Network Group Awards. Find the full list below.
The annual Gala & Awards take place on Thursday May 2nd at the prestigious Whittelebury Hall Hotel in Northamptonshire.
With the finalists now decided, the Network Group Members will be voting for the winners that will be revealed on the night. There are two exceptions – the "Outstanding Contribution" and "Personality of the Year" award will be voted for by the NG Executive Team.
Here is the full list of companies, people and products that are up for an Award:
Business to Business Reseller of the Year
Aindale BMS
Micro Plus Computers
Sweethaven Computers
Tandem Solutions Group
Retailer of the Year
Netgear
Pudsey Computers
Sweethaven Computers
Vendor of the Year
Bullguard
GFI Max
Lenovo
Samsung
Specialist Vendor of the Year
AutoTask
GFI Max
Infocap Power Retrieve
WASP Barcode
Distributor of the Year
EntaTech
Ingram Micro
Micro-P
Midwich
Distribution Account Manager of the Year
Carol Perry - EntaTech
Lee Reed - Ingram Micro
Lloyd Platt - Midwich
Mike Harris - Micro-P
Vendor Account Manager of the Year
Chris Berntsen - Lenovo
Jim Harrower - GFI
Tim Bedward - Epson
Product of the Year
Apple iPad Mini
Microsoft Windows 8
Samsung CLX 9000 Series A3 Multi-Function Printer
Posted by Richard Strange on Fri, Mar 15, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
Two Network Members picked up the prestigious "Frontline" Awards at last nights PCR Awards in Central London.
Kilmarnock based Utopia Computers continued their success taking home the Independent Retailer award for a third time. Whilst the Reseller Award went to Wyvern Business Systems based in Hereford.
The PCR Awards are one of the highlights of the IT industry calender with over 70 companies vying to win an award amongst industry peers. Picking up an award is no mean feat so congratulations to all who won!
Posted by Rebecca Robson on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 @ 10:17 AM
Our largest ever annual Road Show Exhibition took place on Wednesday 12th September, where all our members had an opportunity to meet with each other, with more of our partners than ever and most importantly to learn more about the technology that will help us all make a difference to our businesses this autumn.
The exhibition took place at the prestigious Four Pillars Hotel, where we staged a fully packed agenda that gave members the opportunity to attend a selection of expertly -hosted seminars on IT cost saving topics and solutions.
Over 40 exhibitors on the day were able to meet with members and get a flavour of why Network Group is truly the UK’s premier IT group. Some partners were happy to raise the bar and offer extra incentives to members with show specials ranging from fantastic deals, to exclusive cash backs and a number of prize draws.
As Headline sponsor Microsoft treated members to an overview of their new flagship Windows 8 operating system, the capabilities of Server 2012, and even gave us a flavour of what’s new in the Cloud.
Congratulations must go the lucky member that walked away with the ultimate prize package of kit worth over £1300 thanks to the Westcoast team and the lucky winner of a brand new iPad thanks to Brother.
Much fun was had by all at yet another highly enjoyable event with networking dinner. NG is proud that our Road Show yet again gave us all the chance to enjoy the evening in the company of resellers who certainly know how to party!
Posted by Rebecca Robson on Wed, Aug 29, 2012 @ 05:56 AM
Tandem Solutions offer a specialised Managed Print Solutions Business for both Business , Public Sector and Education. Their vision is to achieve year on year sustainable growth through a wide portfolio of innovative, customer focused products and services efficiently delivered by a professional, resourceful, accredited team with a strong culture of active communication.
In August 2011 Tandem launched a new Sales Division dedicated to selling Managed Print Solutions into Education sector in the East Midlands and East Anglia, and haven’t looked back since.
“We have now been with Tandem for just over 5 months. To date the service has been the best I have ever had in nine years at the school. The equipment is working well and since our initial order we have taken delivery of a further ten printers for use in classes. In all my dealings to date the staff has been so polite helpful and understanding even down to the engineers and backroom installers. Any small teething problems were quickly resolved without any fuss and installation was completed quickly and smoothly. I have to say that so far it’s the best move we ever made. Based on our experience to date what they say is what they do.”
Michael Fish, the Beeches Primary School
Tandem negotiated a contract with us to replace 33 x HP2600 printers with Samsung CLP620ND’s. The new contract covers all toner and support aspects of these printers. The printers are monitored off-site by Tandem and we receive replenishments of Toners in good time. In the event of a failure we hold two drop in replacement printers which are used pending repair from Tandem. To date there have been no failures. The installation was smooth and well managed. I have no hesitation in recommending the services of Tandem to others. As a company they have benefitted from the recruitment of a member of staff who used to work for Samsung [UK] who is an asset to the company and assures a good level of knowledge on the subject.
Martin Byford-Rew, Thomas Deacon Academy
Tandem specialise in Samsung’s range of Office Automation products and large format displays, and have gone from strength to strength over the last few years, having recently achieved the status of Samsung’s fastest growing partner in EMEA and become their 2nd largest Managed Print Partner in the UK.
"The partnership between TSG and Samsung continues to outperform the market in growth, the ingredients of Market leading technology from Samsung coupled with industry leading services from TSG are delivering exceptional value which customers are identifying with quickly"
DION SMITH, General Manager Imaging & Printing Group, SAMSUNG
“TSG have been the most innovative and enthusiastic route to market for the Samsung MPS offering we have seen for some time. The combination of old school hard work and new school technology and understanding proving to be a formidable combination, despite the short history of the team. TSG have achieved a top tier position within the Samsung MPS partner programme very quickly and are already expanding their offering to include the wider range of class leading solutions technology that the Samsung brand can offer. TSG are demonstrating the huge potential a strong sales team and powerful brand can deliver in the market.”
Damian Pothecary, Head of Pre-Sales (UK Print), SAMSUNG
Posted by Rebecca Robson on Wed, Aug 29, 2012 @ 03:34 AM
Network Group is the UK’s Premier IT Group for IT Resellers and Retailers. The group provides purchasing, sales, marketing and collaboration services to its members. The group currently has over 50 resellers in key geographical areas of the UK Ireland and Channel Islands. Network Group is a co-operative and is owned and run by its members. Established in 1995, the group has grown form strength to strength and even in tough economic times has grown business volumes through channel distribution.
Network group exists as a facilitation organisation for its member resellers. Our goal is to facilitate long term partnerships for our members with responsible vendors, distributors and partners. We ensure scalable profitability and sustainable competitive advantage for our members which are both professional and honourable. We work hard to build and nurture long term relationships with our channel partners to help our members grow their businesses. In addition we proactively seek to identify growth areas and establish new business opportunities to increase members business growth. NG manage the end to end vendor and distribution relationships for members and negotiate commercial terms.
By offering our partners a single point of contact to communicate with over 50 independent resellers and facilitating that partnership, we managed to grow revenue last year in one of the most challenging market conditions ever faced by the industry.
Through collaboration at one of our five annual NG events, Nov 2010 saw Managed Print Services (MPS) being identified by resellers as a key opportunity for the industry. The group commissioned the NG Team to research viable vendors and solutions that could help the groups B2B resellers take advantage of the opportunity. Following research and tender negotiations the Directors of the Network Group entered into partnership with Samsung Print.. Under this agreement Samsung share their expertise with the NG team and members of the group to help all parties deliver comprehensive and flexible Managed Print Services which cement high value, long-term relationships with each of their customers.
Some of our members really embraced MPS from the very beginning of our partnership with Samsung and that has had a huge impact on the success of their business, and that success, has helped make us very proud to have made the CRN shortlist for the coveted Channel Service Provider of the Year award.
http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2201241/channel-awards-2012-shortlist-out-now
Posted by Phylip Morgan on Wed, Jul 04, 2012 @ 10:00 PM
Whilst the UK records one of the worst summers in history, the sun came out to play today at NG's Summer Fun Event at Daytona Race Track today - well nearly. The last half our of Karting saw some great slips and slides as the rain came down.
Whilst all the NG Retailers and Resellers know how to play and party, we're serious about business too. The day kicked off at 10:00am with some presentations then straight into some Mini-Sessions where resellers discussed opportunites in small groups. The afternoon was followed by some Vendor presentations before catching the coach to Daytona Track.
The racing was fast and furious as Vendors, Distributors and Resellers all enjoyed the opporunity of racing together and settling some scores. The camera was not available to hand to catch a great moment where Wayne Giles of Personic Computers in Bristol flew of the track at around 40mph when his steering column broke. Fortunately he hit the grass not the tyres! Mark Perring MD of Valusys in Sussex was the winner of the coveted Fastest Lap award. The Winning Team was Phill Hunters Samsung MPS Team. Following the Karting, the VIP Coaches laid on took the Resellers back to the presitigious Horwood House Hotel that was hosting us for the evening with a typically english 'Indoor Barbequeue' as the rain came down!
Thanks got to all our Vendors and Distributors who presented at the meeting and sponsored Teams at NG Summer Fun. For more photos of the event please browse the album on the NG Facebook Page :
Posted by Phylip Morgan on Mon, Jun 04, 2012 @ 09:00 AM
Ben Gummer, the Member of Parliament for Ipswich has officially opened a state-of-the-art cloud datacentre for Network Group Member, Strident Computer Systems. The cloud facility, which is the first of its kind in Ipswich, will enable businesses to work in new and flexible ways whilst driving down their IT infrastructure costs.
The opening event, held at Crown House in Ipswich on 1st June, was attended by representatives from Microsoft, local businesses and regional broadband suppliers.
Speaking at the event, Ben Gummer said: “Companies like Strident are so important to the British economy because they provide the backbone to start-ups and SME's who are the motors of the British economy. I hope that this is not only a springboard for Strident in growing and becoming an even more integral part of the Ipswich and East Anglian economy but also a springboard for all the businesses using the datacentre.”
Strident’s investment in its Ipswich cloud facility will enable local businesses to access email, documents and software applications such as Microsoft Office from any device connected to the internet, helping local businesses compete in a rapidly changing business and technological environment.
Speaking of the new cloud facility, Strident managing director, Andy Pope, said: “This is not only a big step for Strident but an important move for Suffolk. We are thrilled to be laying the infrastructure foundation which will enable local companies to harness cloud technologies and thrive.”
For further information on Strident, please visit www.strident.co.uk.
Posted by Richard Strange on Wed, May 16, 2012 @ 07:05 AM
The UK’s premier IT Group, Network Group held its 3rd annual Gala Awards Dinner and Exhibition last Thursday 26th April 2012. This event brought together members to share best practice, learn about new technology, and reward those partners that excelled in their support of the Group last year.
The exhibition took place at the prestigious Oxford Belfry Hotel, and was followed by a Black Tie Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony with some truly special entertainment and guest presenters. The agenda for the event offered members the opportunity to attend a selection of expertly -hosted seminars on IT cost saving topics and solutions. As well as co-hosting the Managed Print Seminar Samsung as Headline Sponsor also treated members to an overview of their new flagship ranges.
The exhibition was followed by an awards ceremony, and Wayne Cockerill, Group Chairman said: ‘it gave me great pleasure to host a perfect evening of reward and recognition for all those that helped the Group to deliver 26% growth against a market that continues to be fiercely competitive and very challenging. The awards are voted for by members and demonstrate invaluable contribution to the group’s strategic growth. We are looking forward to continuing to offer our partners added value from Network Group next year with plans in place for more recruitment, grow our business, and continue to embrace new and emerging technologies.”
In between the awards guests were treated to some surprise entertainment that had every table up on their feet celebrating some truly exceptional singers. The Network Group once again proved that it could celebrate success in style.
The worthy winners were as follows:
- Vendor of the Year – Samsung B2B
- Reseller of the Year – Tandem Solutions Ltd
- Specialist Vendor of the Year – TP-Link
- Distributor of the Year – Micro-P
- Retailer of the Year – Box Limited
- Distribution Account Manager of the Year – Alex Reah, EntaTech
- Vendor Account Manager of the Year – Kelly Bond, Lenovo
- Product of the Year – GFI MAX
- Personality of the Year – David Dury, CompuCover
- Outstanding contribution to the Network Group – Julian Thompson, Ingram Micro