Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia has stepped down from her role as Salesforce’s UK Chief Executive, calling time on the former Virgin Money boss’ brief six-month stint in the job.

Announcing the change, the US software giant said Gadhia had made the decision to focus on her price comparison startup Snoop, which recently won financial backing from Salesforce’s venture investing division, but will remain as an adviser to the firm.

Paul Smith, executive vice president and general manager for Salesforce UK and Ireland, will now take on the business responsibilities in the region, the company confirmed.

“I would like to thank Jayne-Anne for her vision and passion in leading Salesforce UK and Ireland,” said Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO. “We look forward to continuing to work with her in her role as a strategic advisor to Salesforce and wish Snoop enormous success.”

Gadhia co-founded Virgin Direct in 1995 and became CEO of Virgin Money back in 2007, spending the next 11 years at the business. She joined Salesforce on 1 October last year, tasked with leading the firm’s UK&I business through the next stage of its growth, and was recognised in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list for her contribution to financial services and women in the finance sector.

As reported by City A.M., Gadhia had turned down a prospective role at the Bank of England to lead Salesforce’s UK arm, following the launch of a $2.5 billion investment programme as part of its commitment to the country.

Gadhia said she will now be focusing her time on comparison start-up Snoop – which has hit the ground running since its inception back in February – but will remain on hand in an advisory role.

“Snoop launched last month and has exceeded our highest expectations in all respects,” she commented. “As a result, I am delighted to be able to focus my efforts on making Snoop an enormous success and on making all of our customers better off.

“My thanks go to Salesforce and to Marc Benioff for supporting me in this decision. I look forward to working with both Marc and Salesforce in a senior advisory role.”

The development follows the recent promotion of former BT chief executive Gavin Patterson to the role of president and chief executive of Salesforce International.

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia has stepped down from her role as Salesforce’s UK Chief Executive, calling time on the former Virgin Money boss’ brief six-month stint in the job.

Announcing the change, the US software giant said Gadhia had made the decision to focus on her price comparison startup Snoop, which recently won financial backing from Salesforce’s venture investing division, but will remain as an adviser to the firm.

Paul Smith, executive vice president and general manager for Salesforce UK and Ireland, will now take on the business responsibilities in the region, the company confirmed.

“I would like to thank Jayne-Anne for her vision and passion in leading Salesforce UK and Ireland,” said Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO. “We look forward to continuing to work with her in her role as a strategic advisor to Salesforce and wish Snoop enormous success.”

Gadhia co-founded Virgin Direct in 1995 and became CEO of Virgin Money back in 2007, spending the next 11 years at the business. She joined Salesforce on 1 October last year, tasked with leading the firm’s UK&I business through the next stage of its growth, and was recognised in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list for her contribution to financial services and women in the finance sector.

As reported by City A.M., Gadhia had turned down a prospective role at the Bank of England to lead Salesforce’s UK arm, following the launch of a $2.5 billion investment programme as part of its commitment to the country.

Gadhia said she will now be focusing her time on comparison start-up Snoop – which has hit the ground running since its inception back in February – but will remain on hand in an advisory role.

“Snoop launched last month and has exceeded our highest expectations in all respects,” she commented. “As a result, I am delighted to be able to focus my efforts on making Snoop an enormous success and on making all of our customers better off.

“My thanks go to Salesforce and to Marc Benioff for supporting me in this decision. I look forward to working with both Marc and Salesforce in a senior advisory role.”

The development follows the recent promotion of former BT chief executive Gavin Patterson to the role of president and chief executive of Salesforce International.

HPE has expanded its Small Business Solutions portfolio with the new ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus, which the company claims provide industry-leading capabilities that will help SMBs drive growth and digital transformation.

Designed to address businesses’ budget, IT and special business needs, the system offers automation, remote management, security capabilities, as well as Intel Pentium and Intel Xeon E processors.

Customers can use the new MicroServer, which is the size of a typical hardback text book, for less than $20 per month. And HPE says the offering is as easy to set up as a smartphone. In fact, the new offering weighs in at just 10 pounds and is a third of the size of existing server market products, the tech firm added.

“We are committed to helping small businesses innovate, serve their customers, and drive growth and digital disruption by empowering them with enterprise-class technologies that uniquely address their needs for IT expertise, budget and space,” said Tim Peters, vice president and general manager at Global SMB & Mid-Market, HPE.

“The design of our latest HPE MicroServer and strategic pricing model was inspired by our SMB customers to meet their expectations for the most economical, secure and easy-to-manage solutions that supports their entire business operation.”

The new ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus offers a range of capabilities that HPE said enable faster performance, data protection, automation and ease-of-management. For starters, the inclusion of Intel Pentium or Intel Xeon E delivers compute support for virtualisation and database workloads but registers at just 36 decibels for versatile placement.

The system is also the first ProLiant MicroServer – and the industry’s only server family – to provide the HPE-exclusive silicon root of trust technology, the company explained, which extends security protection at the silicon level.

Users can also use cloud-based AI management tool HPE InfoSIght for Servers, HPE Integrated Lights Out 5 (iLo5) for remote management, as well as flexible options for both in-office operations and the cloud.

“SMBs are looking for easy-to-manage solutions that can scale as needed. Solutions, such as this one from HPE, addresses this demand with small businesses by delivering enterprise-grade technologies, which combine servers, software, networking and cloud capabilities that are easier for small business to adopt and manage regardless of their in-house IT capabilities,” commented Shari Lava, research director, Small Medium Business (SMB) Research Program at IDC.

US tech firm Oracle has appointed former VMWare channel chief Ross Brown as vice president of its Cloud GTM division.

Despite the recent hire, Oracle has so far declined to reveal specific details surrounding the move and whether he will be directly involved with Oracle Cloud’s channel.

However, Brown’s LinkedIn profile has revealed his new position as Oracle’s Cloud chief, where he will be responsible for leading its go-to-market operations. According to the brief entry on his page, he will lead the segment from Seattle, Washington, where the firm has recently expanded its cloud infrastructure workforce.

Brown joins the business following a 20-month sabbatical. Prior to that, he held the position of senior vice president of VMWare’s WW Partners and Alliances division, where he was responsible for helping partners integrate the company’s technology into their services and solutions.

After joining the firm in August 2015, Brown was also responsible for rebuilding VMWare’s Development Fund Program, as well as developing and gaining executive and partner endorsements.

According to his LinkedIn page, his team oversaw a 30 percent increase in weekly partner deal creation rates, an increase in average deal size and a hike in partner certification investments.

Previously, he also spent four years in channel leadership at Microsoft, as well as a senior leadership stint at Citrix earlier in his career.

The appointment follows Oracle’s recent efforts to further drive adoption of its cloud infrastructure service around the world. Back in October, the firm revealed plans to expand its cloud division by up to 2,000 new employees, covering roles in cloud operations, software development, business operations and more.

“Our aggressive hiring and growth plans are mapped to meet the needs of our customers, providing them reliability, high performance, and robust security as they continue to move to the cloud,” Don Johnson, executive vice president at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, said in a statement at the time.

Spend management software provider Compleat Software has expanded its relationship with Sage, adding a new integration between iCompleat and Sage Intacct.

Designed to streamline the accounts payable process, the expanded relationship will see the firm market and sell its AI-powered iCompleat Buy to Pay service on the Sage Intacct Marketplace.

The move becomes the third integration between the two companies, following previous Sage 50 and Sage 500 additions, and forms part of Compleat’s plans to expand internationally in places such as North America and Australia.

“The simplicity, rapid deployment, increased levels of automation, and cost savings achieved when buying online makes iCompleat an asset for every business,” said Annabel Sim, VP of global sales at Compleat. “This expanded partnership will help our solution to stand out and be successfully adopted in the USA and Australia, in addition to the success achieved in the UK already.”

Initially focused on North America, Sage’s Intacct integrated services repository was recently launched in the UK and Australia and is the first and only preferred financial management service of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Compleat’s software is the first accounts payable automation add-on with a built-in online buying service available on the platform. Its latest product allows users to make Amazon Business purchases from iCompleat, enabling automated invoice matching with simple product ordering tasks.

Through AI and machine learning, the software automates the cycle of buying, invoice capture and approval processes. This increases accounts payable efficiency, the firm said, and eliminates the risk of fraud by providing full visibility and control of company spend.

“We continue to add powerful solutions to the Sage Intacct Marketplace,” commented Eileen Wiens, VP of business development for Sage Intacct. “Sage Intacct customers can now benefit from the built-in online buying functionality and Compleat’s partnership with Amazon Business which takes the Buy to Pay software functionality to a whole new level of automation and end convenience.”

Consultancy firm Ascertus has achieved all-round business growth for 2019, the company has announced, driven by a significant upsurge in customers adopting the iManage Cloud solution.

Ascertus, which provides document and lifecycle management solutions to law firms and legal departments across EMEA, said its 2019 growth includes revenue, headcount, new partnerships and expansion into Europe.

With revenue increase split equally between law firms and corporate legal departments, the company said the “key driver” for its progress was a 34% increase in customers moving to the iManage Cloud.

“The cloud has truly come into its own as a technology deployment platform,” commented Jon Wainwright, sales director at Ascertus. “In 2019 we have seen major take up of iManage Cloud by corporate legal departments of all sizes and in the law firm space, by mid-tier organisations. 

“This clearly signals a maturity in mindset – cost isn’t the only consideration for cloud adoption, elements such as disaster recovery, in-built security and the advantages of always being on the latest version of the solution has been deemed more important. We see this trend and line of thought across Europe.”

Ascertus has strengthened its presence in mainland Europe – particularly in Ireland and the Nordic countries – as well as made inroads in the pharmaceutical, finance and insurance sectors. 

In the last year, the company has struck partnerships with Xakia, a provider of matter management systems for in-house legal departments, managed printer services supplier DMC Canotec, as well as timekeeping software provider Smart Time. 

Headcount has also increased by 15% in key roles such as professional services, support, pre-sales and training, which the firm says are key to ensuring superior client service and customised and efficient solution delivery. 

Ascertus added that In 2020 it aims to further improve the services and support it provides to its existing clients, highlighting an incoming new client portal which will be supported by collaboration and secure file-sharing platform Hubshare.

“Our aim is to offer customers the most comprehensive set of solutions across the document and information management lifecycle and so although iManage is our key business partner, we are always looking to strengthen our relationships with our other current partners, plus enter into meaningful partnerships with suppliers of complementary solutions,” Wainwright said. 

“This approach enables us to design and tailor solutions that are best suited to customers’ business requirements.” 

Cloud software provider IGEL has teamed up with Citrix and Ingram Micro to launch a new software bundle that will simplify user access to Azure-delivered cloud workspaces.

The package includes “best-in-breed” products from both IGEL and Citrix that will simplify the delivery of high performance end user computing with “anywhere access” in the cloud, IGEL said.

Ideal for businesses needing to address aging Windows 7 endpoints before support ends on 14 January 2020, the unified solution simplifies the migration of Windows desktops to Azure — allowing them to realise the benefits of Windows 10 without the usual migration pain points.

“With our combined solution, IGEL, Citrix and Ingram Micro are making it easy to streamline end user computing in Azure to power cloud-based Windows Virtual Desktops that will simplify endpoint management, improve security, lower costs and keep workers productive,” said Jed Ayres, president and CEO of IGEL North America.

“And for those who have already moved to Windows 10, they too can easily migrate those desktops to the cloud, with this combined offer virtually eliminating all the headaches associated with managing and maintaining hundreds or thousands of endpoints running full-blown Windows.”

With the new bundle, organisations can leverage public cloud desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) workspaces from the Azure cloud in the form of Windows Virtual Desktops (WVDs).

Businesses will have access to the Citrix Workspace platform for managing and automating activities across all locations and devices, as well as IGEL’s Workspace Edition software which combines the IGEL OS and its Universal Management Suite (UMS) for endpoint control.

The combined solution is available exclusively via distributor Ingram Micro now, delivered as single offering to further streamline the adoption of WVD DaaS workspaces.

“This new offer from Ingram Micro combines the unique strengths of both Citrix and IGEL to enable organisations to realise the full benefits of Windows 10 without the typical pain of migration,” commented Nabeel Youakim, vice president of Product and Solutions Architecture at Citrix. “In particular, the new Windows 10 multi-session entitlements of Windows Virtual Desktops offer easy access to Windows 10 along with great economy for those looking to move to the Azure cloud.

“With Ingram Micro’s new offer, Citrix and IGEL are playing a key role in making Windows 10 from the cloud the new reality.”

Kaspersky has expanded the protections it offers Office 365‘s Exchange Online to also include Microsoft’s storage service OneDrive, in a move designed to help businesses store and share files safely in the cloud, the security company revealed on Friday.

Users will now be better protected against the threat of malware infiltrating the storage service, spreading across their corporate networks and jeopardising sensitive data and overall workflow.

According to Kaspersky’s recent research, 66% of office workers struggle to remember what they have stored in shared folders, ultimately increasing the chances of missing suspicious files or infected emails.

The antimalware service’s multiple layers of protection have been designed to prevent this scenario, thanks to the inclusion of signature-based detection, heuristic and behavioural analysis, as well as the latest threat intelligence to help tackle both known and zero-day threats.

The freshly-bolstered security package detects suspicious content within the storage space and can immediately delete an infected file before it spreads any further, Kaspersky said.

“Shared storage options, such as OneDrive, are popular and widely used business tools. But if employees can have instant and easy access to shared files, then so too can malware,” said Sergey Martsynkyan, head of B2B product marketing at Kaspersky.

“Businesses need to understand this risk and ensure they are not compromising their productivity due to cyberthreats, by protecting their data and workflows. Our product provides such protection for Microsoft Office 365, allowing companies to use its collaborative features and focus on day-to-day operations, rather than worrying about the security of their data.”

Kaspersky also revealed that Security for SharePoint will be the next feature to be added to its Microsoft 365 security package, as it aims to better-protect content management and team workflows.

The addition will allow customers to leverage more benefits of the Microsoft solutions without the concern of threats to communications and business data, the company said.

The infrastructure as a service (IaaS) market grew by 31.3% in 2018, the latest research from Gartner has revealed, rising from $24.7 billion in 2017 to $32.4 billion.

According to the research firm, Amazon continued to lead from the front last year, retaining its status as the number one vendor in the IaaS market, followed by Microsoft, Alibaba, Google and IBM.

In fact, the top five vendors increased their collective dominance, accounting for almost 77% of the worldwide market compared to less than 73% back in 2017.

“Despite strong growth across the board, the cloud market’s consolidation favours the large and dominant providers, with smaller and niche providers losing share,” commented Sid Nag, research vice president at Gartner. “This is an indication that scalability matters when it comes to the public cloud IaaS business.

“Only those providers who invest capital expenditure in building out data centres at scale across multiple regions will succeed and continue to capture market share. Offering rich feature functionality across the cloud technology stack will be the ticket to success, as well.”

Gartner added that market consolidation will continue through 2019, driven by the continued high rate of growth for the top providers. From 2017 to 2018, these big-name vendors experienced aggregate growth of 39% compared with 11% for all other providers for the period.

“Consolidation will occur as organisations and developers look for standardised, broadly supported platforms for developing and hosting cloud applications,” Nag said.

Accounting for almost half the global IaaS market alone, market leader Amazon racked up an estimated $15.5 billion of revenue in 2018, up 27% from the previous year, as it continues to “aggressively” expand into new IT markets via new services, acquisitions and growth of its core cloud business.

For the second-placed Microsoft, which delivers its IaaS capabilities via its Azure offering, revenue surpassed $5 billion last year, up from the $3.1 billion recorded in 2017.

Elsewhere, China’s dominant IaaS provider Alibaba Cloud recorded the strongest growth out of the big five vendors, expanding by 92.6% in 2018. Having built up an ecosystem of MSPs and independent software vendors, its success has been driven by aggressive R&D investment in its portfolio of offerings, with the firm also boasting the financial capacity to continue this trend and invest in global expansion.

Google placed in the fourth spot, growing 60.2% in revenue from 2017, with Gartner suggesting its cloud offering is “something to keep an eye on” thanks to its new leadership focus on customers and the enterprise.

“As the cloud business continues to gather momentum and hyperscale cloud providers consolidate the market, product managers at cloud MSPs must look at other ways to differentiate, such as focusing on vertical industries and getting certified in the hyperscale cloud provider partner programmes in order to drive revenue,” Nag commented.

The benefits of the cloud are still not living up to UK firms’ expectations, according to research.

Less than half (44%) of companies surveyed say the flexibility of the cloud has matched their expectations, followed by improved security (43%) and efficiencies (31%), the research – which was carried out by Research Without Barriers (RWB) – found. 

Just 19% of businesses believe cloud mobility is delivering on expectations, while a further 19% say the cloud has given them a greater user experience. Additionally, a strikingly-low 13% also say it supports business innovation.

“The cloud is fast becoming the preferred choice for positive digital disruption, but it seems it’s not giving businesses what they want on a number of levels,” said Jon Wrennall, CTO at digital software and services provider Advanced, which commissioned the research. The study forms part of the firm’s 2019 Digital Business Report, which surveyed more than 500 senior decision makers spanning small, medium and large businesses throughout the UK. 

“This is a concern simply because the cloud can – and should – deliver these benefits and more.”

At a time when cloud spending continues to be on the rise, according to Gartner, the survey also found that only 50% of respondents believe the cloud should be “inherent in all business software their organisation uses.”

“It begs the question: are organisations being distracted by hyped-up cloud tools over prioritising software that is relevant to their own unique needs? And are they not being given the right third-party support to realise the cloud’s value?” Wrennall added. 

“The right strategy and guidance will help organisations get the maximum benefits from the cloud as well as dictate what business functions they should migrate to the cloud because, in certain cases, some functions are actually best kept on-premise.”

Large businesses are also utilising a range of tools to improve efficiencies spanning CRM and ERP. 

Some 63% said their organisation should be using multiple software solutions to run their operations – as opposed to a single, unified platform – citing the unique requirements of different departments (63%), increased flexibility this offers (53%) and the lower risk of failure (38%).

Less than half (47%) of smaller businesses said its various department needs can be met by a single solution.

However, Wrennell added that multiple software solutions – whether cloud-based or on-premise – must be integrated to “truly improve business performance and productivity.”

Survey respondents agree with the sentiment, too, with 70% reporting that a lack of integration between business software is holding them back from achieving successful digital transformation.