Reseller News
HPE honours exceptional Kiwi ecosystem
18 awards handed out over three celebration evenings. Credit:  Reseller News
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has honoured the top-performing partners and distributors in New Zealand in a series of partner celebration evenings across Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Spanning both HPE and Aruba product portfolios, the ecosystem was acknowledged in recognition of market excellence across the country, including an Aruba Technical MVP and HPE Technical MVP award being given out in each location. “Collaboration and community are key components of success in the ever-evolving IT landscape. Our partners play a crucial role in driving innovation and growth, and we extend our sincerest gratitude for their tireless efforts,” said Craig Murphy, general manager of channels at HPE. “Congratulations to the winners for their outstanding achievements and we look forward to continued collaboration in the years to come.”
At SO/ Auckland, Datacom took home the Overall Partner of the Year honours in addition to the Hybrid Partner award, while Hybrid IT Sales MVP went to Datacom’s Chris Chester. Lexel scooped Aruba partner of the Year and ASI Solutions was acknowledged as top Growth Partner. Dicker Data was handed Distribution Partner of the Year alongside the GreenLake Partner award, while Dicker Data’s Milan Mataic was awarded HPE Technical MVP - Auckland. Further individual awards were handed to Lexel’s Justine Randall, who took home the Marketing MVP award, and Chris Denham of Finao as Aruba Technical MVP – Auckland. At Christchurch’s Mr Brightside Rooftop Bar, Cello scooped the Aruba MSP award, while Jeff Maslen of Ingram Micro was honoured as HPE Technical MVP - Christchurch and Mike Lee of Cello won the Aruba Technical MVP – Christchurch award. Finally, at Wellington’s Saint John Bar and Eatery, Spark scooped three individual awards with Aruba Sales MVP handed to Chris Henderson, Steve Platt honoured as HPE Technical MVP - Wellington, and John Caston awarded the Aruba Technical MVP – Wellington title. These awards mark a significant jump in the number of honourees, with 16 awards handed out up from 11 in 2022. Such strong recognition of HPE’s channel reflects continued growth in the local IT sector, despite the effects of challenging economic environments being felt elsewhere in the world, and sets HPE up to capitalise on continued market growth. Gartner forecasts IT spending in New Zealand to grow 6 per cent in 2023 to reach $17.6 billion, up slightly on the global growth forecast of 5.1 per cent. Of note for the channel, Gartner also forecasts a 10.4 per cent growth in IT services as organisations increase spending on digital projects. “Enterprise IT spending is recession-proof as CEOs and CFOs, rather than cutting IT budgets, are increasing spending on digital business initiatives,” Gartner research vice president John-David Lovelock said. In a downward economy, a traditional solution would be to cut costs, including IT costs. However, a July 2022 Gartner survey of more than 200 CFOs found that 69 per cent plan to increase their spend on digital technologies. Companies will use digital technologies to “reshape” their revenue streams, Lovelock said. “This trend has fed the shift from buying technology to building, composing and assembling technology to meet specific business drivers. This shift is foundational to the growth of cloud over on-premises for new IT spending,” he continued. HPE New Zealand award winners:
Aruba Partner of the Year: Lexel
Hybrid Partner of the Year: Datacom
Overall Partner of the Year: Datacom
Distribution Partner of the Year: Dicker Data
Growth Partner of the Year: ASI Solutions
Aruba MSP of the Year: Cello
GreenLake Partner of the Year: Dicker Data
Hybrid IT Sales MVP: Chris Chester, Datacom
Aruba Sales MVP: Chris Henderson, Spark
Marketing MVP: Justine Randall, Lexel
HPE Technical MVP - Auckland: Milan Mataic, Dicker Data
HPE Technical MVP - Wellington: Steve Platt, Spark
HPE Technical MVP - Christchurch: Jeff Maslen, Ingram Micro
Aruba Technical MVP - Auckland: Chris Denham, Finao
Aruba Technical MVP - Wellington: John Caston, Spark
Aruba Technical MVP - Christchurch: Mike Lee, Cello

HPE honours exceptional Kiwi ecosystem

Reseller News
How Lexel’s biggest challenge is its biggest opportunity
Lexel Systems CEO shares the ICT services and solutions provider’s growth ambitions and key solution priorities. Credit:  Supplied
Short-to-medium term growth is on the cards for Lexel Systems, with ambitions to invest in growth in both size and maturity. This is according to Noel Simpson, the the ICT services and solutions provider’s CEO, who said in regards to its staff, it's a matter of maturing and optimising what Lexel's team does and how it does it. “In terms of our team, it's a focus on developing our staff as much as maturing and optimising what we do and how we do it,” Simpson said to Reseller News. “To support our growth, we have invested significantly in marketing and stronger product development – both in new solutions and optimising existing.”
Simpson identified two key priorities for the next two quarters —  expand its managed data (SQL) capability and to continue building out its PowerBI (Reporting/PowerApp) expertise. “These are critical to support our growing focus on the mid-market – those businesses that sit between ‘enterprise’ and ‘SME’ [small- to medium-sized enterprise] that have been traditionally underserved by the industry,” Simpson said. Lexel is also including more integrated security as part of standard managed offerings, reflecting a recognition that many organisations are living with "major" security gaps, existing either through a perception that a cost-effective solution is unattainable or simply not knowing that the gap is there. “Rather than putting a sticking plaster on the symptom we are able to work to a more permanent long-term solution for our customers, typically leveraging our standards,” Simpson said. “It means we are able to be far more valuable as a partner, and also gives organisations and their boards, much greater surety they are investing in the right solution and have the right partner to guide and support them.”
In particular, Lexel is seeing a continued focus on moving core infrastructure to the cloud, including "ground up" builds and organisations refocus. The move to hybrid models of working has accelerated this need for cloud migrations, “including making prior temporary solutions permanent, robust, scalable, secure and efficient,” Simpson said. On the challenges being faced to achieve these growth ambitions, Simpson reflected the general tech sector’s biggest challenge: talent acquisition and retention. However, Simpson sees this as a challenge that also brings market opportunity to be harnessed. “Most customers are facing the same challenge, and many are looking for partners to take that pain away,” he said. “The talent shortage is likely to continue for some time, be that hiring or retaining – particularly in areas requiring specialist technical skills or product knowledge.”
As organisations across New Zealand struggle to fill ICT services-related vacancies, Lexel sees an opportunity to partner with these organisations to help them fill these gaps. In particular, the mid-market space does not necessarily see the scale to provide such services consistently. “We are able to provide people resources or outsourced project delivery, training and support,” Simpson said. “Many customers are looking for an established partner with a proven record to work with, which Lexel is very well positioned for. “Organisations are looking to outsource the ICT challenges they aren’t currently able to address internally or looking to implement projects that will make their operations more efficient.”
Simpson hopes that having such proximity to the market will set the business up for post-pandemic success as a "trusted advisor". “I believe the most successful tech providers are the ones which know their market and build a repeatable set of deliverables which meets that market’s need,” he said. “Those which rely upon specialist individuals for delivery will struggle to scale that in this tight labour market and will be extra exposed to the high levels of wage inflation that we have right now. “Clients are looking for more of a turnkey solution to their core ICT systems and are more focused on the business outcomes than the detail of the technology. When that fully occurs, ICT process becomes as important as the technology." Growth for Lexel involves a focus on both customer retention and acquisition, according to Simon. “Investing in our current customers remains our number one focus,” Simpson said. “We are continuously working on new and innovative ways to add additional value across the board.”
A recent ramp-up of marketing capability has allowed Lexel to both strengthen its brand and source leads for organic company growth. “In addition we have segmented our sales team to focus on key markets and created dedicated BDM [business development management roles,” Simpson added.

How Lexel’s biggest challenge is its biggest opportunity

February 01, 2022 07:30 AM Eastern Standard Time
PHOENIX, Ariz.--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- VIQ Solutions Inc . (“VIQ”, “VIQ Solutions” or the “Company”) (TSX and Nasdaq: VQS), a global provider of secure, AI-driven, digital voice and video capture technology and transcription services, today announced a strategic partnership with LegalCraft to create an integrated solution, using the Lexel platform, to optimize legal case analysis, trial preparation and real-time transcription to assist legal professionals globally. VIQ adds Lexel to its worldwide service portfolio and is the first LegalCraft strategic partner offering Lexel's robust collaboration and case management platform in the United States. VIQ customers can securely store and share audio, video and transcription files generated from the Company’s CapturePro™ and NetScribe™ platforms and other external sources. Lexel users can review transcripts with simultaneous playback of audio and video files, collaborate with colleagues through secure messaging, remote presentations, and by annotating and tagging their files. Lexel’s collaboration features offers VIQ customers a simple, more efficient method of organizing cases and preparing for trial. “We are excited to partner with LegalCraft and to offer Lexel to empower legal professionals worldwide with highly efficient and effective litigation support software and evidence management solutions,” said Elizabeth Vanneste, Executive Vice President of Product and Strategy, VIQ Solutions. “We look forward to offering enhanced solutions as we integrate the Lexel platform into our VIQ product family.”
“We are excited about the possibilities this partnership offers to the industry. It enables us to create a wider impact across the globe.” said Surya Madiraju, CEO, LegalCraft Solutions]. “Our partnership with VIQ is strategic in nature and opens many doors for both companies to prosper. We look forward to mutual success.”
For more information about VIQ, please visit viqsolutions.com . About VIQ Solutions
VIQ Solutions is a global provider of secure, AI-driven, digital voice and video capture technology and transcription services. VIQ offers a seamless, comprehensive solution suite that delivers intelligent automation, enhanced with human review, to drive transformation in the way content is captured, secured, and repurposed into actionable information. The cyber-secure, AI technology and services platform are implemented in the most rigid security environments including criminal justice, legal, insurance, government, corporate finance, media, and transcription service provider markets, enabling them to improve the quality and accessibility of evidence, to easily identify predictive insights and to achieve digital transformation faster and at a lower cost. About LegalCraft
LegalCraft is a software development firm founded in 2005 and a long-standing innovator in the legal technology industry. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower legal professionals worldwide with highly efficient and effective litigation support software and evidence management solutions. Lexel, LegalCraft’s flagship product, is a case analysis and trial preparation platform that has been helping legal professionals across the world. Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements or information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements or information typically contain statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook and include statements relating to the benefits of the strategic partnership with LegalCraft. Forward-looking statements or information is based on several factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such statements and information, but which may prove to be incorrect. Although VIQ believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because VIQ can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition to other factors and assumptions which may be identified in this news release, assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the Company’s recent initiatives, and that sales and prospects may provide incremental value for shareholders. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions that have been used. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s base shelf prospectus dated June 10, 2021 and in the Company’s other materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov , respectively. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Contacts

VIQ Creates Strategic Partnership with LegalCraft to Expand Collective Technology and Service Offerings in Global Markets

Reseller News
Cedric Edwards exits Code Blue for Lexel Systems GM role
Twenty year HP veteran to apply his sales smarts to Lexel Systems' procurement business. Cedric Edwards has taken the reins as general manager of Lexel Systems' technology solutions group. The new role will sees Edwards lead Lexel System’s procurement business as well as managing its twenty-strong sales and procurement team. Edwards was a twenty-year veteran at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), in senior sales roles before he became general manager for IT service provider CodeBlue, now part of Fujifilm Business Innovation,  last May . Making the shift was an easy decision, Edwards said. “I have worked with the Lexel team for over two decades and know them as well as anyone. It speaks volumes that as a privately owned New Zealand company Lexel has continued to grow and expand in a fast moving, highly competitive market.”
A provider of IT procurement, services and recruitment to some of New Zealand's biggest brands, Lexel Systems has over 200 full time employees. Lexel CEO Noel Simpson said this was a key appointment in the future of Lexel Systems, where Edwards will be one of three general managers heading dedicated business units,
“Cedric is widely recognised across the industry for his ability to set sales strategy, attract talent and successfully manage teams,” Simpson said. “As a company we are extremely excited to have him join us. We expect his experience to be invaluable as we look to further expand the growth trajectory Lexel Systems is on.”

Cedric Edwards exits Code Blue for Lexel Systems GM role

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Insights on the Gastric Balloons and Bands Global Market to 2027 - Players Include Apollo Endosurgery, Endalis and Lexel SRL Among Others - ResearchAndMarkets.com

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Lewis Lo	Founder	Current
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