At CDW, we pride ourselves on being a team of diverse interests and skills – but even among such diversity, Solutions Specialist Aaron Morgan’s racing career is unique. We’ve been privileged to discuss Aaron’s racing journey with him over the past few weeks. On October 10th, Aaron and his team came an impressive 4th in class in the first and 3rd in class in the second race at the Britcar Endurance Championship at Silverstone. We caught up with him after the race to discuss his work as a Solutions Specialist here at CDW.

Understanding Device-as-a-Service: how simplified hardware management can give workers the tools they need One of the biggest challenges facing IT departments today is how to manage the wealth of devices used across an organisation. Selecting, configuring, deploying, supporting, maintaining, recycling and upgrading equipment such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops can feel like a full-time job for IT teams. This process becomes even more complicated when employees bring personal devices in the workplace, and individual departments start making ad-hoc technology purchases. This uncoordinated approach to device management also costs money. Failure to adequately track IT assets often result in redundant devices, potentially creating a risk, and can lead to unnecessary and unplanned purchases. And as a result, IT teams can spend much of their time on hardware management, and not enough effort on more strategic, value-driven projects in areas such as digital transformation or security.

Choosing the right path: how to establish a best practice journey to hybrid/multicloud adoption Cloud has undoubtedly transformed the way that we consume IT. Hybrid strategies have proved popular to date as organisations look to maintain a mix of cloud services and on-premise IT. However, the last couple of years have seen the rise of the next iteration of cloud consumption: multi-cloud.

With the shift to increased levels of remote working, it’s critical that we assess new risks and threats targeting your users, devices, applications and data, says Richard Enderby - Practice Lead, Cyber Security, CDW UK.

The past months have been unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed. All of us – both in our personal lives and at work – have had to adapt to a set of challenges no-one could’ve predicted at the start of the year. Looking back from the perspective of September, those weeks at the end of March and early April marked an unprecedented mobilisation of people and resources. The vast majority of coworkers and teams at CDW UK rapidly moved to home-working while simultaneously making sure our customers had the end-to-end IT services and support to do the same. During that initial period, all coworkers had to navigate a rapidly changing environment, while our COVID-19 Incident Management Team actioned plans to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our coworkers and communities. We’re now at a different stage, with organisations exploring the future of work and a path of pandemic recovery. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss this topic in a recent webinar with Cisco’s Jenn Gormley and Rich Gore and we agreed that workplaces and the coworker experience is going to evolve considerably over the coming months and years. The pandemic has placed culture, wellbeing and flexibility in the spotlight and these elements will be key as businesses strive for future successes.

The world of esports is growing fast. There are predictions that the sport might get a spot in the 2024 Olympics. This growth extends into educational institutions. With student interest growing educators see esports as a chance to motivate students academically and provide opportunities to attract talent. For today’s student's esports facilities are becoming much more influential in their academic choices. As the British Esports Association notes, participating in esports can spark or strengthen students’ interest in emerging, technology-driven careers. There are numerous other esports-related occupational opportunities such as working as a referee, coach, product manager or event manager. Esports opens up prospects in marketing, sales, web development and design. Esports isn’t just gaming; it develops skills for STEM opportunities and career growth.

Cloud has been a game-changer when it comes to how technology is consumed. More than nine out of 10 organisations today use cloud-based services in some way[1]. This is because cloud delivers agility, flexibility and scalability, improving value to internal and external customers in ways that are sometimes difficult to achieve with traditional on-premise IT. But every organisation’s goals are different, as is their journey to the cloud. Here we look at why organisations choose cloud, identify some of the biggest business benefits, and suggest how CDW can help guide you on the best options for your individual requirements.

Edge Computing is seen by many as the next revolution for processing data. Advancements in technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G will fuel Edge Computing and make it a reality for almost every business. It brings processing power to everyday objects and incredibly detailed analytics that will enable organisations of every shape, size and sector to develop compelling new propositions that are more efficient and deliver a better experience for customers, patients and citizens.

It is clear today that you no longer need to be sat at a desk in an office to your job. A seismic shift to remote working has demonstrated that employees can be as, if not more, productive while based at home – or anywhere else for that matter.

What does business need now? The business of predicting the future of business is loud this year, with insights into the future becoming increasingly urgent: Transform, now, hurry. But no one could have predicted 2020 and the impact it would have on the business world. If we sit still for a moment, and sift through the noise, what are some of the things that businesses with a passion for growth actually need? What are the pain points? And what are the solutions?