The IT Nerd

CDW Canada, a leading provider of technology solutions for Canadian organizations in the public and private sectors, has entered into a multi-year partnership with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) to become an official partner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, as well as an official partner of Scotiabank Arena.

This valuable partnership deepens a relationship between CDW Canada and MLSE that began in 2010. It will leverage CDW Canada’s established partner affiliations and expertise to enhance the fan experience at Scotiabank Arena through technology solutions such as networking and Wi-Fi connectivity, digital signage and more.

The partnership between the organizations includes in-market advertising and promotions, showcasing CDW Canada to local fans in Toronto and to national TV audiences, with arena and broadcast signage visible at Maple Leafs and Raptors home games.

CDW Canada is launching a new offering through Apple at Work that will empower modern businesses across the country to provide their employees with the choice of working with Apple products. With 3 out of 4 employees preferring to choose Apple products at work, CDW Canada’s introduction of Apple at Work enables Canadian companies to deploy iPhone, iPad and Mac, simply, securely and efficiently.

Canadian businesses are increasingly looking to make employees more productive by giving them devices that are intuitive and allow them to work from anywhere. Under the new program, CDW Canada will work with organizations to help them understand how to set up iPhone, iPad and Mac using management tools that automate, simplify and streamline deployment with enterprise-strength security. CDW Canada is able to educate customers on how to support Apple products with deployment and training programs tailored to employees and IT staff. Additionally, CDW Canada can introduce Canadian companies to new financing models and complete lifecycle management programs that reduce the total cost of ownership.

For more information about CDW Canada and its services, please visit: http://www.cdw.ca.

IT security continues to be a high priority for Canadian organizations, while many businesses are interested in cloud storage and collaboration tools, according to a new survey from CDW Canada, a leading provider of technology solutions and services for Canadian organizations.

When asked to identify areas of security that are a top priority, 59% of organizations cited email security as a main focus. Ransomware protection (52%) and intrusion prevention (48%) were also identified as top priorities, up from 35% and 39% respectively in a similar CDW Canada survey last year.

Shift to the cloud continuing, but many still relying on existing collaboration tools

More than half of Canadian organizations (53%) say their cloud strategy for 2018 includes shifting workloads over time through hybrid solutions. Sixteen per cent of organizations plan to take a “cloud-first” strategy moving forward while 13% want to move all workloads to the cloud. However, when asked about their unified communications strategy, over one-third (36%) of respondents said they would continue to use their current tools and applications – compared with 22% who plan on making an upgrade in 2018.

Over the next 12-24 months, Canadian organizations cite the Internet of Things (32%) as well as analytics and Big Data (30%) as the emerging technologies that will have the most impact on their business.

Other key findings from CDW Canada’s survey include:

• The main goals for organizations around data centre technologies include expansion and scalability (24%), reducing costs (21%) and consolidation (21%).
• When it comes to IT services, Canadian organizations look for the most support in deployments and upgrades (24%) followed by architecture and design (23%) and migrations and replacements (21%).

CDW Canada conducted a survey of its Canadian customers at its BTEX Toronto event in May 2018.

For more information about CDW Canada and its services, please visit: www.cdw.ca.

CDW Canada, a leading provider of technology solutions for Canadian organizations in the public and private sectors, today announced it has ranked number one on the 2017 Top 100 Solution Providers list from Computer Dealer News (CDN). This marks the fifth consecutive year the company has been named top on the list.

CDW Canada is a trusted advisor to businesses of all sizes — from small businesses, to large enterprises — offering products, solutions and services to address IT requirements, including data centre infrastructure, security, cloud computing, collaboration, and more.

In addition to its number one ranking on the 2017 Top 100 Solution Providers list, CDW Canada advanced to No. 402 on the 2017 FP500 list, and also received a series of partner acknowledgements and achievements in 2017 including:

• HP Partner of the Year – Print Hardware
• Cisco Meraki Partner of the Year – CDW Canada
• Microsoft’s Excellence in Operations – Silver Level Award
• Dell EMC Shining Star Award
• Veeam Canada Partner of the Year

With an increased wave of recent security threats in addition to the ongoing need to ensure data is safe, Canadian organizations are keeping a close eye on their security practices and technologies, according to a new survey from CDW Canada, a leading provider of technology solutions for Canadian organizations in the public and private sectors.

While security is always top of mind for businesses, when asked about specific areas of top priority for security, the majority of Canadian organizations cited intrusion prevention (39 per cent) and ransomware protection (35 per cent).

Cloud continues to grow

Another area of focus for Canadian organizations is the cloud, with 50 per cent of businesses indicating their cloud strategy for 2017 includes hybrid solutions, moving workloads over time; while 16 per cent were planning to be “cloud-first” going forward. In the data centre, redundancy is a key goal (29 per cent), followed by expansion and scalability (27 per cent) and cost reduction (26 per cent).

Canadian organizations in the public and private sectors also cited analytics and big data, as well as the Internet of Things (IoT), as the top combined emerging technologies that will have the most impact on their business in the next 12 to 18 months, with 28 and 27 per cent respectively.

Other findings from the survey include:

• Canadian organizations’ unified communications strategies include integration of new features or products into current tools/applications (32 per cent), and upgrading or updating current tools and applications (31 per cent).
• Just over a quarter of respondents said they would continue to use current tools and applications (26 per cent) while only 10 per cent said they would replace current legacy tools and applications with new technologies.
• When considering partner services, Canadian organizations look most for support during deployments and upgrades (31 per cent). This was followed by migrations and replacements (21 per cent), managed services (19 per cent), and architecture and design (15 per cent).