en.Wedoany.com Reported - The last Friday of July each year is System Administrator Appreciation Day, established in 2000 to honor the work of IT professionals. The same day also marks Avocado Day and the Day of Food Diversity in German-speaking regions. On the occasion of Administrator Day, Benjamin Ulsamer, guest author at IT service provider Proact, reflects on how the demands on system administration have changed over the past 25 years.
IT professionals keep the economy running, and the education system needs to adapt to the demands of the digital world. Germany has launched the follow-up program "Digitalpakt 2.0" based on the "DigitalPakt Schule" initiative, but implementation faces difficulties, and educational institutions as well as related manufacturers and IT service providers lack planning certainty. Constantin von Reden, Managing Director of Rohde & Schwarz Networks and Cybersecurity, has voiced criticism on this matter.
Some vendors attract customers or push existing ones toward higher-priced products through opaque terms, hidden cancellation methods, and free offers converting to paid subscriptions. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating whether Microsoft has forced Copilot subscriptions on UK customers and whether this constitutes consumer deception.
Most rules of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) will take effect on August 2, 2026, at which point transparency obligations for the use and labeling of AI will apply. Birger Nahs, founder and Managing Partner of Ox8 Corporate Finance, and lawyer Klaus-Dieter Franzen have assessed the impact of the Act.
IT service provider Proact has established a stable presence in the German market following the acquisition of system integrators such as Teamix, AHD, and Sepago. In an interview, Jacob Kronborg, CEO of Proact Germany GmbH, stated that the company's growth in Germany is built on a "solid foundation for sustainable growth."
Based on preliminary figures, Bechtle AG expects satisfactory business development in the second quarter of 2026 and continued growth for the remainder of the year, leading the company to raise its 2026 earnings forecast.
In addition, the ChannelPartner Congress will take place in Frankfurt on September 15–16.
As the traditional summer event for distributors, the Arrow Forum was held at the Munich-Riem racecourse. Arrow executive Mathias von Bescherer stated that the company is currently in a "very good position," though it has also weathered difficult phases in the past.
Personnel changes this week include: Dennis Knop joining document scanner manufacturer Kodak Alaris; Tina Firle appointed Chief Operating Officer at HR software provider Rexx Systems, a company led by founder Norbert Rautenberg; and former SAP manager Markus Reischl taking on the role of Head of Midmarket Channel Sales at Microsoft.
The online survey for the "Channel Excellence Awards" is currently underway, supported by market research firm Context, aiming to identify manufacturers and distributors that sales partners consider collaborative, reliable, and efficient. The survey closes on August 15, and its results will form the basis for the Channel Excellence Awards in January 2027.
