Who wants an easy life anyway?

The IT business is one of the most rewarding yet challenging industries there is. Graeme Watt, European president of Bell Microproducts, says: “The change, the opportunities, the surprises and the people are what makes the IT business a great business to be in.”

This just about sums up the mood of an industry which has, over the past year, been through a very tough time. But there are some smart, resilient and determined people in this business. The energy, dynamism and ever-changing nature of the IT industry are the factors that keep its movers and shakers getting out of bed every morning.

Ian Snadden, director of enterprise sales at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, says: “The excitement and challenges associated with change and adapting to it are what the IT business thrives upon.”

The industry also thrives on people, positive attitudes and teamwork.

Terry O’ Louglin, channel sales director at CA, says: “I enjoy the energy in the channel and working with colleagues I have known for many years. I know a lot of very hard-working people in the channel, in particular my own sales team. They are what motivate me.”

It seems that this aspect of the business becomes more important as the A-Listers gained experience. Graeme Allan, who has spent 30 years in the business and is today enterprise vice-president for northern Europe at Alcatel, says that the IT industry has never really changed.

“Technology does still excite me, but I have seen the best of the best and theworst of the worst,” he says. “Today, it is seeing people develop in their professional and private lives that motivates me the most.”

For Keith Bird, European managing director of SonicWall, people are a motivating factor, but so is achievement. “You have to enjoy what you do and it has to be a passion,” he says. “When you can turn something around or achieve very challenging goals, there is no feeling like it.

“The channel is as vibrant and professional as it has ever been and that makes it a great and fun place to work every day.”

Delivering for the customer is also important, especially for those who work directly with end-users, but so is winning.

Greg Carlow, managing director of VAR Repton, says: “To provide a customer with what they need in a timely fashion is very satisfying, especially when it involves winning against competitors or cementing a long-term relationship with a client.”

Others have a more down-to-earth approach. Justin Harling, director at reseller CAE Technology Services, says that the things that motivate him are “the two-to-three-hour drive to the office, 12-hour working days and a requirement to keep the other half in Jimmy Choo shoes”.

Many of the people in this year’s A-List speak of the ever-changing nature of the business and the constant challenges it brings as their prime motivating factor.

Three words that Jim Sampins, director of the SME technology business at Oracle, uses sum up the very spirit of the channel are variety, energy and innovation.

“The UK channel is in a continual dynamic state,” Sampins says. “It is constantly evolving and challenging. To meet these dimensions, every channel professional must continue to question their personal and company ‘status quo’. This is where we get the motivation and challenge to get up and get on with business.”

What most people seem to agree upon is that this is a very exciting industry to work in and one in which there is no shortage of motivation and ambition.

Andy Dow, marketing director at Westcoast, says: “Now and again we might moan about our industry, but it is still one of the most exciting industries on earth. Fast moving, constantly changing and full of challenges: what more do you need to get you out of bed?”

Very few people, it seems, would want to swap places with anyone else in the industry. Any regrets, if they have any at all, tend to be focused on the tactical errors they have made, rather than anything they could change if they had the chance. Regret, as a general observation, is not something that people in the channel have any time for, although plenty seem to regret not buying or selling shares at the right time.

But even these individuals soon move on to the next challenge and the next opportunity, and few would sincerely want to swap places with anyone else. They would rather relish being in a more exciting and vibrant place in the industry.

This is reflected in the naming of Larry Page or Sergey Brin of Google fame as – with the exception of Apple founder Steve Jobs – the most admired people in IT.

Simon Aron, managing director of Eurodata, says that what Page and Brin have done with Google is impressive and that “the world is their oyster”.

Kay Eggleston, managing director of Noxs UK, is also an admirer. “They [Page and Brin] are at the top of their game. They continue to innovate and are having fun designing the interior of the new Google 747.”

Plenty of other industry figures are deemed worthy of swapping places with, merely for their vision and experience. Some of these are extremely famous, others are not. Sage founder and owner of TSG, Graham Wylie; Steve Luczo, chairman of Seagate; and internet founder Tim Berners-Lee all get a mention, as does the inventor of the fundamental unit of computation, Dr Alan Turing.

Many would want to swap with Bill Gates – or someone who at least has a few billion dollars to their name – and for a few that admission is about the scale of wealth and achievement, but that is not the case for everyone. For example, Jon Atherton, vice-president of Enta Technologies, envies and admires Gates for the opportunity he has to change the world for the better.

“He is a billionaire, successful and just retired,” he says. “But most importantly he has dedicated his future with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to helping people who are not as fortunate as us. What an opportunity to change and ensure life for millions of people around the world.”

Alcatel’s Allan says he would swap with a mega-rich individual for altruistic reasons. “[I would swap], not because I particularly want the wealth myself, but to be in a position to truly direct wealth to places where it can be most beneficial for the evolution of humans,” he says. “This would be a really exciting proposition.”

Other A-Listers would just like to have the opportunity to live out elements of the lifestyle that the super-successful in the industry enjoy. Alastair Bell, managing director at Bell Microsystems, says he would switch with Dr Jim Clark, the founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape, “purely so that I could sail Athena – his 90 metre, three-masted schooner – which is thought to be one of the world’s largest privately-owned sailing yachts.”

For the most part though, the CRN A-Listers would not trade places with anyone in the world. They are too motivated, enthusiastic and driven to think about anything other than making sure that they achieve their aims. As many of them say in their A-List entries, making a difference every day in their business is what matters.