EDITORIAL - Please help keep our channel clean

The release of 7,000 minks in Staffordshire must surely prompt some animal lovers to set up a Save Our Minks campaign. The plight of these minks comes only weeks after animal rights activists had already released 6,000 themselves.

Whichever side of the fence you sit on, it is campaigns such as this that fire up feelings. Which is why PC Dealer is launching its first editorial campaign to clean up the channel. Over the past few months, this magazine has conducted a number of investigations into the business practices of directors.

What we've uncovered has not been a pretty sight.

This week, we focus on the conduct of Omni Solution's managing director Mike Penny. You may remember him from all the national press coverage he received for encouraging his staff to perform Feng Shui and put crystals and rocks on their desks to create inner happiness. But it appears that the caring attitude was largely a PR stunt put on for the papers and photographers (see feature, page 22).

And it's cases such as this that have prompted PC Dealer to try to inject an air of professionalism into the channel. This is an ongoing campaign, which we will continue until we have put an end to the unethical practices that are plaguing the industry. But this is only possible with the help of our readers. We will welcome any issues you feel we should investigate as part of our crusade to clean up the channel.

For the first time this week, we have introduced a new column all about the Far East. As much as we need to keep an eye on the US market, because unfortunately what goes on the other side of the pond does affect the UK market, we can no longer afford to ignore the Far East.

How many manufacturers have we heard use the excuse that the drop in sales has caused their overall sales to drop? Far too many. And that's why the industry needs to keep abreast of the latest trends occurring in the Far East. These are the type of issues PC Dealer hopes to cover in our fortnightly Eastern Eye column. This column is designed for you, so if there are any issues which you want covered, drop us a line.

So Ingram has unveiled its new management team. This should bring some relief to the staff at the distributor because the announcement should help create some stability.

Interestingly, Ingram managing director Sandy Scott has not chosen to bring in too many directors from outside the IT industry - there are only three. The rest are made up from previous staff at Ingram UK and US, as well as two people who were previously employed at resellers.

There have been a lot of tongues wagging over the number of people that have left Ingram, but this is only to be expected of a company that takes on a new managing director.

While it is good to keep some of the staff because of their market knowledge, people are bound to disagree with the new boss' plans. No one likes changes and everyone always thinks that they can do it better than their predecessor.

And the pressure is on Scott to make it work. With the number of changes that he has made, Scott has an agenda to make Ingram the number one distributor in the UK.

Time will tell if he does.