A right cracker

The 23rd annual Channel Awards was yet another hard-fought battle but the industry seemed in good spirits as it celebrated a year of success

It is hard to call an event successful unless the feedback is positive, but thankfully team CRN has received nothing but glowing praise for the Oscars of the channel.

Around 1,560 people convened at the Battersea Evolution Arena in London in 17 November and as ever the champagne and banter began flowing instantly.

The event kicked off at 8pm and guests ploughed their way through three courses, washed down with plenty of alcohol. In a move that many would deem controversial, the comedian and host of the night was acerbic-tongued Frankie Boyle, whose jokes were predictably risqué, but the audience certainly seemed to lap it up.

Once he finished his brief routine, the main awards ceremony began. With 25 categories, it is no easy task keeping them flowing, but the awards were helped with announcements from our Voice of God, who this year happened to be Marcus Bentley, aka the voice of Big Brother.

Indoor fireworks at the beginning and end of the ceremony ensured it went with a bang. After the awards finished, it was time for the hardcore party revellers to let loose on the dancefloor, and then it was off to The Qube, formerly Pacha, to party until the early hours in true channel tradition.

CRN's editorial director Sara Yirrell was pleased with how the evening went. "The Channel Awards is the culmination of a year's preparation for us at CRN, and it is very satisfying to see it run smoothly and watch the industry enjoy and celebrate their own and their peers' success. We are already thinking about how we can make next year's event even bigger and better," she said.

CRN also managed to grab some of the happy winners after the event to see how their awards had been received.

Martin Hellawell, CEO of Softcat, was in particularly high spirits after his double win, scooping the Industry Achievement Award himself, and Reseller of the Year for Softcat.

"We are absolutely delighted to be named as the Reseller of the Year. I think this gives well-deserved recognition to our fantastic employees for the tremendous work they do and the fabulous spirit in which they do it," he said.

Commenting on his personal award, he said: "What took you so long?! I've admired and been inspired by so many of the people who have been given this award in the past. Thank you to the Softcat team for putting me on the podium. I look forward to seeing some of the talented youngsters in the industry rise through the ranks and receive this in future years.

"Softcat and I have received lots of very kind and generous comments from competitors, customers and partners which once again shows what a great industry this is."

Westcoast managing director Alex Tatham was equally happy about winning Distributor of the Year for the second year running - buzzing, in fact.

"When you are in sales and you land a big one, you describe it as getting a sales buzz. It's like a drug," he said. "Those not in sales never really feel it - until they win Distributor of the Year at the Channel Awards. Then we are all in sales; we rejoice together on a job well done whatever team we are in; we feel proud of our company and tell our friends that we work for the UK's best distributor and we all get the buzz! Then we come back next year, try even harder and do it again! Because winning a Channel Award is infectious."

Kieran O Connor, sales director at Total Computer Networks, was delighted to have scooped Corporate VAR of the Year in a very competitive category. "We are so completely made up to have collected this award," he said. "It feels like 15 years in the making, and every single member of the team is over the moon that we have been recognised with this accolade."

John Pepper, founder and boss of Managed 24/7, scored the highest ever points with the judges to win MSP of the Year. "I am so honoured and humbled for us to win this year and it is with no doubt the highlight of my career and will always be," he said. "The event was astonishingly well run as always and yes, we did have a lot of sore heads!" Phil Brown, sales and commercial director at Exertis, was one of only two companies that were celebrating winning not one, but two awards on the night. "A great night as always," he said.

"For Exertis, it was a fantastic achievement to be recognised in very different areas of our business and to be the most decorated distributor on the night. Retaining Services Distributor of the Year, winning the new Distribution Innovation Award and being highly commended for the Distributor of the Year for the third year running shows a high level of consistency. Our employees deserve this recognition for their dedication and commitment. Naturally, I would like to thank our vendors and customers for their support and the judges for their deliberation."

Hammer, which is now part of Exertis after being acquired last month, scooped Storage Distributor of the Year. Managing director James Ward was in a celebratory mood. "Being named Storage Distributor of the Year at the prestigious Channel Awards has rounded off a sensational year for Hammer," he said. "I was gutted to not be at the event, but the Hammer team assured me that another fantastic night was had by all.

"It has been a busy and successful year for us. We have been awarded multiple industry and vendor awards, as well as featuring in the Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table, which ranks Britain's private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. All our achievements this year, now topped off by this award from CRN, are testament to how hard we have all worked and show the level of dedication and value-add we give to our channel partners. Thank you to CRN, to all our staff, and to our loyal customers for your continuing support."

Of all the vendors in the room, Microsoft was the only one to win two awards; a real achievement given the competition.

Glenn Woolaghan, partner business and development lead at Microsoft UK, said: "We're thrilled to have won two highly coveted CRN awards, particularly in the innovation and cloud services categories; areas we feel passionately about. At Microsoft we are dedicated to creating technology that will empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. As part of this mission, we regularly work with trusted partners and customers to drive innovation and help UK businesses on their own paths to digital transformation, underpinned by cloud technologies. These awards are part of the fruitful output of the relationship with our partners and we're excited by the continued future success for the UK and global channel landscape."

The level of passion shown by the winners is testament to the tough job done by the two separate judging panels who spend hours and hours reading, deliberating over, and discussing every single entry.

Bob Tarzey, head of the vendor judging panel; Simon Meredith, head of the reseller judging panel; and Carl West, head of the distributor judging panel, shared their thoughts. All three agreed that while there were some brilliant efforts, some entries just did not cut the mustard.

Meredith said the reseller categories had been a mixed bag, with some standout entries, but also some disappointing ones: "We had some great entries in some categories. Reseller of the Year and Managed Services Provider of the Year in particular stood out. There were a few exceptional efforts that showed the obvious pride, passion and team spirit that resellers had managed to engender, so it was a very good year from entries in that respect."

However, he said there was still work to be done: "Frankly, some entries did not seem to do justice to the businesses putting themselves forward and could never have expected to win an award on that basis. It is really important for resellers to give the best possible account of themselves and when they do that, they have every chance of winning. There were a number of entries that were probably in the wrong category as well. Resellers really should not be afraid of entering the different categories - they have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

West said the standard had improved in distribution this year: "2016 awards entries clearly showed another improvement year on year," he said. "While the impact of consolidation in distribution affected overall numbers of entries, the finalists showed real improvements in what they offer their customers and their own market performance. Every size of distributor has a chance to win, if they can demonstrate value to their customers, innovation, increased performance for their suppliers and demonstrate a flare for going over and above their competition. If you enter with passion, you can win with style."

Tarzey said the new categories had helped the smaller vendors make more of an impact, but agreed that some needed to focus more on entry quality.

"The winners of the 2016 CRN Channel Awards all prevailed in their categories with consistently high-quality entries, backed by their solid industry reputation," he explained. "There were non-winners, which despite being worthy contenders, had not put across their story well. They may do better next year with bit more effort and focus. In the vendor section, some reworking of the categories enabled smaller vendors to shine. Finally, while different entries for different products, especially from large vendors with a broad product range might be expected, placing the same entry in multiple categories does not show the focus judges are looking for and is to be discouraged. Congratulations to all the winners and commended entries."

To see all the pictures from the night and the winners' pictures, please visit CRN's Facebook page.