Brigantia defends its open forum

The chairman of reseller buying group Brigantia has slammed vendors and distributors that complain about the open forum on its web site.

Brigantia has more than 1,000 members and 150 associates with over 16,950 posts in 2,199 topics currently live on the site. The forum gives members a chance to air issues they have had with particular vendors or distributors and discuss possible solutions to their problems.
Iain Shaw, chairman of Brigantia, said any firms that disagree with the comments on the forum could turn them to their advantage. “I can understand vendors and distributors that are not supportive of the independent channel through Brigantia and do not like our forum,” he said.
“However, the simple solution is for them to put a reasoned argument to us with an application to become a Brigantia associate. Associates may not like some of the things that are said but those that are successful with our members turn any criticism to their advantage by dealing with the substance of the problem.”
Mike Barron, business manager at distributor Entatech, said: “Brigantia has an open forum where members are able to voice their opinions and sometimes dissatisfaction if things go wrong. Things do sometimes go wrong. It is how they are resolved that is important.
“We at Enta support the independent channel through Brigantia and see the forum as an important tool and yardstick to how well we perform. Those not taking part are missing out on a lot of information from a great community.”
Shaw added that other groups, such as the PCA, no longer offer a forum facility, making Brigantia’s offering more valuable to members.
Keith Warburton, chief executive of the PCA, hit back, saying: “The Brigantia forum is used primarily by its reseller members and I am sure there is a group of them who feel the benefit of doing so.
“The PCA is open to communication from all its members and they can communicate with the board at any time. A lot of people agree that face-to-face meetings are more productive than forums and emails.”
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