Crn21 1200 300.jpeg

Readers' lives: Mysteries of the East

Chris Lewis loved Tokyo best but says you have to visit to understand why

Lewis: Vendors are working hard to help the channel

What was your first job, and how did you get into IT?
Marketing executive at Jaybeam. I was lucky to be hired into a company that had never had marketing before, but let me loose on pretty much everything and anything. After four enjoyable years I was head-hunted by Marconi Communications, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Which fictional TV character is borrowing ideas from your life?
Having just moved house and attempted DIY, at the moment it definitely could have been Frank Spencer!

What could prompt you to give it all up and join the revolution?
Being French, around 1789?

What is your favourite joke or the one you heard most recently?
Why did the Mexican throw his wife off a cliff? Tequila.

What was the best holiday you ever went on?
Tokyo. You have to go there at least once to understand why.

If you had a week to live, how would you fill it?
With friends and family. Probably in New York.

“I always…”
... ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. That’s from Winston Churchill.

Will we see businesses take green ICT more seriously this year?
Managing costs and maximising returns from existing investments will be the main focus in 2011. It will grow in importance, but economics is taking precedence.

Print or online news?
Online. I don’t get to read much print these days, and online is so easy now on some devices.

Do you use social media?
Both in business and personally. It is an intrinsic part of my job, and a great way to keep in contact with friends and family in these manic times.
What does the channel most need to learn this year?
How to make the most of vendor relationships, deal with changes in the public sector and work out how the cloud will affect their businesses and those of their customers.

Do vendors do enough to help their channel?
Yes, definitely. We work with several strategic vendors and each one is focused on helping us succeed, which in turn ensures their success too.
Is IT well taught in schools?
No. Well, not when I was there. Unless it’s changed fundamentally! There’s more to IT than word processing and spreadsheets.
Chris Lewis is head of marketing at NextiraOne

You may also like

Industry Voice: "The only constant in life is change*", and no more so than in the last 18 months
/sponsored/4039897/industry-voice-constant-life-change-last-months

Security

Industry Voice: "The only constant in life is change*", and no more so than in the last 18 months

We've seen a monumental change in how we buy, work, and communicate, and more change is afoot…

Partner Content: Voice, data and mobility set to become critical services for IT resellers
/sponsored/4035557/partner-content-voice-mobility-set-critical-services-resellers

Security

Partner Content: Voice, data and mobility set to become critical services for IT resellers

Exclusive research conducted by CRN in association with Gamma, shows how the pandemic has increased the appetite for Unified Communications

Reseller

Industry Voice: How IT resellers can use Unified Communications to support their customers in adapting to changing times