De Sousa declares security and skills top of Insight's UK agenda
Insight's UK boss opens up on the future of the company
Insight's UK boss Emma de Sousa has said investing in technology and skilling up the firm's staff are her key priorities for the near future.
The reseller is today holding its Insight Technology Show in London, which has attracted 60 vendors, 60 CIOs and more than 1,800 customers.
At the event, de Sousa (pictured) told CRN that although the firm is well versed in security products, it will increase its investment in the space.
"An area for us which is a big bet this year is security," she said. "Selling security solutions is not something that is new to us but in our recent CIO survey, 77 per cent of CIOs told us that security is top of their agenda. We know from recent high-profile security breaches that it is a huge concern for clients and we want to make sure we are their partner of choice providing an end-to-end solution which takes away the risk and concern associated with security."
Earlier this week, a channel recruiter said that vacancies in the channel are at an all-time high, but applications are at a record low.
De Sousa said that with this in mind, investing in and developing its own staff is essential.
"In terms of investments for 2016, we continue to invest first and foremost in our people," she said. "Attracting the best people to Insight so we have the very best people out there in the marketplace having meaningful conversations with our clients [is essential]. In our corporate space, we have five times more sales employees in the field than we had 18 months ago. We continue to invest in attracting talent but also developing the teammates we've got. We've invested heavily in the last couple of years, and continue to do so, in our learning culture. It is important to us."
Insight UK had its "best ever" year in 2015, de Sousa said, adding that the results prove its "two-cylinder" strategy - its "classic" hardware and software business, and its new solutions arm - is paying off.
"Both areas of the business are growing - both grew in 2015 - but the solutions business is significantly outpacing that classic business. We expect, due to our investment, for that growth to exceed the growth in the classic space."