Top VARs Q&A: Peter Robbins, Probrand

MD of 89th-ranked Top VAR reflects on its ‘challenging and expensive’ digital transformation

Probrand ranked 89th in CRN's Top VARs 2019. Here we catch up with its MD, Peter Robbins...

You said in your recent annual results that the number of customers buying solely online (via your marketplace) doubled in 2018. How much business are you now doing through this channel, and what is driving the increase?

Some 12 per cent of our revenues are now frictionless via our online platform. However, 50 per cent of our customer base are using it to research purchases, accessing price comparison on live data, frameworks and CPQs to configure services such as managed firewalls and DaaS. The increase in online buyers is driven by this user experience and reflects consensus that over 60 per cent of a B2B buyer's journey is now digital.

Your revenues and profits both grew last year. How would you assess your financial performance in 2018 and how has 2019 been so far?

We have been undergoing a far-reaching digital transformation, which is both challenging and expensive, and not an overnight success. However, 2018 was totally satisfactory and we continue this positive trend in 2019.

Which of your competitors do you respect the most, and why?

We greatly respect all our channel competitors. However, platform businesses like Amazon and Azure are setting the benchmark for customer experience against which the channel is being measured.

Can you share any long-term goals for Probrand?

To continue our transformation to a platform business, locking in all buy and sell-side communities transacting products and services.

What one big trend is everyone else missing?

Simplification of the channel is being delivered by platform companies. These guys are setting the bar and unlocking new revenue streams with new services, and powerful customer experiences every day - an opportunity the IT channel cannot afford to miss.