40 quotes that tell the channel's story last year
We round up 2019 in quotes from the channel's biggest names
"We are looking at a number of different ports. I'm sure it will change over the coming weeks as events unfold, so I don't have names of specific ports. But we are absolutely sure that we have a robust supply chain."- HP Channel boss Neil Sawyer on the plans being put in place for Brexit, which it later turned out were not needed.
"We have kept them at arm's length and we want them to continue to grow. Their mission is to acquire partners and we want them to continue to be aggressive. - HP's print boss Tuan Tran said the plan is for Apogee to keep on acquiring.
"If you think about other tags in the channel, an SI's job is to put systems together, a VAR takes somebody else's product and adds value to around it, but a performance partner is somebody who implicitly understands what a business is trying to achieve." - CSI CEO Simon Payne on why the firm is rebranding itself as an ‘enterprise performance partner'.
"It's amazing how many vendors don't have a Brexit strategy." - Westcoast boss Alex Tatham on his disbelief of some manufacturers.
"Sometimes you see your own children as more beautiful than they are." - Econocom CEO Jean-Louis Bouchard on taking the reins back from his son, six months after appointing him.
"It's an understandable decision from Microsoft when customers are going directly to AWS and doing the same thing with their credit cards… but Microsoft is being disingenuous if it tries to position this as a positive move for partners." - Canalys analyst Alistair Edwards on Microsoft taking Azure purchasing direct for SMBs.
"I have been working myself out of a job." - Connectwise founder Arnie Bellini, after a private equity firm acquired a majority stake in the vendor.
"We realised we both had the same business values and Sir Stelios invited us to join his ‘easy' family of brands. I went into a meeting prepared for some tough negotiations and walked out with a new business partner!" - Easy Networks founder Richard Gwilliams on bracing for what he thought were intellectual property talks with Stelios, only to find that Easy Group wanted to buy a stake in the business.
"Britain has a long standing and proud reputation as a global tech leader and it's fantastic that NTT has chosen London for its global headquarters." - Former Prime Minister Theresa May was on hand to open the new international HQ of NTT Ltd, the new $11bn-revenue entity.
"Strategically we have been very focused on how we build our mid-market play, from an account point of view, as we have been skewed towards the enterprise. That's an area that PCM brings a lot of value." - Insight CEO Ken Lamneck on the rationale behind the resellers surprise acquisition of US counterpart PCM.
40 quotes that tell the channel's story last year
We round up 2019 in quotes from the channel's biggest names
"I was there for 10 years. There was a massive change in the Misco perception after 2012; we all know what happened, but we want to try to bring the old, pre-2012 Misco back." Russell Dickinson, head of marketing at UK Computer Group, on bringing the Misco name back.
"Another example, if any were needed, of the continued erosion of benefits to Microsoft Partners and evidence of complete chaos in the MPN program. This must be the worst move by Microsoft in 30 years and may see the end of the MPN program as we know it today." - Kelvin Kirby, boss of Microsoft partner Technology Associates on Microsoft's planned IUR changes, which the vendor very quickly reneged on.
"Unless you have volumes, you're dead." - Scansource CEO Mike Baur justifies why the distributor is looking to offload its European hardware business.
"We believe this business is not sustainable over the long term and is no longer aligned with our strategy." - Arrow CEO Michael Long on why the distributor ditched its IT recycling business, with Computacenter eventually acquiring it back.
"Even against the backdrop of a sustained global economic growth and the longest bull market in history businesses like ours have been standout performers… and because of that, and the incredibly positive market conditions, I think there is a worrying complacency about what will happen if things aren't so good" - Phil Doye on the buoyant period many in the channel have benefited from.
"Let's call up Jeff [Bezos] and talk about this." - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg complaining about the cost of using Amazon Web Services.
"I'm never going to put a time on it, but often when I speak to new starters I say they're very lucky or very clever people because they come into, in my opinion, the best reseller in the UK at the best time for technology." - Softcat CEO Graeme Watt on the success seen by resellers over recent years.
"The reason we're so adamant about pointing out the percentage of our business that has gone through our partners over the last year is because there's this concern out there that we have some devious strategy. We don't. We want to do this together." - Chuck Robbins on Cisco's channel strategy.
"There's a lot of focus increasing in Birmingham, with a lot of large organisations moving headquarters up there; it's buzzing and thriving, and we'd like to be a part of that." - Softcat managing director Colin Brown on filling a "gaping hole" by opening the reseller's first Midlands office.
"With the acquisition of SecureData and SecureLink, Orange has the highest scale to anticipate and fend off attacks, as well as local defence teams in all the main European markets, positioning the combined organisation as the go-to defence specialist." - Hugues Foulon, executive director of Cybersecurity at Orange, comments on the French telco's double swoop for two of the UK and Europe's largest MSSPs.
40 quotes that tell the channel's story last year
We round up 2019 in quotes from the channel's biggest names
"The listing of our shares at SIX is a natural next step in our development, which opens up new opportunities for our company." - SoftwareONE chairman Daniel von Stockar talking after his firm became the second-largest publicly listed reseller in Europe.
"If you put £1,000 into a reseller, you'd have done a lot better than if you invested it in Atos, Capgemini and the service companies. Five years ago no-one would have told you to invest it in resellers, not even me. So if you haven't done well over the last five years then you need to look at yourself, because you should have done well. The channel is in a fantastic position." - Mike Norris on how resellers have outperformed large services businesses over recent years.
"We note the decline of Xerox's revenue from $10.2bn to $9.2bn (on a trailing 12-month basis) since June 2018, which raises significant questions for us regarding the trajectory of your business and future prospects." - HP's board fires a zinger at Xerox after snubbing a takeover bid.
["HP's standalone plans to turn around its fortunes amount] to little more than rearranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic". - Xerox and HP shareholder Carl Icahn on the HP board's reluctance to back a merger.
"The market would have said that SecureData would have been worth 12 to 15 times [EBITDA], but with the synergy opportunity for Orange it was higher than 20 times. So it's about how you position the story for the exit." - Micky Patel, partner at August Equity, on how the firm received such a high valuation for SecureData when it was sold to Orange.
"I was with a new customer about an hour ago talking about a new managed services and the whole discussion was around how we automate those services - how we increase the quality of services by automation and self-serve and chatbots. That's still selling a managed services but just doing it in a different way." - Ultima CEO Scott Dodds, said his firm has put intelligent automation at the centre of its business.
"Phoenix currently employ 34 per cent women within our workforce, which exceeds the 20 per cent industry average. I want to ensure that this percentage increases in our company over the coming years and hopefully encourage an increase within the industry." - Sam Mudd, MD at Phoenix Software, on why she joined the judging panel for the CRN Women in Channel awards this year.
"[A business coach] had this phrase that was if you want to take the island you need to burn the boats. Basically he was saying that if you want to change your business you need to make sure there is no way back." - ANS CTO Andy Barrow on how the firm abandoned a successful hardware resell business and turned its attention to the cloud and services.
"If you're going to get in a brawl, make sure you take the first punch, and make it a good one." - Michael Dell on combating the threat from HPE by acquiring EMC and VMware.
"Novosco's product portfolio extends our capabilities tremendously and the customers we serve complement each other perfectly." - Cancom CEO Thomas Volk on the German giant's re-emergence in the UK market.
40 quotes that tell the channel's story last year
We round up 2019 in quotes from the channel's biggest names
"As we have previously shared, our recently established presence in The Netherlands supports our broader growth opportunities in the EU and as needed serves as a Brexit contingency plan." - CDW CEO Christine Leahy on how the reseller is preparing for Brexit.
"We continue to see uneven demand due in part to ongoing trade tensions, which impact market stability and customer confidence. This is showing up in elongated sales cycles…" HPE CEO Antonio Neri on how the US-China trade war has impacted the IT industry.
"I genuinely believe that if you are not innovative in this space then your days are numbered. Technology when done right can be the answer to a lot of the issues that we are facing from a sustainability perspective." - Simone Hindmarch, MD at Commercial, predicted that tech suppliers without a focus on sustainability will face a rocky ride.
"To Tim: The Button on the iPhone was FAR better than the swipe!" - President Trump reveals his dislike of iPhones with Face ID in an angry tweet to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
"This agreement reflects the significant progress we have made in our strategy of delivering higher value and positions us for continued growth and success." - Tech Data CEO Rich Hume on the distributor's sale to private equity.
"After a comprehensive strategic review, we're temporarily downsizing our London-based organic operations." - MSSP giant Optiv reveals it is stalling its European business.
"I'm not saying that my predecessors didn't do what they were supposed to do, but it was very ‘we want to go in this direction and we have to do it as quickly as humanly possible'. Sometimes you hit a wall quite quickly. - New Logicalis UK MD Alex Louth on where the firm has gone wrong in the past.
"While I know these updates may seem like a significant change, it's important to understand that this alignment will create new opportunities for driving synergies across domains and will strongly position the company against our competitors." - Cisco David Goeckeler explains a business reshuffle to employees.
"A brilliant and beloved leader who personally touched the lives of so many." - Oracle founder Larry Ellison on Mark Hurd, who passed away aged 62.
"I've been fortunate to work with an incredible team over the past 10 years, and I'm proud of the company we have created, including accolades such as twice being recognised in the top 10 fastest-growing UK companies…" - Stormfront CEO Mike Fleming, after the business was acquired by Irish partner Compu b.