11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
Computacenter's notoriously straight talking CEO Mike Norris has come out with some of the most brutally honest, no-nonsense quotes down the years. Here we round up 11 zingers from the last decade....
11) Cooking up a storm
Soundbite:
"I decided I wanted to move to this area 20 years ago. I drove into the area on a Sunday and saw a house being built, which is the one I'm standing in now. I thought ‘yeah I'll buy that', but then I thought ‘No, don't be hasty', and I spent the next four months looking at all the houses that were up for sale, until I came back and bought this one. It's a bit like that, really."
What was he talking about?
In October 2018, Computacenter dramatically expanded its US presence by acquiring FusionStorm.
Talking to CRN following the deal, Norris admitted that Computacenter had looked at "a lot of companies" in the US before eventually concluding FusionStorm - with which it was rumoured to have struck up a dialogue a year earlier - was the best fit.
No nonsense rating: 6/10
See following page for Norris' abrupt one-liner on an outgoing opposite number...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
10) Pim and vigour
Soundbite:
"I never met Pim, and now I guess I never will."
What was he talking about?
Caught off the cuff for a react quote on the departure of Misco boss Pim Dale in 2015, Norris obliged with this typically abrupt one-liner.
Two management overhauls and one change in ownership later, Misco hit the wall in 2018 after encountering severe cashflow difficulties.
No-nonsense rating: 6/10
See following page for Norris' straight-talking take on Computacenter's US expansion...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
9) Crossing the pond
Soundbite:
"I don't see this as a particularly significant step, but then again I don't see anything as a particularly significant step. You just go and do better. We floated the company and someone said that was a significant thing; I just saw that as a slight change of ownership... I think it's an evolutionary step, but remember it's only 400 people; Computacenter employs 14,000. When we went into Germany and we bought a company with 4,000 people, that was a very significant step; this is an evolution."
What was he talking about?
A typically straight-talking Norris played down Computacenter's decision to set up shop in the US in 2016. The move saw Computacenter quit its alliance with US reseller CompuCom in favour of a direct US presence, and was a prelude to its acquisition of US reseller FusionStorm in 2018.
No-nonsense rating: 6/10
See following page for Norris' views on being branded boring...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
8) Bored room executive
Soundbite:
"We get a lot of awards because we're in an industry that gives out awards, but this one meant quite a lot."
What was he talking about?
In 2018, Computacenter won a ‘Boring Award' from analyst TechMarketView for posting earnings-per-share growth for ten consecutive years.
Speaking to CRN, Norris said that the award takes on more significance because of the relatively few number of firms to have won it. Just six firms had been given the honour since Admiral first received it in 1992.
"It's awarded to tech companies but we're the first reseller to get it. You've had Sage which is a software company and companies like Capita which do services, but we're the first reseller," he added at the time.
"I do spend a little bit of my time defending resellers because it's not just services. We have developed a $1bn services business but traditional resell is still very important to us."
No-nonsense rating: 7/10
See following page for Norris' view on the sale of British tech success story ARM...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
7) ARM and a leg
Soundbite:
"I don't want to wear Union Jack underpants and be all kind of ‘Britain's best', but our IT industry needs any help it can get.
"I'm not for government intervention on many things. But when you've got a company that potentially is the biggest chip manufacturer in the world - it could be better than Intel. And you let foreign buyers have it. And it's exactly the kind of high-end jobs that we should be looking after. I just think any support for British tech for a positive thing."
What was he talking about?
Talking to CRN last week, Norris bemoaned rumours that British chip manufacturer, ARM, was being sold to NVIDIA.
Norris was discussing Computacenter's own international expansion plans and admitted the LSE-listed giant "isn't as big as we want to be" in the US.
No nonsense rating: 7/10
See following page for Norris' blunt soundbites on a 2017 acquisition...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
6) Suits you
Soundbite:
"When you make an acquisition, everyone gets excited and says congratulations. But if you go out on the high street and buy a new suit, people don't say congratulations. For me, it's more about how it's worked out three years down the line."
What was he talking about?
Computacenter's purchase of ServiceNow partner TeamUltra in 2017 marked its first UK acquisition for five years.
But Norris was quick to shut down any sense of fanfare over the deal, describing it as "a nice little addition, not a game changer" and batting off suggestions this was a gear change for Computacenter's cloud business.
"I don't want people to think I'm throwing open the hangar doors to fit in a new aeroplane. It's just a small percentage of Computacenter's overall business. This is a company with 60 or 70 staff, and Computacenter employs 14,000 staff. It's a nice, sensible little acquisition, but it's not a big deal," he added.
No-nonsense rating: 8/10
See following page to discover what schoolboy error Norris made following an office upgrade...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
5) Lunch and learn
Soundbite:
"At lunchtime, I went for a sandwich and on the way back I walked straight past the front door, because I didn't recognise the building."
What was he talking about?
The FTSE 250 chief admitted in January 2017 that he didn't recognise his own company's Blackfriars building following a year-long refurbishment project.
"Outside it's wrapped in this skin that I swear to you I didn't recognise - from the outside, it is 'wow'," he told CRN.
No nonsense rating: 8/10
See following page for Norris' honest views on running an international business...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
4) UK vs Germany
Soundbite:
"Germany is now bigger than the UK, but we are still the UK's largest reseller. My job is to ensure both countries remain competitive with the competition and not with each other."
What was he talking about?
Norris was typically blunt about the challenge of operating in multiple countries after Germany overtook the UK as Computacenter's largest operation in 2011.
No-nonsense rating: 8/10
See following page for Norris' fiery reaction to the collapse of Misco...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
3) Misco collapse
Soundbite:
"If you're struggling at the moment you need to look in the mirror.
"I think the last thing I had to do with Misco is an article in your magazine where the guys were saying they had put their hearts and souls and livelihoods into it. I hope they were exaggerating, or otherwise they've lost everything in pretty spectacular fashion - and pretty quickly. One thing it does say about the industry is the importance of being well-financed as an organisation. You don't want some debt-laden business in this industry because it's growing quite fast at the moment. A strong balance sheet is going to help you. But this is a bit like saying today is Thursday - it's not exactly news."
What was he talking about?
Norris refused to pull his punches following the collapse of £200m-revenue reseller Misco UK in 2017. Its demise came just seven months after a new management team, backed by Hilco Capital, bought the UK and European business from long-time parent Systemax (as covered on CRN's front cover - above). The brand has more recently been resurrected by UK Computer Group.
No nonsense rating: 9/10
See following page for Norris' no-nonsense views on industry change....
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
2) No change
Soundbite:
"I am one of the very strange human beings who will tell you that I don't think there has been much change over the last 35 years."
What was he talking about?
In a keynote at CRN's ECLF event last October, Norris claimed the fundamentals of the IT industry are very much the same as when he took the helm of Computacenter a quarter of a century ago.
"If I look back over the last 35 years, there hasn't been a year where I haven't been told by the industry that we're in the greatest period of change we've ever been in, and that it's going to get bigger next year," he added.
"There have been a few things, but I think customers still want more for less; that's what they wanted 35 years ago."
No nonsense rating: 9/10
See following page for Norris' take on the channel's biggest ever bankruptcy ...
11 times Computacenter's straight-talking CEO told it like it is
Mike Norris has refused to pull his punches in CRN interviews down the years. Here we round up 11 of his top zingers from the last decade...
1) Organic matters
Soundbite:
"This proves categorically that you cannot build a solid, reliable business in this industry by acquisition alone. You have to grow a business with its own culture.
"But I think this is more good news than bad news for the industry. It shows that this industry is still more about ROI and making a profit and thinking about the long term, rather than some sort of deal-driven, get-rich-quick scenario. I think it is good overall that you have to build your way to greatness, not buy your way to greatness."
What was he talking about?
Norris was in no mood to hold back following one of the channel's biggest ever bankruptcies.
He held up 2e2's collapse in 2013 as evidence that organic growth - rather than indiscriminate buy-and-build - is the only way to prosper in the channel.
No-nonsense rating: 10/10