Sir Peter Rigby on his succession plans, Brexit, and why he'd go into technology if he were doing it all again

Industry doyen Sir Peter Rigby has shared his industry predictions as part of an interview recorded exclusively for the CRN Channel Awards.

In the full Q&A - above - the SCC founder also tackles topics ranging from Brexit and COVID to succession planning.

Despite amassing interests in fields as diverse as aviation, hotels and finance through his Rigby Group, Rigby emphasised that he still spends "the vast majority" of his time in the tech sector.

"Other interests have come along over the course of the years, and they are diverse interests. Sometimes they take more time than they should do, but at the heart of everything we do is SCC and our technology interests," he said.

Rigby last month stepped back to the role of chairman of Rigby Group, making sons James and Stephen joint chief executives of the £2.9bn-revenue outfit.

"We have given great thought to the continuation of the group's activities and for it to remain in family hands," he said.

Although Brexit has been "very disruptive" to business, and has "probably lost investment", the adversity it has caused could spark opportunity, he said.

"I don't think it's something we should fear, but we need to get to grips with it," he said.

Looking ahead to the next five years, Rigby gave a glowing assessment of the tech channel's future, predicting that "technology will find lots of opportunities to automate, improve and bring benefits to people".

Technology would be his chosen field if he was building another business from scratch, Rigby confided.

"I always thought technology was about the future. It's never become a sunset industry," he said.

"So if I was doing it again, I'd go into a technology-based business. It would certainly be around the newer and more advanced technologies - artificial intelligence, machine learning, cognitive computing-based applications. That's very much where the future is, because those technologies will drive the infrastructure and the requirements of business as a whole."

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