10 quotes that tell the channel's story in 2021
We look back on the quotes that will come to define 2021 for the channel
A year that brought more Covid disruption, new debates around WFH vs the office, supply issues and the aftermath of Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, CRN looks at 10 quotes which tell the channel's story in 2021.
On 4 Jan did we export stuff and achieve next-day delivery on 5 Jan? No we didn't. And we'd be in good company in that regard"
Who said it?
Richard Hinds, COO UK&I, Exertis
What were they talking about?
Boris Johnson's Brexit deal came into force at the beginning of the year. Exertis' UK&I COO Richard Hinds was one of nine distributors that told CRN about how the deal is posing a myriad of new supply chain disruptions.
While many distributors had been preparing for Brexit since the vote in 2016, the year began in chaos for many, with new regulations and customs checks delaying orders as we began 2021.
Will print get back to normal? We hope so."
Who said it?
Nigel Allen, former director, ASL
What were they talking about?
With the pandemic emptying offices on a global scale, many were predicting that the print industry would become obsolete as we adapted to remote working.
IDC predicted during the pandemic that four hundred billion fewer pages would be printed in 2020 compared to previous years, the equivalent of seven football fields-worth every single minute.
Managed print providers spoke to CRN at the start of the year to tell us how they tend to fill a gaping hole in their business left by the pandemic, with many telling us they plan to diversify into managed IT services.
I think it's important to have a sense of place for a business - that's where the ideas come from, where the energy comes from and where the spark comes from,"
Who said it?
Martin Hess, CEO UK&I, Telefonica Tech
What were they talking about?
The debate as to whether the office will still have a meaningful value in the channel has been raging since the pandemic began. While some companies embraced hybrid working and even closed or downsized offices, others were adamant that the physical office space was critically important to their success as a business.
Hess told CRN during an interview that office working would be critical to the future success of the business and said office-based working would become the "default" for its staff.
Several resellers including CAE, Bechtle, pure technology group and Cancom revamped or relocated their offices to welcome back employees and to adapt to a new hybrid working model.
It's been 28 years in the making. It's a really important milestone in the company's history."
Who said it?
Graeme Watt, CEO, Softcat
What were they talking about?
Softcat was crowned the UK's largest reseller in this year's Top VARs report, toppling Computacenter for the first time.
The Marlow-based VAR's gross invoiced income (GII) grew by £1.94bn in its latest accounts, while Computacenter's UK revenue reached £1.76bn, a 12 per cent increase.
Softcat's revenue has risen from £220m since Top VARs began in 2011.
With the work we've done over the last four or five years, it felt like the right time."
Who said it?
Paul Shannon, CEO, ANS Group
What were they talking about?
ANS Group sold a majority stake to Inflexion in June, in a deal which will see it merge with fellow Mancunian firm UKFast.
The deal was the culmination of five years of transformation for ANS from a flexpod reseller to a digital transformation and cloud partner.
The deal with Inflexion was worth more than £200m, Sky News reported.
Fortunately we've reached a relatively material scale in the UK which gave us some great options, but none better than Advania for us as a team."
Who said it?
Peter Sweetbaum, CEO, Content+Cloud
What were they talking about?
Content+Cloud announced that it has been acquired by Nordic managed services giant Advania at the end of the year.
The deal was one of the year's largest acquisitions. Content+Cloud has some 800 staff across London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Reading, Cardiff and Cape Town in South Africa, and turned over £84.5m in its last financial year.
This is transformational for Tech Data, Synnex and the entire technology ecosystem."
Who said it?
Rich Hume, CEO, Tech Data
What were they talking about?
Tech Data became the world's largest IT distributor after announcing plans to merge with US giant Synnex.
The acquisition creates a company with pro-forma revenues of $57bn and 22,000 staff and will mean Tech Data has toppled Ingram Micro as the world's largest player.
The deal was worth a whopping $7.2bn.
If someone cancels on month two of a 12-month term, Microsoft is still going to send you the next ten months' worth of bills."
Who said it?
Michael Frisby, MD, Vuzion
What were they talking about?
Microsoft ruffled some feathers in the channel this year after revealing billing changes for O365 which would mean partners had to take on the financial responsibility if their customers were unable to pay for O365 licences.
The change to CSP licencing means that customers no longer have the option to cancel their O365 licence without paying an early termination penalty, and the partner becomes responsible for paying the outstanding months on a licence.
The only instruction Joe ever gave me was to grow the damn thing."
Who said it?
Alex Tatham, MD, Westcoast
What were they talking about?
Westcoast topped the UK distributor tables this year, besting Exertis and Tech Data to the top spot with £2.72bn revenues last year.
"Firstly Westcoast have just got better and better at all of this. Exertis are very focused on retail, and their retail business will have done very well, but Westcoast just dominates in B2B," Tatham told us.
"And I think the other thing that's happened is that clearly we've had a big Lenovo business come in and had a big Samsung business come in with Data Select.
"So we've just got a relentless focus on growth."
Right now, it's a big problem."
Who said it?
Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco
What were they talking about?
The supply chain crisis was arguably the biggest talking point of 2021, with shortages impact the entire channel from vendor, distributor to reseller.
Cisco's Chuck Robbins was one of the most vocal CEOs about the crisis this year, claiming that shortages were desperately impacting its ability to meet demand.
He predicted in April that shortages will last at least another six months, but now it seems certain that supply issues will persist well into 2022.