XChange Best of Breed: Full recap of CRN's two-day partner event
We summarise the top statements made over CRN’s residential XChange conference
CRN's second XChange event, Best of Breed, has drawn to a close following a spectacular two days at Ashdown Park in East Grinstead, where the inaugural event first started.
The country house hotel hosted UK channel solution providers and resellers to witness keynotes and panels covering cybersecurity, how to create value, how to sell technology to CIOs, diversity and inclusion and scaling a business.
Day one delegates heard from SNC Lavalin Group CIO Steven Capper and Charity IT Leaders chair of trustees Matt Jago who shared the secret behind selling to a CIO.
The duo told the audience companies need to do their research, network, and be patient if they want to successfully get through to them.
"For me, I like it when people actually understand our business and absolutely understand the challenges we've got," Capper said.
"We've got projects that run for a really long time and several things come into play. So understand our business, our needs, don't just throw solutions.
"For me, that's the only way to get through."
CRN breaks down what was said during the other panels at XChange Best of Breed 2023.
What Does Value Look Like in 2023?
In the first panel session of day one, CRN senior reporter Andrea Gaini was joined by Sapphire Systems CSO, Chris Gabriel; Highgate IT's head of alliances & operations Jenny Latimer; and CAE Technology Services chief corporate development officer Richard Behan took look into how business value has changed in the channel.
"I'm not sure value has changed that much in terms of as businesses and what we're trying to do with our customers, and how are we trying to evolve," Gabriel said.
"The thing for me is, value in the eye of the beholder. There's not one channel, there's not one model. there's not one customer, there's not one customer need or type, every customer might see value in a slightly different way.
"Over the last couple of years we've tried to really understand our customers and try to add value, not trying to diversify our portfolio massively to do lots of different things.
"We made four acquisitions a few years ago but not dramatic diversions away from our core operational capabilities.
"From my perspective, it's never been easy to do it, but you're incredibly lazy if you don't do it."
However, Latimer shared that she takes a different view that deviates from customer-driven value.
"Whereas perhaps because I'm not focused on the sales team, I tend to think about our internal value," she said.
"So what value do we bring our employees? What value do we bring on partners? And I think once you start to think about that, it then leads to more value for your customer."
While Behan couldn't help but agree with both his fellow panellists.
"I take a blend of the two. If you've got the value, and you've got the people within the business firing on all cylinders, that will definitely then complement the customer value piece," he said.
Tackling how value has changed and evolved over more recent years, Behan said the overriding concept for him is how people have come to expect more.
"Whether that is for people within your organisation, but our customers do expect more, so I think the value piece has never been as crucial as it is now in terms of how our organisations can add value in your own unique way."
Latimer again urged people to look within their own organisations, especially given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"There wasn't an individual on this planet that didn't get affected by Covid. So I very much bring it back to the individual again. Have a look at your own organisation first, how did Covid affects that and what changes did you make to help and support your employees and everything.
"And now think about your customers, because your customers are all individuals as well. That means they are having the same journey, issues - everything that you are.
"So I always try to bring it back, make it relatable and then go from there."
Looking ahead at how value will continue to change, evolve and adapt, the three panellists gave the audience a peek into their respective and metaphorical crystal balls.
A topic that would inevitably come up over the two days is AI, which is what Gabriel pegged as the biggest disruptor for the industry.
"Generative AI. It's really important in the industry that we're in it. It's coming faster in some of the platforms that we deal with,"said Gabriel.
"It's incredibly exciting and impactful, because we can create that Iterative value, enabling our customers with co-pilots so they can see into their business more effectively."
Whereas Latimer looked at the bigger picture, again with more of a focus on people.
"For future value, you know, I think by mapping out what value can we add to the channel," she said.
"Rather than just customer focus, what I focus on is what value can we bring entirely? Such as diversity.
"Driving value and diversity, driving value and sustainability within the channel. We don't need to be competitors all the time.
"Why aren't we looking at what we can do in the channel to help the environment?"
And finally, Behan echoed Latimer's sentiments.
"I think we can double down on all of it. There's plenty of room for us all to double down on your people and your culture.
"And very much to Jenny's point, making sure that you can maximise the benefit in your own organisations and how you can look at addressing sustainability and ESG and tie all these things into your culture and your purpose."
XChange Best of Breed: Full recap of CRN's two-day partner event
We summarise the top statements made over CRN’s residential XChange conference
Diversity and Inclusion
CRN consulting editor and XChange host Sara Yirrell sat down with Anushka Davis, Softcat's Head of Employee Engagement to talk about key stats on what brings diverse employees to the industry and what more the sector can do to create a positive and welcoming environment.
"Recently, we did a survey to understand what our employee base looks like," Davis said.
"We've collated gender data. But over the last four years, we've collated ethnicity data.
"But a few months ago, we did a survey to understand sexual orientation, disability, and neurodiversity, and also socioeconomic background as well.
"Now, we're still crunching through all of that data. But we had over 70 per cent of our employees reply back to that survey, and out of that 19 per cent of our employees highlighted that they either had a disability or a neuro divergence, or struggled with their mental health.
"And 17 per cent of the respondents actually said that the mental health side of things affected them of work.
"I think we will focus on bringing in talents of different backgrounds, and making sure that we're focusing on that conscious inclusion. But we really want to do a good job with the people that we've got at Softcat and there's still a huge amount of work to do."
Yirrell asked what small things people and organisations can do to start this process, to which Davis said companies of all sizes and revenues have the ability to simply listen.
"I honestly don't think you need huge amounts of budget for this, because it's a people thing, and a lot of it is taking that time out and just listening," she said.
"The most powerful conversations that we have, which doesn't cost any money at all, is creating those listening forums, and showing that you actually care about that human being behind the job title, and understanding what their needs are, what we can do to make sure that they can be more engaged or motivated.
"I know that that's really difficult to tailor for each individual person and one size doesn't fit everything, you also can't adapt absolutely everything for every individual. So you have to kind of have a bit of a halfway house and sometimes the answer is yes. And sometimes the answers are no."
Turning to the individual herself, Davis was quizzed on what are some of her own priorities for the near future.
"Over the next few years, the key thing for me really is to get really close to our leadership team around the data.
"Data enables powerful conversations around improving diversity. So I think we've made some positive changes on gender. And a lot of the time we talk more about gender, even within the channel over the last four or five years, we've really focused on improving the diversity of women within our organisations.
"But the bigger focus for me is ethnicity as well. So 16 per cent ethnic employees at Softcat but that's not reflective in our management team where it's seven per cent, and four per cent on our leadership team and that's just me, and that's not good enough."
XChange Best of Breed: Full recap of CRN's two-day partner event
We summarise the top statements made over CRN’s residential XChange conference
How to successfully scale an SMB
CRN event regular Guy Golan, CEO of Performanta took to the stage to give his top tips on how to scale as an SMB from his past experience.
He said that, while growing and earning as much money as possible is tempting for young companies, Golan advised businesses against chasing cash which can sometimes lead to forgetting about their people.
"The first thing we did was hire an HR manager. So when we were nine people, the tenth employee was an HR manager and I know that that sounds like maybe a bit too much. But an HR manager made a very big difference in the growth of the business," Golan said.
He also highlighted the importance of being transparent with your staff, especially as an SMB.
"The other element is that you need to realise, especially when you're a small organisation, that you are taking people with you on a journey. And if you take people with you on the journey, then they need to feel belonging to the journey.
"So, from day one, we did a lot of sharing about what we're going to do. We stood in front of the crowd and we shared what the company was doing financially, how much money were making and what the challenges were."
How can SMBs scale successfully?
Golan tackled the million-dollar question that was on the lips of everyone in attendance for the discussion - How can SMBs ensure they scale successfully?
"Start understanding that whatever you think of planning, whatever you've got in mind that you plan to do, already be doing it," he stated.
"Take the cash and make sure that you invest it or you keep it but don't spend it or don't waste it.
"Don't go and spend money on dividends because you haven't yet reached the end goal of your company, give yourself something small but make sure you run something big and show that whatever you've got in mind from planning to do it beforehand. Take that money and see it as part of an investment.
"So when you play tug of war about ‘do I get more business versus do I get more sustainability and do I get more growth?' You need to balance those together and not forget about the definition of growth which is not just financial growth, but also having the right structures to allow that.
"So plan from the beginning. Start from scratch. Put a paper together and say ‘how will this business look when we are at 100 people?'"