Channel Awards: Q&A with finalist SCC chief revenue officer, Adam Clark

Adam Clark is a seasoned IT leader, with more than 25 years’ experience delivering modern technology to transform the way organisations work.

Why do you think awards like the Channel Awards matter? What would winning this award mean to your company?

This is an opportunity to highlight outstanding contributions to the IT industry. We're all so focused on the future that sometimes we forget to celebrate our collective successes. The Channel Awards is a time to come together and do just that, reflecting on the great things each of the finalists achieved.

To win at the Channel Awards is always a huge honour, but regardless of who wins, the finalists should all be immensely proud. As we come together as an industry on the award's night, we should remember to pause and look around at the many hundreds of talented colleagues and peers that make up the IT channel.

What would you say is your company's proudest achievement over the past year?

I'm proud to say that we have delivered another record year, despite the ongoing challenges that we all face. That is testament to our people, who we are always most proud of. Over the past 12 months, we have also made significant strides in terms of a roadmap for our future and communications a clear business strategy to continue growing SCC as the cornerstone of Rigby Group, under multi-generational private ownership. This is something that we all take enormous pride in.

What have been the biggest challenges of 2023 so far and how have you overcome them? How have your people helped with that?

As ever, recruitment continues to be the biggest challenge for all businesses. The competition for talent is a permanent feature in the IT channel, just as in all industries, and we are continually investing in our people and our culture to make sure we attract and retain the very best. The business landscape is also tough for many industries this year, with economic turbulence reducing discretionary spend - but investment in IT remains critical. Our people know this and have helped us to create long-term, trusted partnerships with our customers to help them understand how investment in technology, transformation, and innovation can help steer them through.

How do you think the channel has changed over the past year and what changes do you think it still needs to make?

In the IT channel, the only thing that is guaranteed is change. Our industry is ever evolving - and that's why it's so exciting to be a part of. Even more so at SCC, where we have a track record of making early investments ahead of market trends, which keeps us at the bleeding edge. Clearly, the pandemic had a seismic impact - and we are starting to see the longer-term effects of the accelerated move to digital transformation. This is great news for the industry, as we continue to shift towards new technology innovations and the practical application of things like AI and a greater demand for managed services.

What do you see as the main opportunities for the channel in the coming year? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?

Scale continues to be an important part of reselling, and we must all keep growing our product businesses. But we've already started a shift towards diversification, particularly in the services space. I believe SCC is at the forefront of exploring new things around cloud, cyber, digital transformation and services, which are outside our traditional core but increasingly important to our clients. These are the opportunities we see and we've already committed investment to take advantage of them. I expect the rest of the IT channel will follow suit.