Paul Butcher

Managing director, Damovo UK

Career so far I am a qualified chartered accountant. I started working in ICT in 1994 as finance director of GPT Video Systems. After a variety of roles selling core networking solutions initially to BT and then to other service providers worldwide, via Siemens, Ericsson and Nortel, I moved to Australia in 2000 to start Marconi's business there. In 2004 I took over responsibility for Marconi's business across Asia Pacific managing a complex mix of direct sales, joint ventures and channels including operations in India and China. In 2006 I joined Ericsson following its acquisition of Marconi and led the enterprise business in Australia and New Zealand before returning to the UK in 2008 to run Damovo UK.

Has 2009 been as bad as everyone said it would be? If we look at the statistics there is no question 2009 has been an awful year with rising unemployment, escalating national debt and a collapsing currency. There have been some big-name company failures and for every household impacted by redundancy or reduced income there is no question it will have been every bit as difficult as the headlines suggest. However for all the doom and gloom there is always another perspective and there will also be those that have prospered and succeeded and can look back on 2009 as a year of success. At a personal level, individuals will have been promoted or moved to exciting new jobs or at a company level, like for us at Damovo, new orders have been secured and significant growth has been achieved.

What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2010? The biggest issue will be the impact of public sector spending cuts. The scale of the challenge is huge and it is almost certain that we are facing the toughest cuts since World War II ended. We are all going to feel the impact and 2010 could well turn out to be even harder than 2009. That said, I firmly believe that there will be big winners and big losers within the overall trends. The ongoing economic challenges will flush out those that have weak balance sheets, offer poor service, or inferior solutions. Those channels that are agile and respond quickest to the changing market environment will prosper and grow while the others fall by the wayside.