Steve Pearce
Managing director, DNS Arrow
Career so far I've spent 25 years in a variety of sales, sales management and main board director positions in the UK, Europe and the US. I have worked for vendors, partners and of course distribution and also done a major stint in managed services/ISP. Companies include DNS Arrow, InTechnology, Planet Online/Energis, Digital, Radius Software, Data General and Microvitec.
Do you care about green IT? Yes, but from a business perspective it is as much about the benefits from a cost and sales perspective as it is about anything else. I think it is a great selling proposition and a significant aspect to any RoI case. I guess I am more in the "stop wasting good money on unnecessary power" camp, not that I don't also recycle at home and work.
If you could be in a rock/pop band, which one would it be and who would you be?
Not really a band but at the moment it would have to be Elvis. I arranged for an Elvis tribute singer to sing at my wife's birthday party recently. It was great and I have been humming Return to Sender ever since. Not sure the white suits would work for me but Elvis had and still has a cross generation and lasting appeal which can't be a bad thing.
What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? The best ever was when my former boss at InTechnology Peter Wilkinson kindly let us take a bunch of customers on his super luxury, "Abramovich-style" yacht a few years ago. We invited customers with their wives and partners and spent a couple of days playing at being billionaires. Not surprisingly we had a 100 per cent take up on the experience. This year I went with colleagues to Israel for the first time to visit our European support facility and loved it.
Has 2009 been as bad as everyone said it would be? It's been a tough year, but we've worked hard to stay relevant and continue with our ambitions despite the economy. I do sense that things are getting steadily better as we head towards 2010 but like everyone we are keeping a tight eye on cost control.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? Everything I predicted about virtualisation being the major industry play has come true. I still think this has so much more to run to the extent that if you asked me the same question as last year I would give the same answer.
What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2010? Not enough margin to go around, too much duplication from vendors through distribution to resellers. Sorting out the stack and committing to medium-term, transparent and predictable partnerships is the only way forward to ensure everyone can get a fair return on investment.
What is the best part of your day? Mornings. Especially Saturdays.