June Thomson
Business partner organisation sales director, IBM UK
Career so far I have been a manufacturing engineer, systems engineer, account manager (lots of times, mainly public sector), sales manager and sales director BPO.
If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be? Andrew Marr - he's just so knowledgeable (I loved his History of Britain books) and meets really cool and interesting people as part of his job (a bit like me!).
What will next year's most overhyped industry buzzword be? Cloud.
Has 2012 been a good, bad or ugly year? It has been mixed - it's been good for IBM as we are investing in our channel resource but the market has been tough for some of our partners.
What would you have as your last meal? A big bowl of my mum's soup.
What keeps you awake at night? Young children climbing into bed with me and older children coming in late having forgotten their keys!
What piece of technology could you not be without? My mobile phone. It keeps me in touch with everyone.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? Yes, I predicted Andy Murray would win a Grand Slam title.
What is the best partner/customer trip you have ever been on? Our IBM Regatta is tops but ISI's ski trip takes some beating. I also took my customer, the CAA, to Nice on the company jet - there and back in a day - fab!
What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2013? Traditional hardware resellers need to work out how they will transform themselves into solution-based offerings companies as clients want value add.
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