Neil Ledger

Joint chief executive, Exclusive Networks UK

Career so far My first senior IT role was as sales director at Data Guardian before co-founding a series of successful value added distribution business – Data Connectivity (acquired by Datrontech Group) and equIP Technologies (acquired by Matrix). In 2007 I co-founded VADition, which was acquired by Exclusive Networks Group in June 2011.

If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be? Rory McIlroy. I would love to be able to strike a golf ball as pure as he does and know what it feels like to be a major champion. Oh, and to be 23 again for a week.

What will next year’s most overhyped industry buzzword be? BYO something or other. It seems that consumerisation and user-driven IT will be challenging enterprise IT departments for quite some time yet.

Has 2012 been a good, bad or ugly year? It’s been a fantastic year so far, despite the continued economic challenges. We’ve successfully integrated and consolidated the UK businesses following the VADition acquisition last year, continuing to grow ahead of the market (and even our own targets) and looking at another record-breaking year.

What would you have as your last meal? Bangers and mash.

What keeps you awake at night? Late-night beers and curry.

What piece of technology could you not be without? My iPhone. Having been a relatively late Apple convert, I now can’t put it down. It’s right what they say, you know: there really is an app for that.

Have any of your predictions come true this year? No. I never make predictions.

What is the best partner/customer trip you have ever been on? There have been many down the years but I recently returned from a small intimate trip to Ireland with a few customers. Great company, great golf, great time. This is how business should be.

What do you see as the channel’s biggest challenge in 2013? Staying relevant to its customers! The market is changing at a great pace and the channel needs to adapt.