Simon Church

Chief executive, NTT Com Security

What was the worst job you have ever had?

Picking gooseberries on a farm in Kent during my time at school. At first, I was picking strawberries and raspberries but it was the gooseberries that broke me.

Which actor would you pick to play you in a movie of your life?

Definitely Al Pacino. Aside from being highly watchable, he’s understated and cool under pressure.

What do you do as your party trick?

I can bunny hop on a bicycle.

What is your favourite chocolate bar?

Twix, because one bar is never enough. What has been the highlight of your career to date? I have been lucky enough to work with some really exciting and influential people (some who are well known and others not) who have helped form my career. Many have said things and shown invaluable ways of working that have helped me understand how to better run a business and develop the teams I work with.

Has 2014 been a good, bad or ugly year?

2014 has been an improving year. The real change has been in the maturing of information security and risk management awareness. It wasn’t long ago that we read an article on a security issue or breach in a broadsheet newspaper, which we would then email to each other. Now, we see breaches every day and it’s not just security specialists that are talking about them. As a colleague of mine often says, even granny now knows what we do for a living. This increased awareness of security is helping our industry mature and create new opportunities, but greater choice is also confusing people.

How would you explain the IT channel to a stranger without boring them to death?

It is an efficient way of engaging with all types of clients and institutions – whether large, multi-national or small firms.

Aside from the channel, my dream career would be… running a professional cycling team.

What major issues will the channel face in 2015?

The shift from VARs to service advisors will continue next year. It’s not just about reselling products anymore, so the companies that keep reselling will die out. Organisations in the channel also need to offer value-added services in order to compete in the market and improve their performance in 2015. This applies to all channels – not just IT.