Lynn Collier

COO, HDS UK & Ireland

What achievements are you most proud of?

Establishing and executing against our Partner First Strategy at HDS.

What has been the biggest change in the channel since you started working in it?

The dramatic and swift market changes requiring new business and go-to-market models in order for partners to be successful. What three things could you not live without? 1. My iPhone – I always need to be connected. 2. My car because I love to drive. 3. The Good Food Guide, as I love finding innovative and interesting restaurants to visit.

What has been your most embarrassing moment so far?

Moving to Australia and assuming there would be no language barrier – although it did result in a lot of laughs.

What do your family think you do all day?

Travel and meet a lot of people, which is definitely a large part of my role.

Who is your ultimate celeb crush?

That’s an easy one – Brian Cox.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Remembering mainframes, Cobol and tape. They have all been rumoured to be defunct 10 times over, but they’re still going strong in some areas.

What would be your first act if you were made Prime Minister?

To provide fast and reliable connectivity to every home and business in the UK and Ireland.

Has 2015 been a good, bad or ugly year?

2015 has been a great year – we’ve seen fantastic engagement with our partners, interesting propositions to take to our customers and a very active market – what’s not to like?

If you didn’t work in the IT channel, what would you do?

I’d like to be a psychologist as I think it would be a really fascinating career.

What major issues will the channel face in 2016?

I think we’ll see three major issues next year: adjusting to increased consolidation and convergence in the partner community; moving ahead of the curve to offer profitable, consumption-based and service-led solutions; and providing practical innovation for customers in the face of the M2M and big data onslaught.