Peter Lorant

Sales director, Google

What achievement are you most proud of?

Google was at the forefront of helping British companies move to the cloud. I am proud to have nurtured a new partner ecosystem that helped our customers become more digitally agile using Google's cloud technology.

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

At the beginning of this journey, it was hard to convince partners that cloud was "the next big thing", as they were too wedded to legacy partnerships and business models. The early adopters were cloud native companies that grew from two people to 200 people. Now, cloud has become mainstream and almost every IT channel player now has a cloud practice it's getting very crowded and hard to spot real quality.

What three things could you not live without?

I would struggle to live without oxygen, food and water. And broccoli.

What has been your most embarrassing moment so far?

Being the oldest git in the moshpit. Definitely an embarrassing dad!

What do your family think you do all day?

It's Google so they think I sit around eating free food, playing ping pong, having massages and thinking up new Google Doodles. Well, based on the spare tire that I'm sporting, they're right about the food bit.

Who is your ultimate celeb crush?

Carol Vorderman vs Anne Robinson. Countdown vs The Weakest Link.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Repeat after me: "Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl. With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there. She would merengue and do the cha-cha. And while she tried to be a star. Tony always tended bar..." Barry Manilow magic!

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

Change the national anthem to Copacabana and make Carol Vorderman queen.

Has 2015 been a good, bad or ugly year?

We continue to win some great FTSE customers and strengthen our strategic partnerships. From a technology perspective, we're seeing lots of momentum around Machine Learning (I think this will be the hottest area in tech in 2016).

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

Given the Air Miles that I've accumulated trying to cover EMEA & APAC, I'd probably be a good Heathrow tour guide. Or given my experience in managing complex partnerships, maybe a marriage counsellor.

What major issues will the channel face in 2016?

I expect to see more consolidation in the channel (for instance, Accenture's acquisition of Cloud Sherpas) as cloud becomes more mainstream and the bigger SIs get more serious about public cloud offerings. Also, I fear that commoditisation might start to creep in as some of the newer cloud entrants compete on price rather than value.