Dan Scarfe

Founder, New Signature UK

What is your greatest career move to date?

Starting Dot Net Solutions (which has now become New Signature UK).

What is top of your bucket list?

Visiting the Far East. I've never had the opportunity to go but would love to.

What has changed most since you started working in the channel?

The cloud. There has never been such a dramatic change in how software and services are delivered with such a radical impact on the channel. Those that get it will survive; those who don't, won't. How do you think Brexit is going to affect the channel? It's still too early to say, but we live in such a vibrant global market that in the long run we will make it through and be stronger.

What is your least favourite task during the working day?

Trying to stay on top of the incessant volume of emails I get every day.

If you were an animal, what would you be?

A fox. A master of cunning.

If you won the big one on EuroMillions, what would you do?

Become an angel investor and back the next generation of entrepreneurs.

What is your worst habit?

Leaving everything to the last minute. The longer the deadline, the longer I leave starting. It is not a good habit.

How has 2016 been for you?

Emotional! This was the year that Dot Net Solutions became New Signature UK. It's always hard to part with your original company name, but our new VC backers have been incredibly supportive and share our vision of creating the world's largest pure-play Microsoft public cloud integration and managed services business and the next few years are going to be great fun.

If you didn't work in the IT channel, what would be your dream career?

Getting in early on the next big thing. I'm not sure if that's a dream career or just a dream, but who knows, one day.

What major issues will the channel face in 2017?

The continued rise of public cloud. There are still many who espouse FUD about public cloud and continue to sing the virtues of private clouds and on-premise environments. Although hybrid is the solution for most, for now, organisations will lead with public and fall back to private. The channel needs to stop fighting this and start embracing it.