Paul Stringfellow

Technical director, Gardner Systems

What was your dream career as a child?

Footballer and, bizarrely, a bus driver… there's more chance of the bus driver gig, sadly!

What has been your personal highlight of 2019?

Attending the Champions League final with my son and watching our team win. We went to Madrid as a family and the four of us had a great experience.

Which famous person deserves a (gentle) slap?

The ‘gentle' slap makes this difficult - there are a bunch of people who I'd liked to do more than that to, but appreciate you can't condone violence…

What two things (apart from family) would you grab if your house was on fire?

Car keys and wallet - we'd need to go somewhere and pay to stay, I guess!

Which of your 2019 predictions have come to pass?

I predicted I wouldn't make any predictions…

What TV show have you binge watched this year?

The Good Place and The Marvellous Mrs Maisel.

How has 2019 been from a business perspective?

The industry continues to be challenging, with many of our customers holding projects until the mess of Brexit has some clarity.

As a business we are continuing to evolve rapidly, which of course brings its own set of challenges; however, they are slowly being overcome, delivering some really smart projects, around data management, governance and cloud, giving us plenty to look forward to.

What annoys you most about your commute?

Nothing really - I don't mind it and it's great podcast time and a chance to keep up with the tech industry.

If you could witness one past event, what would it be?

It seems apt this year, but to have seen Apollo 11 take off from Cape Kennedy and witness man's first trip to the moon - that would be pretty cool.

How do you explain the channel to people?

The channel is like a box of chocolates… but with a trusted chocolate partner who helps you understand the best chocs that manufacturers make and how they best fit your chocolate needs, then helps you to buy the best chocs you can… well, something like that!

What have been your favourite and least favourite partner conference destinations?

It seems churlish to complain as often I'm at a conference as a guest and many times in places I haven't been, or may not have gone.

If I've got to complain probably London, just because I can go anytime and getting there is a pain. I've been to Berlin a few times and really like that - it has fascinating recent history. New Orleans and San Francisco are cool, and I can understand why people get bored with Vegas.

What is the biggest challenge facing the channel in 2020?

I don't think they are going to change, dealing with the continued moves to cloud and how those changes affect the traditional channel model. If the country does indeed shoot itself in both feet and "get's Brexit done", the impact that is likely to have on our economy could cause some real problems across all sectors, including the IT channel. 

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