Lizzie Robinson
What has been your personal highlight of 2020?
Against all odds with the craziness of the world this year, I've had a great year! I turned 30 in Disneyland Paris, took over as head of QBS MSP which was an amazing personal achievement, taught my four-year-old son to read, and welcomed two new nieces into the world.
Which three celebrities would you invite to a Zoom party?
Josh D'Amaro, president of Disney Parks and Resorts so I could learn all the development plans and secrets; Ryan Reynolds for his amazing humour and Dave Grohl to play music for us all.
What has been your guiltiest lockdown pleasure?
Being able to sit in my hammock in the garden during my lunch break.
Which tech figurehead has inspired you most this year, and why?
The queen of software, Grace Hopper, who stated, "Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, ‘we've always done it this way.' I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise."
At QBS MSP we live by the same philosophy and like to think that we do distribution differently. We're always looking for new and emerging technologies that challenge how things are done.
What piece of technology, or app, have you not been able to do without during the pandemic?
We use Hubspot for our CRM and UC-One for our phone system - it was invaluable to us to have our data and phone system available to us instantly and be able to move to a working-from-home model at the drop of a hat.
On a personal note, watching Netflix has got me through lockdown!
If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do?
Donald Trump - I'd step down as president.
Do you miss face-to-face events?
I certainly miss the interactions with our partners and the buzz created at face-to-face events but I don't believe they always delivered the best results. Our teams are having to think of innovative new ways to get in front of new customers.
How will COVID leave its mark on the way the channel operates long term?
The industry is adapting to the ever-changing economy and increased working from home environments which are inevitably changing buying habits and shifts in which technologies are priority.
I don't believe that the world will ever go back to how it was before and therefore the channel is having to find new ways to attract, close and delight customers.