What has been your personal highlight of 2020?
My personal highlight has to be running four half marathons this year. I'm aiming for six but the clock is ticking.
Which three celebrities would you invite to a Zoom party?
Mary Berry as every party needs class, Elon Musk as his entrepreneurial skills appear to have no limits and maybe some would rub off on me, and Andy Murray as after watching his Netflix documentary I'd love to get into his mindset.
What has been your guiltiest lockdown pleasure?
Walking my dogs every day, Pre-lockdown I would usually only be home once or twice a week in time to walk the dogs. Its great after a day of video meetings, calls and spreadsheets to get out into the fresh air and breathe.
Which tech figurehead has inspired you most this year, and why?
It's hard to drill down to one single person but for me it's about the tech figureheads who brought about technologies that have allowed business and social interaction to continue almost seamlessly during 2020.
Imagine if COVID had happened 10 years ago without the technology advancements we have seen in the intervening years?
What piece of technology, or app, have you not been able to do without during the pandemic?
Microsoft Teams. We deployed Teams across the Terra UK team and thanks to this we have stayed in touch with each other and our customers.
If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do?
My dog. She sleeps, she eats, she runs - it really is a dog's life!
Do you miss face-to-face events?
This is the biggest part of my role that I miss. I used to always have a packed diary of meetings with existing or new partners and various channel events - while we are adapting to online, virtual events, it's just not the same.
How will COVID leave its mark on the way the channel operates long term?
I think the channel will become more reliant on Teams and Zoom meetings. While I miss face-to-face interaction they do have a role in driving buiness. With more people working from home it will be interesting to see how many channel firms scale down on office space and what will that do long term for the channel culture. And of course the economy. The government's prediction of four million unemployed will affect the channel landscape in terms of business casualties, acquisitions and the businesses that adapt and thrive in the COVID era and become serious players.
