Michelle Walker

What has been your personal highlight of 2020?

Making my new office at home.

Which three celebrities would you invite to a Zoom party?

Snoop Dogg, Tom Hardy and Deadpool.

What has been your guiltiest lockdown pleasure?

A glass of wine with lunch!

Which tech figurehead has inspired you most this year, and why?

Tom Blomfield, founder of Monzo Bank, for founding a bank which disrupts the old guard and reacts quickly, even if it's to correct its own mistakes - and they make things happen.

What piece of technology, or app, have you not been able to do without during the pandemic?

Teams, regardless of how long it took them to catch up with Zoom.

If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do?

Janis Joplin and survive!

Do you miss face-to-face events?

No, they were never my comfort zone.

How will COVID leave its mark on the way the channel operates long term?

COVID has highlighted the need for businesses to be more agile and responsive. Although some have been aware that agility was needed to stay ahead of the game, many have dragged their feet and were not prepared for the disruption, even though they were warned. Agile businesses will only work with channel partners who are themselves agile.

They will want improved communication, less administration, speedier onboarding of new services and a better understanding of these services.

It's not all about the price any more.