Q&A with SHI's EMEA commercial director Dinet Luchies

Why do you support CRN's Women & Diversity in Channel campaign?

Today women still only account for about 30 per cent of the channel and only 19% of the tech workforce in the UK. So, campaigns such as these help to elevate the profile of successful women and celebrate people and organisations committed to support diversity.

It is why I was so pleased to join SHI last year, a women owned and led business, which has an almost even split of gender across all its European business and the current CRN WIC Gender Parity award winner.

What is the one thing you would do to encourage more women into the IT sector?

Tell them to just go for it… Women, and I know this to be true for myself, tend to only go for a job when we feel we have every single requirement and desirable skill on the list ticked off.

Sometimes our male counterparts look at it thinking they've got most so they just go for it. IT is an ever changing and growing industry and I have yet to meet anyone who knows it all, so just go for it!

What can companies do to help diversity in our industry?

I think diversity needs to be embraced at all levels of an organisation and should form part of the core values and culture of the company.

In the same way business strategy is set and driven "top-down", so often are the values and culture. Of course, whether companies need to set diversity targets is an individual one for each organisation to determine.

However, I do think that we as leadership should at a minimum ensure that their business is truly reflective of the variety of customers they serve. And where there is a gap, strive to include the broadest spectrum of candidates for every new role within their business.

What can we do as individuals to help the industry become more diverse?

We need to encourage the people around us to do as well as they can, everyone in our teams. Look beyond gender, race, sexuality and religion and all things that make us different.

Instead find the similarities, appreciate what makes us unique.

As Maya Angelou said - in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.