The SMAs and CORE - meet the contenders

CRN speaks to CORE about its achievements in the last year and what it means to be nominated for the SMAs 2023

Today is the day for the CRN Sales and Marketing Awards 2023, and as we prepare to find out the winners at this year's ceremony at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, Tower Bridge, we meet some of the contenders.

Today we speak to Katie Sloan, managing director of CORE.

Sloan has over 14 years' experience building teams, developing partner programs, launching new product lines, and delivering successful creative campaigns; including generating over 35 per cent organic growth for Core Technology Systems in 2022.

CORE has made the shortlist for a total of five awards at tonight's SMAs.

Why do you think awards like the SMAs matter? What would winning this award mean to your company?

The CRN SMAs are important to Core as they bring recognition and credibility to our hard-working teams within the IT channel; and help signify that Core has achieved excellence that is acknowledged by industry experts. This recognition can enhance our reputation, as well as increasing visibility and helping give us differentiation in a crowded and competitive market. Winning would serve as a validation of our unique strengths, innovative solutions, and exceptional performance - and we would be thrilled to see that for our deserving #OneCore team!

What would you say is your company's proudest achievement over the past year?

Core has been delighted to experience over 35% organic growth in 2022, which is an incredible achievement in a turbulent market and challenging economy. This has led to increased awareness and interest in Core, which is something we're very proud of as it helps us attract more wonderful customers and potential investors. We were also pleased to launch our sustainability initiative, including carbon reduction initiatives and our tree-planting program to offset carbon usage of our employees.

What have been the biggest challenges of 2023 so far and how have you overcome them? How have your people helped with that?

The market in 2023 has more businesses concerned about risk of a recession, high inflation, and issues relating to the workforce. Fortunately, we are still growing, but we have noticed a change in our customers as well as our main supplier, Microsoft, where budget cuts have certainly had an impact, globally. One of Core's greatest strengths is our people and culture, and our #OneCore value that helps everyone work together to innovate and support our customers with new solutions, services, and propositions, even in challenging times. Our ‘Do More with Less' campaign, in partnership with Microsoft, was a team effort in response to those challenges in the market.

How do you think the channel has changed over the past year and what changes do you think it still needs to make?

Thankfully, the Channel has remained quite resilient in the past year and the UK tech sector is still very strong, attracting talent into the market - albeit with increasing salaries that certainly make it more difficult for businesses looking to grow their EBIT. However, we'd still like to see more improvements, promotion and action regarding diversity, inclusion, and sustainability across the channel.

What do you see as the main opportunities for the channel in the coming year? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?

Cyber security will remain a key priority for all businesses as the threat landscape increases exponentially with further introduction of AI into business practices. We believe businesses who can improve productivity and cost savings through enhanced managed services, innovative cloud projects and by embracing AI - through the likes of Microsoft Copilot - will do well, capitalising on the demands of the market.