Channel Awards 2025: Interview with Jonathan Walker, CEO UK, Access4 UK

“2025 has been a year of rapid change, particularly around partner expectations and the pace of digital transformation.”

Why do you think awards like the CRN Channel Awards matter?

The CRN Channel Awards are a cornerstone of our industry. They shine a spotlight on the innovation, resilience, and collaboration that define the UK channel. For Access4, being part of these awards as a sponsor is incredibly important. It’s our way of celebrating the achievements of our peers and partners and showing our commitment to the channel community. These events bring people together, foster new relationships, and inspire the next wave of growth.

What would winning this award mean to your company?

While we’re not in the running for an award this year, we’re proud to be sponsoring the event. For us, it’s about supporting the ecosystem and recognising the outstanding work being done across the channel.

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

Our proudest achievement has been the successful UK launch of SASBOSS, our purpose-built, vendor-agnostic platform for voice service automation. We’ve seen incredible momentum, with strong uptake from partners who are now delivering voice services more efficiently and profitably. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and it’s been rewarding to see how SASBOSS is helping partners grow their businesses on their own terms.

What have been the biggest challenges of 2025 so far and how have you overcome them? How have your people helped with that?

2025 has been a year of rapid change, particularly around partner expectations and the pace of digital transformation. Our biggest challenge has been scaling our operations to meet demand while maintaining the high-touch support we’re known for. Our team has been phenomenal; agile, committed, and deeply customer-focused. Their dedication has ensured we not only met these challenges but turned them into opportunities for growth.

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

The industry has become more partner-centric, with a growing emphasis on automation, integration, and recurring revenue models. That’s a positive shift. However, there’s still work to do in simplifying service delivery and making it easier for partners to scale without complexity. We believe vendor-agnostic platforms like Access4’s SASBOSS are part of that solution, removing friction and giving partners more control over their service stack.

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

The biggest opportunity lies in helping partners transition to more scalable, automated service models. As demand for voice and collaboration tools continues to grow, partners need platforms that reduce operational overhead and increase profitability. We’re investing heavily in partner enablement, platform innovation, and local support to ensure our partners are equipped to seize these opportunities, without being locked into a single vendor ecosystem.

Jonathan Walker, CEO UK, Access4 UK

Jonathan Walker leads Access4 UK as CEO, bringing over two decades of experience in the telecommunications and technology sectors. With a passion for empowering channel partners, Jonathan has been instrumental in launching Access4’s flagship platform, SASBOSS, in the UK market. His leadership is focused on driving innovation in voice services, simplifying service delivery, and helping partners unlock long-term recurring revenue. Jonathan is a strong advocate for vendor-agnostic solutions that give partners true flexibility and control.