As IT Channel Oxygen’s editor missed half of the year off doing other stuff, we called on IT distributor bosses themselves to help us catch up on the biggest IT distribution news stories of the year.
Of the 34 who were game enough to answer this question in our Top 45 must-know UK IT Distributors rundown, here’s a flavour of what they said.
“The recent announcements coming out of Dell are intriguing, with the intent to work more with the channel. I personally think they are a little bit late to the party there – and that’s why we work with vendors who are 100% channel focused and recognise the value that specialist distribution brings to their business,” – Titan Data Solutions Managing Director Ben Jackson (see full interview here)
“The merger with Westcoast and KOMSA has created the largest privately owned alliance in Europe – a great opportunity for both organisations,” – ASM Technologies Sales Director Iain Tomkinson (see full interview here)
“Sadly, not the most positive of developments but arguably the biggest has to be the layoffs in distributors we’ve seen throughout 2023 in distribution as pressure mounts to reorganise, improve processes and drive down overhead. It emphasises the need to build new value streams and revenues to offset reduced margin trends from vendors with the move to cloud,” – Virtuoso Partners Co-Founder Ben Nilsson (see full interview here)
“Either the homecoming of Alex Tatham back to Westcoast or ALSO finally entering the UK market,” – QBS Technology Group CEO Dave Stevinson (see full interview here)
“The growing awareness that many organisations are using the hyperscale marketplaces right now for cybersecurity procurement due to needing to meet usage commitments – not because of a fundamental shift away from the channel,” e92plus CEO Mukesh Gupta (see full interview here)
“It’s interesting to see most of the larger distributors struggling, with the exception of Westcoast, a trend I suspect will continue,” – Intec Microsystems Executive Chairman Alan Cantwell (see full interview here)
“The investment by PE and VC in service-led businesses such as distribution has made headlines. This sector of channel has traditionally been dismissed as box shifting and margin stealing so it is nice to see the nod to the value levers that can be developed where distribution sits,” – Distology CEO Hayley Roberts (see full interview here)
“The sheer quantity of MSP mergers and acquisitions taking place has really caught my eye. For example, Air IT have acquired 10+ MSPs over the last 12 months and other MSPs are following suit. Private equity-backed acquisitions seem to be rapidly changing the landscape and this brings both positive and negative impacts to the channel,” – Brigantia Sales Director Angus Shaw (see full interview here)
“Not saying it’s the biggest but one that was of interest to me was QBS trying to align themselves with a recognised investor in the IT space. To build an incubator specifically with a well-known VC has happened before, but maybe not as formally as this,” – ABC Distribution Founder Chris Walsh (see full interview here)
“These really happened in [before 2023] but the purchases of Spinnakar by Climb Distribution and the sale of Ignition to Exclusive…….. this shows me that there’s a market out there for what we’re doing,” – Kompingo Founder Toby Caton (see full interview here)
It’s got to be artificial intelligence. You’ve seen what Microsoft is talking about coming out of Inspire with Copilot, and I’m excited to see what future holds with that. We are at a unique time in the history of our planet. You can talk about the industry revolution, the PC revolution, the internet revolution, but AI is the biggest revolution we are going to see,” Pax8 EMEA Chief Revenue Officer Phylip Morgan (see full interview here)
“I think the amount of staff cuts in the IT sector and large distributors has been the biggest news story from my perspective,” – Ignition Technology UK&I Country Manager Dave Risk (see full interview here)
“Alex Tatham going back to Westcoast,” – Purdicom MD Hugh Garrod (see full interview here)
“Alex Tatham going back to Westcoast!,” – Prianto UK MD Jordan Travers (see full interview here)
Alex Tatham returning to Westcoast,” – Exclusive Networks UK & Ireland Managing Director Paul Eccleston (see full interview here)
