If the year in IT distribution could be boiled down to just seven quotes, what would they be?
Following on from last month’s launch of Oxygen’s 50 Must-Know UK Distributors, IT Channel Oxygen has rounded up a septet of sizzling soundbites that tell the story of distribution’s 2024.
In partnership with ResourceiT, we’re also bringing you access to exclusive insights into what resellers and MSPs REALLY want from their distributors in 2025. The research, conducted across 30 UK resellers, reveals several critical insights that will help distributors better align their strategies with reseller needs as they head into 2025 (brief registration process required).
2024 has brought the most dramatic changes to the global and UK distribution landscape for years, with several local players (including Westcoast) acquired/about to be acquired, and AWS Marketplace encroaching onto distribution turf.
Sitting as they do in the middle of the supply chain, distributors are under more pressure than ever to accelerate their sustainable transformation, meanwhile.
With this in mind, here we round up seven killer quotes from the last 11 months (in ascending order of potency).
7. “It won’t be the same business”
Who said it? Distribution veteran Alex Tatham
Tatham in July exclusively revealed to IT Channel Oxygen that he was leaving Westcoast following the UK’s largest distributor’s decision to merge with ALSO.
Explaining his rationale, he said that the £4.2bn-revenue outfit would “inevitably change” now it is joining a larger pan-European group.
“I’m taking the opportunity, with the change of ownership and all the changes going on at Westcoast, to make a big change myself,” he said.
Why was it significant?
Tatham has arguably been the most visible face of the UK distribution sector – and wider channel – for a decade or more. He even went viral last year when he and his wife were stopped in the street and asked about their marriage.
What happened next?
Like a distribution version of Arnie, it wasn’t long before Tatham was back, becoming a non-exec at two distributors in the form of QBS Software and Ci Distribution.
See following page for next killer quote…
