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In This issue: 

Channel leaders confident of finding staff they need

Distributor News: EVO saves 600 jobs with CBS acquisition

Working Together: A round-up of the month’s new distribution agreements

Reseller News: Onecom makes first acquisition of 2023

Cybersecurity: Why regulators need to take a harder line on cybersecurity

Technology Live 2023: Ian Silvester of EKM Global shares his experiences

Technology Reseller Awards 2023: Awards categories and deadlines

View from the: Channel With Keith Ali, Group MD of Creative ITC

Ask the Experts: Trends in automation for MSPs

Events: Technology Reseller speaks to Network Group MD David Tulip

Marketing: How the Coterie Community is putting partner marketing on the map

Q&A: Nimans looks forward to another year of growth

60 seconds: With Phylip Morgan, Chief Revenue Officer, EMEA, Pax8

People: New faces, new places

Editors Comment from James Goulding:

I’m quite strange. I love going to these things and standing around talking to people.’ So said EKM Group’s Ian Silvester when I spoke to him about Technology Live 2023, taking place in London on September 12 (see page 19). He’s being harsh on himself. Plenty of people would agree that meeting prospects and catching up with existing customers and suppliers is a good use of time that can also be enjoyable. In fact, according to a recent survey by etc.venues, admittedly an owner of 500,000 square feet of meeting/conferencing space, 99% of event planners now value face-to-face meetings more than (or as much as) they did before the pandemic.

This is up from 82% a year ago, which suggests that people are getting real benefits from being in the same room as customers/prospects/ suppliers. Technology Live 2023 aims to optimise the cost:return ratio for exhibitors and visitors alike by providing a compact one-day event, minimising time out of the office, where vendors from across the ICT spectrum can meet existing contacts and forge new relationships with resellers/MSPs looking to diversify into new areas.

Even if you are quite happy with your existing business relationships, there is great value in attending events like Tech Live just to be part of a wider community with shared challenges and experiences. In this issue, we hear from a number of advocates of community-building, including Network Group’s David Tulip (page 32), whose top tip for MSPs in 2023 is ‘to go and find your people’, and Coterie’s Helen Curtis (page 34), who has set up a new community to support partner marketers – a large but under-represented and perhaps under-appreciated group that is becoming ever more important to vendors and channel organisations with the rise of the ‘as a service’ model and customised solutions involving multiple brands. In-person gatherings are crucial to both organisations.

Industry awards ceremonies are obviously another great occasion for people to get together and at Kingswood Media we are looking forward to welcoming hundreds of people from the ICT sector to the Technology Reseller Awards, taking place on May 25. You still have about four weeks to submit an entry and I would urge everyone to do so. You may win an award, but even if you don’t the exercise can be beneficial. I was talking to a marketing person from a large distributor who said that she had been able to provide masses of detail in response to a customer query only because she had already gathered that information for an awards entry. Turn to page 20 for more about the awards.

Good luck with your entry!

James Goulding – Editor, Jamesg@binfo.co.uk