technolog y reseller.co.uk COMMENT 3 December/January is the perfect time to take stock of one’s business, life, relationships, whatever – to undertake what Phil Jones on page 15 calls a climate check. So, for this issue, we asked leading distributors what their challenges and achievements were in 2017 and what lessons they have learnt. Their responses can be found in the Channel Vision columns spread throughout the magazine. It is encouraging to see such positivity! But perhaps not surprising considering the size of the opportunity facing the IT channel. As we reported in the last issue, if the IT industry was a national economy, it would be the third largest behind the US and China. And it is changing fast as artificial intelligence, IoT and the cloud usher in a new industrial revolution. Not for nothing does Ingram Micro Cloud’s Apay Obang-Oyway call this the ‘most exciting period for decades’ to be involved in the IT industry (see page 38). In fact, our Channel Vision contributors have so much to shout about that we didn’t have room to include all their copy. In most cases, we had to restrict comments to the year we’ve just had and leave out their thoughts on what 2018 has in store. As a journalist, always on the look-out for a juicy ‘bad news’ story, I was particularly looking forward to reading why there might be ‘Reasons to be fearful about 2018?’. Anyone expecting a frenzy of gnashing of teeth, hair- pulling and hand-wringing, as I was, would have been very disappointed. Yes, Brexit and GDPR featured heavily, as did continuing economic uncertainty, but these challenges were almost universally couched in terms of business opportunity. That might not make great copy, but it does bode well for the year ahead. On which note, it just remains for me and everyone else at Kingswood Media to wish you a Happy (and Prosperous) New Year. James Goulding Editor ,
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[email protected] www.technologyreseller.co.uk No part of Technology Reseller can be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. © 2017 Kingswood Media Ltd. Design: Sandtiger Media www.sandtiger.co.uk 04 Bulletin Technology reseller news and updates 15 Insider Phil Jones MBE shares his thoughts on the fast changing IT industry 21 Distribution Technology Reseller meets Midwich COO Mark Lowe 23 Communications Everyone’s a winner with Channel Telecom’s ISDN scrappage scheme 26 What’s New A selection of new IT and CE products 29 Unified Communications Bertrand Pourcelot outlines the benefits of evolving into an MVNO 32 Enterprise Communications What your customers really want 34 Partner Programmes Brother overhauls partner programme to drive solutions sales 36 Opinion What Microsoft Dynamics integration changes mean for you 38 Cloud Services How Ingram Micro Cloud is helping partners profit from cloud 39 60 seconds... with Martin Lauer, Managing Director of The One Point v08 NOV/DEC · 2017 technology reseller.co.uk Comment Register online To receive your regular FREE printed copy of TECHNOLOGY RESELLER Magazine simply fill in our online registration form at www.technologyreseller.co.uk/register Read Technology Reseller online, on tablets and smart phones www.technologyreseller.co.uk Join us : Follow us @Techresellermag www.facebook.com/TechnologyResellerMag technology-reseller-magazine Editor: James Goulding 07803 087228 ·
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[email protected] ISSN 2055-3110 (Print) ISSN 2055-3129 (Online)