01732 759725 46 INDUSTRY INSIGHT Andy Moffitt, CEO, Aurora Industry insight our conversations are about solving customers’ challenges not flogging them the latest hardware. Constantly seeking ways to solve customer challenges keeps us at the forefront of new possibilities. Q: With artificial intelligence fast becoming mainstream, how do you see this impacting your go-to-market strategy, product roadmap, and indeed the wider channel? A: At the moment, I don’t and I know that’s not a trendy answer. I just think it’s too early to tell and the market is trying to work out what it means. Importantly, we don’t have a long queue of customers beating down the door asking what our AI solution is. I’m old enough to remember when cloud was the new buzzword in town. I was at one of Europe’s largest IT resellers. We didn’t want to jump in and burn cash trying to work out how to deploy the latest technology. We knew it would have a life-changing impact but the art was about timing. I feel the same here. Ultimately, we will resell AI products integrated into solutions for customers but I’m happy to wait for a bit of maturity first. Q: What do you see as the key challenges or pain points businesses are facing in today’s hybrid working model and how can you help your customers to address these? A: Providing home workers with the same functionality as the office and their employers, our customers, control and visibility of costs, are the reasons we launched Office In A Box two years ago to provide an MPS-like solution Q: What’s currently having the greatest impact on your business? A: Until recently, I would have said business confidence. After a post-COVID surge, over the past twelve months we have seen customers delay decisions with all the uncertainty around the cost of living crisis and interest rates. We have seen that improve in recent months and see that trajectory continuing. However, during the turbulence of recent times, lease funders have also been resetting with changes to governance and credit access now more risk adverse. It’s a good thing ultimately, but we have to adjust commercially and deal cycles are taking longer. If I could add another, it would be recruitment of engineers. We’re not a sexy industry and we need to change how we are portrayed to attract young talent. Q: How do you stay ahead of the curve and ensure that your company remains at the forefront of innovation? A: We’ve invested heavily in professional services and solutions. We have a strong ICT element to our portfolio but we need to ensure that we can lead with solutions and not just hardware. Moving from a hardware reseller to a value-add solutions provider is a tough road but an essential one to conquer. We’ve added new partners, increased our solutions headcount and changed sales remuneration to make sure for home workers. I think the same challenges remain today alongside an increased agenda around security and ESG. We were the first to market with a packaged solution two years ago and, being honest, it had limited success. This was mainly because customers had yet to figure out their hybrid approach so soon after the pandemic whether it was temporary or permanent. Most customers have figured that out now and our packaged or bespoke solutions are there to help. Q: Looking towards the future, what do you envision as the next big breakthrough or game-changer in the industry, and how is your company preparing for it? A: SaaS has to become a feature of our market. Our industry is quickly becoming an island in bundling software in a hardware deal to maximise up-front profit. Customers consume software-as-a-service or by subscription for everything else, as we do in our personal lives, but our industry is reluctant to move in that direction because it disrupts commercial models. It’s more flexible and economical for customers and it has to come. Dealers who are brave enough to go for it will steal a march, that’s all I’ll say. Q: What advice would you give a young person starting a career in the industry? A: Customers are your most valuable commodity; keep them happy and good things will happen. https://www.aurora.co.uk Andy Moffitt
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