15 WORKPLACE Carbon services to our customers (in partnership with specialist consultancy Arete Zero Carbon) and we will continue expanding that portfolio. The third area, yet to be determined, concerns the supply chain, from product arriving in the UK all the way through to delivery to the end user. What can we do, working with vendors and customers, to clean up that supply chain or reduce the number of steps in the chain? That is a huge bit of work that we haven't embarked upon yet, but it’s probably the next thing for us.” A challenging market In the meantime, TD SYNNEX continues to operate in what remains a very challenging market. “For us and for the whole channel, the first half of the year was challenging," says Watts. “We thought the enterprise business would boom and while we did out-grow the market in enterprise, with 20% plus growth, the device market has been much more subdued. So the upside we're getting from enterprise, our Advanced Solutions (AS) business, has been countered by the downside in devices.” AS, which includes servers and storage, infrastructure products, security, cloud, IoT and enterprise software, is a significant part of the £3 billion+ of customer orders which TD SYNNEX handles across the UK and Ireland. “These days, one third of our business is software and cloud,” says Watts. “One third of it is not even physical products. That’s a massive transformation for us.” Watts predicts that from a channel perspective (excluding vendor-direct business) endpoint solutions will remain flat or a little down for the rest of the year, but enterprise business will remain good, albeit with some caveats. “One of the things that's contributed to the strength of the enterprise business has been dealing with the backlog caused by last year’s product shortages. We were running our channels at three times the normal level of backlogs, with tens of millions of pounds of product not shipping. By the time we hit H2, most of that backlog will have unwound, so we won’t have that boost anymore. If we are flat for H2 overall, we'll be doing OK.” Watts also highlights uncertainty about how PC vendors might respond to recent gluts and shortages. design, which features an area devoted to the company’s BRGs, as well as a multi-faith room where people can pray or meditate, a mothers’ room and a store cupboard providing free essentials for staff who need help with the cost of living. “This relocation has been very different to any move before as we now have such a big focus on DEI,” explains Watts. “We have a lot of business resource groups here and we're trying to drive a much more diverse workforce. We've shown that we're serious about it with our recruitment, retention, support for coworkers, education and we're now trying to integrate DEI a lot more into our policies. Equity is the big thing these days.” Sustainable focus Watts attaches equal importance to the sustainability of the new offices, from the building itself, with its 508 solar panels, ‘Very Good’ BREEAM certification and green energy supply, to the disposal of unwanted furniture from TD SYNNEX’s old premises via redistribution specialist charity, the Waste to Wonder Trust. “From a UK perspective, we’re not offsetting anything – we’re just changing our buildings and changing our energy usage. The biggest thing is working with our energy supplier to get green energy into all four of our buildings in the UK. The one we've really struggled with because we have a big generator there and don’t own the building is our warehouse. “The second thing is offering Net Zero Continued... David Watts Games Room From a UK perspective, we’re not offsetting anything – we’re just changing our buildings and changing our energy usage
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