Print.IT Reseller - issue 77

PRINTITRESELLER.UK 45 VOX POP Clive Hamilton Michael Field What do I see post COVID-19; I see innovation, I see technology advancing and taking us to exciting places. And most importantly, I see success. continued... Emma Davies-Carolan Emma Davies-Carolan, Director of Marketing, Europe, ECI Solutions: “I would imagine businesses across all sectors including field service will be looking to strengthen their online capabilities during the recovery period, with home working providing an incredibly cost-effective and productive model for some. To do this successfully, cloud-based solutions are likely to become more and more common, providing reassurance that whenever required, no matter their location, employees can continue to be able to perform their responsibilities effectively.” Phil Madders, Managing Director, PAE Business: “I think there will be further consolidation in the channel as the impact of the downturn of page volumes in the hospitality and tourist sectors bite. There will be fewer office printers sold in the short-term as organisations look at their output device fleet to see if it is fit for purpose and we are going to be in for a tough couple of years going forward. “At PAE we are preparing ourselves to make sure we can support our customers long-term in what threatens to be a challenging time for all of us!” Clive Hamilton, Managing Director, Pinnacle: “Tough question, which I don’t honestly believe anyone actually knows the answer to. All I can say, is that I feel that if we wait to look at the post-COVID recovery, business terrain will have a very different look and feel across the globe. “It’s more like how do we adapt to working environments to cope and work alongside COVID. Think if businesses just get on with life in the most sensible, precautious and safest way ensuring all staff and clients are safe then we can all start trading with a level of the new normal. This will also drive the technology changes quicker for all of us in the digital world.” Michael Field, Managing Director, Workflo Solutions: “The business community is resilient; this is not the first time we have collectively faced challenges. We must not allow anxiety to halt commercial activity. On the contrary, we need to engage in active trade quickly, passionately, and we must be wholly immersed in turning the tide of recession. I see an engaged economy, one where local services, and UK manufacturing, play a major part. Let’s invest in each other, and the skills which are in abundance across the country. What do I see post COVID-19; I see innovation, I see technology advancing and taking us to exciting places. And most importantly, I see success.” Mike Barron, Managing Director, SYNAXON UK: “I am not sure anyone really knows. I believe that the workplace and working practices will be altered permanently as a result of the pandemic and that will mean a change in priorities and emphasis. At the risk of repeating myself, I expect to see a major shift towards cloud usage and managed services. “For resellers and MSPs, there will be opportunities in handling migrations and then aggregating and managing cloud resources and hybrid infrastructures; further to that, there will be opportunities to manage connectivity, cybersecurity, back-up and business contingency and devices and accessories. Print is going to be a distinct opportunity within that and there will need to be some new services here because a lot of the print devices will be located within workers’ homes. “The need for IT solutions certainly won’t diminish – in fact, with more people working from home most of the time, there will be an even greater dependency on technology and the services that enable users to stay available, engaged, responsive, productive and secure. Once end-user organisations have adjusted, reset their ways of working and their goals, I think we will see a strong recovery and even more investment with the emphasis firmly shifted to subscription and operational expenditure. “I also think MSPs will start to become more important to their customers as they [the customers] start to realise the value that the MSP’s expert monitoring and support actually provides. Ultimately, this will lead to MSPs winning more business from IT resellers who have not moved with the times and are not delivering the required level of service.” Phil Madders Mike Barron