Print.IT Reseller - issue 78

01732 759725 18 WORKPLACE Mike Barron, Managing Director at SYNAXON UK, picks the tools he uses every day and couldn’t do his job without I couldn’t do my job without... 2 The SynMSP Advisory Board This is a group of five MSP members who provide regular input and direction for the group as a whole. We meet and collaborate with this group on a frequent basis – and at least once a quarter we have a formal gathering, albeit a virtual one at the moment. We also take feedback from all our members on a regular basis. Our entire strategy is shaped and refined through this process. We consult and discuss everything with our members. 3 Supplier partners We have some great supplier relationships and without their support, we could not deliver the wide range of services and benefits that we provide to our members. We help our suppliers as well, of course, so it is very much a symbiotic partnership and a virtuous circle. We were recently honoured to pick up the Terra Computers Strategic Partner of the Year award for 2020, which reflects the close partnership we have with them. It’s a similar story with many of our suppliers. 4 EGIS EGIS stands for Enterprise Global Information System. It sounds and it is tremendously potent and all- encompassing. EGIS is an extremely important tool for our members. It gives them the ability to find the best prices and availability across all major distributors, to optimise purchasing and ordering and manage the whole sales process from quote to delivery. EGIS is the foundation for us; the glue that holds it all together, linking members, distributor partners and suppliers – there are always special offers and promotions available to our members through our central trading platform – enabling them to do business in an automated, cost- efficient and profitable way. 5 The SYNAXON UK team SYNAXON UK is a small, close-knit team and they have been magnificent over the past few months, both in terms of keeping the wheels turning and supporting our members. I really can’t praise them highly enough for the effort, forbearance, understanding and humour they have displayed during this time. I’d also extend that to our members, who have adopted the same approach and ethos and been more than willing to get involved in the virtual events and meetings we’ve been running in place of the real-life ones, and to share their thoughts and experiences with others in the group. That’s been a tremendous help to everyone. 6 My Bluetooth music box In my office at home, I have a small BOSE Bluetooth speaker, through which I have music on in the background throughout the day. I find that, far from being a distraction, this is both soothing and creates the sense that you are not alone. It’s always on and it will be playing almost anything, depending on the time of day, my mood and energy levels. I usually start off with something like The Arctic Monkeys at 8.00am but by 5.00pm I’ll have usually reverted to Nina Simone or something similar. www.synaxon.co.uk 1 Collaboration tools For SYNAXON, collaboration has been key from day one. I have to deal with my colleagues in Germany on a daily basis, and we’ve always done that mostly via Google Meet. Lately, that’s become even more important of course, as we have not been travelling to any meetings. We had an active work-from-home policy in place before the pandemic, and the whole UK team were using collaboration every day to keep in touch with each other and with members and suppliers. The last few months have made that even more vital and we envisage that continuing now. Mike Barron