CompTIA held another successful EMEA Member and Partner Conference last week in London, with record breaking attendance of over 500.
As part of this, the CompTIA UK Channel Community held it’s very first vendor roundtable on day one with the aim of bringing together senior executives from vendors and distributors, by invitation only, to discuss challenges they are facing and work together to help solve them. The session saw attendance from global players such as Sophos, Tech Data and Xerox, as well as emerging companies like Alliantist, Hermitage and Redstor.
Jim Hamilton, vice president of member communities at CompTIA, facilitated the session and kicked off with introductions before asking to attendees to work in small groups to discuss the opportunities and threats currently facing their businesses. Afterward, each group presented their ideas back to the others, which resulted in some great discussions between the whole room.
By far the biggest discussion of the session was from the idea of trying to move the industry from one of channel conflict to channel collaboration. Everyone agreed that the industry needed to stop squeezing every penny from a sale as nobody benefitted. Also, the role of vendors and distributors in the channel was questioned and it was agreed that more needed to be done by all to foster an environment of collaboration.
A common theme that came out from the group, was one of workforce, which is already a hot topic in the industry. The room talked about the need to bring different demographics into the industry to arrive at fresh, new ways of thinking. Millennials were also raised by a few groups in terms of how the industry should work to accommodate them and understand they are sometimes motivated differently.
The issues around skills and education also came up, with people not being given the right skills to do a job, as education is still based on the industrial model. Education providers need to deliver experiential learning, where people can gain practical skills and knowledge, that they can take to the workplace. Also, the group agreed that not enough soft-skills are being provided to help individuals in the real world.
Some threats that were discussed by the group were Brexit, the uncertainty around it and its impact on currency fluctuations, as well hyperscale, where some of the biggest players are monopolising the market and stifling innovation.
All in all, the session was a great success and an hour wasn’t nearly enough for all the great ideas and discussions coming from the group. The roundtable is something CompTIA wants to continue with on a regular basis, so watch this space!
Kris Nagamootoo is senior manager, vendor relations, at CompTIA.
