News in the Channel - issue #13

REVIEW OF 2023

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Jamie Hughes , UK sales director, Evolve IP 2023 has been great for us, our channel partners and their customers. The main impact has been around integrations and verticalisation on an international scale. We’re also selling more hardware such as handsets and headsets as end users look to upgrade and ‘level up’ their technologies

mobile and IT etc. This is where Evolve IP shines. Platform stability and longevity are very important for customers. It’s a competitive market where margins are getting slimmer. Innovation is crucial too. We are a profitable and innovative business with an evolving roadmap. We’ve attracted a record number of new partners this year. Looking forward, we are excited about 2024 and we are expecting many more opportunities ahead. With some partners already putting forward proposals for more than 15,000 users. 2023 was a great year for us and the momentum will only continue. We have many exciting things in the pipeline such as fixed mobile convergence and PCI compliance technology for example, plus a new training platform is being developed for our partners and their customers.

across a range of sectors, from retail to legal. The traditional handset isn’t dead! Refurbished equipment is growing too. We work in partnership with many of the world’s biggest tech companies to provide highly scalable carrier-grade voice solutions and utilise an international platform and specialise in securely integrating unified communications, collaboration tools, voice and omnichannel contact centre solutions into the cloud. Customers want a single partner whether domestic, European or global to provide their voice services, connectivity,

Jamie Hughes

evolveip.net

David Watts , senior vice president and regional managing director, UK and Ireland, TD SYNNEX As we entered 2023, we knew that the economic conditions were going to be challenging and that was always going to have an impact. It’s been important – as always – to retain a clear focus on strategic priorities and to be flexible. I think channel companies have adapted well and that’s really helped to maintain stability. increasing openness to forming collaborative partnerships to achieve better outcomes. We have also seen the industry make big strides forward on ESG and I expect that to continue. Customers are starting to include

requirements for carbon reduction plans and refurbished equipment in ITTs. This is a positive change that should be seen as a real opportunity to advance the circular economy. We are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead. A recent report from CONTEXT said that distribution should start to see a return to growth in Q2. I think we will see further investment in transformation, cloud and cybersecurity. AI is playing an important role and will be a factor in driving hardware upgrades.

While there has certainly been a drop in demand for certain categories of hardware, high levels of activity on cloud and security have acted as a counterbalance. End user organisations continue to invest in digital transformation and increasingly the approach now is a hybrid one. As solutions become more complex, channel businesses have realised that they can’t do it all. There is an

David Watts

uk.tdsynnex.com

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