Top VARS 2017 In association with OUR 2018 EVENTS CALENDAR CRN UK produce a number of industry leading channel events, hosting over 5,000 attendees a year and creating the perfect platform for reaching senior channel figures. Our flagship awards night, the Channel Awards has been running in the UK for over 22 years and is the largest gathering of senior channel executives in the world. SALES AND MARKETING AWARDS 2018 29 March 2018 24 May 2018 5 July 2018 events.channelweb.co.uk/crnon crnfightnight.com events.channelweb.co.uk/sma 4-5 September 2018 11 October 2018 November 2018 events.channelweb.co.uk/ events.channelweb.co.uk/msp events.channelweb.co.uk/crnon europeanforum CHANNEL AWARDS 2018 15 November 2018 events.channelweb.co.uk/awards For general enquiries, For sponsorship enquiries, please contact: please contact: Katie Burridge Matthew Dalton T: 020 7484 9438 T: 020 7484 9796 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] www.channelweb.co.uk btgmarketingsolutions.incisivemedia.com CRNEV18-AD180x255-Calendar.indd 1 03/11/2017 10:29 CRN TOP VARs 2017 Welcome to Top VARs 2017 Not all of the UK’s top 100 resellers, MSPs and SIs came out of their last financial years glowing. But thankfully a sense of optimism is returning to the industry, Doug Woodburn discovers It’s always a good sign for an £200m-revenue outfit Misco, sadly industry when its largest and most went out of business in October iconic player says that market with the loss of 200 jobs. conditions are as buoyant as it On the flip side, Top VARs 2017 can remember. features 11 new faces, added That was industry bellwether either due to their growth, or Computacenter’s take on the because we had not previously market in late October when considered them. These include it revealed that UK and group managed services provider revenues for 2017 are tracking six Claranet and managed print and 18 per cent ahead of last year, outfit Xeretec. respectively. The revenue threshold for the It wasn’t all smooth sailing for top 100 this year has consequently the UK’s top 100 resellers, MSPs risen to £31.3m, up from £27.5m and integrators in their most recent last year. When Top VARs was first Doug Woodburn is editor of CRN full financial years, however. This launched in 2011, the threshold includes Computacenter, which was £12.5m. endured a decidedly mixed 2016. Those whose revenues have Good times ahead As a group, the top 100 continue stood still will have fallen by as Alongside the top 100 rankings, to grow apace. A look at their last many as 10 places, or out of the we also questioned over 250 set of annual accounts collectively top 100 entirely. IT decision makers on a range reveals that revenues soared 15 per This year’s 100 are an eclectic of topics including IT budgets, cent to £13.6bn year on year. bunch, ranging from high-end supplier strategy, emerging But as we explore on p5, their AWS, Autodesk and Oracle technology, and what help they collective bottom line has taken consultancies to volume-based are seeking from tech suppliers a knock, with average operating e-tailers. However they brand around GDPR (see p38). margins slipping from 4.4 to 3.4 per themselves, all ‘resell’ and service Among the headline findings are cent. Brexit-induced uncertainty third-party IT hardware, software, that IT budgets are generally up, and currency headwinds were comms and audiovisual and with 48 per cent seeing an uplift blamed in some cases. printer equipment to a greater in their kitties this year, compared or lesser extent. with 41 per cent a year ago. Consolidation abounds That survey was conducted The competitive skyline has also A global flavour in October, the same month undergone the most radical re- Top VARs has more of an Computacenter issued a buoyant ordering since Top VARs began, international flavour to it than Q3 trading update, Softcat released with four of last year’s top 20 previous years as resellers based its bravura 2017 figures and vanishing from view. in the US or mainland Europe research house Canalys said the Two – Danwood and Alternative continue to race up the rankings, channel had probably just enjoyed Networks – were acquired amid chief among them WWT, SHI, its best quarter in a decade. a wave of consolidation that has Comparex and SoftwareONE. A sense of optimism, sadly swept through the channel in Another US giant, PCM, is set to lacking from the last sets of annual the last 12 months. The third, feature prominently in Top VARs accounts posted by many of the top BT IT Services, was liquidated in 2018 after taking on nearly 200 100, is returning to the industry. June amid a reorganisation at BT. staff since launching in the UK To be sure, 2018 promises to be a The final member of the quartet, in May. bumper year. CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 1 Are you making the most of the Cloud opportunity? Want to drive more revenue from your cloud services business? 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For more information contact us on: T: +44 (0) 8702 644 303 E: [email protected] www.comms-care.com calls cost 7 pence per minute plus your phone company’s access charge Untitled-1 1 23/11/2017 11:29 CRN TOP VARs 2017 Challenging times Comms-care’s Rob Darby reflects on the channel’s challenges – and its strengths Comms-care is once again delighted solutions is expected to escalate to sponsor Top VARs in what has further while interest in, and been another eventful but exciting conversation around, artificial year of change for the channel. intelligence also seems set to grow 2017 has been quite a year of as resellers look to identify the reflection for Comms-care as we opportunity for the channel. celebrated the 15th anniversary of However, two key strands are our business. When such important likely to dominate the agenda milestones are reached, and we – the General Data Protection consider our longevity over quite Regulation (GDPR) and Brexit. a turbulent period, it is natural to GDPR becomes enforceable from not only look ahead to how we see 25 May 2018, leaving around six the future of the industry shaping months for organisations to get Rob Darby is sales director of up but also to look back over how their houses in order around the Comms-care times have changed, especially so way they process both employee in the technology environment and customer personal data. need to pay on leaving, the rights which over the last 15 years has While there has been much of UK and EU expat citizens post- seen such significant introductions scaremongering around the Brexit, and trade deals with the EU as YouTube, Twitter and the iPhone substantial increase in fines which and other countries worldwide, as well as the opening of App will accompany the regulation, the with the impact on investment Store which ignited the mobile more educated approach should levels, exchange rates, inflation revolution. be for organisations to consider and resulting market conditions In the channel, 2017 has been other risk implications such as uncertain and unpredictable. characterised by two trends reputational damage caused by a The last year has seen an increase which are changing the shape data breach; operational outages in European and US resellers of the sector: continued market caused by a denial of service attack; appearing to accelerate their plans consolidation through a host of loss of customers to competitors to enter the UK by opening UK- acquisitions, mergers, and even, or even the ICO serving an based businesses before the Brexit sadly, the loss of some significant enforcement notice or ‘stop now’ barriers go up, possibly feeling names has been seen alongside order following a breach. they need a dedicated UK presence a proliferation of emerging Organisations are at different due to uncertainty about what will businesses; from European and US stages in their data protection happen when Brexit kicks in. resellers who have established a readiness journey. Wherever they This year has thrown up many UK presence to a new set of niche are, many end users will require challenges for the channel as players aligning themselves closely at least some technology products a whole, and 2018 will be no to vendors who are changing their and services to prepare themselves, different. Although there might be approach to market. and a significant number will also a degree of uncertainty about the Cybersecurity was again require technology advice and year ahead, there are many reasons thrust to the forefront of public guidance. What is unclear, however, for positivity and optimism; there is consciousness through a number of is how many resellers are in a certainly a great deal of opportunity global ransomware attacks, while position to assist with this process. for those resellers keen to seek it the trend of businesses moving to While the implications of GDPR out and diversify their offerings. the cloud and undertaking digital seem clear, there is much less Comms-care remains committed transformation continues apace.