Channel confidence holds firm

Inflation, strikes, wars and a cost-of-living crisis are all causes for concern, but confidence in the tech channel appears to be holding firm.

Research from Agilitas IT Solutions found that confidence among the technology channel was high, with many feeling they were in a good position to meet customer requirements.

As well broad confidence about the general state of the market, Agilitas’s findings also revealed confidence that the channel was able to work collaboratively to balance profit and purpose.

Many business leaders also saw themselves in a good position when it came to delivering strong customer experiences, with confidence around that area returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Despite ongoing talk across the industry about the challenge of getting and retaining staff, the vast majority of those in the IT channel felt they were doing a decent job on that front. The survey also showed company culture as something that leaders viewed as important.

Agilitas also uncovered the ongoing shift to a more sustainable channel, with just under half now tracking quarterly targets.

“As the first Agilitas market report of the post-pandemic era, there is no surprise that the first Evolve technology channel confidence index would offer up such a diverse mix of results, full of lessons learned, progression and disruption,” said Shaun Lynn, CEO of Agilitas.

“The vision to act with impact extends to all corners of the technology channel to build an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable future. Now, the true value of success is no longer determined by financial gain alone, as many channel players seek to re-evaluate the way they do business to find the right balance between profit and purpose.”

Meanwhile, although there are many reasons to feel gloomy, the impact of any global economic problems is yet to appear in the quarterly results issued by listed distributors and resellers.

The most recent example came this morning, with MSP CloudCoCo sharing numbers covering the six months ended 31 March, when its revenues climbed by 183% to £11.6m, with 70% coming from recurring contracts. Gross profit increased by 119% to £3.5m.

The six months also included integrating four acquisitions and Mark Halpin, CEO of CloudCoCo, shared some of the confidence that was so evident in the Agilitas findings.

“We are now a very different proposition to a year ago, with an expanded customer base, increased capability, significantly larger sales, support and technical teams, a focus on cross-selling, and several forward-thinking strategic initiatives that are already delivering,” he said.

“With the marked headway that has been made, we expect to see additional growth in trading performance in the second half as our pipeline of larger multi-year deals is continuing to grow.

“There is still work to be done to enable the group to reach its full potential and the macro-economic environment remains unpredictable, but with the hard work that has taken place in the first half to lay the foundations for sustainable and profitable growth in the future, we are confident of continued progress in the second half and moving into FY23.”