technologyreseller.co.uk 31 TR: That diversification strategy is obviously working because in the Technology Reseller Awards, as well as winning the UC Distributor of the Year, you won the AV Distributor of the Year, both voted for by our readers. PB: That was a pleasant surprise because we’re relatively new to that market. I’m not naive to the fact that sometimes being a fresh voice gets you a window. You get an opportunity to pitch what you’re trying to achieve. Because we’re not one of the massive AV distributors, we might benefit from having quite a niche voice. It’s also down to the way we go about things. We’re a personal business that still really values people to people connections. In the world of massive warehouses – I’ve got a decent-sized warehouse myself – that personal relationship is still key. Maybe that’s what’s caught people’s attention. Our job is to capitalise on that. TR: Are there other areas of your portfolio that you would direct resellers to explore further? PB: Services is one area we’re moving further into. In video, in AV, in the cloud and telephony world there are services offerings that can go around the equipment, like our bureau billing offering, for example, where resellers use our services to bill their customers. You can go to several different shops to get the niche services you need or you can get them from one place. I look around the market, and I don’t see many businesses like us. Five or 10 years ago there were still distributors that sit in those multiple areas and operate the way we do, but there are not many around now, which is testament to our longevity. Last year was our 40th anniversary. I’ve been in the business 30 years, and I’ve got many colleagues at the 20-yearplus mark. We’ve got a good mix, with young salespeople coming through as well. But there’s a lot to be said for experience and being able to articulate why we want you as a partner to take a particular product. TR: How might AI disrupt the distribution business, and what are you doing to embrace it and help your partners do the same? PB: AI is a really interesting subject, isn’t it? My personal opinion is we need to view AI as something that assists what we do, not replaces what we do. It’s got to be AIA, artificial intelligence assistance, rather than replacement. Otherwise, it becomes a big, scary thing. I was at a Mitel event recently where Cavell were talking about the number of AI projects that fail because no one’s mapped out what they’re trying to achieve. AI works in the technologies we sell, and we promote it very much as something that will make a business better, not necessarily as something that will make it smaller and leaner. That might happen, but the fundamental goal has to be to use AI to assist what we’re doing and to make it better. For example, in our business we have launched a tool that saves sales guys from having to look for information across the many different sources we use. We’ve pulled all that together into an AI tool that they can ask about the different technologies in our offering. That’s all about making us quicker and making us better. There’s an argument we should enable resellers to use it, and we may well look into that. The problem with that is it takes us into the world of self-serve, and the further you go into self-serve, the further away you go away from relationships. There’s a great benefit in letting resellers access that information, but it also means I won’t be speaking to them as much. A lot of our conversations are built around requests for product codes or pricing. That’s how our relationships are built. You’ve got to balance speed advantages against what is important to your business, and what’s important to Nimans is the relationships with our customers. If we never have to speak to partners, we have no value to add. When our vendors come to us with their AI technologies and want us to take them to our customers, we ask how are our partners going to be able to sell that to their customers. How does it make them a better business, not necessarily a smaller business? How does it make them a better business? TR: What are your priorities for the next 12 months? PB: The priority is to make sure we do a good job in the new areas we’ve moved into, like AV, where we have a window of goodwill. In that window of goodwill, you’ve got to make sure you do the right things. We’re in this for the long game; we’re not out there smashing into places and trying to ruin the whole market. We’re bringing vendors to the marketplace, like Viewsonic, like Hikvision, to be able to offer resellers an alternative. That’s got to be the key for us. Generally, we’re standing and watching what’s going on, because we’re a steady business, we’re a strong business, despite the chaos that’s going on around us. I don’t mean standing still from a business point of view or from a technology point of view, but in the sense that the world’s going on around us and we’re doing what we always do, which is to keep steering along. We’re a very steady ship. Partners can rely on us. They know that we’ll still be here, so they can form a long-term relationship with us. That’s the key strategy for us: to make sure we don’t do anything wild and wacky. We’re going the right way, so there’s no need for us to steer off in some weird direction. If that’s worked for us for this long, let’s keep doing it. I know I’m oversimplifying it, but in essence our priority is to make sure we do the core things we’ve always done. TR: That’s obviously what your existing customers or your long-term customers like about you. Are you attracting new resellers? PB: We are. We’ve recruited more new resellers this year than we have in many a year. Maybe it’s down to the volatility of the marketplace and customers are going ‘there must be a reason they’ve been around for so long. Let’s see why they’re surviving and others aren’t’. At the end of the day, all I ever ask for is a chance. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. But neither party knows until we have that opportunity. I’ve got brilliant people working for me, so if we get a chance to work with a new partner, I’m not worried about whether we’ll do a good job or not. That never concerns me. Getting the chance is the only bit that concerns me because I know we’ll do a good job once we’re in there. DISTRIBUTION This is an edited version of an interview recorded in the summer. You can watch the video at https://youtu.be/e6_pPawGF_k
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