Channel Chat Podcast

Her story is fascinating, from ballerina 🩰 to barmaid🍻 to tech enthusiast. 👩‍💻 But the overall message I got from her was that any woman can come into tech and be successful. Let’s be candid. Very few of us really knew what we wanted to do at 18/19 years old. I certainly didn’t. At 18 I was working as trainee accountant and got fired 🔥 🤦‍♂️ ... #enoughsaid So if that’s the case, what else can we do to encourage young women to consider technology as an industry for their careers?

Host Mark Reddy was joined by Head of Commercial at Bytestock (LA Micro Group), Mark Williams. Mark started his career as a professional footballer playing for Brentford and Barnet respectively. In 2012 Mark joined LA Micro Group in a new business role and has progressed within the business to now head up Bytestock division. Mark offers great advice around starting out in IT sales, on-boarding and managing clients and also tips on the tough task of being a billing manager.

Today Marc is joined in the virtual studio by the CEO & Founder of Social Chain, Stephen Bartlett. Social Chain a publicly traded social media company that uses owned media, marketing and technology to build Social Brands. In the last few years, he has become an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and investor, and now leads a company of 700+ team members across 5 countries. Marc and Stephen discuss the influence of social media channels in business today and how you could go about building your personal brand as well as some of the do's and don'ts when it comes to getting the best results on social media.

In today's season finale Marc gets back in touch with the Group CEO of Computacenter Mike Norris. They catch up at the end of the lockdown (having originally spoken in April) to look at the state of the IT channel and the wider UK economy. Marc and Mike also look at the impact of the governments furlough scheme and what the 'bounce-back' might look like. Marc also discusses the famous Computacenter sales kick offs and the impact of the CC FMES jacket on helping to build a successful culture.

Today Marc has been joined in the virtual studio by the CEO of Fuze; Brian Day. They discuss the changing landscape for his business at Fuze and the future of the workplace with employees in many areas still unable to return to their office locations. They also talk about the future investments the business will be making in other markets and what the outlook is for the short and medium term.

Today Marc is joined in the studio by the founder and CEO of RMTH.  Ross is an entrepreneur with a track record of growing business and RMTH is the result of a vision that he has had for many years. RMTH officially started during lockdown, Marc and Ross discuss the business and what challenges he has found starting a business during this uncertain period and what the future plans are for the business going forward.

Today Marc had the pleasure of meeting Richard Betts the Chief Revenue Officer of Charterhouse Voice and Data. They discussed the way Charterhouse responded to lock-down and the way in which they have embraced flexible / home-working practices as a result and how this will become the 'new normal' after lock-down eases. They also discuss the increased opportunities and threats the have arisen during this time and what companies can do to counteract these risks.

Today Marc has been joined in the virtual studio by one of the Directors from Convergent Technology Ltd. Convergent have been busy planning and executing their expansion both physical (into new offices) and by growing their sales force during this lockdown period. Marc and Michel discuss these plans in more detail as well as what it takes to get ahead in the technology arena.

Today Marc was joined in the studio by Lee Hughes the COO and Darren Finney the Vice President, EMEA Partner Sales from Citrix. They discuss Citrix's approach to lockdown, how they were well prepared having predicted the crisis in January and the steps they have taken as a business to not only keep their own staff safe but the initiatives that have been put in place to help the partner community in these challenging times.

Today Marc has been joined in the studio by the MD of Bamboo Technology Group; Lorrin White. After recently agreeing to an office move (prior to the Covid-19 pandemic) Lorrin and Marc discuss the impact on the new design as well as the changes needed to continue to run their successful business.