Another week, another conference. This week I attended and presented at the UK’s major channel conference, Channel Expo, at the NEC. Good event, lots of interesting people, some great presentations from Gartner, Dell and Google. The UK channel is having as hard a time as the rest of the sector, but it is time to move away from shifting boxes into becoming a managed services provider and offering solutions to specific business needs, as well as focusing on their sales people and technicians, their talent, as the primary differentiator. This truly resonates with the people I met. I do like their willingness to build a strong community and talk ‘opportunity’ – this has to be the best remedy for getting out of the slump and preparing for better times.

I co-hosted the 6th UK CompTIA Education to Careers conference in Birmingham. The event was designed for UK academic partners and we had another packed house and full agenda. Kriss Akabusi was our keynote speaker and he did a great job entertaining the audience with a typically high-energy session. He is a true celebrity in the UK, but more than that, he is an absloute gentleman, so thanks Kriss. Thank you also to event owner and organiser Michelle, William and the team for putting on such a good show. The Nintendo Wii Room was hilarious with everybody willing to have a go in costume (look for it on YouTube)! From sponsors to delegates to friends old and new – everybody was raving about the day by 4pm, so congratulations on a great conference!

I hosted a dynamic team meeting of 7 CompTIA international offices this week in Chicago, our global headquarters. Each region presented their highights and we exchanged best practices and opportunities, and brainstormed the ‘Next Big Thing.’
I always pick up tidbits of news and ideas on my travels and two things stood out on this trip: companies are becoming very comfortable engaging customers on Social Media, especially Twitter, and I was taken aback by a giant billboard taken up by a lady called Pasha Stocking, telling employers from her state that she was out of work and available for hire. That impressed me and the story was covered by many TV networks the following morning. I hope she secures a position quickly, her creativity deserves it.
Oh, and of course we shopped extensively to help boost the US economy, with Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie and Macys especially benefiting from the group.

I learnt this week that in Tokyo, you can order a car to your specification from Toyota on Monday morning and drive it home on Friday afternoon. We are swiftly moving from mass production to mass customisation, and that is service indeed. I also understand that Sony produces 2 new products every working hour, and Disney develops 1 new product every 5 minutes! One manufacturer recently said he can see the day when a product is released in the morning and is out of date by midnight. You can customise perfume, jeans, credit cards and even chocolates today, so I agree with that!

I have a new favourite footie team in Germany, and that is Borussia Moenchengladbach. The team is sponsored by printer and copier firm Kyocera, where I presented last week at their EMEA Service Directors meeting. A great discussion continued for hours afterwards, where we talked about the future, the ongoing needs of customers and the opportunity that continuous learning and certification gives as a competitive edge for their technicians. Many thanks to Norbert Wolter, Senior General Manager Service & Development EMEA, Dr Karen Birkmann and Sabine Trefz for being such great hosts – it was my pleasure being there with you all.

I am just back from Rome, for a CompTIA meeting of our Services, Support & Logistics workgroup. I hosted an industry panel on the current business climate. Great group of leaders, very passionate about the business. We were hosted by ACER, the laptop manufacturer – impressive people (Mario and Vincenzo), fast growing company and grabbing market share. No wonder their little netbooks are so popular. Many thanks ACER for being such excellent hosts.
I read this week that millions of people are revealing 25 random (and sometimes embarassing) things about themselves, as the latest trend to sweep social networking sites. I am baffled – will somebody please share the benefits of doing this. Well OK, I will reveal one of my own – Rome is now alongside Barcelona as my favourite city in Europe.

Pope Benedict XVI has just launched his own channel on YouTube. The site will carry short clips of news from the Vatican each day. Like most social media, it is free, easy to setup and maintain, and reaches millions of people. Every company, every department, every person, must have a presence online. The question we must ask ourselves is can we afford not to?

The latest IDC report on PC sales growth across EMEA highlighted, without surprise, that unit sales had slowed, but that the UK had a much healthier growth, at 13.5% year-on-year.