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“It’s turned into a very good year.” Not exactly the words you’d expect to hear during a global pandemic, although there are a number of people and organisations that occupy the strange position of being able to utter them. The good news, from a channel perspective, is that Canalys CEO Steve Brazier used those words about IT partners at a recent channel forum, although, sensibly, he qualified it by adding “and we couldn’t have predicted that”. After describing 2020 as “the most profitable year ever for the channel – and a very healthy channel we are too”, he forecast that “the opportunities are enormous” for 2021. Taking Brazier’s remarks further, Canalys senior analyst Robin Ody says remote working requirements drove a wave of demand that had “never been seen in this timeframe, and the channel model was absolutely vital in delivering this”. He points to a similar story in other areas, such as cyber security, cloud applications and infrastructure, along with virtual desktop technology. For Ody, the success alluded to by Brazier ...