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After more than a year of the Covid pandemic, there are signs of at least a partial return to normality as vaccination rates increase. But what will that normality consist of? As Bob Dylan once remarked: “You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way.” So what lasting effects have the pandemic and lockdown had on partner relationships with vendors and how will they affect how the channel operates in 2021 and beyond? David Watts, UK & Ireland managing director at Tech Data, says: “There is much more of an interdependency, both up and down the supply chain, between vendors, distributors and the partner businesses that are directly serving the needs of customers. This interdependency exists at many levels. With the increased adoption of cloud services and of subscription- and services-based business models, that is going to become an even more ingrained part of channel relationships.” Nash Kapoor, VP of sales, northern Europe at Alsid, agrees that the pandemic helped to reinforce a sense of solidarity across the IT ...