2025 review: Channel stories of the year

January

The year started with Kaseya sharing research that indicated the key concern for MSPs was improving their profitability.

When asked what the priority was for this year, more than 90% of MSPs pointed to profitability as the main goal. They also shared their top concerns, which included attracting new customers and increasing revenues.

Using M&A as a route to bolstering those managed service ambitions drives a lot of the consolidation in the year, and it started in just the first week of January, with DSP, Integrity360 and CallTower making the first deals of 2025.

The month also saw TD Synnex hit the milestone of providing more than £2bn in credit to keep the wheels of the channel turning.

Softcat released customer survey data that showed the key areas for investment were resilience, innovation and tools that drive efficiency.

February

The sharing of details about partner programmes, as Dell did early in the month, would become moments of increased scrutiny over the course of the year as vendors looked to evolve the way they rewarded partners.

Westcon-Comstor was keen to share data insights with its channel base to ensure no opportunities were missed and demonstrated how distribution was using information to fuel partners.

The stories involving AI continued to stack up, with market watchers Quocirca advising print management specialists to take advantage of the positive impact the technology was having on their market.

There were also warnings that managed service providers were clear targets for cyber criminals, with Acronis sounding the alarm. Following on from Sofcat’s customer spending wish list in the prior month, Insight listed AI, security and 5G among the channel opportunities it had identified.

March

The experiences of CrowdStrike and Okta with AWS Marketplace illustrated just how important that platform had become as a route to market for vendors and their partners.

N-Able shared market research that signalled MSP growth was coming from security and AI demand, and just a few days later, Corndel talked of the role the channel needed to play in delivering user education around artificial intelligence. That remained the theme of the month, with Climb introducing its AI Academy to partners in the UK and Ireland.

With the Windows 10 end of life support deadline looming, Circular Computing reminded the channel of the options around pitching remanufactured devices to those users looking for fresh ones.

In a trading statement ahead of its full-year results, channel player Bytes indicated it had broken through the £2bn barrier on gross invoiced income.

Computacenter and Softcat were also providing investor cheer with financial results. However, Europe was flat for TD Synnex in the distributor’s first quarter.

April

The start of the month saw Arrow roll out its AI Accelerator programme as the distie looked to arm partners with more skills. MSPs were given another reminder in CrowdStrike’s 2025 Global threat report that they remained targets just at a time when the government was looking into tightening supply chain security.

Advania shared full-year numbers that underscored the role its UK acquisitions had played in growing the business.

Those working in the print world were encouraged to ensure they could support both hybrid and fully hosted environments as customers continued to move workloads in that direction.

The month closed out with a senior channel executive at Amazon Web Services showing some channel love and underlining the importance partners played to its business.

May

The month started with a flurry of Q1 numbers from Computacenter, which had decent results in the UK, and Climb, which used comments with the results to indicate it could engage in more M&A activity.

The UK continued to be a sought-after market, with Park Place Technologies expanding its country presence with the acquisition of CSI. Redcentric, which would spend the year transforming its business into a targeted MSP, welcomed Michelle Senecal De Fonseca as its CEO.

Bytes sparked some investor cheer, breaking through the GII £2bn barrier, and Sophos sounded the warning to MSPs over the DragonForce threat as it monitored increasing attacks.

Dell armed its partners with more automation tools, while the UK and Ireland HP boss stressed the importance of continuing dialogues with its channel.

HP was also extending its refurbished PC scheme to the UK to provide partners with the chance to offer that purchasing option to customers.

June

The month started with MSP specialist Kaseya concluding its CEO hunt, choosing Rania Succar as its leader to build on the work of its former boss, Fred Voccola.

Security distributor e92plus launched e92spark to provide a distinct home for emerging innovative vendors.

InfoSec cut the ribbon on a Channel Zone as the show increased the emphasis on partners. A distribution panel hosted by MicroScope during the event gave representatives from Exclusive Networks, e92plus and Distology the chance to underline the value of their expertise.

Westcon-Comstor celebrated 40 years in business with a look ahead to identify cloud, security and infrastructure as areas that had sustained its growth and would continue to do so. The channel continued to be seen as a critical provider of security, particularly to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

July

The story of the month was undoubtedly the ransomware attack on Ingram Micro, which unfolded over a weekend but then took days to resolve and then weeks of further threats of data leaks.

HPE CEO Antonio Neri was keen to pitch its tie-up with Juniper Networks as a channel positive, with partners able to sell more technology and services, and Advania and Boxxe were using acquisitions to add AI, networking and security capabilities.

DCC sold off Exertis to private equity player Aurelius as it looked to refocus its business.

While discussing its Q2 numbers, Climb’s senior leadership indicated the firm was keen to use M&A to further expand the business.

August

Advania signalled it had completed the integration of Servium and CCS Media, and was already seeing the benefits of the acquisitions on its financial performance.

Paul Bay, CEO of Ingram Micro, shared an update on the impact of July’s ransomware attack while discussing the distributor’s second-quarter numbers.

A review of the first half of the year from Context indicated that overall, the market was growing, although the UK could pick up steam compared with mainland Europe.

Managed service providers were warned they were clear targets for cyber criminals, with Jamie Akhtar, CEO and co-founder of CyberSmart, singling out MSPs as a target because of their position in the supply chain.

Given the strength of Aspire’s 2024 fiscal year, the channel player was talking confidently about setting its sights on breaking through the £100m revenue mark.

Analyst Forrester cast its eyes over the partner events space and concluded that the preference was increasingly for smaller events that would be more rewarding and cost-effective.

September

Those customers that had yet to make the move off Windows 10 were warned that sticking with the operating system would be costly, both in terms of money and risk.

The tie-up between Service Express and Park Place was described as the creation of a combined business that spanned the globe.

It might be an increasingly digital world, but research from Canon sharing insights into the print market pointed out that the physical properties of paper were still in demand.

The Rigby Group, owners of SCC, welcomed a fresh CEO as the business celebrated its 50th anniversary. A report from services player Nebula highlighted the positives of artificial intelligence for those looking to cut emissions and improve social responsibility.

With just one month to go before the end of life support for Windows 10, those pitching migration to Windows 11 were reaching a crescendo.

October

The month started with the return of a familiar name to UK distribution after Exertis Enterprise reverted to the well-known name of Hammer to establish some clarity following the sale of its sister businesses earlier in the summer.

The great and the good of the channel headed to Barcelona for the Canalys Channels Forum. They heard that it was important to embrace AI, discussed evolving partner programmes and urged the industry to keep going with efforts to improve sustainability.

The GTIA, formerly known as CompTIA, became solely focused on promoting best practice across the channel, and used its London event to share its membership growth ambitions.

Cameo picked up the Agilitas customer base after its fellow IT services player fell into administration, promising continuity for partners and customers.

Quocirca warned managed print players that they needed to react to changing priorities from customers keen to digitally transform their workflow processes.

November

The focus for Cisco’s partners was the vendor’s channel event, where it outlined training to prepare for the arrival of its 360 programme. The vendor’s channel boss spoke of the support the firm would be providing as it transitioned to measuring success with different metrics.

HPE decided the time was right to unify its partner programmes and make life easier for partners across the channel looking to work with all or part of the vendor’s portfolio.

MSPs were picking through the details of the Cyber Security Bill, with clear obligations for those that supply critical national infrastructure, along with expectations it could have a wider impact on the SME community.

With the merger of Trustmarque and Ultima completed, the leader of the unified business shared his aspirations for growth, expecting the operation to carve out a greater share of the MSP market.

At the MSP Evolution Summit, the focus was on how partners were both implementing and selling AI, with it clear that customers expected those selling the technology to have used it themselves.

Softcat shared customer priorities for 2026, revealing that security, artificial intelligence and delivering a positive user experience through the digital workplace were areas where users planned to invest.

There were warnings that the good times in the PC world, sparked mainly by the Windows 11 upgrade, were unlikely to last into 2026, and that life would get harder for hardware specialists.

December

The month started with the Global Technology Distribution Council sharing a report that emphasised that disties were still the most cost-effective route to market for vendors.

Market watcher Context was forecasting a year of resilience for distributors in 2026 based on the momentum they were enjoying at the end of the year.

As the Salesforce World Tour arrived in London, there was a chance for its UK CEO to show some love for partners and praise their contribution to the business.

And as the clock counted down to the end of the year, a plethora of predictions would be shared pointing to the common themes of AI, cloud, security and digital workspaces as areas where the channel can expect growth next year.