Faces of the Partner: Is the Channel Still a Boys’ Club?
"Why do men find it difficult to believe successful resellers are run by women?" We speak to five women channel leaders about their experiences.
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Melissa Mulholland, CEO at Norway-headquartered channel giant Crayon, said representation is the immediate answer to why there are few women leaders in the channel.
She said there is a need to “proactively put women in leadership roles to shake up assumptions about what a leader in tech looks like."
“Those assumptions exist in the communities and audiences that leaders interact with: I clearly remember being received with scepticism by some people when I became CEO of Crayon, with implications that I’m too young or too female for the role," said Mulholland. "But those assumptions also exist around women who have the potential to be great leaders, who might feel they have to mould themselves into something they’re not in order to succeed."
Mulholland said proactively putting people in positions who break the mould is something she’s deeply passionate about. However, she added that any leader can act in a way that helps make the next generation more diverse – and more diversely talented – than the last.
“I’ve had quite formative experiences with male leaders being open and encouraging that really helped give me the self-confidence to push myself to achieve more. I think we can do more to talk about how a healthy leadership culture almost infects people who are earlier in their careers and enables more women to become leaders themselves," she said.
The CEO said outreach is important for encouraging women into the channel.
“Compared to some other areas of tech, it’s a niche that might not automatically come to mind for those at the very start of their careers. So, amplifying the incredible opportunities in the channel, the unique combinations of tech skills and human problem-solving it offers, is vital for skills development generally, and especially for encouraging more women to enter the industry.”
“I have been in IT for nearly 30 years, in management positions for the past 20 years. Today, in Norway, 29% of people in technology are women. One in four is in a management position, and 15% of all IT/tech companies have a female CEO. This is the highest it has ever been,” said Hege Støre, Group CEO of Nordic technology provider Advania Group.
“Women still seem to choose “traditional careers,” even though more women than men study at universities — at least in Norway, which I know the best," said Støre. "Several IT and tech studies have female quotas aiming at improved gender representation. This has resulted in a rise in the share of women applicants and women students in Norway. At several universities, they see the same development,” she added.
“Overall, we have 23% of women working at Advania, but our target is 30%. The long-term goal should of course be 50/50!”
Støre said Advania launched a trainee program in Sweden. Last year was the second year in a row that it had 50-50 female and male participants.
“We are closely examining individual stories behind these numbers to see if there is a specific reason for this, or if we hit a sentiment in the way we communicated and launched the program that is more attractive to women. Also, let’s not forget that diversity is more than gender," the CEO said.
Støre believes that companies require not only diversity in leadership, "but also, an inclusive and supportive organisational culture that values the contributions of individuals from various backgrounds. It goes without saying.”
Marion Stewart is CEO of U.K.-based MSSP Red Helix. Stewart believes the channel is still a predominantly male environment and can feel less inclusive for women.
“Often masculine culture is built in these companies; this is exacerbated by things such as lack of flexibility of working arrangements … or male-oriented company events," she said. "This is also true for many of the leadership networking organizations. The advent of organisations such as Women in Tech, She Can Code, etc., are starting to address this but need their profiles raised greatly so that women are aware of them and how they can help."
Stewart also said unconscious bias in selection and hiring processes play a key part.
“This is at all levels of hiring not just at leadership level. These biases can manifest in very subtle ways that are not always obvious. Greater awareness of this across the IT channel is necessary and importantly how to recognise it when you see it and what to do about it.”
She also points to a lack of role models in leadership positions within the IT channel. This makes it harder for women to envision themselves in this type of role.
“The adage that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ is a factor in this. Role models are crucial for inspiring and guiding women in this sector,” she said.
Stewart wants to see more businesses that are open to flexible arrangements around working arrangements.
“At Red Helix we have adopted a ‘family friendly’ approach which is reflected in our internal policies. This applies equally to women and males in the company and includes time off for appointments such as the dentist, etc., as well as flexibility around school drop offs/pick up," she said.
Also, the MSSP is working only with recruitment partners that advocate for diversity in their candidate searches and can prove this in their candidate profiles.
“This has led to several females joining our team including in senior management roles,” said Stewart.
However, identifying talent early in their tech career and nurturing is vital for encouraging future leaders, she said.
“STEM outreach is crucial to attract more females into the sector generally. Until we start to see increases in this, it’s going to remain challenging to achieve more diversity in senior roles in the channel," said Stewart.
“For many years, I used to avoid highlighting the high ratio of women working at TVision, particularly in leadership roles, feeling that as it wasn’t a problem for us it wasn’t something we should focus on. Now I have a different view,” said Pippa Odell, managing director of Microsoft partner TVision Technology.
“I feel women like to work for women-lead businesses as they know there is no glass ceiling here," she added.
However, Odell revealed that preconceptions of what a tech CEO looks like has led to some “funny encounters” in the last 12 months. “Why do men in the channel still find it difficult to believe successful resellers can be and are run by women?” she asked.
Odell agrees with the mantra of "You can’t be what you can’t see."
“Even within my own business, which three of us founded, I never considered I could or would run the outfit. I’d never seen another woman CEO in those early days of the Microsoft Dynamics channel. Thankfully there are far more now, particularly within Microsoft," she said.
On the relationship with Microsoft, Odell said the vendor is addressing gender imbalance in the tech sector.
“They understand the importance of inclusion and have taken active steps to refrain from hosting male-dominated business events such as golf days. Whilst women can make strides, it is only with help from male allies and broader advocates; businesses can remove any stigma around men sharing the childcare burden and being more inclusive in their workplaces and events. Women in Dynamics is a great example of the partners in the channel working with Microsoft to bring in a retain more female resources.”
“I read an article just earlier this year that suggested that approximately 77% of tech leaders were male. [That] indicates a significant deficiency in the number of role models for women and girls to look up to.”
So says Emma O’Brien, founder and CEO at Embridge Consulting.
“Of course, this can be attributed to various factors and isn’t down to a single reason,” she added. “We have historical gender biases to deal with which have perpetuated the gender inequalities we are currently tackling. You only have to look at all the household names of well-known tech leaders and they are all male stereotypes. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos to name a few. Whilst inspiring young men and boys to follow in their footsteps, does this really present a picture of accessibility to the young women and girls within our next generation?”
O’Brien also highlights a “sheer lack of diversity and inclusion initiatives” to support women while they follow a successful career and perhaps supporting a family.
“I have only got to look at my own experience in 2009 when I was looking at options … to continue with my own career development as well as raising a young family. Finding a flexible but ambitious position to achieve this was impossible. It didn’t exist. I was fortunate that I took the positives from this experience which led to the birth of Embridge Consulting. But it demonstrates the sheer need for organizations to consider how they can implement policies that support the female ambition to develop their careers.”
She also alludes to the "boys’ club" tag the channel wears.
“Where the tech industry has traditionally been male-dominated, this creates a culture that may not always be welcoming or supportive for women. For example, sales teams in the tech industry are renowned to be part of a wider ‘lads' club' when attending company sales kickoffs, etc. Is this inclusive? [It] does make you think, right?”
O’Brien said she is “so proud” of the gender split at Embridge, with a 50/50 split at Board level “which pretty much permeates throughout the business.”
“With initiatives such as targeted recruitment efforts, mentorship programs and initiatives to address the unconscious bias in hiring and promotion processes, I do hope this will encourage a shift in the months and years to come that will continue to bridge the gap we currently face.”
“I read an article just earlier this year that suggested that approximately 77% of tech leaders were male. [That] indicates a significant deficiency in the number of role models for women and girls to look up to.”
So says Emma O’Brien, founder and CEO at Embridge Consulting.
“Of course, this can be attributed to various factors and isn’t down to a single reason,” she added. “We have historical gender biases to deal with which have perpetuated the gender inequalities we are currently tackling. You only have to look at all the household names of well-known tech leaders and they are all male stereotypes. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos to name a few. Whilst inspiring young men and boys to follow in their footsteps, does this really present a picture of accessibility to the young women and girls within our next generation?”
O’Brien also highlights a “sheer lack of diversity and inclusion initiatives” to support women while they follow a successful career and perhaps supporting a family.
“I have only got to look at my own experience in 2009 when I was looking at options … to continue with my own career development as well as raising a young family. Finding a flexible but ambitious position to achieve this was impossible. It didn’t exist. I was fortunate that I took the positives from this experience which led to the birth of Embridge Consulting. But it demonstrates the sheer need for organizations to consider how they can implement policies that support the female ambition to develop their careers.”
She also alludes to the "boys’ club" tag the channel wears.
“Where the tech industry has traditionally been male-dominated, this creates a culture that may not always be welcoming or supportive for women. For example, sales teams in the tech industry are renowned to be part of a wider ‘lads' club' when attending company sales kickoffs, etc. Is this inclusive? [It] does make you think, right?”
O’Brien said she is “so proud” of the gender split at Embridge, with a 50/50 split at Board level “which pretty much permeates throughout the business.”
“With initiatives such as targeted recruitment efforts, mentorship programs and initiatives to address the unconscious bias in hiring and promotion processes, I do hope this will encourage a shift in the months and years to come that will continue to bridge the gap we currently face.”
While many channel partners are making a genuine effort to promote equity in the workforce, there is still shocking lack of women in one area, compared to men: leadership. The fact is, there are still too few women in leadership positions in the IT channel.
“Generally speaking, there are too few women in IT, period,” noted Hege Støre, Group CEO of Nordic technology provider Advania Group. “The lack of women in leadership positions is a direct consequence of the under-representation of women in the industry.”
To be fair to the channel, a report from the World Economic Forum shows progress on the gender gap has stalled across all industries. However, aside from the problem of attracting women to tech, the perception still lingers of the channel as a boys’ club — a masculine, sales-driven environment.
Here we speak with five successful women who head up – and even founded – channel partners in EMEA. We ask them why they think there is such little representation of women at the board level in the channel. The answers range from masculine working cultures and unconscious bias when hiring, to a lack of role models in leadership positions and not encouraging women to engage in STEM education early enough.
We also ask them about their own experiences and what can be done to encourage more women to step into leadership in the channel.
See the slideshow above to find out what the women channel leaders had to say.
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