Nuvias Group’s Andrea Horton

“Partners to learn to support more flexible work modes within their own businesses.”

Andrea Horton is marketing director UK&I at distributor, Nuvias Group.

CF: How long have you worked in the channel?

AH: I have worked in IT since I left university when I was lucky enough to get an opportunity at a rapidly growing ISP in the early 2000s. Dial-up internet was still a thing and it was before the broadband revolution. This is where I first developed a passion for IT, and where I first experienced the speed of pace and change of industry, and which I have come to love about working in IT. I joined distribution in 2005 and have been here ever since. I enjoy the variety of vendors and technologies that working in this part of the channel offers and, having worked with hundreds of partners over the years, it’s really rewarding engaging with them, understanding their business plans and helping them to achieve their targets through joint marketing plans and activities.

CF: What’s your favourite part of your job?

AH: They say that variety is the spice of life and this absolutely rings true in marketing, and particularly distribution marketing. One day is never the same, whether it’s the activity you are working on – be it an event, a brochure or an email campaign, or the vendor you are working with or the partner you are supporting, the dynamics of the execution is something I really enjoy. Seeing Nuvias evolve over the last five to six years and being part of this growing business has been a privilege and my varied roles in the company have given me the opportunity to make significant input and contribution to the Nuvias success story.

Having recently taken up a new role as marketing director for the UK&I, I am really excited about what the next 12 months has in store. We have a new team, including our first marketing apprentice who I will enjoy sharing my passion for marketing with, and lots of new initiatives to deliver to channel partners to help them on their transformation journeys, as they adapt to meet the challenges of a post-pandemic world.

CF: What are some of the biggest changes you’re seeing in the channel today?

AH: We are all adjusting to hybrid work and extended networks. The channel needs to learn to support more flexible work modes within their own business as well as providing the technology solutions that support both visibility and security for their customer businesses. The channel has an opportunity to evolve to become more strategic and to become a trusted advisor about their chosen solutions and leveraging business intelligence for a more targeted approach to match offerings to demand.

As partners look to leverage the new business opportunities in front of them, they will face increasing challenges around skills shortages, keeping their teams up to speed with new technologies, onboarding new vendors quickly and adapting their business models to meet the end-user demands of consumption-based IT. This is where distribution has a real opportunity to step in and support the channel like never before with finance solutions, training on-demand, technical resources, and services that partners can pick and choose to deploy quickly and easily to fill their shortages and address their challenges.

CF: Is there one thing you believe channel organisations and vendors can do to encourage or enable more women leaders?

AH: It will require a conscious effort for everyone in the industry to support positive moves towards redressing the imbalance that exists at the top of the IT channel. Whilst companies are becoming more aware of the need to better support working mums, offering flexible working conditions, and giving equal opportunities to their employees the lack of women leaders means a lack of female influence on the culture of organisations and a lack of role models, particularly in certain roles.

Whilst there are many successful women working in IT, they are predominantly in HR, marketing and sales roles, and they are often still led by male leaders. It is these very leaders that need to see an all-male exec and management teams as a negative feature in their organisation and positively seek out high-achieving women to be part of their team. Without this female influence at the top, I fear we will never inspire the next generation of females to join this industry, lead by example or create the cultural shift that is very much needed to make the difference for the future of women in IT.  

CF: What can we expect from Nuvias in 2022?

AH: Nuvias has been on a growing trajectory over the past couple of years, not just in terms of revenue and acquisitions but also in terms of adding to our range of partner services and technology solutions, as well as investing in our own tools and platforms to streamline our partner engagement and business processes. Through our Nuvias Digital Initiative we are evolving our online engagement model to one that offers self-serve, real-time and on-demand content and data giving partners more control over what they access and when. In parallel, we continue to invest in our team of sales, marketing and technology specialists to support partners with projects, building pipeline and leveraging market opportunities.

This year we will be getting closer to our partners through direct engagement and building closer partnerships through events and on-site activities. The first of which we launch in March with our Nuvias & Juniper Networks Mist AI Airstream tour, visiting partners across the UK with a fun and engaging experience brought direct to their door.