It’s not easy to win a Britain’s Best Managed IT Companies Award. The process requires an in-depth business practice assessment of 200 questions. Then, our team does a review of public facing assets like their website, social media, marketing materials, content, customer testimonials, vendor certifications and other activities. The goal is to uncover the companies that manage with best business practices. Only a maximum of 50 companies with the highest scores can qualify to receive this award.

The actual size of the company is not a deciding factor as we believe that companies that are running on best business practices will continue to grow to become the future leaders. There are at least 12 areas of best business practices that are important for successful channel partners. While we have seen no business achieve a perfect score yet, all are looking to improve. As they continue to fine-tune their business practices and overcome their weaknesses, they will surely reap the big rewards on many levels. We are beyond excited to see channel partners improve their business practices year over year!

The Best Managed IT Companies assessment was never intended to be an “award” activity. The purpose was simply to encourage every VAR, MSP or ITSP to start asking themselves the right questions so they may better understand their strengths and weaknesses to plot a course to improve. We strongly believe that anyone can gain strength by understanding their weaknesses. That said, the Awards Ceremony and Gala is becoming bigger every year. It has also become a great fun social networking opportunity for these like-minded leading companies to meet and exchange ideas!

To learn more, simply start by taking the test at bestmanageditcompanies.com

The 2017 British Best Managed IT Companies Awards were held at the Institute of Directors in London. Here are some of the 2017 Award Winners!

Aztech IT Solutions

Basic Business Systems – Two-time Winner

Khaos Control

Smart IT Group

Softcat

Team Metalogic

Technology Associates

Virtual Networking – Two-time Winner

WellData

Other winners will receive notification by e-mail and the logo to leverage in their marketing materials.

For 35 years, the IT channel has been the most important driver of technology solutions to help end-users succeed. We believe that everyone wins when the channel continues to be stronger and bigger. Join us!

Congratulations to all who won a 2017 Award. You are the future of the IT Channel!

Of course, the attending delegates also got some deep insights into future proofing their businesses at the VARTrends -MSP-Trends event. Julian Lee spoke about the top 10 secrets of the most successful VARs and MSPs as well as the new buying habits of the end-users, and the top 8 trends that are already impacting the channel that demand changes in the way business is done. Carl West painted the big picture of the UK technology market and trends as well as what channel partners need to do to leverage the new opportunities. Alex Tatham talked about the big issues that will impact the channel including Brexit, GDPR, Distribution and business operational costs. Alex also outlined how Westcoast has become a Service Company to better meet the needs of their channel customers.

Keith Grover showcased how sales reps can leverage LinkedIn to grow business and better position their company for success. Mark Eydman explained how customer loyalty can impact the success of your business and how to ensure you continually build that trust and loyalty. Neil Jeffery helped the audience to understand how to develop and execute a digital marketing strategy that will win business every day. Paul Lloyd demonstrated a no-nonsense methodology too ensure your closing rates become predictable while exponentially increasing. He shared how he grew the sales of one of UK’s largest channel partners and how it can be applied to any VAR or MSP.

Jacqui Rand made a strong argument for better social networking to improve relationships and partnerships. It’s a social world and you simply have to be at the forefront of this reality to ensure you stay ahead of your competition. Getting a private social networking community from Channeliser is one way to control your message and future. Phil Clark rounded out the discussion by explaining how channel partners can better leverage their vendor relationships to generate more support and profitability.

A big thank you to all the speakers who helped to deliver 7 hours of highly valuable business educational content. The attending VARs and MSPs told us that they received an abundance of ideas that they will implement into their business. Special thanks to our vendor sponsors Datto, Autotask and SolarwindsMSP, three of the leading companies for MSPs. We also introduced a new vendor with a sales tool that can be a huge asset to any channel partner or vendor, called Idiligo.

This was a good taste of the business educational content that should benefit UK Channel partners by helping them stay ahead of the competition and overcome all of the challenges coming around the corner. In 2018, we are taking the second step by supporting a group of VARs and MSPs who would like to be one of Britain’s Next Top 300 Channel Partners.

It was a positive day and I deeply enjoyed meeting these great award winning companies and look forward meeting even more next year!