Canalys announces winners of EMEA Channel Partner of the Year Awards

Canalys has announced the winners of the Candefero Channel Partner of the Year Awards for EMEA. These awards recognize high achievement by the region’s channel partners in particular areas. The winners were honored on stage in Barcelona on Thursday 8 October at the EMEA Canalys Channels Forum, which attracted 1,000 leading channel partners, distributors and vendors from 20 countries across the region.

Canalys Principal Analyst Alastair Edwards said, ‘We are always very excited to present these awards at our annual EMEA Channels Forum. This year the competition was hotter than ever and we received more nominations than ever before. Channel partners are constantly evolving their business models and adapting to the challenges and opportunities thrown at them. We are delighted that the channel in EMEA is proving to be such a hotbed of excellence and innovation.’

The Candefero Channel Partner of the Year Awards recognize outstanding performance in specific areas: Revenue Growth, Innovation and Transformation, Cloud: Software, Cloud: Managed Services and Infrastructure Growth, together with an overall Channel Partner of the Year award. Winners were selected from the many nominations received by a panel of Canalys analysts, who took into consideration how each partner had made sustainable investments for the future, its performance, its demonstrated expertise and the resulting business value generated for its customers.

Nordics-based Proact was announced as the overall Candefero Channel Partner of the Year, recognizing its excellence in terms of strategy, financial performance and transformation, as judged by a panel of senior Canalys analysts.

Commenting on Proact winning the award, Carsten Egeberg, MD said, ‘We feel the award is recognition for the significant investment we have made as a business to transform our organization to becoming a leading cloud service provider. It symbolizes our attention to financial performance for both ourselves and our clients, as well as our dedication to partnering effectively with our valued vendors for the benefit of our clients. We are delighted to be recognized by Canalys on the EMEA stage.’

The winners in the other categories were as follows:

• Centralpoint.nl (Netherlands) for Revenue Growth.
• Mauden (Italy) for Innovation and Transformation.
• SecureData (UK) for Cloud: Software.
• Cancom (Germany) for Cloud: Managed Services.
• Bechtle (EMEA) for Infrastructure Growth.

Marcel Joosten, Director (E-Commerce), Centralpoint.nl, winner of the Revenue Growth award, said, ‘I am overwhelmed to receive this important award. We have doubled our revenue from €50 million in 2013 to €100 million in 2015. Our strategy is to continue to develop our enterprise business, by maintaining high levels of customer service and supporting those enterprises buying online from us.’

Roberta Viglione, President and CEO of Mauden, winner of the Innovation and Transformation award, said, ‘This award is very special to us. We are in the midst of transforming from a traditional hardware reseller to a complete hardware and software reseller, digital integrator and consultant. We have developed the “Bou-Tek” brand, which is a digital showroom. This is a showcase for all the opportunities open to retailers. We are really proud of the solution we have developed.’

Richard Enderby, Head of Product Management, SecureData Europe, winner of the Cloud: Software award said, ‘We are delighted to have been recognized for the cloud security services we’re delivering to clients. SecureData has consistently developed services in line with customer needs and we are very proud of our approach, which combines these cloud software technologies with skilled security professionals and the correct methodologies, to really make sense of the data and deliver effective contextual security. We will continue to invest in a data-driven approach to provide better services to clients.’

Klaus Weinmann, CEO, Cancom, winner of the Cloud: Managed Services award said, ‘We are very pleased to win a Canalys Partner of the Year award for the second year running. We have focused our efforts in the last 12 months on developing our cloud managed services business. This has greatly enhanced our profitability. Cancom will continue to develop these services to enable our clients to capitalize on the rapid transitions happening, enabling them to achieve better business outcomes.’

Winner of the Infrastructure Growth award, Thierry Knecht, Vice President International Business Development, Bechtle E-Commerce Holding AG, said, ‘Bechtle is delighted to receive this award. We have generated sustained growth over the last three decades. Our enterprise infrastructure business has spearheaded this and we are continuing to develop the business. We are investing in managed services, data centers, networking and mobile solutions as well as in our cloud business. And we remain a strong partner for IT infrastructure. This award is testament to our strategy.’

About Canalys

Canalys is an independent analyst company that strives to guide clients on the future of the technology industry and to think beyond the business models of the past. We deliver smart market insights to IT, channel and service provider professionals around the world. Our customer-driven analysis and consulting services empower businesses to make informed decisions and generate sales. We stake our reputation on the quality of our data, our innovative use of technology and our high level of customer service.

To view the chart(s) from this press release, and others from Canalys, download the new Insight @Canalys app today from the Apple App Store, the Google Play store or as an HTML 5 web app.

Receiving updates

To receive press releases directly, or for more information about our events, services or custom research and consulting capabilities, please complete the contact form on our web site.