CHANNEL REPORT Brexit
Brexit – How Does
the Channel Feel?
The UK was supposed to leave the EU at the end of March this year but the latest date for our departure is
looking to be 31 October 2019. But that’s a maybe or maybe not depending upon who you talk to – presently
even this date is looking unlikely. So what is a channel boss to do now?
Three years on from the UK
referendum on whether we
would stay in the EU or
leave there have been very
few certainties or clarities in
evidence as to what will happen
as we move towards the latest
o cial date on which, we are
told, we will carry out the will
of the people and leave.
What we do know is that
Vote Leave was not supposed
to win that referendum. All
the experts (remember them?)
from Prime Minister David
Cameron all the way down that
food chain to Bob, a regular at
the Dog and Duck pub, said
the remain campaign would
triumph.
Yet here we are. Polarised by
division in similar measures to
almost the same degrees as we
were on 26 June 2016. Another
Prime Minister has come and
gone and the one we have now
is on shakier ground than
Krakatoa.
e problem remains that
businesses need the one thing
that politicians can’t give
them – certainty of what will
happen, and that lack of clarity,
no matter on what side of the
Brexit divide you happen to
be sitting, is likely to have a
negative impact – if only to
postpone potential positive
investment plans for the future.
So, in answer to the question
what’s a channel boss to do
right now we asked around.
Have you been planning for a
no deal? And if so, what does
that involve.
Hans Szymanski, Chief
Executive O cer at NFON
AG, says you cannot plan
around an unknown and that
has been the case with Brexit
for the last three years.
“Rather than being
distracted, we have focused
on growing the company. We
are the only pan-European
cloud PBX provider and we
operate across 15 European
countries. e UK is a strategic
priority. Cloud is boundless and
organisations in the UK are
ahead of the European curve
when it comes to seeing the
bene ts of moving voice to the
cloud.”
Iain Sinnott, Head of Sales
at VanillaIP, says “Brexit can be
a problem if you want it to be,
but if you are con dent in your
product and can deliver a true
cloud solution then you simply
need the balls to challenge the
status quo.
Uncertainty is exactly the
reason to have on-demand
cloud services. Today’s
uncertainty is Brexit, before
that it was the banking crisis,
before that the ERM. If you
think the world will become
more stable after Brexit, think
again.
“Preparations are in place
for all eventualities,” says Paul
Burn, Purchasing Director,
Nimans.
“We have suppliers inside
and outside the EU who
we continue to work closely
with around any new border
restrictions. It’s an evolving
situation. ere was a lot of
planning for the original March
deadline which got kicked
down the road. Will October
follow too? ere’s only so
much prep work you can do.”
Has the lack of clarity about
our Brexit future positively
or negatively affected your
business and if so – how?
Hans Szymanski, at NFON
says that this has had little to
no a ect.
“Our support of our UK
subsidiary hasn’t wavered
in light of the result of the
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