The 2026 Tech Excellence Awards distributor of the year winner was DSM Distribution, a channel-focused IT distributor focusing on the best and biggest IT brands that works closely with the biggest IT vendors to bring the best in technology, price, and service.
Michael Jackson, chief revenue officer at DSM Distribution, discusses the factors behind the company’s success, the investments that have delivered growth, the impact of recent changes within the distribution landscape, and the opportunities he sees for the channel in the year ahead.
How has your approach to distribution evolved in response to changing market demands?
Distribution is no longer just about moving product efficiently, it’s about providing the expertise, services, and support that genuinely help our reseller partners grow their businesses. We’ve invested heavily in that transformation over the past few years, and this award reflects that commitment. The channel has changed enormously and we’ve changed with it, staying close to our partners and listening to what they actually need, not just what we assumed they needed
What do you think are the biggest trends impacting distribution?
I want to acknowledge something that has been on a lot of people’s minds across our industry – what has happened with Exertis UK. The loss of over 1,000 jobs is genuinely devastating, for those affected and for the wider channel community. These were talented, dedicated professionals, many of whom gave years of their careers to that business. That’s not a statistic, those are real people, and the industry is poorer for losing them. Beyond the human impact, the collapse of the fourth-largest IT distributor in the UK leaves a real void. Vendors, resellers and partners who depended on them are navigating significant uncertainty, and that ripple effect is felt across the whole ecosystem.
In terms of broader trends, we’re also seeing rapid movement in AI-driven services, cyber security, and the shift to subscription and recurring revenue models. These are reshaping what distributors need to offer and how they need to be structured
What were the key factors that contributed to your success over the past 12 months?
It comes back to relationships. We’ve stayed close to our vendor and reseller partners, invested in understanding their needs, and made sure that when they needed support, we were there. That consistency builds trust, and in a year where the market has been turbulent, trust has been everything.
That focus is also reflected in initiatives such as the DSM Difference and DSM Assured, which are about continually improving the service and support we provide. At DSM, we approach distribution differently; the DSM Difference captures why we are different, with a commitment to smarter, more consultative and more partner-focused distribution. It means distribution with added value, partnerships over transactions, and the agility, responsiveness, confidence and reliability our partners need. DSM Assured is how we deliver that in practice: a trust mark and quality standard built around smart distribution, trusted partnerships, responsive service and proven delivery.
Our award win belongs to the whole team. Every person in our business has contributed to where we are today.
Was there a particular initiative, investment, or strategic decision that proved especially impactful?
We made a conscious decision to sharpen our focus and back it with real investment. Three things stand out in particular.
First, we identified a significant opportunity in the Irish retail market and built out a dedicated Retail Channel specifically to service that ecosystem, bringing structure, expertise and a tailored offering to a part of the market that deserves proper attention.
Second, we’ve invested heavily in our logistics capability and local stock holding, because we know that for our partners, reliability and speed of fulfilment is just as important as the product itself, and we wanted to make sure we could deliver on that promise consistently.
Third, we’ve made a substantial investment in our webstore, making it easier than ever for our reseller partners to do business with us digitally, with a platform that is intuitive, efficient, and built around how they actually want to work.
Taken together, these investments aren’t isolated decisions, they’re part of a deliberate strategy to build a distribution business that is easier to work with, more reliable, and more relevant to the Irish market than ever before.
What metrics or outcomes are you most proud of this year?
The award itself is a metric in a sense, it’s external validation from the industry, and that means a great deal to us particularly as it was voted for by the partners. But internally, what I’m most proud of is our partner retention and satisfaction. In a year when others in the industry were cutting and contracting, we were investing and growing. That speaks to the strength of the foundations we’ve built and the quality of the people in our business.
Have you made any vendor signings this year?
We’re delighted to have welcomed two significant new vendors to our portfolio in the last six months – Brother and Lightning IQ.
Brother is of course a well-established global brand, renowned for their market-leading printing and imaging solutions. They bring a trusted, high-quality product line that our reseller partners can offer with confidence across business customers of all sizes.
Lightning IQ is an exciting addition on the software side, they are a leader in data intelligence, with a platform that helps organisations scan, map and index petabyte-scale unstructured data in real time. In a world where data governance, compliance, and cybersecurity are front of mind for every CIO and CISO, Lightning IQ addresses a very real and growing challenge.
Both signings reflect our strategy of bringing our partners solutions that are genuinely relevant to the problems their customers are trying to solve today. We will have several further significant announcements in the coming year.
How do you think the next 12 months will shape up for the channel in terms of threats and opportunities?
The next 12 months will bring both real challenges and real opportunities for the channel, and we’re approaching them with a clear head. What happened with Exertis UK is a sobering reminder of just how demanding this market can be. Events like that create structural shifts in the market, vendors need new homes, resellers need new partners, and the whole ecosystem must recalibrate.
Our role is simply to be the most stable, capable, and committed partner we can be. The opportunities are real, in AI, in cyber security, in managed services and recurring revenue but so are the pressures. Margin compression, market uncertainty, and the pace of technology change all demand that we stay sharp, stay close to our partners, and keep investing in the right areas. We’re confident in where we’re positioned heading into the next year.
Patryk Goron
Ltd
