This article first appeared in News in the Channel magazine issue #36.
It has been an outstanding year for Clarion Information Systems in terms of performance, topped off by winning Technology & Storage Reseller of the Year at the recent Stockies awards.
Clarion Information Systems enjoyed a successful 2025. As the company celebrated a significant anniversary, several other significant milestones were also ticked off by the business.
Here, Leon White, managing director at Clarion, talks about the company’s success, the reasons behind it and how they plan to continue this in 2026 and beyond.
News in the Channel: How was 2025 for Clarion?
Leon White: 2025 was an incredible year for Clarion: we surpassed our £5 million target for calendar year 2025, thanks to all the incredible support from the team, our partners and, most importantly, our customers for their continued trust and support throughout the past 10 years. Not only that, but December 31 closed our 10th year of trading, which is an incredible achievement for all those involved and we are very proud to have such a loyal and supportive account base, made even better by the fact that we were crowned as Stockies Technology & Storage Reseller of the Year.
Q. Did the business face any challenges and how were they overcome?
LW: Definitely. Since Brexit, international logistics and supply of various products has been affected – not just in the IT channel but by several of our customers in logistics and manufacturing, for example. The economic climate has also been pretty bleak over the past few years, so there have been challenges, but it’s certainly continually getting more competitive out there. All we can do is be consistent and lean into what makes us great at what we do – delivering great service and maintaining good, open communication with our customers.
Q. What were the biggest trends you saw from customers in 2025?
LW: Price consciousness – trying to stretch IT budgets and get more for their money. Again, due to the economic uncertainty and fallout from Brexit and COVID lockdowns. Customers have also been more open to looking at more ‘disruptive’ vendors in various spaces to make savings and looking to move away from some of the more well-known names.
Q. How did customer demand change over the course of the year?
LW: The biggest change in demand we have seen across the board is not related to a certain vendor or product offerings, but demand from IT teams to offload as much as possible to free up time in their day to services provided by resellers and distribution. For example, our client base is relying on us more than ever for enrolment of fresh devices for an ‘out of the box’ experience as well as taking over the management of their cloud estates to ensure they have more time to focus on assisting users and planning projects to push their businesses to the next level.
Q. What do you put your success down to in winning the reseller of the year award?
LW: I think it’s down to our USPs and approach – we come up against some huge competitors, and the feedback is always the same: our account management is more responsive, customer-focused and consistent. We have some amazing customer relationships that have lasted for years and are growing all the time, and I believe it’s that approach that had led to our growth, and this fantastic recognition from Stock in the Channel – we’re very proud!
Q. What is your assessment of the health of the channel currently?
LW: It’s not in a great place! With huge redundancies recently announced by one major disty, stock shortages across RAM/SSDs hitting the market hard, along with no respite in the political situations globally, things look like they will get harder before they get easier. Still, there are some great products, vendors and distributors out there that we work with closely, and we’re looking forward to continuing to grow and improve, through the challenges.
Q. What do you think will be the main trends in 2026?
LW: I think that upcoming price hikes are going to hit hard – rumours of monthly increases on PCs/laptops of 6-8% won’t make anyone feel too comfortable, but could also drive sales, as businesses look to bring spend forward to beat those increases. The focus on cybersecurity is always increasing too, with the ongoing risks to all businesses of ransomware and the increasing reliance on IT in just about every industry. People will also keep talking about AI, but I can’t see it making any more tangible differences in the short-term, other than more RAM shortages!
Q. What are your plans for the future?
LW: Growth! We’re looking to make the most of hitting some major milestones – we reached £5 million turnover and won our first Stockies award in our 10th year of trading. We want to add more sales/account managers, support staff and IT engineers to our team this year and with it, more customers to work with from all over the UK.
We’re always looking out for the best vendors and products as well as growing our partner status’ with existing ones, so expect all the above.
