Channel leaders talk TC4RE's Race to Tech Summit: 'When we work together, we build momentum'

Amid a dearth of skills and, arguably, stagnating diversity efforts, the channel needs fresh perspectives more than ever.

Not only that, but injecting diversity throughout organisations, from entry-level roles, all the way to the top, marks an opportunity for IT businesses to fulfil the ever-elusive S in ESG and take concrete steps towards improving towards social mobility.

Enter, TC4RE - the Technology Community for Racial Equality. Counting a roster of channel businesses among its members, the group is steadily working to bring awareness to the channel and transform businesses from within.

On 27 September, the community is set to host its inaugural Race to Tech Summit at County Hall in London, bringing together leading lights in tech with future business leaders.

Hosted by TC4RE founders including Microsoft, TD SYNNEX, Exertis, Protiviti, Insight, Computacenter, Softcat, SoftwareOne, ResourceiT, Colt, Claranet and Boxxe.

We spoke to four business leaders to get their perspective on TC4RE's work, their involvement and the industry's progress towards improved diversity outcomes.

Anushka Davies, Softcat

CRN: Can you tell us about your work with TC4RE and why their work matters to you?

AD: TC4RE matters to us as it's an opportunity for organisations across the tech sector to work collectively together to raise awareness and improve equality. The industry is such an exciting place to be, one that I have benefitted from over my 24 years at Softcat, but there are many ethnic people out there across the country who don't have access our sector, who aren't progressing in organisations and are lacking the opportunity to help them thrive. TC4RE is a community who can help organisations have those tough conversations, help build an inclusive culture and inspire ethnic employees across the sector.

CRN: What are some of the biggest challenges TC4RE faces in promoting diversity and how are you tackling them?

AD: Some of the biggest challenges across our founding organisations are all really similar. The work that we have done collectively is to answer some of the challenges we all face as different organisations, learn from each other, promote best practise and with that accelerate ethnic diversity in our organisations.

CRN: How does TC4RE work with tech companies to make the industry more inclusive?

AD: This is simple in that we are stronger when we work together as an industry. We can all do better, but when we don't work in silos and come together as a collective, we can gain momentum, learn and develop together.

CRN: Talk us through the rational for the event in September? How did the idea come about?

AD: As a TC4RE Leadership Team, we come together regularly to discuss the development of our workstreams. We want to get more organisations involved and we wanted to promote how we can make impact together, so the idea to run an event was simply born from that. I have been to many events where you come away feeling inspired to improve, and I hope we can do this with the Race to Tech Summit.

CRN: Can you give examples of how TC4RE helps ethnic minority employees grow in their tech careers?

AD: The ‘See It, Be It' campaign does just this, in that it provides great examples of where people in our organisations have developed in their careers to inspire others around them. You can't be what you can't see! This campaign is all about showcasing how ethnic employees across the organisations have been supported and developed.

CRN: Why are partnerships with companies like the founding organisations important for TC4RE?

AD: The IT industry is all about building partnerships. We see this everywhere when we work together to support our customers. Well this is true for our own people too. Where we can come together to support our own employees, attract new talent to our sector can only mutually benefit us all. How does TC4RE gather feedback from the tech community to improve its initiatives?

Keep reading for to find out what ResourceiT, Computacenter and Protiviti leaders have to say about working with TC4RE.

Julie Simpson, ResourceIT

CRN: Can you tell us about your work with TC4RE and why their work matters to you?

JS: As a leader it is my responsibility to work hard to ensure everyone has equal opportunity. In the IT sector we are facing a significant skills shortage and must extend our ‘welcome' to people from all walks of life to join our industry. I learn every day from people that are different to me, and my organisation is stronger because through TC4RE we learn about how other businesses are creating and supporting initiatives that attract talent from ethnic minority communities.

It is widely reported that tapping into new talent from black and ethnic minority communities could unlock £24bn in GDP revenue, equivalent of 1.3% of GDP growth. So, it's the right thing to do as human beings, and makes absolute commercial sense. I have also been horrified by recent riots and racist abuse taking place in various parts of our country, which only confirms to me that people need to be educated and informed and that individuals from black and ethnic minority communities need to feel safe and are well supported. It is up to those of us that know better to stand up and eradicate the view that a small minority of people who are misinformed have. We must stand together and speak up for what is right.

CRN: How did the collaboration come about?

JS: Following the George Floyd atrocities in 2020, a handful of UK IT Leaders met and agreed we could have more impact if we aligned, shared and supported each other to eradicate any hint of racism in our ecosystem and learned from each other. TC4RE is the place where there is no competition between us – we are all on the same side.

CRN: What are some of the biggest challenges TC4RE faces in promoting diversity and how are you tackling them?

JS: At TC4RE we believe that our existing employees from all backgrounds, need to be more aware, more equipped and more open to inclusivity and what it really means. We see low representation of people from black and ethnic minority communities at a leadership level – and this is something we are striving to change through launch of our Leadership Programme.

We also believe that we have to feed a stronger pipeline of talent, which we are addressing through our Grants Programme and See It, Be It, which promotes people already in jobs to showcase how people from all areas of society can have a great career in the IT sector. We are bringing Senior Leaders and HR/DEI leads together to share their learning and accelerate the progress of this crucial agenda.

CRN: Talk us through the rationale for the event in September? How did the idea come about?

JS: Pioneered by the incredible Anushka Davies, we are excited about Race to Tech Summit on 27th September. The event will see us bring our whole community together to brainstorm how we can do more, how we can scale across the industry, and welcome students to explore the opportunities they have with participating organisations. We are also collaborating with Change the Race Ratio, Unleashed and other partners who support our agenda and our delighted to welcome Sir Trevor Phillips as a keynote speaker.

CRN: How does TC4RE use technology to measure the impact of its diversity programmes?

JS: We are consistently tracking our engagement online and analysing who is reading and interacting with what. We learned so much from what our audience responded to through our Black History Month Campaign and are using the intelligence we gather to make our programmes stronger.

CRN: Can you give examples of how TC4RE helps ethnic minority employees grow in their tech careers?

JS: I would refer again to See It, Be It – you can't be what you can't see, and to have representation across the sector of people in roles willing to talk about their careers is encouraging to others.

CRN: Why are partnerships with companies like the founding organisations important for TC4RE?

JS: We are stronger together. This is a massive agenda and as much as we would like to we can't do everything on our own. Partnering with vendors, distributors, systems integrators and consulting firms enables us to extend our reach and impact in areas we wouldn't think of ourselves. Our partnerships with Change the Race Ration and others brings critical value to our strategy and content as we learn from them also.

CRN: How does TC4RE gather feedback from the tech community to improve its initiatives?

JS: By having clear and open dialogue with each other in a safe place, we are able to gather and process feedback up, down, and sideways. The insights and information we gather is taken on board and applied to consistently improve and develop our programmes.

CRN: What are the biggest priorities for the organisations work with TC4RE in 2025?

JS: Firstly, extending our engagement with existing Founders – we are doing a lot but there is always more to do and more people we can reach. The more people we reach the greater the impact and progress we make.

Secondly, welcoming small businesses and start-ups to TC4RE is a priority for us this year – whilst the thousands of employees that work in the existing 12 Founders are impacted – we believe that SMB's need just as much, if not more, support – and so we are creating a membership programme that anyone can join.

Finally, exploding our existing programmes – we need to attract more students, encourage more early-in-career people, and reach and influence more leaders.

Dr. Colin Williams – CTO at Computacenter

CRN: Can you tell us about your work with TC4RE and why their work matters to you?

CW: My role is as a business CTO for security in Computacenter, but I've always worked closely with our internal HR teams to drive activities to promote fairness, inclusion and career development in Computacenter. I have nearly 35 years in the IT industry via a number of technology leadership roles and therefore I've seen firsthand the challenges faced by employees from ethnic minorities initially gaining employment and then whilst in employment progressing to senior roles. I viewed the work of TC4RE as a wonderful vehicle to help the IT industry to change for the better and be one that's underpinned by equity, fairness and a real meritocracy meaning everyone believes they can realise their potential regardless of ethnic or cultural background.

CRN: How did the collaboration come about?

CW: Computacenter became a founding member of TC4RE early into its creation based on a conversation with Apay from Microsoft in 2020 about the value of employee resource groups and the Ethnic Diversity EIG that had recently formed within Computacenter and Apay mentioned the formation of TC4RE. We were told about the outcomes and values proposed by TC4RE and the aim to increase representation in the IT industry for employees from ethnic minority backgrounds, which was enough to make Computacenter want to join instantly.

CRN: What are some of the biggest challenges TC4RE faces in promoting diversity and how are you tackling them?

CW: TC4RE is tackling many of the challenges head on, creating content activities to equip ethnic minority employees with the knowledge they require to be successful, the engagement skills they need to progress and real-world opportunities to get into organisations seeking new employees. There are numerous TC4RE initiatives running at present including a grant program that helps individuals in further education / university to benefit from funds they will find valuable (to purchase laptops, for example), plus my favorite an initiative called "See it Be it" that showcases existing employees telling the stories of their roles and how they have been successful in the IT industry to others as role models to aspire to.

Belton Flournoy, MD at Protiviti

CRN: Can you tell us about your work with TC4RE and why their work matters to you?

BF: When I was at university, I did not see people who looked like me. Since becoming a technology leader, I have come to realise the vast amount of opportunities that are available to someone—from marketing, to engineering to project management. It is not just about coding in a dark room, it is consists o f a diverse set of roles for a diverse set of people. TC4RE focuses in ensuring everyone recognises the opportunities available to them, where it is helping to fund education, to inspire leaders in organisations or simply helping CEO's have a better dialogue about race—this organisation is here to drive meaningful changes and impacts people's life.

CRN: Can you give examples of how TC4RE helps ethnic minority employees grow in their tech careers?

BF: One on my favourite TC4RE initiatives is the See it, Be it campaign, where technology people from all levels are able to share their personal experience in how they arrived at their roles. The diversity of people across the various organisations supporting is truly inspirational. We have people from all backgrounds, all levels, sharing their tips for be successful in their roles. When I did not see many people who looked like me in University, I am proud to say TC4RE is working hard to ensure the next generation of students have a diverse set of role models they can look up to.

CRN: Why are partnerships with companies like the founding organisations important for TC4RE?

BF: An idea can only go so far. A collective of people can change the world, and that is just where TC4RE is headed. What makes TC4RE different to other organisations is the ability to influence change in each of our partner organisations. As part of joining, a CxO Leader makes a commitment to join an annual gathering of leaders, enabling us to share best practices, answer questions and respond to executive level challenges the organisations might be facing. This commitment, which has been demonstrated by our members year on year, is something that enables us to break through the red tape that exists in large organisations to drive change.

Increasingly, we are finding each organisation has a challenge they are working through, yet another organisation has a solution they are willing to share. This partnership is enabling all of us to tackle problems we might have quickly. We can more easily address the growing skills gap, increase UK GDP through filling technical roles more rapidly, alongside providing opportunities to a diverse set of candidates. Come be a part of this accelerated change!

To find out more about the Race to Tech Summit, click here.