Since it was founded in Kent in 1989, Sota Solutions has grown into one of the UK’s leading independent providers of professional IT managed services and cyber-resilient cloud solutions, with 500‑plus customers and more than 70 employees.
Last month the privately-owned business was featured in The Independent’s Best of British series, the only technology company included, and in 2025 it was highly placed in Informa’s MSP501 listing of the world’s top managed services providers, ranked 10th in the UK and 160th globally.
Sota’s success is based on ongoing investment in its people (it is Great Place to Work-certified, April 2025 to April 2026) and in its technical capabilities, including its own regional fibre-optic network, its own datacentres and its own cloud, backup, telephony and security platforms.
Today, Sota helps customers gain an edge through digital transformation by providing a comprehensive range of cloud solutions and managed services across IT support, cloud computing, cyber resilience, connectivity and unified communications.
Last year, Ben Smoker took on the CEO role after 11 years in charge of the company’s finances, first as Finance Director and then Chief Financial Officer. Here, he gives his view from the channel.
Technology Reseller (TR): How’s business? Better or worse than 12 months ago? And how confident are you about the future?
Ben Smoker (BS): I’m delighted to say business is strong and, importantly, moving in the right direction. Over the past 12 months we have seen steady growth across the mid-market as organisations look for partners who can simplify technology and help them operate more securely and efficiently. The role of an MSP has evolved significantly in recent years. Customers aren’t just looking for reactive support anymore, they want strategic guidance, resilience and accountability.
At Sota we have seen strong demand across cyber resilience, infrastructure services and managed cloud environments. We have also been investing in automation and AI internally, which is already helping us scale operations without adding headcount. Despite the wider economic backdrop, the UK mid-market remains remarkably resilient. Many organisations now recognise that technology investment isn’t optional, it is fundamental to productivity, competitiveness and risk management.
We were recently featured in The Independent as part of a Best of British Business campaign as the only technology and cybersecurity provider covered, which was a proud moment for the company. It highlights the role independent UK providers play in supporting the country’s SME backbone. Similarly, being ranked 10th in the UK and 160th globally in the MSP501 reinforces the continued strength of our managed services model.
Looking ahead, I’m very optimistic. Technology is moving quickly, organisations need partners who can help them navigate that change safely, and I feel we can more than fulfil that expectation.
TR: In what areas are you experiencing strongest demand?
BS: I’ve discovered that three areas stand out. The first is cyber resilience. The threat landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years. Attacks are becoming more automated and increasingly AI‑assisted, and organisations are recognising that traditional security tools on their own simply aren’t enough.
What businesses want now is visibility and response capability, not just alerts. Managed detection and response, monitoring and incident readiness are all areas where we are seeing significant demand. The second area is cloud optimisation and cloud repatriation. In the past few years many organisations moved towards public cloud-first strategies, often driven by speed rather than long-term architecture decisions.
What we are seeing now is a more balanced conversation. For some workloads public cloud remains the right answer. For others, organisations are exploring private cloud or hybrid approaches, particularly where cost predictability, performance or data sovereignty are important. Because we own and operate our own UK data centres and core network, we are well positioned to support those hybrid models.
We are finding more and more that customers want the ability to place workloads where they make the most sense rather than being locked into a single platform. The third area is AI enablement. There is naturally huge interest in how AI can improve productivity and decision- making, but many organisations are still working out how to adopt it responsibly.
We are seeing demand both around governance and practical implementation. Across all three areas, the common theme is complexity. Customers value partners who can simplify technology and translate it into tangible business outcomes.
TR: What recent wins are you most proud of?
BS: For me, the most meaningful wins aren’t always single contracts, they’re moments where you can see the business evolving in the right direction.
Over the past year we have successfully reorganised Sota into clearer service pillars covering Cloud, Cyber Resilience, Support & Customer Experience, Modern Work and Digital Infrastructure. Structuring the business this way has given us much greater focus and accountability within each area, as well as clearer visibility into the revenue streams that drive the business.
Just as important has been the progress we have made culturally. Over the past 12 months we’ve worked hard to strengthen accountability, collaboration and transparency across the organisation. Coming from a finance background, I put great emphasis on operational visibility and making sure our senior technical resources are aligned to where theycreate the most value.
That combination of financial discipline and technical leadership has been a positive shift for the business. I am genuinely proud of our team and what we’re building together. That progress has been reflected in our Great Place to Work recognition and improving engagement survey results, which are probably the most meaningful indicators of culture.
Externally, recognition such as our MSP501 ranking and our inclusion in The Independent’s Best of British campaign were also fantastic milestones for the team. Ultimately, though, the wins that matter most are when customers tell us we have made their environment simpler, safer or more resilient.
TR: Where is business proving most difficult?
BS: Recruitment remains one of the more challenging areas within our industry. Technology continues to evolve rapidly and finding the right combination of engineering, security and architectural expertise isn’t always straightforward. In our case that has meant recruitment sometimes taking longer than we might ideally like. However, we have made a conscious decision not to rush hires. It’s far better in my opinion to wait for the right people than compromise on capability.
The positive outcome of this approach is that we’ve been bringing in some of the strongest technical talent we have ever hired, alongside adding a number of new roles as the business grows. The other challenge is the sheer complexity of the vendor ecosystem. There are more tools, platforms and security products available than ever before. Whilst innovation is obviously a good thing, it can also lead to fragmentation and integration challenges for both partners and customers.
Many organisations now operate environments with dozens of tools generating alerts and data but not always delivering clear outcomes. That is where the channel has an important role to play, simplifying technology stacks and focusing on results rather than just products.
TR: How have you changed business operations to exploit new opportunities?
BS: One of the biggest shifts we’ve made is becoming much more automation-first and AI-enabled internally. The traditional MSP model has historically been quite labour intensive. Automation and AI now give service providers the opportunity to deliver better outcomes at scale while freeing engineers to focus on higher-value work. We are also investing heavily in platform thinking.
Rather than delivering disconnected services, we are building integrated platforms that combine infrastructure, security and operational management. This aligns with a broader trend I’ve been speaking about recently, the emergence of AI-first or as Microsoft calls them ‘Frontier Firms’. These are organisations designed around automation and intelligence from the outset rather than layering it on later.
We have also doubled down on our independent positioning. With significant consolidation happening across the channel, many customers still value independent providers who prioritise long-term relationships and flexibility.
TR: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing channel businesses today?
BS: The channel appears to have been going through a significant period of transformation. One major challenge I see is margin pressure. As technology becomes more commoditised, traditional resale models are becoming less sustainable. Partners need to differentiate through services, expertise and outcomes.
Another challenge isthe growing security responsibility placed on service providers. Customers rightly expect their partners to protect them against progressively sophisticated threats, which requires ongoing investment and capability. Finally, there is the broader challenge of keeping pace with technological change. AI, automation and evolving cloud architectures are reshaping how organisations operate. The MSPs that succeed over the next decade will be automation-first businesses, not labour-heavy service providers.
TR: Could vendors and distributors do more to help overcome these challenges?
BS: Vendors and distributors remain vital parts of the ecosystem, but there are areas where collaboration could improve. Simplification would be a good starting point. Partner programmes and licensing models can sometimes become unnecessarily complex, which creates administrative overhead for both partners and customers.
There is also an opportunity for greater alignment with service-led business models. Many partners today deliver integrated managed services rather than simply reselling products.
Finally, vendors and distributors canplay an important role in education and enablement, particularly around emerging technologies such as AI and advanced cyber security capabilities. We are currently working with several of our partners on such initiatives.
TR: Are customers becoming more demanding?
BS: Customers are certainly becoming more sophisticated, but I wouldn’t necessarily describe that as more demanding. Organisations today expect transparency, measurable outcomes and clear accountability from their technology partners.
They want to understand not just what tools are deployed, but how those tools reduce risk or improve productivity. Cybersecurity is a good example. A few years ago, many businesses simply wanted to know that they had antivirus installed. Today they want monitoring, visibility and response capability. In many ways that shift is positive because it pushes the industry to focus on genuine business outcomes rather than technology for its own sake.
TR: If you could change one aspect of your job, what would it be and why?
BS: One of the things I’m enjoying most in the CEO role is spending time with customers. Sitting down with business leaders, understanding how their organisations operate and hearing first- hand about the challenges they’re facing often reveals far more than any report ever could. Those conversations help you understand where technology can genuinely make a difference.
If I could change one thing, it would simply be having more time to do that more often. I’ve learnt that the closer you are to your customers and their businesses, the better decisions you can make as a technology partner.
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