Over recent years, we have been lucky enough to experience the boom of collaborative technologies in the education sector, driven by government-backed initiatives and the subsequent demand for interactive whiteboards in classrooms.

The market and sales potential in education is maturing. According to analyst firm Decision Tree Consulting, sales of interactive whiteboards in the education market are steadily declining.

The outlook is very different on the corporate front, however. For Steljes, our last quarter was the most successful quarter ever for sales in non-education markets. This is being driven largely by business ­ and not just large businesses, but small and medium-size firms.

Interest from the larger companies, especially listed ones, is being accelerated by the green agenda, with firms looking to reduce their carbon footprint and boost their environmental credentials by finding alternatives to travel. We are also seeing the need to reduce costs and increase productivity with better use of collaborative technology.

Coupled with this, is the demand for higher-quality visual displays, largely driven by consumers, and user-friendly systems that increase meeting room participation. When it comes to sharing knowledge and information, businesses do not want complicated set-ups and lengthy installations ­ they want seamless integration and technology that is ready to go.

As well as the corporate market, we are also seeing growing interest from other sectors, such as healthcare and local government, where interactive technologies are being used in training. Additionally, resellers can take the lessons learned from the education sector and apply them to other markets.

This includes opportunities for resellers to capitalise on growing markets that will provide a solid sales pipeline for years to come, opportunities for VARs with specialist applications and skills to integrate them with new and existing collaborative technologies, and finally, opportunities for resellers to become consultative partners and provide value-added services.

Times are changing. But change is good and the future looks bright for the channel.

Mark Bird is group sales and business development director at Steljes