Category: Moving People

Easy Software appoints Sam Lawrence to Business Development

Posted on July 5, 2018 by - Moving People, News

0Document management outfit Easy Software has appointed enterprise solution sales specialist Sam Lawrence to its sales and support team as Business Development Manager.

Responsible for managing all aspects of account management from pre-sales and sales through to project delivery and the transition to support, Sam will be accountable for a number of Easy’s  flagship accounts, with her appointment clearly an important addition to the growing UK sales and support team.

Sam has 15 years experience in business development in the knowledge and risk management technology space in a career that features senior business development appointments at Lakeview Computers, Select Technology, SHE Software and Cardinus Risk.

In parallel with this appointment of Sam, the German-headquartered company has also appointed software solutions analyst Sean McLaughlan as an Easy software consultant.

Sean has over ten years of experience working in software solutions consultancy, working at tech services companies such as Digital Copier Systems, NetHelpDesk and MSX International. He is skilled in focussing on the management of relationships with all customers, particularly in all areas that impact the product implementation and services cycle.

For Easy Sales & Marketing Director Howard Frear, these appointments signal another positive chapter in the company’s on-going success story. “We are excited with these two strong appointments to the Easy team, and we’re sure Sam will quickly help us grow EASY to support our pipeline, as her impressive business development track record, combined with her solid experience in the risk and knowledge management space, will be an extremely hard combination to beat.

“We are really pleased to welcome Sean to the Easy UK family. Sean will work to support all aspects of the client relationship across our services and product solution, where he has impressive experience already.

“These are important appointments for Easy as we anticipate further growth in the areas of DM and contract management, digital finance and HR, as well as using DM to address regulatory requirements such as GDPR.”

Xerox’s new president and chief operating officer has a channel past

Posted on June 25, 2018 by - Moving People, News

64bd3f58-d4e1-4a81-a8b0-fd317f56d3efXerox’s new president and chief operating officer is a channel veteran with top-level experience at other high profile companies.

Steve Bandrowczak, who most recently worked at Alight Solutions, and has worked at Sutherland Global Services and notably at HPE. He has previously held senior leadership positions for various multi-billion-dollar global companies, including Avaya, Nortel, Lenovo, DHL and Avnet.

Xerox vice chairman and chief executive officer John Visentin said that Bandrowczak bought a track record of growing businesses and enhancing competitiveness through a combination of innovation, technology and operational rigour.

“His breadth of experience across the product and service delivery chain will be essential to generating value for our shareholders and building more effective and efficient ways to serve our customers.”

Bandrowczak will be responsible for developing and carrying out a global operations strategy in the company’s business support functions, including product and service delivery, customer billing, information technology, worldwide procurement and real estate.

He said that Xerox was an iconic brand with a legacy of innovative technologies.

“Joining the company at this time affords me the opportunity to help shape the next iteration of a global leader.”

 

 

Redstoneconnect boss moves on after sell off

Posted on June 18, 2018 by - Moving People, News

markbraundredstoneceo-580x358Redstoneconnect’s CEO has decided it is time to move on after finishing off the sales of the outfit’s managed services and SI units.

Mark Braund is standing down and from Monday chairman Frank Beechinor would take over the CEO role in a move which is part of a management reshuffle.

Braund will stay around for several months to ensure there is a smooth transition and current director Guy van Zwanenberg will become chairman.

Braund has been with the firm for three years during which he had to redefine the company’s strategy and re-position and further develop the Company.

The result was the disposal of the Systems Integration and Managed Services divisions for £21.6 million, in addition to other restructuring activities.

He said that RedstoneConnect was now in an excellent position to build-upon its growing solutions offering and to further capitalise on the opportunity that exists for workspace management software.

His successor Beechinor said that the business had been left in a strong position thanks to Braund’s stewardship and it was determined to grow the firm as a software specialist.

 

Getronics looks to former BT and Colt manager for COO

Posted on May 9, 2018 by - Moving People, News

3565746760001_5488856853001_5488858743001-vsGetronics has named former president of BT’s global customer services Rogier Bronsgeest as its chief operating officer.

Bronsgeest worked at BT for more than six years, leaving in December 2015 to join Colt as chief customer experience officer. He will begin his new role immediately, with Getronics claiming the new hire is “the right man to help the ‘new’ Getronics fulfil its goals and ambitions”.

He said that he would continue down the path chosen in recent years and build on the new Getronics vision, go-to-markets and value propositions,

“I am looking forward to improving our user experience and helping Getronics establish itself as the preferred partner for businesses in transformation”, he said.

Bronsgeest worked more than five years at the IT services firm between 2004 and 2009 as executive vice president of global service delivery and global programme management.

Bronsgeest replaces Thomas Fetten, who left Getronics in December 2017 before joining cybersecurity specialist SecureLink as CEO in March.

There has been much motion at Getronics in the last year. CEO Mark Cook stepped down last August to be replaced by the majority shareholder of its new investor – Bottega InvestCo – Nana Baffour.

Rich Hume to take over at Tech Data

Posted on April 23, 2018 by - Moving People, News

Rich-HumeA former IBM partner chief and current COO  has secured the top job at Tech Data as current CEO Bob Dutkowsky cleans out his desk after nearly a decade at the top of the outfit.

Rich Hume will assume the CEO post on 6 June 2018, as Dutkowsky steps back to the role of executive chairman of the board.

Tech Data billed the announcement as the “culmination of the board’s leadership succession plan that capitalises on the strength of the Tech Data management team”.

Hume joined Tech Data in 2016, after 30-years at Biggish Blue including stints as GM of Global Business Partners and GM for Europe.

Tech Data needs a bit of a rethink after its disappointing Q4 results. It had been doing well up to that point with its annual revenues last year up  40 percent to $36.8 billion following its acquisition of rival Avnet Technology Solutions.

Charles Adair, lead independent director of the Tech Data Board, said: “Today’s announcement is the result of a thorough and thoughtful long-range leadership succession planning process undertaken by the board over the past several years.

“The board is confident that our plan provides a natural progression for Tech Data to continue to grow and thrive. Since joining the company in 2016, Rich has been a critical member of our executive team and has proven himself a strong leader with extensive industry experience and operational expertise. Importantly, having served as COO, Rich is intimately familiar with Tech Data’s business operations, and we are confident that he is the ideal candidate to succeed Bob as CEO.

“We are also thrilled that the company will continue to benefit from Bob’s wealth of experience and strategic guidance as he transitions to his new role as executive chairman of the board.”

 

 

PCM’s sales and marketing director leaving

Posted on March 2, 2018 by - Moving People, News

extPCM’s sales and marketing director Lee Dutton is planning to clean out his desk and exit the building with his belongings in an old photocopy box.

He had only been in the company since October after he was poached from Misco.  He hired his old sales team  following Misco’s collapse into administration in November.

PCM has confirmed that Dutton is leaving, “but not immediately” and no one is saying why.

PCM is relocating its legacy Scottish office, which was on a temporary lease, following its acquisition last month of Scottish Cisco Gold partner Provista, whose Glasgow HQ is situated just 20 miles away.

It has been suggested that the outfit is cutting back despite it only launching in the UK last May. However this was denied by PCM’s UK boss Donavan Hutchinson.

“We’re constantly reviewing, as obviously we took on a tonne of sales staff [from Misco] all at once who were more product-focused and not solutions-focused, so have found it quite difficult. But everyone is doing well, and we are growing significantly, which will be shown in our financials when PCM in the US releases its financials”, he said.

PCM recently took on experienced industry head Jim Mooney to head up its solutions and services sales, and Hutchinson said he is in no hurry to appoint a replacement for Dutton. He will be running the sales division for the moment.

 

Vickerage becomes a Maverick

Posted on February 23, 2018 by - Moving People

CaptureScanSource Imago’s president James Vickerage has left the distributor to join Maverick

The move can be seen in a Linkedin shuffle where Vickerage updated his Linkedin profile with the new role yesterday. Previous managing director of Tech Data Maverick, Tony Scully has meanwhile had his LinkedIn profile set to “looking for new opportunities in IT distribution” since December 2017.

ScanSource has announced that Paul Constantine will become president of ScanSource’s international business. He joined the firm in 1999 and most recently served as co-president of its worldwide barcode, networking and security business.

“James Vickerage is no longer with the company. We are grateful for his leadership and service to the company as we successfully integrated Imago into the ScanSource business. Paul Constantine has been named President of international business at ScanSource. In this role, Paul leads the company’s international growth initiatives”, the company said.

It looks like the ScanSource Imago branch will not have a dedicated European executive, and will instead be managed at a group level.

Vickerage became president of ScanSource Communications in October 2016 and oversaw the integration of UK-based AV distributor Imago, acquired by ScanSource in 2014.

SteelEye spans its business and hires Matt Smith

Posted on January 19, 2018 by - Moving People, News

Matt-Smith-headshot-898x505UK Compliance technology and data analytics outfit, SteelEye has named Matt Smith as its new chief executive.

The SteelEye product was designed to help financial firms meet their obligations under MiFID II, whilst also acquiring insights into their business operations. His appointment will help to drive the firm’s growth as it markets its secure and scalable data storage platform which incorporates analytics, the statement continued.

Matt brings over 18 years of technology and management expertise to SteelEye. He joins from Bloomberg where he was a senior product manager working on a range of financial regulation and compliance solutions. Before, he was the chief information officer at Noble Group, a global commodity trading firm, where he oversaw regulatory technology and the deployment of big data, trading and analytics platforms.

Of more than 9,000 firms registered with ESMA, many are currently ill-prepared to meet the MiFID II Directive’s new obligations for the recording and reporting of data, SteelEye reckons. The 7,000+ small to mid-sized firms across Europe will be hardest hit by the changes. No longer able to rely on larger institutions to handle their record keeping and reporting obligations, these firms will now be held accountable for their own regulatory conformity which includes recording and storing their voice data.

Peter O’Shea, a non-executive director at SteelEye said: “The founders and board are excited Matt has accepted our offer to lead the team. As a highly experienced regulatory technology professional, Matt brings a wealth of expertise in the smart application of technology to solving complex regulatory needs and shares our view on empowering firms to use the resulting data to gain a business edge.”

SteelEye’s cloud-based platform has several advantages to help firms address their MiFID II obligations, the firm reckons. It claims it is the only platform that offers transaction reporting, record keeping, best execution and data insight in a single offering. It also has an open API framework, allowing clients to harness the power of their data. The platform also lets clients store their data in wherever they want it to be.

Smith said, “SteelEye is here for the small to medium-sized financial firms who require a flexible solution for their record keeping and regulatory reporting needs at an appealing price. We provide a secure and comprehensive solution, built on the most modern and scalable technology and backed by a world-class team of technologists. I am delighted to have been asked to join this team which is well positioned to revolutionise the FinReg and data analytics market.”

Maverick sails across the pond

Posted on December 18, 2017 by - Moving People, News

Columbus-flagship-Santa-Maria-discoveredAV distributor Maverick is carrying out global expansion and will be borging the Americas and Asia Pacific into its  European operation.

Maverick AV Solutions works with audio-visual brands. Over the past 20 years,  Maverick has grown from a team of seven people in the UK into something somewhat larger.

Preparation has already begun with Jon Sidwick and the Maverick AV Solutions team working closely with the Americas’ leadership team to ready for expansion into the US and then throughout the Americas region.

Jon Sidwick, VP Maverick AV Solutions explained: “This is a new chapter for Maverick with a new brand and the strongest mix of manufacturer partners we have ever worked with.

“We are extremely proud of relationships we have built with our customers and vendor partners and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for the support of Maverick to date. I am excited for a new challenge, working with an already established team of AV specialists in these markets to bring the experience from the European teams and create new services and solutions for customers in the regions.”

Joel Chimoindes joins the team with senior management experience, having spent the last year as managing director at Beta Digital Media Solutions and eighteen months as European Solution & innovation director at technology and infrastructure solutions business, Azlan, also part of the Tech Data Group. Joel’s role will be to work alongside the European management team to continue the unprecedented growth within the region, growing the vendor portfolio and helping deliver improved solutions and services for client.

The huge growth in audio-visual applications being adopted by companies of all sizes, educational institutions and government agencies, around the world means that now is the perfect time to expand Maverick’s approach across the globe.

The spinners said: “Maverick’s collaborative, scalable, platform-based solutions and top flight vendor portfolio is well-positioned to meet the needs of this fast-growing market. This successful model will now be expanded into the Americas and Asia Pacific. In the Americas, the Visual Solutions practice, part of the endpoint solutions portfolio, will be incorporated into Maverick in the coming fiscal year.”

Whatever that means.

Infosys taps ex-Capgemini for CEO

Posted on December 5, 2017 by - Moving People

61913273Outsourcer Infosys has hired an ex-Capgemini executive to lead the firm after former CEO Vishal Sikka dramatically stepped down in August.

Salil Parekh will begin his tenure as the Indian giant’s new CEO on 2 January, replacing interim CEO Pravin Rao who will go back to being a COO.

Parekh has nearly three decades of global experience in the IT services industry, and a strong track record of executing business turnarounds and managing very successful acquisitions. The Board believes that he is the right person to lead Infosys at this transformative time in our industry. The Board is also grateful to Pravin for his leadership during this period of transition, the company said.

Infosys claims it underwent a “comprehensive global search effort” for the firm’s new leader, claiming that Parekh was the top choice from a pool of “highly qualified” candidates.

The new chief exec spent more than 25 years at Capgemini where he served as CEO of global financial services and held a place on the firm’s executive board.

In August, reports emerged that Infosys’ founder had led a boardroom coup which saw CEO Sikka and three board members abruptly depart from the firm. At the time, Sikka claimed that he had been victim of “unrelenting, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks” from founder Narayana Murthy.

Parekh’s priority will be “business continuity without rocking the boat,” The feud between Sikka and the founders, with N R Narayana Murthy in particular, has left a sour taste in investor and clients’ mouths.

Parekh needs to repair the dented confidence while keeping the founders, who own about 12 per cent of the company, in good humour. He has already received a thumbs up from Murthy as he said after the appointment, “I’m happy that Infosys has appointed Salil Parekh as the CEO. My best wishes to him.”

Tapad hires Rosamilia for London team

Posted on November 7, 2017 by - Moving People, News

AAEAAQAAAAAAAAKnAAAAJGZhZmJiMDdiLWE4NWMtNDQwYy05MTU2LTVkZjk1M2U4NDFlZQCross-device marketing technology outfit Tapad, has hired Davide Rosamilia to join the London team as Senior Solutions Engineer.

The outfit said that demand for the Tapad Device Graph™ has experienced significant growth since the company started licensing its technology in the UK  just over a year ago. Rosamilia will be responsible for providing successful customer implementations for all clients licensing Tapad’s Device Graph, ensuring continued use and growth in the region.

Rosamilia will report to Tapad’s VP of EMEA, Tom Rolph.

Rosamilia has  performed in roles of increasing responsibility across operations, product management, integrating proprietary technologies, and managing supplier relationships. Prior to joining Tapad, he led EMEA technical consulting at Xaxis, the digital media platform owned by WPP. During his career at Xaxis, Davide successfully launched Xaxis Audio, the first successful digital audio product within an agency group. Davide’s experience also includes Appnexus, where – as a result of his strong understanding of the European programmatic ecosystem – he was the first product specialist within the EMEA region.

“Tapad has a healthy mix of startup agility and large company scale, which makes it a very unique player in the marketplace. I believe Tapad is a company that can bring real innovation and drive growth both in the adtech and martech ecosystems, and I am excited to join the team,”Rosamilia said.

 

Kenna Security wants Crompton to spruce up its channel

Posted on October 17, 2017 by - Moving People, News

trevorcromptonCybersecurity outfit Kenna Security has hired Trevor Crompton to build it a shiny new channel of UK sales partners.

Crompton has history with Symantec and RiskIQ.  In RiskIQ he managed to keep 60 resellers, 20 consultants and 10 systems integrators across EMEA happy. Crompton used Obscure Technologies in Africa and Ignition Technologies in the UK.

Crompton has promised the Kenna channel will be 100 percent channel across EMEA. At RiskIQ Crompton he redirected all direct business through resellers.

Market analyst Gartner expects security spending to grow from $28.7 billion across EMEA now to $36.9 billion by 2021. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will drive 65 percent of those buying decisions as companies desperately try to plug data leaks.

Right now, most security bosses don’t know where to start to defend their businesses and Kenna’s partners can solve this problem by managing the risk. Its system reads vulnerability data, compares it to exploit data and calculates the risk score before create a fix priority list.

 

Canalys thinks that things are getting very indirect

Posted on October 9, 2017 by - Moving People, News

directListening to Canalys CEO Steve Brazier bang on in Venice you can’t help but think that the direct model is going to die a death.

Talking to the annual conference over cheese on a stick and drinkies Brazier said that channel partners are doing well and the European economy is looking better that it has done for the last ten years.

He said that there were more opportunities for the channel now than there have ever been.

This year, over the first half, distributors grew 4 to 5 percent and channel partners improved by seven percent on average.

Brazier, at the Channels Forum event, spoke of the way vertical markets, from retail, transport, health and public sector, were all “embracing” digital technology and using the channel to roll out those services.

The move towards edge computing is also driving a lot of growth and Brazier expected a growth in ‘micro clouds’ as resellers provided services closer to user data and applications.

There was also a mention of security, with that segment enjoying the strongest growth as a result of the increasing threats and factors like GDPR driving spending across Europe.

However the wholesale move towards becoming a predominately software and services business is probably going to be as grim as the life expectancy of a wedding guest in the Game of Thrones.

“This has been the year where the vendors have been preaching digital transformation to you. They are not only trying to talk to you about selling more stuff, they are trying to battle for your thought leadership in where you will take your thoughts forwards,” Brazier said.

“I’m sure you have been told you need to change the way you engage with customers and invest more in digital marketing and retrain your sales force,” he added.

Brazier warned that listening to the vendors, which had their own agendas, could undermine the future strategy.

“Should a partner that’s reselling infrastructure, PCs and software should they change? Probably yes,” he said.

Canalys is predicting that hardware will still contribute over 50 percent of revenues for 90 percent of partners in 2020.

“Whoever told you selling hardware was dead is completely wrong. The PC is suddenly the most profitable part of your business again”, said Brazier.

Exertis names Rik Hubbard commercial and services director

Posted on August 10, 2017 by - Moving People, News

Rik_HubbardExertis has announced the appointment of Rik Hubbard as its mobile commercial and services director.

Hubbard will be working with the sales and purchasing teams to boost the performance of the division’s market leading vendors across the consumer and business to business areas.

He also has to build on the opportunity to launch a range of device-focused services from trade-in, repair and refurbishment to finance and service contracts, following the recent announcement of the MTR Group acquisition.

Hubbard will report to Exertis mobile director Simon Woodman, who said: “Rik is joining our team at an exciting time for the mobile division. He brings a wealth of experience having worked for a major vendor and a leading telco and internet service provider.

“We have opportunities to grow in the main areas of our business with a superb portfolio of products and solutions to offer our customers. We are now also in an excellent position to enhance our entanglement still further with our vendor partners and clients by providing additional services to support their business. Rik will play a fundamental role in helping us to achieve that.”

Hubbard is a chartered accountant with almost twenty years’ experience in the telco industry, and joins from Samsung where he was head of commercial finance and financial services for five years.

When he was there he helped launch the S7 Upgrade programme which was the UK’s first manufacturer backed handset upgrade scheme. Before that, he spent a similar period at Three in a variety of commercial roles.

Hubbard was very positive on his appointment, saying: “Providing services that add value are fundamental to being successful in technology distribution. I am delighted to have joined Exertis, a company at the forefront of mobile distribution with an outstanding product and solutions portfolio, and one with the drive and ambition to look for and add complementary services that make a positive contribution to revenue and profit for partners and customers. I look forward to building on this success and working with a vibrant, award-winning team.”

 

Singleton signs up for Advice Cloud

Posted on August 4, 2017 by - Moving People, News

YLGTGI1IFormer G-cloud boss Tony Singleton, OBE, has signed up to public sector procurement outfit Advice Cloud as a strategic advisor.

Singleton was the chap who oversaw the launch of the Government’s Digital Marketplace and was G-Cloud director for a two-year period to March 2016.

He took up a COO role in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy but has left the public service and headed into consultancy.

His Advice Cloud work involves helping SME suppliers gain access to government organisations and working with Advice Cloud gives him the opportunity to work with those suppliers, helping them to make the most of the opportunities open to them.

Advice Cloud managing director Chris Farthing said: “I am incredibly excited and humbled to have a person of Tony’s calibre join the team. He will bring an unrivalled wealth of experience and knowledge to us here as well as assisting us and our ambitious SME clients deliver better public services.”

Perhaps Farthing could have been slightly more effusive.