Category: Moving People

HP to slash 7,000 EMEA jobs

Posted on October 28, 2013 by - Moving People, News

HPHewlett-Packard is planning to cut as many as 7,095 jobs in EMEA. Some of the staff will be redeployed, but some will get the sack. HP did not offer a timeline for the cuts.

“Under the proposal presented to the European Works Council (EWC), HP expects approximately 7,095 employees to exit the company or to be redeployed into new roles,” the company said.

HP added that workforce reduction plans will vary by country, based on legal requirements and consultation with work councils and employee representatives. Needless to say, HP is adamant that the cuts will have no effect on customer service.

The cuts come as no surprise, as HP has already outlined plans to reduce its workforce by 15 percent in an effort to save $3 billion. It’s all part of Meg Whitman’s cunning five-year plan, which like most five-year plans isn’t going well. However, Whitman is not in a position to send anyone to Siberia or unperson them, so all HP can do is sack a bunch of people and hope Lenovo doesn’t eat its lunch in the meantime.

Acer shuffles UK GM, North Europe ops

Posted on October 7, 2013 by - Moving People, News

acer-logo-ceTop notebook peddler Acer has chosen Marco Andresen as general manager in the UK, replacing Neil Marshall who was promoted to looking after North Europe operations.

Both Andresen and Marshall will cooperate on their current and new positions frmo 1 November, 2013.

Andresen is marketing director for the Nordics and country manager for Acer Sweden. He previously held biz dev and marketing roles at retailer Media Markt, as well as HP and IBM.

“The UK is a critically important market for us and one of the most competitive,” Andresen said.

Redstor appoints new channel sales manager

Posted on October 7, 2013 by - Moving People, News

 

rstoreblogCloud and data protection company Redstor has appointed a new channel sales manager in the UK, Richard Morecroft.

Redstor hopes Morecroft will bring about increased support and focus for existing channel partners.

He previously worked at BT, Cisco and Vodafone, as well as a consultant who lead implementations for start-ups, including work with top tier companies like IBM, HP, Dell, Fujitsu-Siems and Sony.

“Data management is growing at a very fast pace, with data management becoming increasingly valuable to every company and country,” Morecroft said. “I am keen to find new routes to market for Redstor”.

Redstor, with Morecroft’s help, is planning an expansion to its partner programme in the UK, and potentially selling in the US market.

Comms-care fills engineering supervisor role

Posted on October 7, 2013 by - Moving People, News

lhancockLyndsy Hancock has joined Comms-care as engineering supervisor.

Comms-care provides outsourced IT services for the channel and Hancock will work with the engineering management team giving support and guidance to field based engineers.

Part of her job will also be designing improvement programmes for engineers about technical procedures, standards and company policies.

Hancock has been with Comms-care since 2006 and before that worked for Canon at its service desk.

Technical Director Darren Briscoe said: “Comms-care is growing rapidly and we need high calibre, dedicated people to help us deliver the best possible service to our growing partner base. Lyndsy has proven to be an exceptionally customer-focused member of the Comms-care team and has always delivered beyond the requirements of her role to ensure we provide excellent 24/7 customer service.

“Lyndsy has also been tasked to implement new processes, procedures and working practices that will ultimately result in Comms-care improving the service we provide to our partners.”

Hancock’s previous role at Comms-care was as service desk team leader.

Symantec bumps Mark Nutt up to EMEA veep

Posted on September 24, 2013 by - Moving People, News

symanteclogoSymantec has promoted Mark Nutt to vice president for EMEA partner management and will be tasked with planning and delivering a new EMEA channel strategy.

Nutt was hired by Symantec in 2011 to look after EMEA’s strategy and sales operations, where he was responsible for sales performance. Before that he was general manager at Morse, and he started his career in sales at HP, in 1987.

Nutt must lead a team to build Symantec’s partner programs and bring in profitable growth for Symantec and its partners, as well as simplifying Symantec’s operations with channel partners.

In a statement, Nutt underlined Symantec’s commitment to partners and distributors, adding it’s “vital that we enable partners to deliver superior value to customers and that, in turn, we demonstrate our commitment to directly supporting our channel partners’ business growth”.

Good Tech fills GM EMEA role

Posted on September 18, 2013 by - Moving People, News

goodtechWith the departure of top EMEA exec Huw Owen from Good Technology back to Symantec, Good has announced Marcus Chambers as the company’s new veep and GM for the region.

Chambers intends to aggressively push the EMEA channel programme as a top priority, a well as building closer partnerships and rehashing formulated training and accreditation. Good calls this a rejuvenation of its EMEA channel.

Chambers previously has experience at Digial Equipment, 3Com, and EMC. More recently he was EMEA ops director for Cisco and, prior to the role at Good, EMEA VP at Riverbed for six years.

Chambers has been at Good since August 2013 and is based at the company’s London office.

With the uptake of Bring Your Own Device, Good and its security products have found themselves in a rather advantageous position. As the legacy of Blackberry is tarred and the company is turned into a watered down smoothie, corporate culture in the west is increasingly seeing the adoption of iPhone and Android. Good specialises in securing these devices at the app level, understandably a popular option for IT managers and CIOs who want to keep employees happy but the company secure.

Chief revenue officer at Good, Dan Stoks, speaking of Chambers, said the company needed someone who can manage the dynamic mobile environment as well as demonstrating and expanding the firm’s competitive advantage throughout EMEA.

“We have aggressive goals to help our customers embrace mobility in a way they haven’t before, and with his proven success in the region, I am confident that Marcus can help us achieve them,” Stoks said.

Speaking with ChannelEye, Marcus Chambers said his immediate areas of focus will “include working with the channel to build a repeatable, relevant offering to give them a simpler route to market”.

“Good Technology is a rapidly growing company and we’re in an industry that’s changing by the day,” Chambers said. “Keeping pace with this change through a strong Good architecture gives our partners a great foundation to build our future together, including our customers’ key mobility security app infrastructure”.

 

Good Technology VP heads to Symantec

Posted on September 17, 2013 by - Moving People, News

symanteclogoGood Technology’s VP and GM Huw Owen has been snapped up and appointed to VP sales and marketing for EMEA at Symantec.

Previously overseeing Good’s channel growth in Europe and introducing the firm to the Nordics, Benelux and the Middle East, Symantec has snapped him up to win and retain customers as well as growing in all regions across EMEA.

Owen has been named twice in Global Telecoms Business’ Top 40 Under 40 for telecoms, globally, and has been quoted regularly offering comment on mobility.

Before his time at Good, Owen was executive director at Lenovo’s EMEA team, where he helped in servicing and sales in EMEA and globally. He has also held positions at Veritas and Fujitsu, and served as senior director of EMEA northern region services at Symantec.

Commenting on his return to Symantec, Owen said the opportunities at Symantec are “huge”.

“The EMEA region is a key area of focus for Symantec, contributing significantly to the global company revenues,” Owen said.

Matthew Ellard, senior vice president EMEA, Symantec, said: “Huw has an exceptional amount of knowledge in the channel sector which will be of tremendous value”.

TechEye hacks launch tech comedy site

Posted on August 2, 2013 by - Moving People, News

sod-the-net-ce330Techeye hacks Nick Farrell and Nermin Hajdarbegovic have launched a “news for nerds” site which aims to “take the Nintendo” out of everything to do with science, technology and this horrible industry.

Sodthe.net covers news which is part satire, part true, or complete satire. Farrell and Hajdarbegovic are long-term inmates of Mike Magee’s growing stable of tech magazines, which are game changers in that they are closer to blogs than orthodox technology magazines and occasionally use swear words.

“What we realised was that while some people wanted technology news presented to them in the style of an Intel press release, others wanted to be entertained,” Farrell said.

Farrell and Hajdarbegovic wondered what would happen if you did only that in one magazine and just dropped every pretence of being serious about it. That is probably why they decided to launch the site in August, the worst possible month for anything tech-related.

The pair are freelancers working for Fudzilla, TechEye, ChannelEye and anyone else who will give them money. Farrell has been a “serious journalist” for 29 years and written silly stuff for the last eight. He is also a veteran INQster, which means he’s not new to tech lunacy. Hajdarbegovic is a former graphics designer and currently news editor at Fudzilla.

The aim is to get a close knit community of fundamentalist geeks who will populate the site with deranged comments of their own and click the adverts.

“It is very important that people click the adverts or we will be really f****“ Farrell added. “Did we mention that people are supposed to click on the adverts?”

Dell unites channel teams

Posted on July 10, 2013 by - Moving People, News

Dell logoDell has reshuffled two channel teams, combining them into one under Bob Skelley, executive director of Dell’s Global Certified Partner Programme.

Dell’s global channel marketing exec director Kathy Schneider is also leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

Skelley will take over Schneider’s channel marketing team, but at the same time he will retain his responsibilities, CRN reports. Dell will combine Skelley’s division and Schneider’s team to form a single Global Channel Programs and Partner Enablement group.

“There was always a lot of synergy between our two teams,” Skelley said, speaking like an executive. “Now we are all under one umbrella and that’s really going to help on execution”.

Channel partners shouldn’t experience any changes due to the reshuffle. Dell said it wouldn’t cut staff or budgets as a result of the consolidation and its strategy will remain the same.

Skelley did not wish to comment on new channel programmes, saying it is still too early to talk about them.

Cloud outfit Pulsant poaches HP man

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - Moving People, News

cloud (264 x 264)Pulsant has appointed Nigel Shaw as its new Chief Operating Officer.

Shaw is a refugee from the maker of expensive printer ink Hewlett-Packard.  He was recently managing director and vice president of HP Defence UK.

His task is doubly daunting since Pulsant was formed from merging four different outfits: Scolocate, Lumison, Dedipower and Bluesquare.

This year will be the first financial year the Pulsant brand has operated as a single entity.

It has been doing well since the merger and managed growth of over 50 percent in 2012 compared to 2011.

Pulsant CEO, Mark Howling, said that Shaw has a track record in delivering high quality services in complex technical environments. He is also very experienced at managing large organisations over multiple sites.

Shaw replaces Aydin Kurt-Elli, who founded Lumison as an Internet Service Provider in 1995 and was its CEO until it was acquired by Pulsant in October 2010, when he became COO of the new company. Kurt-Elli remains at Pulsant as a non-executive director.

Howling said Shaw brings a wealth of experience and capabilities to the role of COO and understands how to take best practice from some of the world’s largest technology organisations.

IPSoft appoints new UK MD

Posted on July 8, 2013 by - Moving People, News

cburnsAutomated IT services company IPSoft has appointed a new managing director for the UK, Crosbie Burns, with 20 years of experience in the IT industry.

IPSoft hopes Burns will help IPsoft expand its client base.

Burns used to be in charge of ServiceSource’s EMEA business, and before that was VP and UK MD at PeopleSoft.

CEO Chetan Dube is confident Burns is the man for the job, and that he will promote IPSoft’s automated services in the IT outsourcing market.

“The labour arbitrage approach to cost reduction is burnt out and IT providers need to find smarter ways to improve service and reduce costs,” Burns said. “The only viable approach to this is introducing technology to manage technology by using automation.”

Ingram Micro appoints new DACHH boss

Posted on June 27, 2013 by - Moving People, News

ingram-mico-hqEarlier this month Ingram Micro announced plans to reshuffle its global management team. The changes are set to go into effect in August and they will see Gerhard Schulz promoted to senior executive vice president and president, Europe.

Schulz currently serves as senior vice president, central and eastern Europe and on Wednesday the company announced that he will be succeeded by Marcus Adae, the current sales chief of Ingram Germany.

Adae will head Ingram Micro’s DACHH region, which includes Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary. He will report directly to Shulz.

Livingston quits BT to become minister

Posted on June 19, 2013 by - Moving People, News

Livingston_1404861cBT CEO Ian Livingston has quit as chief executive of the telco to become Britain’s new trade minister.

Livingston, 48, will replace Lord Green as the Minister of State for Trade and Investment and he will be replaced by Gavin Patterson, boss of the company’s retail business.
In a statement Livingston said that the change of career was not in his plans or my timing but it is something really important.

“If someone said to me six weeks ago I’d be doing this, or even four weeks ago, I’d have been extremely surprised.”

Blighty PM David “own is an ordinary bloke” Cameron called Livingston an “outstanding business leader”.

“I know that he will make an invaluable contribution to this agenda as the Government continues to open new trade links and grow British exports”.

Livingston will step down from BT in September and take over the unpaid role in December.

“It is not just about the big corporates, I want to help more SMEs to get exporting. We are still a great trading nation and the more we trade, the better,” he said.

Livingston joined BT and hacked a £28 billion debt pile, cut costs and tackle increased competition.
It will be an interesting change of tactics from Livingston who has been very vocal about the gap between government policy and the delivery in recent years.

His replacement Gavin Patterson was the brains behind BT’s pay-TV push.

Blackberry UK boss heads for the door

Posted on June 13, 2013 by - Moving People, News

blackberry-z10Blackberry UK and Ireland managing director Rob Orr has quit after just ten months on the job. According to Mobile News, Orr has quit with “immediate effect” and his departure has been confirmed by the company.

Blackberry said Orr resigned his post with immediate effect and wished him well for the future. Orr took over the UK operation of the fledgling smartphone maker in August. He joined the company in June 2006 and he became vice president of Blackberry EMEA three years later.

Earlier this year Orr oversaw the launch of Blackberry 10, which at this rate might very well be the company’s last operating system. Blackberry released two smartphones based on the new platform, the Z10 and Q10, but over the last five years the mobile landscape changed drastically and Blackberry’s traditional market has slowly evaporated, as business geeks traded in their trusty QWERTY crackberries for iPhones and Galaxies.

Seagate reshuffles sales and marketing team

Posted on June 13, 2013 by - Moving People, News

seagate-longmontSeagate has announced a few changes in its sales and marketing team, most of which are centred on EMEA. The company said it reshuffled the team to address growth opportunities in cloud, SSD and branded storage markets.

Mark Whitby, Seagate’s vice president of EMEA Sales & Marketing and Global Channel Sales, said the changes will ensure that Seagate positions itself to address evolving market opportunities.

“The storage market is both growing and changing rapidly, and the changes we have made to our senior management team are intended to keep Seagate in the forefront of that market,” he said. “In particular, we want to take full advantage of the huge potential we see in areas such as cloud computing, solid state drives and in the market for branded storage solutions.”

In his expanded role as Vice President of EMEA Sales & Marketing and Global Channel Sales, Mark Whitby has now been charged responsibility for the company’s global distribution channel sales, developing and leading strategy and delivery of the business worldwide.

Joe Fagan is being appointed Senior Director of Cloud Initiatives, EMEA. In this newly created position he will be responsible for shaping Seagate’s Cloud strategy and engagement in the region.

Dimitri Galle has been appointed Senior Director of Sales and Marketing, Branded Products, EMEA. In his new position he will be responsible for sales and marketing of all Seagate-branded retail products across the region.

Bernd Breinbauer has been appointed to the newly created role of Director of EMEA SSD Sales with responsibility for developing sales of the company’s comprehensive solid state drive portfolio across the region. Seagate entered the highly competitive SSD market just a few weeks ago and Breinbauer obviously has a lot of work ahead.