Managing director, intY CASCADE
What was the worst job you have ever had?
Working on a production line in a factory, making shoes for high-street shops. I remember it well; it was repetitive, dirty and I wasn’t any good at it.
Which actor would you pick to play you in a movie of your life?
Daniel Craig. We look similar, have the same magnetic attraction and a similar body image… we could be twins!
What do you do as your party trick?
I can get a cork out of the inside of a wine bottle. I grab an empty bottle and a cork, get someone to sign the cork and the bottle and then ram the cork in, so it’s loose and shakes around inside. I then walk out of the room and 30 seconds later return, put the bottle on the table, and the cork next to it. People go mad trying to figure out how I do it.
What is your favourite chocolate bar?
A Cadbury’s Bourneville bar. It goes perfectly with a glass of port.
What has been the highlight of your career to date?
Taking intY CASCADE from a UK base to the global stage.
Has 2014 been a good, bad or ugly year?
From an intY CASCADE perspective it’s been a very good year; we’ve a number of new vendors on board, as well as signing some great new partnerships with resellers, and made some substantial upgrades to the CASCADE marketplace.
How would you explain the IT channel to a stranger without boring them to death?
It’s a bit like a restaurant; you’ve got the application vendors (the chefs); the products (the food); the waiters (the channel) and the consumers who would be the customers. Everyone has to work together if the end user or customer is going to be satisfied.
Aside from the channel, my dream career would be… a musician, which I almost did take up as a career. I play guitar and piano and still collect instruments and amplifiers, so I would have loved to have gone down that route. However, due to parental pressures and financial restrictions, I had to reconsider. And the channel worked out okay!
What major issues will the channel face in 2015?
As the cloud juggernaut continues to move forward and build momentum, channel partners will have to make some serious choices about who they partner with. This will be critical in order to gain access to the right applications, products and services, with the appropriate service level and cost to deliver viable propositions for them and their customers.
