UK & Ireland channel sales director, CA
Career so far I have been at CA for the last 11 years, so I guess I'm a channel stalwart! I started in the CA direct sales team for one year and was then recruited as a Channel Account Manager with CA's reseller partners. I then focused on our enterprise strategic resellers after which I was promoted to manage the whole channel division. Earlier this year, I was promoted to direct CA's whole channel division across UK and Ireland.
Do you care about green IT? I care very much about the whole environmental agenda and the impact humans are having on the planet. CA is helping large organisations to take some practical changes in this area, particularly with the launch of CA ecosoftware, which helps enterprises to manage global sustainability initiatives and measure and report on energy and resource consumption. The UK's Carbon Reduction Commitment demands that our largest organisations monitor carbon emissions from next April, so we expect to see a lot of developments in this area in the next few months.
If you could be in a rock/pop band, which one would it be and who would you be? It might be U2 - very popular and a good ethical stance, or maybe The Killers - great presence, they're at the top of the game and they always deliver. I'm not sure who I would be, I'd just be happy to be in a band.
What is the best corporate jolly you have been on/taken partners on? We do have a launch event with our enterprise and recovery management partners at Windsor races every year. We use the event to explain our "road map" to resellers and establish the bonds between our management and partners. We also make awards to our high-achieving partners. One of the partners always turns up with top tips which have turned out to be very accurate, resulting in lots of people going home with a lot of success - appropriate for the relationship or on the track! The message from this type of approach is the relationship is key, the stability is there and that CA really does care about its partners.
Has 2009 been as bad as everyone said it would be? It's been a tough year. We have seen extended buying cycles, and it is harder to get end users to commit. From a UK channel perspective, it has been a good year: we have been posting sustained growth quarter by quarter compared with last year.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? I predicted real interest in on-demand software through the channel. There has been a shift towards this and sales upturn but not perhaps as quick as we thought. Virtualisation and automation are growing in importance too, so we are talking to strategic partners about opportunities there. I also predicted companies would be more proactive in their "green" buying strategies and although there has been a lot of discussion, end users are perhaps sitting on the fence or diverting resources into other areas.
What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2010? End users will certainly be moving forwards on green strategies - what is their server utilisation, are they monitoring emissions from datacentres or metering energy. There could well be a big uptake in solutions for this area. In the financial markets, how to plan for and act on further industry regulation could well move up the agenda too. With the current uncertainty over the economy, the key question for the channel is what is their value add? Channel consolidation will continue, particularly where resellers or distributors' proposition is not clear or not realized strategically. Channel players need to show they are addressing end users' business objectives or their difficulties. As for vendors, they need to ensure they actively supporting and investing in those resellers and distributors that are committed to the vendor. This investment includes demand generation activities, marketing campaigns product or service training, innovative solutions and ongoing support.
What is the best part of your day? I think that depends on whereabouts we are in the quarter…..!
