Career so far: I joined the NHS after leaving university, before travelling to Hong Kong where I managed an Italian restaurant for nine months, a period of nocturnal existence, after which I joined environmental engineering consultancy Montgomery Watson as bid manager working on projects across south-east Asia. After three years living in Hong Kong, I took a couple of years out to travel home. On my return, I worked for SAS Institute for a short time before rejoining Montgomery Watson working in Europe and the Middle East. After a brief spell with Cable & Wireless and three years with systems integrator Satelcom, I began life with Imerja as one of the co-founders – my longest job to date! If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do? A few days as each of my sons and enjoy being a kid again.
What would you have as your last meal? Traditional roast with all the trimmings followed by ice cream.
What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? I was once taken to Thailand for a week as a guest of BT – I had previously travelled through the country in the mid-90s when I was living in Hong Kong, but this was a very different experience to that of a backpacker.
Do you see the cloud as a threat or an opportunity? Opportunity. People have different definitions as to what cloud computing actually is, but as the general demand for IT and applications to be delivered as commoditised services gathers momentum, I believe the opportunities will only continue to grow across our industry.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? Other than a change in government and World Cup disappointment, I had a hunch that a bit of snow would inevitably bring the country to its knees again.
What do you see as the channel’s biggest challenge in 2011? As both resellers and distributors rush to invest in the development of their own cloud service offerings to address a rapidly changing marketplace, it is important that longer-term aspirations of both communities are clear to avoid misalignment and duplication of service capabilities. It is also important we continue to work closely to ensure we are able to effectively support the growing demand for ‘true’ mobile working solutions (as opposed to traditional home working) using rapidly evolving smartphone and tablet technology.
What is the best part of your day? Getting home from work in time for dinner and spending the evening with my young family.
