Pearce, Steve

A-List 2006

Job title: Chief operating officer.

Company: InTechnology.

Year of birth: 1959.

Place of birth: West Yorkshire.

Career outline: Predominantly, sales and sales management in the IT sector, starting with Microvitec, a manufacturer of high-resolution colour displays, followed by spells with Data General, Radius Systems and for the past 10 years with InTechnology.

What motivates you every morning to get up and work in the channel? I enjoy the variety and unpredictability of the typical working day and dealing with some of the strong and interesting personalities I meet in the sector.

What has been the most over-hyped technology in the past five years? Information Lifecycle Management. Everyone got caught up in the Sarbannes Oxley mania, which this has unfortunately deflected from the main and still challenging issues of managing unprecedented growth in data effectively.

What will be the most underrated technology in the next five years? I may have watched too many Sci-Fi films as a kid, but I would say robotics and automation. I can’t help thinking that this is a sleeping giant and we will start to see real commercial and domestic applications developing that will fuel demand for sophisticated software.

Which technology would you most like to have invented? The iPod. A great money spinner and already an icon.

Do you have any regrets from your time in the industry? Maybe to have spent some time early in my career with one of the classic sales culture companies.

If you could swap places with anyone in the industry, who would it be? I can’t really think of anyone. I like my job, the people I work with and it has allowed me to stay based up north in my native Yorkshire.

What is the biggest hurdle you have faced in your career? Facing up to the dramatic changes we have seen in the industry in the past five years.

What is the biggest success of your career? My period as sales director at Planet Online.

What piece of technology could you not live without? I am embarrassed to say it, but probably my BlackBerry.

What would be your advice to anyone starting a career in IT? Get some top quality sales training under your belt early on.

What would you like for Christmas if you could have anything? Probably a three-week totally uninterrupted holiday.

What is your favourite karaoke song? I am the worst singer and would avoid karaoke at all cost.

What would be the title of your autobiography? Kissing Frogs – A Lifetime In Pursuit Of Business Opportunity.

Do you have any phobias? Yes. Spending money.

How many beers before you fall over? 8.

Number of staff you manage? More than 50.

What is your golf handicap? 28.

What car do you drive? Toyota Landcruiser.

Number of air miles you have? Don’t know, but lots.