QBS UK & Ireland MD: ‘It has been a challenging and interesting journey so far’

Andreea Dumitrescu speaks to CRN about her career and how she feels the channel is changing in terms of DEI

The old saying that hard work pays dividends is definitely a fitting one for QBS Software’s UK and Ireland managing director Andreea Dumitrescu.

Coming to the UK from Romania 17 years ago to build a career in the channel is challenge enough, but add being a woman into the mix and the difficulty level increases, particularly at a time when DEI was a concept many senior leadership teams hadn’t even heard of or considered.

Speaking to CRN for a new editorial series covering DEI in the channel, Dumitrescu says the UK channel was her first job after graduating with a maths degree in Romania.

“I worked my way up and found it very interesting to learn about different roles within the business – initially in operations, then I moved into sales and progressed to the role I am in today,” she says. “It was an interesting journey, and challenging as well, working my way up in a male dominated world with little to no experience of the channel.”

Dumitrescu says QBS has made great strides since its early days.

“I’m very proud of where QBS is at the moment,” she says. “When I joined, we were about 15-20 people based in Wembley with revenue around £7m. Now in the UK and Ireland we are on track to hit over £230m [in the region] and it is mainly organic growth. And a lot of it is down to the team that we have built in the UK.”

Progress for women in the channel

One of the biggest challenges Dumitrescu faced during her rise to the top was convincing people – particularly men – that her opinion mattered.

“It wasn’t easy without a diverse mindset in the industry, and people sometimes couldn’t accept that a women could be in the same room with a lot of experienced men, particularly as I was quite young, opinionated and had an accent as well,” she says.

But her proudest moment is her role in building QBS into the business it is today.

“The numbers talk for themselves, but I’m very proud of the team I’ve built around me. Most of them have a long tenure with QBS. A lot of them have started with little to no industry experience and progress their way up into quite senior roles. I’m very proud of the culture we have built.”

DEI in the channel: more representation is needed

She said DEI is still a work in progress both in QBS and across the wider channel.

“I feel the channel is still quite traditional with recruitment and follows quite standard patterns.

“People recommend each other and it is generally the same pattern, and is still mostly men. So I try to break that pattern to some degree. We are hiring people that have potential but not necessarily the channel experience, and developing them from within. We have people coming from all parts of Europe and wider afield, so we are very multicultural.

“People are encouraged and supported when they speak up, when they share their opinions, their reviews,” she says. “So we are doing a lot, but there is much more than can still be done.”

“I think we are on a good track, but perhaps not the right track yet with DEI in the channel,” she adds.

“I think we are still behind. Even now when I go to a partner meeting, before I was the only woman in the room, and now there may be four or five of us – it is going the right way and lot of people are pushing for progress, are already doing a lot of good work and being louder about diversity and the fact that change needs to be faster, so I am hopeful for the future.”