Logicalis taps BT for new sales director

Integrator says arrival of Steve Orton shows it has regained ability to attract top talent from rivals

Logicalis has poached BT Global Services executive Steve Orton to fill its vacant sales director post, a hire it says shows it is now capable of attracting talent from its big rivals.

Orton is the latest new face to join the integrator as it continues to refresh its UK management team following a period of restructuring, CRN can reveal. His arrival comes hot on the heels of Steve Fricker joining Logicalis as new business sales director.

Logicalis UK managing director Bob Swallow told CRN that recent hires show the firm has regained its edge in the market.

"One of the encouraging things for us in these last few months is the talent we have been attracting from the major players," he said.

"Steve [Fricker] joined us from Dimension Data and we have had people from Kelway join us. We are certainly attracting people from our competitors now, which was not the case six months ago."

Orton will start on Tuesday and will report directly to Swallow, who held the sales director post before his promotion to the UK hotseat this month. Orton spent almost 30 years at BT, latterly as a regional sales director at BT Global Services.

"One of the things that attracted us to Steve [Orton] was that he has fulfilled a number of leadership roles at BT - Global Services, Wholesale and iNet - and has delivered strong growth numbers in all those areas," Swallow said. "He was up against some strong candidates and I think he will do a really good job for us."

A new services director is also expected to join Logicalis in the coming weeks.

Orton's arrival comes after Logicalis set itself a new goal of making every customer a reference. Swallow said the initiative is aimed at fostering a "can-do" culture at the Cisco, HP and IBM partner, which is aiming to move back onto the front foot after losing its largest UK contract with the Welsh Assembly.