New global head of innovation at Kinly

The audiovisual integrator stalwart has been with the group for more than 16 years

AV integration and collaboration services provider Kinly has promoted Simon Watson (pictured) as its new head of innovation for global operations.

Based in the UK, he will report directly to Stuart Davidson, operations director for the UK & Ireland.

Watson will lead strategic initiatives and oversee the lifecycle management of AV and UC products, solutions, and services on a global scale.

His priority is to work across teams to align strategies with service roadmaps, ensuring approaches are cohesive, forward-thinking and result in the best technological offerings, Kinly says.

"In an era where pro-AV and unified communication solutions are more critical than ever to enable and empower seamless business collaboration, Kinly remains committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible," said Kinly CEO Tom Martin.

"The head of innovation role is central to this commitment, guiding the company in staying ahead of industry trends by envisioning and implementing ground-breaking solutions that elevate the experience of our customers."

Watson first joined the Amsterdam-headquartered, Cisco Gold partner as an integration engineer in 2007, when it was known as Viju.

Private equity house Avedon merged its double acquisition of Viju and VisionsConnected to form Kinly in 2018.

Kinly ranked number 48 in CRN's Top VARs 2023 list.

Over the last 16 years Watson worked his way up, earning a series of promotions culminating in his most recent role as cloud & video services lead for the UK&I.

He said: "I am honoured and delighted to take on this new role as global head of innovation. I'm excited to lead and inspire our teams to challenge the status quo, to keep pace with our clients' growing expectations, and stay consistently ahead in our understanding and application of new technologies."