Rich Phillips

UKI channel & sales director, SAP

Career so far

I have worked for Remedy, Stellent, Merant, Acutate, Microsoft and SAP.

What was your first job and were you any good at it?

My very first job was as a dishwasher in a Wimpy burger bar. It was pretty straightforward work so I'd like to think I was good at it. In terms of my first job in IT, I worked for a defence contractor on advanced radar; work which is still under the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act. So that's all I can say on that!

Who was your top teenage pin-up?

Honestly, it's difficult to remember. If I had to choose one now I'd say Jessica Ennis.

My colleagues won't know this about me but...

I once spent a couple of days in a Nigerian prison. I was in Lagos on a business trip and got picked up for having a camera within two kilometres of the secret police headquarters. Not that I knew they were there.

What is your favourite snack?

I'd have to say biltong, from my time spent working in South Africa.

What has been your career high point to date?

For me it has to be steering a business through tough economic times during the financial crisis of 2008. In more recent times, leading the current sales segment at SAP through challenging conditions and significantly increasing revenue in the last 12 months has definitely been a high point.

Has 2013 been good, bad or ugly?

It's been a good year, with the evolution of SAP's innovation strategy incorporating everything from cloud computing, mobile, in-memory, database and business analytics. On top of having all of SAP's latest innovations available for resell, we have already opened up more than 23,000 customers and prospects globally to be primarily addressed by our ever-expanding partner channel.

What do you say when asked at a party what you do for a living?

IT sales doesn't always sound the most exciting, so I usually try and steer the conversation back to them.

If I wasn't working in the channel I would probably be... skydiving around the world. I used to do it quite a lot when I was younger

What will be the channel's biggest challenge in 2014?

Assuming the economy has turned a corner, partners will be facing a couple of challenges. First, generating the cash flow required to grow and second, with the lack of talent in the market, attracting the right candidates to fill positions.