Rupert Mills

Chief executive, Krome Technologies

What was your dream career as a child?

Definitely a racing driver; I'm not into football so that was the other ‘boyhood' option, I guess. Although in my very early childhood I thought I wanted to be a vicar, I suspect in hindsight it was because it came with a good benefits package in terms of the big house.

What has been your personal highlight of 2019?

Moving Krome into new, bigger, offices after nine or so years in our previous ones and continuing to grow our team. We're about to go to New York as a big group of the ‘10 years served' team, which will be fun, so I suspect it will be that by the time this is in print.

Which famous person deserves a (gentle) slap?

Pick a politician, (almost) any politician… I wasn't too keen on them in my answers to this last year either! Career politicians should be banned; it should be people who have seen a life outside of politics as well.

What two things (apart from family) would you grab if your house was on fire?

The USB Backup disk of all our family photos and history and a beer from the fridge to drink while I wait for the fire brigade.

Which of your 2019 predictions have come to pass?

Charles Leclerc has been more than a match for Sebastian Vettel! Other than that, we're seeing an increasing appetite for hybrid cloud environments where people find one size doesn't necessarily fit all and a large increase in cybersecurity projects, both of which we were expecting.

What TV show have you binge watched this year?

Elementary - it is a great alternative take on Holmes and Watson.

How has 2019 been from a business perspective?

Very good so far. We've seen growth in our traditional business and expansion into some new markets. Krome's intention is to grow across the board and an expansion in our management team is helping create the bandwidth to look at new opportunities as they present themselves.

What annoys you most about your commute?

People who can't drive their huge 4x4s blocking the roads outside schools because they can't park them.

If you could witness one past event, what would it be?

For a single event, I'd quite like to watch them build Stonehenge so I could see how they actually did it and ask why. If it was a wider time frame, I'd love to have lived in America during the early days of NASA with the excitement of the moon landings.

How do you explain the channel to people?

Traditionally it would have been the car dealership, but these days with the evolution of service-based offerings, I'd suggest it's the equivalent of being a good butler. We need to be organised, prepared and there to help.

What have been your favourite and least favourite partner conference destinations?

My favourite would be London as being selfish it means I don't have to get out of the business for too long. My least favourite would be Vegas - it's just so over done in this industry.

What is the biggest challenge facing the channel in 2020?

Differentiation, I think. There are so many "me too" offerings out there in our market that you either have to have a product that's somehow different or you need to really offer a different level of service and quality to be able to succeed. Ideally you do both - we're trying.

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