Neil Muller
CEO, Digital Space
What has been your personal highlight of 2021?
This year, I celebrated my 50th birthday - so I guess I am now officially an industry veteran.
Which tech figurehead has impressed you the most this year, and why?
Mike Norris. As the longest-serving FTSE 350 CEO, he remains straight-forward and continues to evolve Computacenter's capability and geographic reach, building an international business and consistently delivering shareholder value. When faced with difficult circumstances or tough decisions, I can often find myself thinking: "What would Mike do?"
Which one lockdown habit do you plan to keep going?
I introduced a ‘say hello' campaign during lockdown. It's a simple concept, merely to take the time to contact five or six colleagues directly every week. I just say hello and check both theirs and their family's wellbeing. It has been a great campaign to get to know more about colleagues' home life and personal circumstances, which has created closer relationships and teamwork. It has become part of my weekly routine.
Which face-to-face industry event are you most excited to return to, and why?
I'm excited to be attending AWS' Re:Invent conference in November. AWS is our core public cloud offering. We're excited by the partnership and the customer issues that we're helping to solve via our AWS migration and management capability across both edge and core computing, as well as AWS Connect contact centres.
If you had the time to learn one new skill, what would it be?
I love music and would love to learn how to play the guitar one day.
If you could go back in time and tell your childhood self one thing, what would you say?
Trust your instincts - both professionally and personally.
If you had to sing karaoke, what would be your song of choice?
As an 11-year-old brummie in 1982, I learnt all the words to Pass The Dutchie by Musical Youth. I still can't help a rendition every now and again.
Sum 2021 up in three words.
"Where's it gone?!" People say the years go faster as you get older, and 2021 epitomises that for me. It's been an exciting year for Digital Space, with the acquisition and integration of AWS consulting partner, Arcus Cloud Services; rebranding our business in line with our Secure Connected Cloud strategy; and launching our Cloud Management Portal. Our customers are emerging from lockdown and it's exciting to help them with their digital transformations.