Q. What’s your role at Equiniti Toplevel and what does it involve?
A.I joined the team on 23 January as General Manager and will be taking over from Jane Roberts who will be leaving at the end of March. In my role I’ll be overseeing all aspects of business development, from exploiting the synergies we have with Equiniti to looking at new sales opportunities. My remit is to take Equiniti Toplevel forward, expanding our presence in the central and local government sector but also exploring other verticals. I’m really looking forward to exploring how we can do that because Outreach has some great USPs.
Q. What experience do you have that you will draw upon at Equiniti Toplevel?
A.Thirty years in the IT industry has provided me with some valuable experience particularly with regards to developing and exploiting direct and channel sales. Most recently, I’ve worked on a consultancy basis as an Interim Director, helping software companies to restructure, develop sales strategies, and introduce process improvements. I also spearheaded the development of 41st Parameter, a European start-up for a US-based fraud detection software company, helping the business to quickly expand. Prior to that, I spent ten years at Entrust Inc., a global security software vendor, where I became Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA. Entrust has a very strong track record in the global government space; where we supplied biometric, authentication, and authorisation platforms.
Q. Can you share your vision for the company with us?
A.In the public sector, it’s our service element that’s a differentiator. We can increase our footprint by providing extended products and service offerings including cloud hosting. But there’s no reason why we can’t take Outreach into new markets as a software solution. Expansion into relevant verticals such as financial services, for instance, makes sense and would allow us to capitalise on our flagship product’s capabilities and boost revenue.
Q. How do you see the company changing over the next six months?
A.Continuity is of course important but we also need to continue to innovate to keep ahead of market demand. Over the next six months, we’re going to be focusing on meeting customers to understand their business requirements so we can expand the product roadmap appropriately. Customer engagement is my priority right now. And in the longer term I want to look at helping the company itself become more agile in approach.
Q. What’s the asset to a successful business?
A. For me, it’s all about customer engagement. Building those relationships and carving out new channels, finding new partners and working with the team to ensure delivery is streamlined and efficient.