Role: CEO, Westspring IT
What’s been your business high point of the last 12 months?
Building WestSpring IT on stronger business foundations, enabling us to grow and change whilst keeping our people and clients front and centre. Growth is important of course, but I am most proud that we’ve made good (and occasionally difficult) decisions without losing sight of our values or the relationships that make the business work. Human touch is still the most powerful business tool.
Name one thing your company is looking to achieve in 2026
Growth, but sustainable growth with purpose. Not growth for its own sake. We want to work with more of the right clients, do more of the right work, and keep building a business that’s commercially strong without compromising on values. The best clients for us, match our values & ethics, and see technology as an enabler for real change.
What keeps you awake at night as a partner leader?
Honestly, it’s culture drift. Making sure we don’t lose what makes us good as we grow, especially not slipping into a culture where people feel they have to work all hours to succeed or wait for permission to get things done. I’m a big believer in trust, backing people to make decisions, and protecting that as we scale.
Is AI being over-hyped?
No but it’s clear there is a lot of fear, and A LOT of uncertainty around it. AI is not new, but it feels like it is being used as the latest buzz word (or revenue generator in unscrupulous hands), rather than a genuinely useful business tool. I like to think of AI more around its power of automation – saving time, delivering efficiencies and improving consistency – but it isn’t a substitute for judgment, trust or human relationships. I honestly believe companies that forget that, will come unstuck.
What’s been your most successful internal AI project to date, and why?
The most successful use has been small, practical applications rather than a big shiny project. We’ve been able to use a mixture of automation, CoPilot & AI to reduce repetitive admin tasks, business (not technical) documentation, and sentiment scoring. The win isn’t ‘doing more with less’; it’s freeing people up to do better, more valuable work, that requires brain power.
Can you share a surprising prediction about how UK IT channel partners or the UK IT channel will evolve over the next 5 years?
Given my previous answers I don’t think this will be a surprise, but I think the partners who win over the next 5 years won’t necessarily be the loudest or the biggest – they’ll be the ones clients trust most. As more activity gets transactional, automated and AI-driven, human interaction and authentic brand voice will become more important. Clarity, honesty and real relationships will become even more valuable in the channel than they already are
Which tech gizmo (hardware or software) could you not function without?
From a tech perspective I’m not interested in gimmicks; I like technology that helps people communicate better, work smarter and get things done – and no one will ever convince me that Microsoft 365 doesn’t nail this. However, I own being an old school note taker – using pencil & notebook – and I am lost when I don’t have that to hand during the working day.
Which three famous people, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party? And why?
Radia Perlman, because she changed the world of tech without the ego.
Deborah Meaden, because she’s sensible, direct and commercially astute (and I love her ‘Female Invest’ contributions).
Victoria Wood, because life’s too short for a dull dinner party!
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
Getting ‘shit’ done is my motto. Some people struggle with that – both my declaring it, and what is needed to get it done. And, if you hadn’t guessed, I’m a swearer!!
Which tech figurehead has impressed you the most this year, and why?
I’m less interested in tech celebrity and more interested in leaders who turn innovation into something genuinely useful. The people impressing me most are the ones making technology practical, accessible and commercially relevant rather than just noisy.
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