The UK IT channel is in danger of becoming a closed shop when it comes to who gets the top jobs, panellists at last week’s Channel Chat agreed.
Against a blustery backdrop, top execs from Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Daisy and Focus Group last Thursday joined host Marc Sumner for an evening of live debate.
You can read a round up of their storm-force soundbites here.
In a question that foreshadowed outgoing Exertis exec Jamie Brothwell’s comments about the UK IT channel’s “direction of travel”, Sumner asked the panel about the perceived lack of fresh blood entering top leadership positions.
“I often get complained to by people in the channel when I’m recruiting for jobs,” Sumner acknowledged during the debate.
“[They say], ‘are the top jobs circling around the same people, and can I actually get one of these top jobs’? If someone’s from an outside industry, have they got no chance of getting into a leadership role?”
Here we round up how each of the four panellists responded, alongside Sumner himself (who was press-ganged into answering his own question).
“People don’t really want to get people in from other sectors, even if they’ve got the skills” – Marc Sumner, CEO, Robertson Sumner
“I think it is a bit of a closed shop. I think people don’t really want to get people in from other sectors, even if they’ve got the skills. When a top job comes out, there are normally 10-15 people they’ve already got an eye on. When I get a senior job, they might tell me the four or five names. We might get complaints about this – and I do find it hard to defend as they might say to me, ‘I’d love to apply for that job’…. and I’m like, ‘no’.”
“Investors are looking at more short term” – Neil Hall, CEO, Focus Group
“Investors are looking at more short term. Things are moving so quickly and it’s quite high risk to take someone on from a different industry and bring them into a senior sales role. Growing people from within – that’s the long game – but that’s certainty been fruitful for the companies I’ve worked for.”
“I think it’s on every board to be creative in their thoughts” – Aine Rogers, MD – SME, Cisco
“I agree. The pace of change… the expectations, you do need a track record. But when we look at new ways of working, new technologies, AI and what demands are going to deliver, I think it’s on every board to be creative in their thoughts about who can deliver that for you. But when you’re reporting to The Street and your investors, you have to remain focused on a weighted gamble on who you’re bringing in.”
“Daisy Corporate Services had a CEO and a CFO who were totally out of industry, so it can happen” – Lyndsey Charlton, CTIO, Daisy Communications
“I think it’s more of a closed shop. I think it can be open to everyone, and it has been in Daisy in the past. When I worked in Daisy Corporate Services, we had a CEO and a CFO who were totally out of industry, so it can happen. But I think for the majority, it doesn’t. For me, it brought something really good – new ways of working from a perspective point of view and from the corporate governance side of things. But in a world full of acronyms, it also takes those people some time to get to grips with it all. That takes a lot of time and effort from the people who are from that industry. It is a big jump to do that, so I think it will stay closed for a while.”
“I haven’t seen many new people coming in” – Alistair Wildman, GM North EMEA, Palo Alto Networks
“Yes and no. I lived in the States for three years. I think it’s much more open over there and it’s much quicker as well. The length of role in the States is very short – if you are the Chief Revenue Officer the average is actually 19 months at the moment. So I think in America they’re much more willing to take a risk and move quickly around. Over here, I do think it’s a similar group of people that seem to move around the industry – I haven’t seen many new people coming in. We hire a lot of people from the military because they have a particular background that is brilliant in cyber-security – but in the UK it does feel a little bit more like it’s a closed shop.”
