Bytes Technology Group is a “great, healthy business”, its new CEO asserted as she vowed to use her role as a platform to inspire future female talent.
Having been appointed as interim CEO in February following the abrupt departure of Neil Murphy, Sam Mudd was today given the top job permanently.
“Huge sense of responsibility”
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Mudd said she is “looking forward” to presenting Bytes’ full-year 2024 results (which will be “within a matter of weeks”) and “getting on with running the business”.
Bytes’ shares took a knock when Murphy resigned, but are still trading at a price-to-earnings ratio on a par with its peer group including Softcat, CDW and Insight (in fact, as of this moment, it is fractionally the highest of the four).
“I feel privileged and honoured to have been named as CEO. I feel a huge sense of responsibility,” Mudd said.
“The Neil episode has been disappointing for the staff and a lot of people that liked and loved him, but fundamentally this is a great, healthy business,” Mudd said.
“Really it’s a question of stability and starting a new era, and focusing on everything we’ve focused on in the past. That’s customers and staff as a priority, but also continuing to deliver high-quality solutions and services, keeping the innovation culture going, keeping the collaboration going across the group, and being super focused on sustainable growth and profitability.”
“I feel unique, but I don’t want that to be the case”
Mudd takes charge of a business that is one of Microsoft’s top UK partners, with a £1.5bn-plus top line.
She becomes one of only about 20 or so FTSE 350 females CEOs (see here for the latest analysis).
Despite the rise in female CEOs at global IT solutions providers such as Insight, SHI, CDW, Crayon and Avanade, Mudd is almost alone in heading up a £100m-revenue-plus UK partner (with Bell Integration’s Manpreet Gill an obvious exception).
“I feel unique, but I don’t want that to be the case. Ten years down the line I don’t want a female CEO to be such a unique situation,” she said.
In our recent feature for International Women’s Day, Mudd stressed she does not “intend to be apathetic about diversity at all levels of our organisation”.
“I feel that it’s absolutely key that I continue to build a very diverse workforce and provide a legacy for future female talent,” she added today.
“There are only a handful of FTSE females. I’m very conscious of that and want to use that platform to be a good role model for the future.”
On that note, Bytes today appointed Anna Vikström Persson as an Independent Non-Executive Director, with effect from 1 June 2024. She will sit on Bytes’ soon-to-be-established ESG Committee, and adds another female voice to the board alongside other recent appointments Dr Erika Shraner and Shruthi Chindalur.
“On the board we’ve now got a strong collection of females from different nationalities, and with different global experiences,” Mudd said.
“Alongside all the other male board members, we are absolutely committed to power on in some of these important areas.”
Asked about where she saw the biggest opportunities across Bytes’ portfolio, Mudd said she is “still working with Bytes and Phoenix MDs Jack Watson and Clare Metcalfe to understand what their future investment aspirations are”.
The industry is only “at the start of a journey” when it comes to GenAI, however, Mudd claimed.
“This is the start of something that will be with us for many years. Boards are certainly engaging, looking at costing and modelling – none of that is hype. We’re working through all that but it’s very early days,” she said.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
