Ctrl O was also the winner of the Outstanding Success Story category at the last annual EuroCloud Awards.
I founded Ctrl O and developed Linkspace to fulfil a pressing business need I'd seen arising as a
serious obstacle to harnessing the benefits of Digital Transformation in the public sector. But this isn't the engine that best describes me or my motivation. Ten years in the Royal Navy with ownership of a series of significant business challenges; resolving them by deploying technology through cross-discipline teams in unconventional environments both taught and inspired me. The perpetual source of energy behind Ctrl O comes down to understanding the constraints within which our public services must flourish and the experience to harness Open Technology and Open Standards, Cloud, Mobile, Agile and above all a collaborative, service oriented approach to deliver a strong, positive impact when and where it's needed.
I believe, we believe, in open, transparent, ethical and socially responsible business. A true partnership between supplier and buyer to make that big impact. Every project, every day I witness it working.
My take is that technology must be seen through the prism of business; it is a tool, not an end in itself.
Marketing in Ctrl O is about sharing the vision of a solved business need then ensuring complete, low-fuss delivery. The 'YES!' moment is when you realise it's going to be an order of magnitude more economic and much quicker to deploy than where you thought you were headed.
I see innovation and technology as being the future for GB plc. But I'm passionate about service, agility and the importance of the customer. This is where the SME culture and promise is the secret ingredient that wins. We care: All our customers are strategic to us, which means we are determined to listen and nimble to react. It also means the 'A-Team' isn't just the one our customers want, it's the only one we deploy.
I have a deep interest in the business of 'doing business' and some years at Board level in a wide variety of roles in software. I'm satisfied that all this boils down to simply understanding our customer must succeed and consider us a partner in that success. I love delivering on that promise.
I’m happy to describe myself as a business geek, and I try to think and act like a millennial, even though my first contact with technology was using an IBM 029 card-punch typing Fortran statements on to 80 column cards.
I came in to the IT hardware, software and services world when mainframes were vying with minicomputers, just before the IBM PC came along in 1981. For the last 50 years Moore's Law has driven change and innovation in a dramatic way. Every 5-10 years we've had a major technology disruption that has changed the way we do business, created new companies, and seen the demise of others. We’ve been talking digital since 1995 when Nicholas Negroponte published Being Digital, but the rate of change has accelerated over the last 10 years. We’ve got the move to cloud and web apps happening at the same time as the shift to social, happening at the same time as we all go mobile. This isn’t just another cycle - we’ve never seen technology disruption like this. Buying and selling has changed, there are new business models and new thinking.
There has never been a more exciting time for business, and for the technology that supports it. I’m passionate about helping people make sense of all of this, and helping them adapt and change to the new ways of working.
I’ve been helping public sector organisations to navigate the different “phases” of the
digital revolution, from the early days of e-Government in 2000, through to helping make G-Cloud the true game-changer it became. My focus throughout has been to help people redefine the way we think about and use technology, championing the art of the possible, and demonstrating the importance of technology as a critical, and positive force for transformation.
My own approach is based on openness and collaboration: to observe, listen, test out and build on what I see works, and learn fast from what doesn’t. This hands-on experience helped me develop a greater sensitivity and intuition about user and customer needs. I recognise this same spirit in Ctrl O, who are unfailing in their passion to put the customer at the centre of all they do, and to deliver for them the best outcomes possible. With these values and approach, I am positive that Ctrl O will continue to grow and partner with many more customers in the future.
