GET TO KNOW propelled into the consciousness of the general public as well as those involved in the IT sector . This year , we can expect to see more and more companies finding ways to use ChatGPT to help develop code , write documentation , perform testing and much more . This type of generative AI is likely to have some of the most profound impact to the way companies use technology and the way people interact with it . providers built local data centres , now the company says it isn ’ t allowed to put its data in someone else ’ s data centre . In this particular country the former is true , the latter is not .
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months ?
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry ?
We ’ re seeing businesses look more into multiple clouds . This is creating significant complexity along with a widespread lack of insight and understanding into what resources they are consuming across these multiple clouds . There is also confusion around how to optimise their multi-cloud environments and how to reduce the running costs . So , one of the main issues I – and NetApp – is really focused on , is helping customers achieve consistent services for data management , insights and optimisation across their entire hybrid-multi-cloud environment . This can significantly reduce the operational costs of and help companies meet their ESG targets .
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside of the office ?
I ’ m a huge car fan . I really enjoy meeting with other local car owners and attend a few car clubs on weekends . I also enjoy clay pigeon shooting .
If you could go back and change one career decision , what would it be ?
Over the last year I moved from a position that reported to sales leadership to one that reports directly to our CMO . This has already proved to be a good change as I can now directly influence the topics we need to focus on as a company . I get to identify trends and ensure we ’ re considering these in our products , our solutions and the way we speak to the market and the companies we serve . A good example of this would be ensuring that we put a very strong focus on sustainability , which is now an area I consider us to be ahead of our competitors in in the way it ’ s influenced our product development and the way we ’ re showing companies how they can use parts of our portfolio to enable some of their sustainability objectives . There are already one or two more of these big trends I will work on over the coming 12 months .
In the background I ’ ll keep doing what I ’ ve always done which is to assess what I want to do with my role over the next 12 – 24 months – things I believe I need to stop doing or enable others to do , new things I would like to do and ones I believe would have the biggest impact for NetApp . I ’ ll define this , convince others as to the value I believe it will offer and then work to convince them that this should be my new role , or the evolution of my current one .
Where I am today is the product of all the things I ’ ve done along the way , so I don ’ t think there ’ s anything significant I would change . There have certainly been times during my career where I ’ ve not enjoyed some tasks but even these are often good learning opportunities .
What are the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in Europe ?
Within Europe , there are a lot of different regulations – and interpretations of them – which are hindering the adoption of the technology .
Specifically , we ’ ve seen this within the level of adoption of the cloud . I remember a customer in one country I visited saying they couldn ’ t use the cloud because the data couldn ’ t leave their country , then the hyperscale
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain C-level position in your industry ?
If I think about how I ’ ve gotten to where I am then it came down to a choice ; the first was to identify a position that already exists that I wanted and then build a path to get there . For this route it ’ s absolutely key to build a very strong network of people that can trust and believe in you and then make it very clear what your ambitions are . Or the alternative option in my case was to create a new position , one that didn ’ t already exist and then as I mentioned above , define it , work out the impact that it could have , be very clear about why I am the right candidate and then where possible start doing some of the things that this role should do . If you believe it has value , if you can demonstrate it has value then you stand a chance of it getting you to where you want to be . p
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