Parallels Summit 2012: Q&A, Birger Steen
We spoke to the CEO of Parallels about how his vision for the company is panning out and what he still wants to achieve.


For me personally, being able to use a powerful and light and pretty laptop that people want to talk to me about is an indispensable sales tool. I'm using this [MacBook] and everyone can see I'm running Windows on it. I almost don't take a flight without selling a copy of Parallels. Someone will sit next to me and say are you running Windows? I didn't know you could do that!
Prior to Parallels you were at Microsoft, but where else could you see yourself?
One thing I discussed with my family, but it became a short discussion, was I crossed paths with a gentleman by the name of Percy Barnevik. He used to be head of ABB the biggest engineering group in Europe. After he retired he started something called Hand in Hand. It's a very simple concept. How many jobs can you create with how little money? It was taking all the performance measurements and doing it in India, South Africa, and Afghanistan. The one metric they were measuring was how much a job costs. They were a fistful of dollars per job in India.
I suggested to my wife, if this Microsoft thing came to an end, maybe we could go and do that for a while. My wife grew up in India so she quickly corrected me on that notion. My view was quite romanticised.
Something along those lines perhaps. But to be in business, IT business, I can't think of a better place or a better time to be anywhere than Parallels right now.
The main reason I changed jobs from Microsoft was I made up my mind I wanted to be in the IT business for a while. I wanted to have an end-to-end job where I could really be the one with whom the buck stops.
Big companies like Microsoft are great but you typically get to run a slither of the business and here it's a slab. There's such a fantastic opportunity. Enabling SMB IT in itself is such a transformative process as they are so under served today. Consumers have gone through that over the last 10 to 12 years and now it's time for SMBs to go through it.
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.
Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.
-
Outgoing Kaseya CEO teases "this is just the beginning" for the company
Opinion We spoke to Fred Voccola who remains a key figurehead at the firm as it enters its next chapter...
-
Why Microsoft thinks diversity will keep security workers relevant in the age of agentic AI
News Improved AI skills and a greater focus on ensuring agents are secure at point of deployment will be key for staying ahead of attackers
-
CyberCX appoints Phil Mason as new UK CEO
News Industry veteran will lead CyberCX’s growth efforts in the UK
-
WANdisco's CEO and CFO resign amid ongoing fraud investigations
News The data firm is left with a heavily depleted leadership team with only one executive director remaining
-
Stop worshipping CEOs – tech is a team sport
Opinion Tech leaders are showing themselves for who they are, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise
-
Checkmarx appoints Sandeep Johri as its new CEO
News Experienced Silicon Valley executive will lead the applications security provider into its next phase of growth
-
Trustmarque hires NTT Data’s UK lead as its new CEO
News Simon Williams will lead the IT solutions and services provider into its next phase of growth
-
Cognizant appoints former Infosys president Ravi Kumar as CEO
News The executive brings more than 20 years of experience in the consulting, process, and technology transformation space
-
What tech investors can learn from three under-fire CEOs
Analysis With clear lessons to learn from the high-profile cases of Autonomy, Theranos, and Wirecard, investors should tread carefully in future
-
Another Salesforce leader departs, will replace outbound Slack CEO
News Slack's CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield also announced the departure of two other executives, but said the timing was purely coincidental