OpenAI has announced the appointment of Ismail Elmas as vice president of EMEA sales, as the AI giant looks to continue expanding its footprint in the region.

A seasoned industry leader, Elmas arrives with more than 25 years’ experience in enterprise software and cyber security. He joins OpenAI from SpaceXAI via its acquisition of Cursor, where he held the role of senior vice president for EMEA.

Prior to his spell at Cursor, Elmas served as group vice president of international business at Rubrik, and has previously spent four years at Zscaler, where he led teams across Europe and Asia. Other positions include leadership roles at AppDynamics and BMC Software.

In an announcement, Brian McCarthy, OpenAI’s vice president of worldwide sales, praised Elmas as “an exceptional leader” with expertise in building successful teams and helping companies leverage new technologies to drive value.

“He combines the discipline to deliver results with a clear focus on customers,” he said. “I’m excited to work with him as we grow across EMEA and help more businesses across the region put AI to work.”

Expanding OpenAI’s EMEA footprint

The appointment follows a strong period of expansion for OpenAI in EMEA – a region the company considers one of its largest and most important outside of the US. Over the past year, weekly users of ChatGPT in EMEA grew by more than 40%, while ChatGPT Business Enterprise seats across the region have more than doubled in that time.

The last few years have also seen the business add new offices in Dublin, Paris, Munich, Zurich, Brussels, and Abu Dhabi, following the 2023 opening of its first international office in London.

OpenAI said it is now looking to further build on that progress, with new offices in Madrid, Berlin, and Stockholm due to open in the coming months and further expansion plans slated for 2027.

Commenting on his appointment, Elmas said OpenAI has transformed how people work and how businesses conduct their operations.

“The combination of frontier technology and products people already know and use creates an enormous opportunity for businesses across EMEA in this era of agentic AI,” he said.

“Realising that opportunity means being close to customers, understanding their challenges and working alongside them. I can’t wait to build on what the team has already achieved as we enter this next chapter.”

Former Sophos chief security officer (CSO) Simon Reed has joined Overe as a strategic advisor in a move CEO Paul Barnes believes will supercharge engagement with managed service providers (MSPs).

Launched three years ago, Overe offers a cybersecurity platform designed to help MSPs and small businesses secure Microsoft 365 and SaaS tools.

Speaking to ITPro, Barnes said the inspiration for launching the firm came after his experiences with a previous venture, endpoint security startup Prevx. At its height, before being acquired by Webroot, Prevx had more than 15,000 MSPs using its product.

With Overe, Barnes hopes to build on that success and bolster support for what he said has traditionally been a market overlooked by larger vendors.

“We’re very much focused on the MSP market because that’s been something which I’m extremely passionate about,” he told ITPro. “We know how underserved that market is and those clients which the MSPs serve.”

According to Barnes, the state of the security vendor market in 2026 requires a rethink. Large organizations such as Microsoft, for example, typically focus on larger clients, leaving a vacuum where smaller businesses are “kind of left to manage themselves”.

Combined with traditional challenges such as costs and skill capabilities, this places organizations at great risk amidst an increasingly perilous threat landscape, he added.

“Typically an MSP client is only small, like 10 users, clients, and the technologies that they are there to try and support them [with] are either far too expensive or far too complex, [and] hard to manage,” he told ITPro. “They make it inaccessible in the sense that you need expertise to really take advantage of that.”

“There are capital costs, staff, and the actual buying of the technologies,” Barnes added.

With Reed joining Overe, Barnes said this marks a “big win” for the company. The industry veteran brings a wealth of experience, having come from a software engineering background before moving into the cybersecurity industry in 2001.

Working on the vendor side with roles at McAfee and Sophos, this gives Reed a unique insight into this market, Barnes said.

A challenging environment

Speaking to ITPro, Reed said his appointment at Overe comes amidst a challenging period both for MSPs and end-user enterprises, many of which lack key technical capabilities and require continuous support.

“It used to be that cybersecurity was an install and forget capability,” he said. “The product updated itself and kept you protected. That’s not the case these days you need continued expertise in partnership with [a] decent product and capability.”

“If you think about a smaller company, where are they getting their cybersecurity expertise? Generally, they’re getting it from the MSP, and it’s that partnership between product and the MSP that’s the most crucial link.”

Combined with rising cybersecurity threats and the advent of generative AI, these dynamics are placing huge pressure on both enterprise end-users and MSPs alike, according to Reed.

It’s here that Overe aims to plug gaps and provide support, with a particular focus on cyber resilience. Indeed, it’s this focus that drew Reed to the company in the first place.

“We’re at a sort of sea change in thinking about cyber where just building defenses is just not adequate on its own,” he told ITPro. “You will see people working a lot hard on what I call resilience in that market

“This is why I’m passionate about it [Overe] because it’s not just a sort of defensive play for MSPs. It’s a resilience play. It’s about have you got your estate configured, have you got this tool set up, do you have the coverage in the place you think you have the coverage,” he added.

“It plays into that growing need in the market for more resilience, and we definitely need more resilience in smaller medium businesses.”

Looking ahead, Barnes said Overe intends to build on early success so far and the company has built a “solid team” that operates in several regions.

“We’ve got some great early angels and built a solid team around us,” he said. “We’re in a few regions and having someone like Simon advise us it’s a massive win for us.”

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Tesco has announced the appointment of Chris Blatchford as chief technology officer (CTO) and a member of the executive committee from March 2027.

He will replace the supermarket giant’s current CTO Guus Dekkers, who is retiring in December following eight years with the company.

Blatchford joins Tesco from Kingfisher plc, where he currently serves as group CTO and is responsible for technology, data, and product platforms across its B&Q, Screwfix, Castorama, and Brico Dépôt businesses.

In an announcement, Tesco highlighted Blatchford’s track record of driving digital transformation, modernizing technology platforms, and applying data and emerging technologies to improve experiences for both customers and staff.

Blatchford said he is excited to be joining the business at a time when the technology agenda is more important than ever.

“There are so many opportunities for technology to improve the experience for customers and colleagues across the Tesco ecosystem,” he said.

“Tesco has built an outstanding technology organisation under Guus's leadership, and I'm looking forward to working with the team to build on that momentum and continue delivering technology that makes a real difference for customers, colleagues and the business."

Retiring CTO Guus Dekkers joined Tesco in 2018, later becoming a member of the executive committee in March 2021, and his tenure saw technology become an increasingly important factor in the company’s success.

He is credited with playing a pivotal role in the modernization of Tesco's technology capabilities, the strengthening of its digital and data foundations, and the building of growth-enabling platforms.

"Leading the Technology team at Tesco has been a huge privilege,” Dekkers commented. “I know the team will continue to go from strength to strength under Chris's leadership, and I wish him every success in the role.”

Maintaining leadership continuity

To bridge the gap between Dekkers’ retirement and Blatchford’s arrival, Tesco’s technology director Jane Mustoe will become acting chief technology officer from the beginning of November.

Commenting on the leadership change, Tesco group chief executive Ken Murphy praised Dekkers’ “outstanding contribution” to the business’ success.

“His leadership has been central to strengthening our technology capabilities and delivering our strategic ambitions,” he said.

“I'm also grateful for the contribution he has made as a member of our Executive Committee and his commitment to developing technology talent."

Murphy added that the group has found a strong successor in Blatchford as it seeks to continue leveraging technology as part of its ongoing growth ambitions.

“He has led technology, data and digital transformation at scale and brings a combination of strategic vision, deep technical expertise and a strong track record of building high-performing teams,” he said.

“I am confident he will help us continue to strengthen the role technology plays in serving customers and colleagues and supporting our long-term growth."

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NetApp has announced a brace of appointments to its UK&I senior leadership team, as the intelligent data infrastructure vendor looks to meet growing demand for AI, hybrid cloud, modernization, and cyber resilience solutions in the region.

The move sees Liam Varndell join NetApp’s UK&I business as senior director of solutions engineering, while Simon Mead steps into the role of senior director of partner sales.

The vendor said the additions will help strengthen its go-to-market capability across both countries, including its technical pre-sales organization and partner ecosystem, at a time of increasing complexity across customers’ IT setups.

In an announcement, Puneet Gupta, NetApp’s area vice president for the UK and Ireland, said the appointments underline the company’s continued investment in the region.

“Both Liam and Simon bring a proven track record of building teams, driving growth and helping our customers and partners solve real world data management challenges,” he commented.

According to NetApp, both leaders have already started meeting customers, partners, and internal teams across the region as they look to understand their needs and business priorities.

“As our customers and partners navigate an increasingly complex landscape of AI, hybrid cloud and cyber resilience, having leaders of this caliber strengthens our ability to be their most trusted data partner," Gupta added.

A seasoned industry veteran, Liam Varndell joins the business with over two decades of pre-sales and technical architecture leadership experience.

Most recently, he led enterprise pre-sales teams at Google Cloud, where scaled teams through significant growth and led major go-to-market integrations.

Prior to that, he has held positions at Data General, EMC, VCE, and Dell.

Varndell’s appointment comes as NetApp looks to ensure its technical teams are delivering high value to customers dealing with the rise of AI workloads and modern data and security challenges.

“My focus is on building a pre-sales environment where people feel supported, trusted and empowered to do their best work: that's how we deliver the best outcomes for our customers and partners," Varndell said.

Meanwhile, Simon Mead arrives with extensive channel and partner sales experience from previous senior roles at the likes of Red Hat and Dell.

As NetApp’s new senior director for partner sales, he is tasked with accelerating growth with strategic partners across the UK and Ireland as well as ensuring they are equipped to navigate the AI era.

"I've spent much of my career working across the channel and ecosystem, and I know that the best results come when vendors and partners are genuinely aligned," Mead said. “At NetApp, I see a real commitment to that.

“I fundamentally believe our partners will be at the heart of our growth, and I'm looking forward to working with and for them, alongside the wider NetApp team, to go after the opportunity ahead together."

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Britain is a burgeoning market for NetApp, according to UK & Ireland VP Puneet Gupta, and with the recent launch of the company’s Novus system, it’s ripe for the picking.

Speaking to ITPro at NetApp Insight 2026, Gupta said the cloud storage provider has made significant headway in the UK in recent years. Indeed, since joining as VP for the region in December last year, he’s been shocked at the maturity and appetite among British businesses.

“I think the market has truly surprised me,” he told ITPro. “The growth in this market has been phenomenal. When you look from a distance, the usual view is that a mature market like the UK will have single-digit growth.”

“But look at how this market for external storage has grown. It’s remarkable.”

According to Gupta, figures from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems (ESS) Historical Tracker for Q2 CY2026 show NetApp reached a 28.5% market share in the UK all-flash domain. This growth follows several quarters of consistent flash hardware revenue growth.

This represents a potential springboard for NetApp in the UK market, Gupta told ITPro. Crucially, it comes at a vital time for enterprises as many accelerate AI adoption and associated infrastructure overhauls to compensate for the technology.

Data readiness was a key talking point at NetApp’s annual conference last week, and the company has been highly vocal on this front in recent years. UK businesses, meanwhile, appear highly receptive to the messaging.

“The way customers are now thinking about their data, their data infrastructure, their AI infrastructure has been absolutely remarkable,” he said. “The conversations with customers have been pretty amazing in the last few months.”

“When you talk to customers, data is at the center of everything that they’re thinking, and whether it is around data sovereignty, whether it is around compliance, whether it’s how to leverage data … a lot of customers are planning that ahead of time, [and] are making the right investments.”

Sovereignty, in particular, is an area Gupta and his team are keen to capitalize on in the coming months. As ITPro reported at Insight 2026, the company unveiled the new Keystone Sovereign service, which is rolling out first to European customers before hitting shelves in the UK.

The new service, which sits within NetApp’s broader Keystone storage as a service (STaaS) offering, aims to provide customers with flexible sovereignty-related controls.

Since arriving in the UK last year, Gupta said this has become a common recurring talking point with customers and partners across the UK, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

“Every customer is thinking about sovereignty,” he told ITPro. “Every customer wants to be prepared for data sovereignty.”

Gupta’s engagement on this front comes amidst a sharpened focus on sovereignty-related concerns on both sides of the English Channel. Research from Civo in June this year found 73% of firms now view sovereignty as a “strategic priority”, for example.

Acting fast with NetApp Novus

An area of huge excitement for Gupta lies in the launch of NetApp Novus. Unveiled at the annual conference, this is a new zettabyte-scale file system designed specifically for organizations running AI factories.”

According to NetApp, storage has become the key bottleneck for AI factories, with outdated architectures unable to contend with the intense demands placed on infrastructure by high-performance GPU clusters.

Gupta told ITPro that with Novus, the company’s product range is now stronger than ever and represents the culmination of several years of work for the company. With this in mind, the company is keen to bang the drum for its new flagship service.

“I think the portfolio we have today, I haven’t seen anything like this in many, many years,” he said. “I've been at NetApp for six years. The first signs I think we got were three four years back when we refreshed the all-flash portfolio.”

“We refreshed everything, brought in new stuff. Our partnership with the hyperscalers, now the Novus announcement. I don't think anybody else has the kind of portfolio today that we have, and with Novus, I think we have leapfrogged everybody else.”

Gupta added that Novus will be “very powerful for momentum” both in the UK and further afield for NetApp in the coming months and years – but engagement and execution will be critical.

“In go-to-market, that’s where me and my team, our role, really comes into play,” he noted. “We have organized ourselves pretty well. We’ve hired, we’ve made investments, we’ve hired new leaders.”

“I think we are very well positioned in the market. Of course, the proof of the pudding is how we execute, and I’m very confident that the team is energized and very well positioned, and having the right conversations.”

With Novus targeting neoclouds and GPU as a Service providers specifically, Gupta said NetApp is also targeting heightened engagement with UK operators on this front – in particular, smaller providers.

“There are a fair amount of smaller neoclouds [in the UK],” he said. “We are talking to the smaller ones because the big ones have made their investments in the past, so that will be a different conversation.”

“For the neoclouds, they’ve got a lot of funding from the market, and obviously when they get funding, they need to give a return and there will be increasing pressure from investors to find that.”

This is a tactical move by NetApp designed to swerve the larger neoclouds already deeply integrated with industry big hitters, creating in-roads for the long term.

“Any tech company that goes to them and says ‘I'll find you a better return on your investment’ I think will be music to their ears.

Digital work platform provider Omnissa has announced the appointment of Amit Singh as its new CEO, effective immediately.

A seasoned leadership veteran, Singh brings more than 35 years’ experience from across the technology industry and has previously served as president of Palo Alto Networks.

He succeeds Shankar Iyer, who recently stepped down from the role in order to pursue other opportunities.

During Singh’s most recent tenure as president of Palo Alto Networks, the company’s market value grew fivefold, launched several new billion-dollar businesses, and was crowned the world’s first $100 billion cyber security company.

Prior to his success at Palo Alto, he spent almost a decade at Google Cloud as co-founder and president, following an earlier two-decade spell at Oracle.

In an announcement, Omnissa said its new CEO brings the experience and vision needed to build on its strong foundation and help it define the era of agentic endpoints across the enterprise.

"Amit has helped build two of the defining enterprise platforms of the last 20 years," commented Angad Singh, co-head of software private equity in North America at KKR and member of Omnissa’s Board of Directors.

"The company is uniquely well positioned as AI agents increasingly handle that work and every enterprise considers how to safely harness AI technology. Amit is the right leader to help Omnissa make the most of this tremendous opportunity."

Omnissa specializes in digital workspace solutions, offering a platform that incorporates unified endpoint management, virtual desktops and applications, digital employee experience, and endpoint security, alongside a new suite of AI-first visibility and control tools.

The company says it now serves more than 15,000 enterprise customers as well as tens of millions of endpoints.

The rise of agentic endpoints across the enterprise

In his new role, Singh will work to accelerate the company’s momentum as endpoints continue to emerge as a critical security control plane due to the prominence of AI technologies.

Commenting on his appointment, Singh said he steps into the position at a “pivotal moment” for both the company and the wider industry.

"The shift to agentic AI is transforming how work gets done, and the endpoint is at the center of that transformation,” he explained. “I look forward to leading this team as we continue innovating and delivering products that will help our customers and partners manage and secure this next era of work.”

According to Singh, every laptop and phone within an enterprise network will be an agentic endpoint within a year, running multiple AI agents that act with the identity and permissions of the user.

He added that this change is reminiscent of the era that saw phones and personal devices gain prominence across the enterprise, with companies extending their existing management platforms rather than building new ones.

“Agents are a similar shift,” he said. “Omnissa already has the agent on the device, the credentials, the traffic, the telemetry and the remediation; our job now is to extend all of it to the agent and make it safe for CIOs and CISOs to say yes.”

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WatchGuard Technologies has announced the appointment of Allison Clarke as vice president of partner programs and go-to-market strategy.

Clark steps into the newly created role as the unified cybersecurity specialist moves to strengthen its channel-first business model and further streamline its partner experience.

The seasoned channel leader is tasked with leading the strategy, innovation, and alignment of WatchGuard's partner programs and go-to-market initiatives across all routes to market.

According to the vendor, she will work to ensure partners' voices play a key role in shaping business decisions – from programs and enablement to pricing, packaging, and product strategy.

In an announcement, WatchGuard CEO Joe Smolarski said the goal is to make it easy for partners to do business and grow with the company.

"Partners are at the center of everything we do, and Allison's appointment reflects our commitment to building a more connected, frictionless partner experience," he explained. "Her track record of creating programs that help partners grow makes her the right leader to help drive our next phase of channel success."

WatchGuard specializes in unified cybersecurity, with its AI-powered Unified Security Platform providing Zero Trust-aligned network, endpoint, identity, and cloud security in a single, integrated solution. The company says it currently serves more than 25,000 MSPs, who work to protect more than 1.5 million customers globally.

Clarke joins the business with more than 20 years of channel leadership experience, most recently serving as vice president of go-to-market and partner programs at SonicWall.

Prior to that, she spent almost a decade at Sophos, where she shaped the cybersecurity vendor's global channel strategy and partner programs, and has previously helped build and scale channel initiatives at McAfee.

Commenting on her appointment, Clarke highlighted WatchGuard's commitment to its partners as a key reason for joining the business.

"Partners want to do business on their terms, through the routes and motions that work best for them," she said. "My focus is on ensuring every interaction with WatchGuard is as simple, consistent, and rewarding as possible.

"I'm especially looking forward to meeting our partner community at IMPACT in Nashville and hearing directly from them about how we can continue improving their experience and helping them grow."

Opengear has signed its first European distribution agreement with Ingram Micro, in a move the vendor said will significantly expand the availability of its network resilience services across the region.

From 1 October, resellers across 20 European markets will have access to Opengear's portfolio, backed by the distribution giant's partner network, regional infrastructure, and logistics capabilities.

The company said the move broadens its existing reach in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, while bringing its network resilience platform to additional markets – including Switzerland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

In an announcement, Alan Stewart-Brown, Opengear's vice president of sales for EMEA and APAC, described the agreement as a "significant milestone" in the firm's EMEA growth strategy.

"Ingram Micro gives us the regional scale to put Opengear products and expertise closer to our partners," he explained. "That means increased regional availability, local support, and a simpler way to protect critical infrastructure across EMEA."

Headquartered in Utah, Opengear specializes in out-of-band access to network infrastructure. The firm's technology is designed to help IT teams monitor, manage, and recover critical assets when the primary network is unavailable, while offering strong presence and proximity to connected network devices.

Through the new European distribution deal, Ingram Micro will provide pre- and post-sales support via its partner network across EMEA, with partners gaining access to training, accreditation, channel enablement, and incentive programs.

Meanwhile, Opengear said resellers will also be able to add its network resilience solutions to their existing enterprise networking portfolios.

Commenting on the deal, Renke Krüger, executive director at Ingram Micro's Pan Europe division, said the increased access to Opengear's offerings will enable more businesses to strengthen their response to operational disruptions.

"Opengear addresses a growing need in today's market: helping organisations to maintain resilient, secure and recoverable networks in an increasingly complex operating environment," he said.

"We're proud to extend the reach of Opengear's market-leading solutions across EMEA through our partner ecosystem, enabling resellers to deliver proven, trusted technologies that safeguard business continuity during disruptions and simplify and strengthen day-to-day network operations."

Intelligent AI infrastructure specialist Zeta Global has announced an expansion of its operations in the UK, with the appointment of Lalitha Stables as country president and the opening of a new London hub.

The move brings together more than 120 employees at the new capital location with the aim of strengthening the firm’s ability to help enterprises build intelligent AI infrastructure. Zeta said the move will also help accelerate its own growth and expansion across the UK.

Lalitha joins the business as president for the UK and will oversee growth strategy, enterprise customer relationships, and local go-to-market organization.

A seasoned industry leader, she brings nearly 30 years’ of leading enterprise technology organizations and previously served as HubSpot’s general manager and country manager for the UK.

Prior to that, she was senior vice president of Salesforce’s EMEA Marketing Cloud business and held leadership roles at Google earlier in her career.

In her new role, Stables will partner with Simon Davies, who oversees Zeta’s EMEA media business from London, with the aim of bringing complementary expertise to customers.

In an announcement, David A. Steinberg, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Zeta Global, said the company is expanding its investment in leadership, talent, and intelligent AI infrastructure to help more UK enterprises drive growth from AI technologies.

“Lalitha brings an exceptional record of building enterprise technology businesses,” he said. “With Lalitha leading the U.K., Simon overseeing media across EMEA and our new London hub bringing the teams together, we’re strengthening our ability to deliver better outcomes for U.K.-based businesses and accelerate our growth in the market.”

Founded in 2007, New York-headquartered Zeta Global specializes in helping enterprises transform proprietary data into enterprise intelligence, offering solutions that connect enterprise knowledge with advanced AI to drive improved decision-making.

The company’s UK expansion follows a period of strong growth, with the firm achieving a series of major milestones over the last year – including general availability of its conversational AI marketing agent Athena and strategic collaborations with OpenAI and Palantir. It also outperformed market projections and raised forward outlooks for 20 consecutive quarters.

Off the back of that success, Zeta said it is continuing to expand its UK team across enterprise sales, customer growth, solutions consulting, and marketing as it looks to strengthen support for both customers and partners across the country.

Stables said her appointment as UK president comes as enterprise marketers are dealing with an increasing amount of data and customer signals.

“The competitive advantage is how quickly they can turn those signals into intelligence, and intelligence into meaningful action,” she explained. “Zeta combines an exceptional data asset with AI, activation and solutions to help enterprises act with greater precision and learn from every outcome.

“Our investment in the UK gives customers the local expertise to put those capabilities to work.”

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Companies are pouring billions into AI initiatives in pursuit of productivity gains. Yet, for many, the payoff isn’t coming soon enough. As a result, layoff announcements attributed to AI investments are coming thick and fast.

Earlier this year, Monday.com became the latest major tech company to announce AI layoffs. The restructuring plan, which will see more than 600 jobs, or 20% of the workforce, culled, has been put down to the need to pivot to “a leaner, more focused operating model” and “AI-driven growth strategy”.

In a memo published on LinkedIn, Monday.com co-founder and co-CEO Eran Zinman stressed that though the company is “seeing significant value from AI internally, this decision was not made to reduce costs or replace people with AI.”

The layoff trend is set to continue in the short-term – at least in the short-term. A survey released by consulting firm Mercer in May found that 99% of 825 C-suite leaders expect they will have to reduce their headcount over the next two years.

However, according to another survey of 600 HR professionals, conducted in February by Careerminds, a third (32.9%) of respondents said their company had lost critical skills as a result of layoffs blamed on AI. More than a quarter (28.1%) indicated that the employees who had been spared weren’t equipped with the knowledge required to fill the skills gap created by the layoffs.

IT leaders are often overlooked

The data shows that there’s a disconnect between the reasons behind layoffs and their intended impact. The problem is that decisions “are being made in the wrong rooms,” argues Sonali Fenner, a managing director at technology consultancy Slalom focused on strategy and innovation.

She says that layoffs are typically a response to board pressure to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of AI tools and vendor promises of ROI not materializing quickly enough. This means review processes end up being fragmented and rash decisions are made.

“Finance triggers the review, HR manages the process, operations signs off the business case, and IT is consulted just long enough to answer a feasibility question before the door closes. When the automation underperforms, as it regularly does at the early stage of enterprise AI maturity, nobody is clearly positioned to own the gap between what was promised and what was delivered,” explains Fenner.

The people within a company who actually understand the AI tools being invested in and what they can and can’t automate tend only to be “consulted as an afterthought”.

Technical knowledge can inform layoff decisions

It makes sense, then, that IT leaders should be involved in layoff decision-making – they sit closest to where AI is actually deployed. For example, they are the ones whose roles involve tracking the ROI of AI, and they have visibility into whether AI has actually delivered the productivity gains layoffs are being justified by. As Fenner puts it: “IT leaders know the difference between what an automation deck says and what the system actually does at 2 am on a Tuesday.”

David Fischer, chief revenue officer at Luware, a software firm that builds customer service and compliance tools, echoes this. “IT leaders absolutely need a seat at the table when businesses make workforce decisions linked to AI, but they shouldn’t be making those decisions alone,” he says.

It’s IT leaders’ bread and butter to have a clear read on what AI can automate, where its limitations lie, and where it can support human workers in their roles, Fischer adds. On the other hand, operational and HR leaders are better placed to understand the implications layoffs can have on people and the wider business.

Research released by Cornerstone recently found that when CIOs and chief human resource officers (CHROs) work together on workforce planning, changes happen 13% faster. However, while 94% of 2,000 IT and HR leaders surveyed said that a joint approach was becoming a priority, only 35% admitted that AI-related decisions were being made together.

Be mindful of the conflict of interest

Despite the need to involve IT leaders in layoff decisions, doing so isn’t without its risks, namely a conflict of interest.

“IT leaders responsible for delivering an AI programme may be under pressure to demonstrate a return on [AI] investment through efficiency gains,” Fischer points out. They may feel incentivized to overstate AI tools’ capabilities.

Fenner adds: ”The conflict of interest concern is real. IT leaders who championed AI investment carry an inherent risk of overestimating its readiness to justify the spend.” This can lead to unnecessary job cuts. Plus, a loss of the technical knowledge, critical judgment, and oversight human workers use to manage AI outputs, catch errors, fix biases, and maintain accountability.

“But excluding them from layoff decision-making creates a greater problem: decisions made with an incomplete picture, with no one technically accountable when that picture turns out to be wrong,” she adds.

Both Fenner and Fischer agree that the companies that get layoffs right are the ones that bring IT leaders to the decision-making table but aren’t letting them sign off on the layoffs.

Operational and HR leaders who lean on IT leaders’ knowledge about where, in their business, human expertise remains invaluable can ensure that they’re not AI-washing and using AI as an excuse to reduce headcount.

Nebula has announced the appointment of Jack Bell as strategic partner acquisition manager, as the workplace communications software provider moves to strengthen its channel team.

Bell brings eleven years of telecommunications experience to the role and joins the business from Gamma Communications. There, he spent almost four years in partner acquisition, most recently serving as senior partner acquisition executive.

He also adds experience from both sides of the customer and partner relationship, through previous customer service, account management, and partner-facing roles.

In his new position, Bell will work within Nebula’s strategic partner team, focusing on building relationships with businesses across the channel and helping prospective partners understand the commercial and technical opportunities available through the Nebula platform.

“Jack brings a really rounded understanding of the telecoms industry,” said Sam Giggle, Nebula’s managing director of channel, in an announcement. “His experience across customers, accounts and partners will be a valuable addition to our channel team.”

Headquartered in Guildford, Surrey, Nebula specializes in workplace communications software delivered as a service, covering areas such as voice, messaging, customer experience, AI, and analytics.

The firm’s proprietary technology powers a portfolio of communications applications designed for both reseller and end-customer markets.

With Bell’s appointment, Nebula is looking to strengthen its partner ecosystem of more than 700 resellers and MSPs, as well as its channel-first business approach.

The move also follows a period of strong growth for the vendor. In 2025, the firm successfully added more than 42,000 net new users to its CallSwitch One platform, while completing the migration of 200,000 legacy users to its wholly owned IP network.

Commenting on his new role, Bell said he will draw upon his experience across the telecommunications industry to help drive continued success for the vendor’s network of channel partners.

“I’ve worked across telecoms for eleven years, from customer service and account management through to partner acquisition,” he said. “I’m looking forward to bringing that experience to Nebula and working closely with businesses across the channel.”

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GCX Managed Services has announced a trio of channel leadership appointments, as the managed network and security services provider looks to strengthen its channel operations.

Josh Evans joins the business to lead channel development in the UK, Klaus Marzell will head up the DACH region, while Matteo Badii takes the reins in Italy.

GCX said its expanded team will work to support service providers, telecom operators, SASE providers, and technology partners as they look to simplify service delivery, extend their market reach, and leverage trusted channel relationships.

“These appointments strengthen our channel capability across Europe and reflect our commitment to making it easier for partners to do business with GCX,” said GCX chief revenue officer Michael Hartmann.

Josh Evans brings extensive experience in the UK connectivity market as well as expertise in building and scaling partner networks. In his new role, he is tasked with expanding both sell-to and sell-with opportunities while supporting partners serving international customers.

Fellow channel veteran Klaus Marzell will leverage more than 30 years’ experience to lead channel activity in the DACH region, where he will work closely with technology vendors, service providers, and enterprise consultancies to accelerate growth.

Meanwhile, Matteo Badii adds more than two decades of experience in telecommunications, alongside deep expertise across both inbound and outbound international wholesale sales. GCX said he will focus on strengthening its strategic partnerships and identifying fresh opportunities in the region.

Building on channel momentum

The appointments form part of GCX’s wider strategy to build dedicated channel expertise in each major sales region, providing partners with clearer routes to market and stronger local support.

As well as strengthening its channel expertise, the firm said it is also focusing on improving the partner experience through enhanced pricing and quoting capabilities, AI tools, as well as expanded onboarding, training, and support resources.

“By investing in experienced local teams, we're giving partners access to market expertise backed by our global network, managed services portfolio and technical capabilities, helping them move faster, reduce complexity and deliver reliable connectivity for their customers wherever they operate,” Hartmann explained.

GCX said it now plans to build on a 50% increase in its channel partner base through further recruitment, increased co-sell activity, and deeper regional collaboration.

“Channel-led growth remains a key part of our strategy, and we're continuing to invest in the people, tools and support that make it easier for our partners to operate, scale and succeed,” Hartmann added.

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Advania UK has announced the appointment of Annette Murphy as its new chief executive officer (CEO), as the IT services provider looks to its next phase of growth.

An experienced industry leader, she arrives with a strong track record of scaling technology businesses through periods of growth, transformation, and integration.

Previously, she has held senior and commercial and general management roles at Colt Technology Services, Lumen, Zayo/GEO, and BT, covering the UK, EMEA, Asia-Pacific, and other global markets.

Murphy also adds deep experience of building high-performing teams, leading complex transformation programs, as well as developing strong relationships with both customers and partners.

She succeeds Hege Støre, Group CEO of Advania, who has led the UK business in an interim capacity while it searched for a full time replacement.

In an announcement, Støre said Murphy brings the depth of expertise required to lead the UK business as the wider company enters into its next “pivotal and transitional” chapter.

“Annette has an outstanding track record of leading technology businesses through growth and transformation,” she explained. “Her commercial experience, customer focus and commitment to building high-performing teams make her the right leader for Advania UK as we enter our next phase. We are delighted to welcome her to the business.”

Growing Advania’s UK business

The appointment comes as Advania continues to expand its capabilities through a combination of acquisitions and investment in new technology, while many UK businesses are looking to modernize their infrastructure, adopt cloud technologies, and seek more advanced AI-assisted workflows.

The company recently launched Advania ALT, a sovereign AI platform designed to give UK organizations more control over how AI is deployed, where sensitive data is held, and which AI models are used.

Advania said Murphy’s leadership will help the company build on its technical foundations, expand its capabilities, as well as further improve customer outcomes.

Commenting on her new role, Murphy highlighted Advania UK’s “impressive combination” of technical expertise and strong customer relationships, as well as its acquisitions and technology investment.

“Advania ALT represents an important part of where the market is heading, particularly as organisations look for ways to use AI while keeping control of their data,” she said. “I’m looking forward to building on that foundation and taking the business into its next phase.

“Together, we have a significant opportunity to help organisations navigate change and realise greater value from technology.”

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Tim Cook has served his last day as CEO of Apple, 15 years after taking over from Steve Jobs and months after announcing his planned departure.

Cook hands the reins to John Ternus, SVP for hardware engineering, who faces his first Apple product announcements in just over a week on 9 September — including a rumoured folding iPhone.

His biggest challenge won't be simple product reveals, as Cook earlier this year warned of looming price rises amid component costs skyrocketing thanks to AI-driven data centre buildouts.

Yesterday, Cook posted in a social media message that he was "sending lots of love to the Apple community."

"My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will," Cook wrote. "Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration. My gratitude is endless, and I’m excited for the next chapter!"

In a memo to staff, Cook acknowledged that it was still hard to believe he was departing Apple, pinning his own success on the company's employees.

"The truth is, whatever there is to say about my success, I know it is all because of you," he wrote in the memo, according to reports.

"You have brought out the best in me. In all my life, I have never seen or been with such an extraordinary team of people before, and every day I get to see more examples of that."

Successful leadership

Many will point to Cook's financial successes as CEO over the last 15 years. Apple's market capitalization stood at $347bn when he took over and $4.6 trillion as he departs, with the share price up 2,275%.

Cook's tenure also saw the launch of the AirPods and Apple Watch ranges, as well as hurdles such as the pandemic and American tariffs.

David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School, told CNN that Cook "managed to scale the iPhone to a level that no one would have thought was likely or possible over that period of time."

However Cook said he was "most proud of what an annual report could never capture."

"This place is proof that culture triumphs over everything," Cook added. "We share a belief that what we build matters, and that we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to leave the world better than we found it."

What's next for Tim Cook?

Cook's departure as CEO naturally has many wondering what's next for Apple, although hardware expert Ternus has been with the company since 2001 and is widely deemed as a safe pair of hands. Cook called him "brilliant and wonderful and capable".

"Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does and I could not be more excited for his leadership," Cook added.

Cook isn’t leaving Apple completely, however. He’s merely stepping down as CEO and taking on the role of executive chairman of the company board, in which he’ll still have a hand in long-term strategy.

Yesterday also saw the partial departure of Phil Schiller, a long-time Apple exec who will stay on as an Apple Fellow but no longer lead the App Store and Apple events divisions.

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Despite talk of an AI bubble, AI spending is not slowing down. Indeed, companies plan to commit 1.7% of their annual revenue to AI initiatives this year, up from 0.8% last year, according to research from the Boston Consulting Group.

At the same time, however, PwC’s 2026 Global CEO Survey shows that a growing number of companies are not seeing a return on their investment. A survey of more than 4,400 CEOs found that 56% have yet to see a financial benefit from their AI initiatives, while just 12% have seen both an increase in revenue and a cost reduction. Only a third are confident of revenue growth this year amid struggles to optimize AI’s ROI.

The disconnect can be put down to the fact that too many companies are buying AI tools, rolling them out to employees or customers, and only wondering several months later why they haven’t seen ROI. The problem is less to do with companies not getting value out of AI and more to do with the fact that they haven’t defined what value actually means for their business.

“A common mistake is spending heavily on tools before really understanding the problem [that needs to be solved],” says Jack Rickhuss, managing director and co-founder of tech consultancy Journi.

“AI only delivers real value when it’s in the hands of people who know how to use it properly.”

Tie AI investments to clear outcomes

Benchmarking AI budgets is becoming a critical discipline that leaders need to master to ensure they’re extracting value from AI deployments. Without benchmarking an AI project’s spend, companies have no objective way of knowing if AI is performing well or poorly and delivering value for money.

Adam Hofmann, partner (AI and people transformation) at challenger consultancy Elixirr, says that the trap he sees leaders fall into is deploying AI tools and celebrating personal productivity gains while the profit and loss doesn’t move.

This can happen because companies are “benchmarking off peers that don’t know what they’re doing either, which leaves you behind the curve or overspending on someone else’s confusion.”

Before getting started on benchmarking AI budgets, leaders should build a clear picture of what they’re currently spending on model API costs, such as per token, infrastructure such as compute, hosting, and storage, human validation, maintenance, and training. Hofmann warns that “if you can't trace the line from spend to outcome, you're measuring activity, not AI."

Rickhuss agrees, adding that most companies “are still measuring the wrong things”. He advises tying AI investment to clear outcomes, such as improving decision-making, saving employees’ time, and speeding up delivery of projects. “If you can’t link [AI investment] to something tangible, it’s hard to measure success.”

Review what industry peers are doing and then pilot

To get started, leaders should compare their spend against the peers that do know what they’re doing. One way they can do this is look at other companies in their industry using their earnings calls and 10-K filings, as well as analyst reports. They could use a large language model to extract data on peers’ AI spend as a percentage of revenue.

The next step is to break down AI use cases into various categories. This would cover the infrastructure (e.g. cloud compute and GPUs), people (e.g. the salaries for AI talent), licensing (e.g. cost-per-token), and data (e.g. storage).

Once AI budgets have been broken down, Shiro Theuri, CTO of Spanish on-demand delivery company Glovo, recommends taking “a pilot-and-test approach”. This is because piloting tools in a controlled environment can help to prevent feature creep and shadow IT. Pilots can also surface hidden costs that might otherwise have been overlooked.

An IDC and DataRobot survey carried out last year showed that 92% of enterprises deploying agentic AI at scale admitted that the costs incurred were higher than they had projected. The survey of 318 senior decision-makers at companies with more than 1,000 employees found that token consumption and hallucination remediation were the top unexpected costs, while inference was another common issue.

Continue to benchmark throughout a project’s lifecycle

To prevent their AI projects from getting stuck in pilot mode, leaders should continuously monitor the cost of running the project and benchmark this against the company’s own expectations.

Monitoring token consumption can be an effective way to keep budgets under control. AI costs can quite easily skyrocket, especially if employees end up using more tokens than forecast, running up higher bills and leading to companies exceeding their AI budgets. Luke Budka, AI director at marketing and training firm Definition, adds that tracking token usage can “reveal super users and also help identify employees who need support”.

While token usage can be used as a useful metric for cost management, leaders should be careful of ‘tokenmaxxing’ – the trend of enterprises measuring individual employee token usage and using it to measure productivity. As Budka explains, high token consumption can occur when employees are purposely inflating their usage to look busy, but it can also be a sign that employees are struggling with AI tools and could benefit from more training.

Ultimately, rather than focusing on the cost-per-token, leaders should measure the cost-per-business outcome. Determining the number of tokens required and tracking the tokens consumed to complete each workflow will help to optimize AI’s ROI.

Freeths has announced the appointment of John Jones as its new chief technology officer (CTO), in a move the law firm said will strengthen its leadership bench and growth ambitions.

Jones will work across Freeths’ twelve offices located across the UK and will oversee the shaping and delivery of its technology strategy.

His remit will include ensuring the business has secure, resilient, and future-ready technology platforms that support employees, improve the client experience, and enable operational efficiency.

In an announcement, Freeths national managing partner Karl Jansen said the appointment comes at an “important point” in the company’s ongoing growth and development.

“Technology is central to how we support our people, serve our clients and operate as a modern law firm,” he commented.

“John’s depth of experience, combined with his pragmatic and inclusive leadership style, will be instrumental as we continue to build scalable, resilient and innovative technology foundations across the firm.”

Headquartered in Nottingham, Freeths is a UK commercial law firm serving private and public sector clients, including organizations such as Centrica, Aldi, Mercedes-Benz UK, Tarmac, Experian, and Harworth.

Jones joins the business with more than 30 years’ experience across technology and professional services. Most recently, he served as CTO at Forvis Mazars and previously held senior tech roles at BDO.

He began his career as a software developer working on business-critical applications before moving into senior technology leadership positions within the professional services sector.

Jones’ experience includes working with enterprise platforms such as Microsoft, Workday, and legal-specific technologies, while his expertise spans data, digital skills, large-scale transformation programs, as well as the safe and effective use of emerging technologies such as AI.

Commenting on his new role, Jones said he was impressed by Freeths’ existing technology platforms, as well as the clarity of its plans for the future.

“Professional services, and the legal sector in particular, is going through significant change, and technology has a vital role to play in enabling better outcomes for clients and colleagues,” he explained.

“I’m excited to be joining Freeths and to be working closely with teams across the business to support the next stage of the firm’s journey.”

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Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) has announced the appointment of Quy Nguyen as chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately.

Nguyen steps into the role having served as acting CEO since April 2026, following the retirement of Niclas Sanfridsson.

Since first joining Colt DCS in 2016, he has held a number of senior leadership positions across sales and marketing, customer experience, design, and delivery business functions.

In his most recent role as chief sales officer (CSO), he played a key role in strengthening the firm’s commercial strategy and customer relationships.

Prior to joining the business, Nguyen also served in senior leadership roles spanning finance, strategy, and general management, where he built experience in scaling businesses and delivering growth.

As CEO, he will now lead Colt DCS through its next phase of expansion, as it looks to scale its global platform and support customers’ growing digital infrastructure requirements.

In an announcement, Colt DCS chairman Tim Cohen said Nguyen’s “exceptional leadership” has been a key factor in the company’s significant recent growth and transformation.

“His deep understanding of our customers, our people, and our business, combined with his strategic vision and proven track record of execution, made him the outstanding choice to lead the company,” he commented.

“As demand for digital infrastructure continues to accelerate globally, we are confident that Quy will build upon our strong foundations and position Colt DCS for continued long-term success."

Colt DCS operates 15 data centers globally, with a further 12 sites under development across nine cities in the UK, Europe, and the APAC region.

With nearly 800MW of capacity under development across its key markets, the company said it is well-positioned to support the growing demand for digital infrastructure that is being driven by continued cloud adoption and the rapid expansion of AI workloads across Europe and Asia.

"I am honoured to be appointed CEO of Colt DCS at such an exciting time for our company and industry,” Nguyen commented. "We have built a strong track record for delivering world-class digital infrastructure, fostering trusted customer relationships, and executing ambitious growth plans across key markets.”

Nguyen said Colt DCS will support customers’ evolving needs through continued investment, operational excellence, and innovation, as demand for sustainable cloud and AI infrastructure continues to grow.

“I look forward to working alongside our talented teams around the world to build on our strong foundations, expand our global platform, and deliver long-term value for our customers, partners, and stakeholders," he added.

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Rackspace has announced the appointment of Chetan Gupta as chief AI officer, as the enterprise infrastructure specialist looks to advance its enterprise and sovereign AI strategy.

Gupta will lead Rackspace’s Office of AI, overseeing AI strategy, research, innovation, governance, and adoption across the company and its customers.

He joins the business following almost a decade at Hitachi, where he served in a number of senior AI leadership roles – including general manager of the Advanced AI Center in Japan, vice president of the Industrial AI Lab in North America, and head of Hitachi’s Global AI Center of Excellence.

Earlier in his career, Gupta also spent seven years at HP Labs, where he worked on deploying AI solutions across areas such as logistics, manufacturing, energy, and mobility. He has also authored nearly 300 papers and patents, as well as mentored AI researchers and engineers.

In an announcement, Rackspace CEO Gajen Kandiah said Gupta’s experience developing AI systems for critical environments will be a valuable asset as the firm advances its AI strategy.

"Chetan has spent his career building AI for the institutions the world depends on,” he explained. “At Hitachi, that meant trains, grids, and factories, where AI is not a demo, but an operating commitment measured in uptime, safety, and trust."

Kandiah said that experience will be particularly relevant as Rackspace customers move AI into production within regulated and sovereign environments.

"Chetan understands that success depends on more than model capability,” he added. “It requires strategy, governance, and an operator who carries accountability from silicon to outcomes.”

Rackspace eyes sovereign AI gains

Rackspace positions itself as an operator of the full enterprise AI stack, spanning governed private cloud through to AI inference and agents in production.

Its offering is built around an "Outcomes as a Service" model covering infrastructure, data foundations, and forward-deployed engineering.

The company said Gupta’s appointment will strengthen its ability to help organizations deploy AI safely, economically, and at scale – particularly across regulated industries, sovereign jurisdictions, and mission-critical operations.

Commenting on his new role, Gupta said AI has reached “an inflection point” as organizations shift their focus away from the technology’s capabilities and towards tackling deployment challenges.

“The hard problem is no longer capability. It is trust: taking promising research and turning it into systems that hold up in the real world, under real regulatory and operational constraints," he explained.

"Rackspace occupies a distinct position in the market, operating the full stack for institutions that cannot afford to get AI wrong. I look forward to leading our AI strategy and advancing enterprise and sovereign AI for our customers and across the business."

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Tricentis has announced the appointment of Erika Dean as chief information security officer (CISO), as the software quality specialist moves to strengthen its enterprise and product security capabilities.

Dean is tasked with leading Tricentis’ global security strategy, with responsibility for enterprise cybersecurity, compliance, and product security.

A seasoned industry veteran, she joins the company with more than two decades of cybersecurity leadership experience across the financial services and technology sectors. Previously, she built and led security programs at Robinhood and Capital One.

As CISO, Dean will work across the business to develop its enterprise and product security programs, with a focus on strengthening software supply chain security, as well as cyber resilience and governance across its portfolio.

Her remit also includes supporting the Tricentis Agentic Quality Engineering Platform as AI becomes increasingly embedded in the software development lifecycle.

“Cybersecurity is foundational to the trust our customers place in Tricentis,” said Tricentis CEO Kevin Thompson in an announcement. “Erika's expertise in building enterprise security programs and her customer-centric approach make her the ideal leader to drive Tricentis’ continued efforts to deliver innovative software quality solutions that enable customers to move faster without compromising security or governance.”

Dean’s appointment comes as businesses face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and greater scrutiny around AI adoption, software supply chains, and the protection of sensitive data.

Tricentis eyes resilience gains

Austin-headquartered Tricentis develops software quality and testing technology designed to help enterprises automate and accelerate software development and release processes.

Its Agentic Quality Engineering Platform uses AI to automate software quality processes across enterprise application environments.

Tricentis said its latest leadership appointment reinforces its ongoing efforts to maintain a robust security program while helping customers deliver software securely.

Commenting on her new role, Dean said the growing use of AI in software development is changing the role security teams must play in protecting both businesses and their customers.

“As AI continues to transform the way software is built, security must extend beyond protecting our own organization to earning our customers’ trust in the software running in their critical environments,” she explained.

“Tricentis sits at a critical point in the software development lifecycle, where quality, security and governance all work together.

“I’m excited to build on the company’s strong security-first culture and partner with our customers to help them navigate the evolving cybersecurity landscape with confidence.”

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Everpure has announced the appointment of Craig Robertson as head of partners for EMEA and Latin America, as the storage and data management specialist looks to drive further channel growth across the regions.

Based in the UK, Robertson is tasked with leading the company’s partner strategy and execution across the two regions, and will work with partners to accelerate growth, expand market opportunities, and help customers gain greater value from their data.

He succeeds Geoff Greenlaw, who has announced his retirement.

Robertson steps into the role following a decade at Everpure, where he has held various leadership positions across the business, and brings previous experience of working at partner organizations in the UK.

In an announcement, Everpure said the appointment was “pivotal” in its ongoing efforts to drive partner opportunities, with Robertson bringing strategic partner relationships, as well as channel strategy and go-to-market expertise to the role.

“Craig Robertson has consistently demonstrated his deep understanding of our partner ecosystem,” explained Ricardo Moreno, vice president of global partners at Everpure. “His appointment reflects the strength of our internal talent and our unwavering commitment to driving partner growth across EMEA and Latin America.

“Robertson is an ideal leader to help partners capitalize on the significant opportunities provided by AI and data management."

Everpure targets further EMEA, LatAM growth

Everpure provides storage and data management technology designed to help businesses make data more accessible and usable as they adopt AI.

According to the company, its EMEA and LatAm business grew 64.9% in the first quarter of 2026, compared with overall market growth of 17.3%, based on figures from IDC’s Enterprise Storage Tracker.

Everpure said partners are looking to differentiate their portfolios and strengthen their position as trusted advisors, with data-centric architectures providing an opportunity to help customers modernize their technology environments.

Commenting on his appointment, Robertson said partners will remain central to Everpure’s strategy as businesses continue to modernize their data environments in the era of AI.

"Having built my career here, I know that our partners are intrinsic to everything we do,” he said. “As we enter a new era where data primacy defines market leaders, our partner community is vital to helping customers modernise their data strategies and unlock real business growth.

“I’m excited to deepen these relationships across EMEA and LatAm as we shape the future together.”

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Google has lost four key AI staffers to a startup and shuffled leadership at DeepMind as part of a company-wide shake-up.

Alphabet announced a series of changes in its AI division this week, including the departure of Jeff Dean, who is taking a trio of colleagues to form a startup.

Demis Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of DeepMind, is stepping aside from leading the AI unit to become chief scientist of Alphabet, shifting his focus to longer-term projects.

The moves weren't welcomed by markets, with Alphabet's share price sliding 4% amid wider concerns that Google is on the backfoot when it comes to AI.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai pushed back on concerns last month after the company posted record results in its cloud division. Google has lost top AI employees to Anthropic and OpenAI in recent months.

Demis Hassabis steps back from DeepMind

The changes will see Demis Hassabis, the Nobel-prize winning co-founder of DeepMind step back from his company, which was bought by Google in 2014 for an estimated $650 million.

In a memo confirming the changes, Hassabis said he will set aside “day-to-day operational responsibilities” to have more “time and space” for “big picture” projects.

Hassabis has recently discussed work on developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), and reiterated his belief that the main application of AI should be improving human health, such as curing diseases like cancer.

"Demis has described us as standing in the foothills of the singularity, and has been spending a lot of his time engaging externally," Pichai said in a memo sent to employees and published by the company.

"He and I have been long discussing a role that allows him to put his full attention on actively shaping the future of AGI. It’s work that is vitally important to Alphabet and humanity, and I can’t imagine a better person than Demis to do it."

Hassabis will remain as chair of DeepMind, which will now be led by Koray Kavukcuoglu, who has been promoted from his role as chief technology officer (CTO) at the division to senior vice president.

Google spinout

Alongside Hassabis' role change, Google confirmed the departure of Jeff Dean, who has led AI efforts at the company for nearly three decades.

Dean and engineering colleague Sanjay Ghemawat have founded machine learning (ML) company Discovery Loop, which aims to automate scientific experiments.

Pichai said the duo have helped drive “some of the most significant technology transitions” in the company’s history, from “early search infrastructure to the neural networks that helped create the modern AI era”.

While they've taken two other Google co-workers with them – DeepMind VP of research and technical lead at Gemini Oriol Vinyals and Google Brain cofounder Quoc Le – their former employer is investing in the public-benefit project.

"We’ll continue to work with them as a founding investor and Cloud partner, and collaborate on a research framework for ML systems and related infrastructure advances," Pichai said.

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Qualcomm has appointed longtime executive Wassim Chourbaji as senior vice president and president of its EMEA business, as the semiconductor specialist eyes further growth in the region.

Effective immediately, Chourbaji takes responsibility for leading Qualcomm’s strategy across the EMEA region and advancing the company’s strategic priorities across its various business areas.

He steps into the role following more than 20 years at Qualcomm, during which time he held a variety of leadership roles across the company.

Most recently, he served as president of Qualcomm’s Middle East and Africa (MEA) business, while also leading its government affairs organization across EMEA.

In an announcement, Akash Palkhiwala, Qualcomm’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said Chourbaji’s combination of leadership experience and industry knowledge will be a key asset as the firm targets further growth across EMEA.

“EMEA is an important region for Qualcomm, and we remain committed to investing in its long-term growth and success, with Wassim’s leadership experience, strategic vision and ability to build strong partnerships across industry and government continuing to be instrumental to Qualcomm’s success,” he explained.

San Diego-headquartered Qualcomm develops semiconductor and computing technologies spanning artificial intelligence, connectivity, and low-power computing.

In recent years, the company has increasingly positioned AI as a central facet of its technology strategy as it expands its traditional smartphone-centric business into areas such as automotive, PCs, industrial applications, and edge computing.

With Chourbaji’s appointment, Qualcomm’s EMEA business now enters a new phase of leadership. He succeeds Enrico Salvatori, who has decided to retire from Qualcomm following more than two decades leading its EMEA business and over 25 years with the company.

With immediate effect, Salvatori will assume the role of chairman and will continue to oversee Qualcomm’s EMEA Automotive business until his retirement date in June 2027.

“I would like to thank Enrico for his extraordinary leadership and contributions over the past 25 years,” Palkhiwala added. “He has built a strong organization, expanded our presence across key industries and fostered deep relationships with customers, partners and governments throughout the region.”

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Data streaming engineers are in hot demand, according to new research, with 85% of organizations planning to expand data streaming engineering teams in the year ahead.

A survey of 200 UK CEOs, MDs, and C-level executives by Confluent found that data streaming engineers are now key to turning raw information into tangible insights that power AI.

Data streaming engineers play a vital role in managing the continuous movement and processing of data, the study noted, and are increasingly helping shape AI strategies.

“While traditional data engineers focus on storing, cleaning and preparing historical data, data streaming engineers operate in the present tense, ensuring data is continuously available, trusted and actionable the moment it’s created,” said Richard Jones, VP Northern Europe at Confluent.

More than half (56%) the firms strongly agreed that all data-driven organizations should have at least one data streaming engineer.

Meanwhile, 83% said they could make more informed decisions faster with dedicated data engineers.

Elsewhere, 88% believe that organizations that hire them will be better placed to adopt, use, and manage AI moving forward.

Demand grows for data streaming engineers

Confluent’s study found that demand for data streaming engineers is expected to grow in the coming years, with 94% of business leaders agreeing that every data-driven organization should employ them.

85% of respondents said they plan to accelerate hiring on this front moving forward.

“AI can only work with the data it’s given, and when that data is incomplete or out of date, the consequences can be serious," said Jones.

"That’s why it’s so encouraging to see businesses investing heavily in data. If leaders want AI to make informed decisions, it needs an accurate, real-time view of what’s really happening across the business. Without that, AI can sound knowledgeable, but it won’t be truly intelligent.”

Data-driven decision making

Demand on this front comes amidst heightened enterprise AI adoption, according to Confluent. Yet many organizations still face issues with real-time decision making when using the technology.

Most leaders (59%) believe that their colleagues’ use of AI has increased the expectation for fast or even instant decisions. Nearly two-thirds (61%) admitted they struggle to capitalize on fast-moving insights or trends, for example.

More than eight-in-ten often have to choose between making a quick decision and an informed one, and 59% of leaders frequently rely on gut feelings.

Meanwhile, six-in-ten leaders admit that data is too difficult to access at their level, with 71% revealing that it’s already out of date by the time it reaches them.

The result here is that enterprise IT leaders are making poorly informed decisions, which has a negative impact on overall productivity and profitability.

Three-quarters admit they have regretted decisions made too quickly, while 71% regret waiting too long and missing out on opportunities.

Notably, nine-in-ten respondents said they want to make more data-driven decisions at work, and the same number said they’d feel more confident if they had access to real-time data insights.

"The real foundation of confident decision-making isn’t instinct or AI alone, it’s real-time data. Accurate, trustworthy, context-rich insights that can flow across an organization in the moment leaders need them most," said Jones.

"Real-time data remains the voice that every leader must hear."

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Nebula has announced the appointment of Rob Kittler as partner acquisition manager, as the communications software specialist looks to expand its UK reseller and managed service provider (MSP) network.

Kittler will be responsible for growing the company’s existing community of more than 700 resellers and MSPs as it looks to build on recent growth.

He joins the business following seven years at Gamma, where he most recently served as head of connectivity practice. During his time there, he worked closely with the vendor’s network of channel partners across connectivity and mobile services.

In an announcement, Sam Giggle, managing director of channel at Nebula, said Kittler’s experience makes him well placed to support the company’s channel expansion ambitions.

"Partner acquisition isn't a numbers game for us, it's about finding MSPs who want a genuine growth partner, and giving them a platform and a programme they can build a business on,” he explained. “Rob has spent the best part of a decade at the heart of the UK channel, and he understands partners' businesses from the inside."

Headquartered in Guildford, Surrey, Nebula develops SaaS-based workplace communications software spanning voice, messaging, customer experience, AI, analytics, and collaboration services.

The firm’s proprietary CallSwitch One platform supports more than 200,000 daily active users and is delivered through its network of reseller and MSP partners.

Kittler’s appointment follows a year of strong growth for Nebula, which saw the company add 42,000 net new users to its CallSwitch One platform as well as complete the migration of almost 200,000 users onto its wholly owned IP network.

Commenting on his new role, Kittler described the channel as being at “an inflection point” as partners navigate a changing market landscape.

“M&A among partners is leaving resellers with sprawling product portfolios to rationalise, while at vendor level too much of the IP being sold is outsourced, owned and controlled by someone other than the vendor selling it,” he said.

“Nebula's position as an IP owner gives partners a level of influence over the roadmap they simply can't get elsewhere, and the pace of software development here made this an easy decision.”

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Cohesity has announced the appointment of Seb Fitzjohn as vice president of partner channel sales and go-to-market for Europe, as the data security specialist looks to strengthen its partner ecosystem across the region.

Fitzjohn will leverage two decades of international sales and channel experience to lead Cohesity’s partner and channel strategy across European markets.

The firm said he will work to drive growth through its Aspire Partner Program while expanding go-to-market partnerships and helping deliver data resilience and security solutions to customers.

He joins the business from ServiceNow, where he spent seven years serving in senior leadership positions – most recently as group vice president of sales for Europe North, and previously as head of the company’s EMEA partner organization.

The appointment follows a recently announced partnership between Cohesity and ServiceNow, which aims to deliver real-time recovery and resilience capabilities for enterprise AI agents.

In an announcement, Olivier Savornin, Cohesity’s group vice president of sales for Europe, said the appointment highlights the company’s continued investment in talent and its partner organization.

“Seb is a great example of the high calibre of leader we want driving our business forward,” he explained. “His experience and track record put him in a strong position to support our customers and accelerate mutual growth for Cohesity and our Partners across Europe, as well as provide new perspectives and leadership approaches for the benefit of the entire Cohesity team.”

California-headquartered Cohesity specializes in AI-powered data security and cyber resilience, offering a platform that helps organizations protect, secure, manage, and recover data across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

The vendor launched its Aspire Partner Program in August 2025, introducing a unified framework designed to simplify engagement across different partner types. The initiative offers tiered benefits, financial incentives, training, certifications, and go-to-market support to help partners expand recurring revenue opportunities.

In his new role, Fitzjohn will focus on expanding the program across Europe, while working with partners to strengthen the delivery of Cohesity’s data resilience and security offerings.

Fitzjohn said organizations require “absolute confidence” that they can protect, secure, and harness greater value from their data as AI adoption continues to reshape the IT landscape.

“Cohesity and our partners are uniquely positioned to help customers build true data resilience while also enabling AI-driven business insights,” he commented. “I look forward to working closely with our partners and the Cohesity team to expand our sales and delivery capacity across Europe in service to our joint customers.”

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Databricks has announced the appointment of Lee Stockwell as head of public sector for the UK and Ireland, as the data and AI specialist looks to accelerate adoption of AI and advanced analytics across government organizations.

Stockwell will lead the company’s public sector strategy across the region, working with government departments and public sector bodies to modernize data platforms, expand the use of advanced analytics, and scale AI to improve service delivery.

He brings more than 20 years’ experience across enterprise technology and the public sector, most recently serving as head of the National Security and Public Safety division at ServiceNow.

Prior to that, Stockwell spent more than eight years at the UK Home Office, where he led its Live Services and Shared Services division.

In an announcement, Databricks said the appointment highlights its continued investment in the region as public sector organizations increasingly look to AI to strengthen resilience, operational efficiency, and productivity.

“Lee’s experience at the intersection of technology and the public sector will be critical as we increase our support to meet the growing needs of organizations across the UK and Ireland,” explained Samuel Bonamigo, Databricks’ senior vice president and general manager for EMEA.

“Government agencies are under real pressure to deliver tangible outcomes from their data and AI investments, and Lee brings the expertise and experience to help organizations advance these priorities.”

Databricks provides a unified data and AI platform that enables customers to consolidate data, develop analytics workloads, as well as build and scale AI applications from a single environment. According to the vendor, the platform now serves more than 20,000 organizations worldwide.

In his new role, Stockwell will work to deepen partnerships with government agencies and public sector organizations in the UK and Ireland – including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Education (DfE), and VisitBritain – to improve service delivery and increase productivity.

Commenting on his appointment, Stockwell said strong data foundations will be essential if government organizations are to scale AI successfully.

“I’m proud to join Databricks at such a pivotal moment for public sector organisations across the UK and Ireland,” he said. “Government departments can only accelerate their AI strategies if they have the right data foundations in place.

“Databricks enables public sector organizations to unify their data, govern AI, and build and deploy agents at scale.“

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Jitterbit has announced the appointment of Chris Stoddard as its new chief revenue officer (CRO), as the intelligent automation vendor looks to drive fresh growth and scale adoption of its AI-driven Harmony platform.

Stoddard will lead the company’s global go-to-market organization, with responsibility for international sales and revenue generation across the business.

A seasoned leadership veteran, he brings more than a decade’s experience across data analytics, enterprise IT infrastructure, and cyber security.

He joins Jitterbit from observability specialist New Relic, where he most recently served as senior vice president for the Americas, and has previously held senior sales leadership roles at Qlik, Pulse Secure, and Juniper Networks.

The appointment follows the recent launch of Jitterbit’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) gateway, which is designed to standardize how AI agents securely connect to enterprise applications, systems, and data sources.

In an announcement, Jitterbit CEO Bill Conner said the company is “at a pivotal moment” as organizations are increasingly prioritizing accountable AI and secure enterprise integration.

“Chris joins Jitterbit during a period of massive expansion, bringing an exceptional track record in data migration, infrastructure and enterprise security that directly aligns with our core mission,” he explained.

“His leadership will be instrumental as we scale our unified Harmony platform to defeat shadow AI, bridge the enterprise data divide, and securely deliver automation, integration and agentic workflows organizations can trust."

California-based Jitterbit provides AI-driven automation that enables organizations to integrate applications, data, and business processes while building and managing AI-powered workflows.

Its Harmony platform is designed to simplify integration while providing centralized governance across increasingly complex modern IT environments.

Harmony combines integration platform as a service (IPaaS), API management, application development, electronic data interchange (EDI), and model context protocol capabilities into a single, unified platform.

According to the vendor, the offering provides organizations with greater visibility and control over AI-driven automation while reducing reliance on disconnected point solutions.

Commenting on his appointment, Stoddard said he believes Jitterbit is “perfectly positioned” as the growing adoption of autonomous AI agents drives demand for secure, enterprise-grade integration capabilities.

“Businesses are undergoing a massive paradigm shift, and the market is realizing that autonomous AI agents cannot succeed without robust, secure, and context-aware integration underpinning them,” he explained.

“I am thrilled to partner with our talented global teams to help organizations accelerate data transformation by unifying accountable AI agents, apps, and automation.”

Jitterbit also announced that Luca Taglioretti will focus on expanding its regional growth strategy in his role as vice president of sales for EMEA and APAC.

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One Identity has announced the appointments of Marianne Van Der Pluym and Tracey Mead as its new channel and alliances directors for EMEA and North America, respectively.

The pair bring extensive channel and cybersecurity experience and will lead the vendor’s regional channel strategy as it continues to strengthen its partner-first go-to-market model.

Van Der Pluym joins from Cryptomathic, where she served as global head of partnerships, having previously held senior channel leadership roles at OpenText Cybersecurity, Micro Focus, NetIQ, and IBM.

Meanwhile, Mead joins from Contrast Security, where she held the role of vice president of global alliances and channels. She also previously served in channel and alliances leadership positions at OpenText Cybersecurity, Micro Focus, NetIQ, Novell, and CA Technologies.

One Identity said the seasoned leaders add complementary experience across global alliances, managed services, and partner-led go-to-market programs as it continues to adapt its channel strategy to meet evolving customer and partner needs.

“Partners play an increasingly important role in helping organizations adopt and manage modern identity security solutions, and strong channel leadership is essential to supporting that success,” commented Ian Sutherland, One Identity’s chief revenue officer.

As the channel continues to move away from traditional resale models, Sutherland said One Identity’s new hires will help ensure its partner strategy reflects that shift.

“Marianne and Tracey both have a clear point of view about where partners are heading: away from resale, toward managed services and outcome-based engagement, and into depth around specific domains like identity,” he added. “That direction is where we are taking our partner program.”

One Identity wants to reshape identity governance

The double appointment follows shortly after One Identity announced plans to become an independent company headquartered in Cork, Ireland, in a bid to accelerate growth in the identity security market.

According to the company, the decision was designed to bring a faster, more focused approach as AI and non-human identities continue to reshape the unified identity governance space.

Commenting on her new role, Van Der Pluym said her immediate priority will be supporting partners across EMEA that are investing heavily in identity security expertise.

“Across EMEA, the partners growing fastest are the ones who have picked a lane,” she explained. “My focus is making sure we deliver a partner program and engagement that supports the partners who are going deep on delivering identity security outcomes.”

Mead added that One Identity’s partner-first culture and collaborative approach to the channel have made it well-positioned to support both customers and partners.

“I look forward to working closely with our partner ecosystem to build joint solutions that help customers secure their environments, address AI challenges, and achieve stronger security outcomes,” she said.

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Louise Newbury-Smith, head of UK&I at technology specialist Zoom, describes her role as busy and exciting. With a remit to help the firm’s customers make the most of its technology and a general management responsibility for the business across the UK and Ireland, Smith says the busyness in her role comes with a side order of variety.

“What's rewarding is when we're doing amazing things for customers, very real things for customers, and actually, that's where you know the power of the platform comes in,” she says.

“Technology for technology's sake is fine, but it only gets really interesting when it's delivering something for people.”

Newbury-Smith joined Zoom in May 2025, having previously held senior-level positions at BT Engage IT, Daisy Group, and RingCentral. She reports to Steve Rafferty, Zoom’s head of APAC and EMEA. On a day-to-day basis, she manages 40 people directly but also oversees the work of 400 employees across the UK and Ireland.

“I’m supporting the team to deliver what they need to do for their customers, representing the brand, and making sure that Zoom is front of mind for people and businesses,” she says.

“We're doing quite a lot with the UK government, as an example. We're on one or two task forces looking at how AI can support small businesses.”

Innovation at speed

Newbury-Smith says there’s a rapid pace of innovation at Zoom. While many people associate the technology company with its video-conferencing tools, the breadth of the platform, including its AI-powered capabilities, continues to extend. A pull factor for joining the firm was the chance to help shape this strategy across the UK and Ireland.

“What really attracted me was the opportunity to take our strong brand awareness and increase the perception,” she says.

“The platform takes all the data we're producing through our interactions with other human beings and turns that into actions to support the employee in an AI-centered workplace. It was exciting for me to be part of that process.”

While the broader business strategy is set at Zoom’s San Jose headquarters in California, Newbury-Smith says there’s a high degree of autonomy for executives in the UK and Ireland to make important decisions. To support this process, the company has built a dedicated UK data center that’s designed to align with the country’s data residency requirements.

“We've now got all the services live on the UK data center,” she says.

“Zoom has empowered its regions to deliver what they need for their own markets. Clearly, having control over where your data is stored is hugely important, not just for public sector organizations in the UK, but beyond that sector in areas like healthcare and financial services because of all sorts of global data sensitivities.”

The combination of rapid technological transformation and geopolitical challenges means data residency is a key consideration for digital leaders in the age of AI and cloud. Newbury-Smith says her team’s approach and the provision of the UK data centre mean CIO requirements can be considered effectively.

“Our customers have got that choice with us about how they want to operate and what level of AI they want to tap into, and whether that's delivered locally or part of the global infrastructure, so data sovereignty is very much top of mind,” she says.

“There's well-documented information that is available to customers, so that they can make the right choices in how we set up their accounts.”

What’s clear from the discussion with Newbury-Smith is the extent to which adaptability is a core element of the Zoom business strategy. Six years ago, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the technology specialist went from being an enterprise staple to a brand that everyone around the world not only recognized but relied upon.

Newbury-Smith says her colleagues at HQ delivered great results in challenging circumstances. Now, the company faces a different challenge. Zoom must continue to hone its brand perception and develop innovative services in the AI era. She recognizes that the company faces a fresh burning platform for change and is eager to deliver for its customers.

“In its simplest form, our approach is about taking information and creating automated workflows,” she says. “There's an expression that I’ve been quoted on before about automating the predictable and humanizing the unpredictable. I think that's a powerful way of looking at the challenge. It’s about how we can enable those workflows and AI.”

Making a difference

Since joining Zoom last May, Newbury-Smith has worked to develop a culture where people on her team feel valued, and their professional and personal goals are recognized. She describes her leadership style as servant leadership, which aims to remove barriers so people can be the best version of themselves.

“I'm passionate about seeing the difference that we can make,” she says.

“We need to hit our KPIs and all those things, but will we be remembered for that achievement? Probably not. We’ll be remembered for how we make people feel, which is the folks around us, our colleagues, my team, and our customers.”

To that end, Newbury-Smith also recognizes her standing as a high-profile woman in the UK and Ireland technology sector. She’s eager for more women to step forward into senior IT roles and supports broadening diversity across the industry.

“That’s an easy thing to say, but it's what you do that makes a difference,” she says.

“I quite often ask the question in an interview: ‘What have you done to support diversity in your role?’ And it's interesting because some people think diversity is the responsibility of people and HR teams. And it's not, because we're all advocates for our industry, and we can all be evangelizing to encourage more people to join.”

Zoom runs events to encourage diversity, according to Newbury-Smith. One recent session focused on AI prompting. The event was run close to International Women's Day to encourage people to feel confident using AI. Her key message for other women looking to develop an IT career is to be themselves.

“There's a huge amount of pressure to be something else. I think women – as have all people – must be their genuine selves at work, because otherwise it's too exhausting. People need to know they don't need to fit into another persona. Being yourself is good enough,” she says.

“Success for any IT professional is about having that level of confidence in themselves, which is very easy to say, but not always easy to tap into. And I think if people feel they can be authentic, then that helps.”

Westcon-Comstor has announced the appointment of Olya Scekaturova as VP of regional sales for the UK and Ireland, as the distribution giant continues to roll out its revamped European go-to-market strategy.

The seasoned channel executive brings more than 15 years’ experience in sales and technology services leadership, alongside expertise in leading large-scale transformation programs.

She joins the business from digital infrastructure provider Black Box, where she served as vice president for UK&I and Europe, and has previously held leadership roles at Computacenter and Insight Enterprises.

In her new role, Scekaturova will be responsible for driving growth across the UK and Ireland, strengthening partner and vendor relationships while driving sales execution across the region.

She will also take charge of the distributor’s newly integrated sales operation in the UK and Ireland, which brings together its Westcon and Comstor teams under a single structure.

As part of the company’s announcement, Scekaturova said she joins the business at a key stage in its European growth plans.

“The business has strong foundations and momentum in the UK and Ireland, with a clear strategy focused on helping partners grow through deeper engagement and consistent execution,” she commented.

According to Westcon-Comstor, its new unified operating model is designed to deliver a more consistent route to market across technologies, geographies, and sales engagements.

The firm said its network of partners can expect to benefit from clearer account ownership, coordinated engagement, and improved visibility of opportunities, while vendors gain a more streamlined sales approach across the region.

“My priority is to ensure we support partners in capturing high-margin, repeatable and lifecycle-led opportunities while enabling vendors to accelerate their channel-led growth, harnessing emerging technologies and simultaneously retaining the focus on human relationships that are central to success in the channel,” Scekaturova added.

Scekaturova will report to Stéphane Reboud, Westcon-Comstor’s senior vice president of sales for Europe, whose own appointment last year marked a key milestone in the firm’s European go-to-market transformation.

She will also be supported by a team that includes John Nolan, who has been named as the new senior director of vendor sales. Nolan previously led the distributor’s Westcon business in the UK and Ireland.

“This appointment reflects a broader shift in how we are reshaping our offering and go-to-market strategy across Europe to meet the changing needs of partners and vendors in an era defined by platforms, marketplaces and ecosystems,” Reboud said.

“UKI is one of our most important markets and, by building on our high-performance sales culture with ambition and accountability at the core, Olya and her team have the capability and mindset to drive the next phase of growth.”

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Monday.com has announced the appointment of Ben Barnett as general manager for EMEA, as the collaboration platform looks to build on its continued growth across the region.

Barnett, who first joined the business five years ago as part of its early London expansion, will now lead the firm's EMEA go-to-market strategy, key partnerships, and its regional growth initiatives.

The appointment comes amid a period of sustained momentum for Monday.com across the region, with EMEA revenue increasing 26% year-on-year in 2025, and the business also significantly expanding its regional headquarters in London.

The company now occupies an 80,000 square foot office in Fitzrovia, which houses more than 370 employees, alongside new offices in Paris and Munich. Across its wider EMEA operations, Monday.com now has more than 2,250 staff on its books.

Barnett brings more than a decade of B2B software sales experience to the role and has overseen Monday.com's UK and Ireland operations since 2021. According to the vendor, Barnett played a key role in scaling its presence from a small founding team in London to a regional operation that now serves more than 27,000 customers.

In an announcement, Barnett said EMEA has emerged as one of Monday.com's strongest growth markets as AI continues to reshape customer needs.

"EMEA has been one of monday.com's most exciting growth stories, and I've had the privilege of living it from the inside," he commented. "As we move now into an AI-powered age, I'm proud to step into this GM role and bring our customers the tools and advice they need to harness technology in a way, and at a speed, that works for them."

In his new role, Barnett will focus on supporting the company's next phase of expansion following its shift from a traditional workplace management solution to what it describes as a unified AI work platform.

The firm recently revamped its offering to combine workflows, people, and AI agents into a single environment designed to automate and execute tasks across customers' business operations.

Casey George, chief revenue officer at Monday.com, said Barnett's deep understanding of complex markets will play a key role as the vendor looks to build on its platform evolution and recent growth momentum.

"He was there at the inception of our London office, and the breadth of knowledge, relationships, and commercial instinct he has built across this region over five years is an extraordinary asset," he explained. "He understands our customers, our partners, and our people in a way that only comes from being in the room for every chapter of this growth story.

"With his leadership, we are strongly positioned to accelerate our annual plan and lead the next frontier of enterprise AI."

Leaseweb has unveiled a new UK channel partner program as the infrastructure provider looks to strengthen support for partners amid growing demand for hybrid cloud strategies.

The launch marks the latest phase of the firm’s investment into its channel ecosystem and coincides with the appointment of Jason Goody as UK channel sales manager, who will work to develop the program across the country.

According to Leaseweb, the revamped initiative has been designed to provide improved support to MSPs, cloud providers, and infrastructure partners working with organizations reassessing workload placement across dedicated, private, and public cloud environments.

The program introduces a three-tier structure covering reseller, referral, and solution partner models, enabling businesses to tailor engagements based on their individual requirements.

The initiative has been built with a focus on commercial flexibility and includes expanded technical and pre-sales support in a bid to help partners deliver infrastructure services to customers more efficiently.

Leaseweb said that partners also gain access to its AI-ready infrastructure portfolio and GPU-powered cloud services as enterprise demand for AI, machine learning, and data-intensive workloads shows no sign of slowing down.

In an announcement, Leaseweb UK managing director Terry Storrar said the channel represents a significant growth opportunity as businesses seek hybrid cloud strategies that offer greater flexibility, control, and cost efficiency.

“Our new channel partner program reflects Leaseweb’s long-term investment in the partner ecosystem, giving partners the flexibility, support and scalability they need to deliver tailored services to customers,” he commented.

Leaseweb targets UK growth with new hire

As part of its increased investment, channel veteran Jason Goody also joins the company as UK channel sales manager. He brings more than 20 years’ channel experience and joins the business from OVHcloud, where he led the company’s UK partner program.

In his new role, Leaseweb said Goody will focus on expanding its partner network and strengthening relationships across MSPs, systems integrators, and technology vendors.

According to Storrar, Goody’s extensive industry experience will play an important role in the vendor’s continued efforts to scale its UK operations.

“I am delighted that Jason has joined our UK team,” he added. “The UK channel represents a significant growth opportunity as more organisations look to adopt hybrid cloud strategies that offer greater flexibility, control and cost efficiency.

“Jason’s experience and leadership will be instrumental as we continue to grow and strengthen our UK channel network.”

Founded in the Netherlands in 1997, Leaseweb operates across 28 data centers globally and provides a range of cloud, hosting, colocation, content delivery network (CDN), and managed infrastructure solutions and services.

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In recent years, the traditional IT buying cycle has transformed. What was once a decision made largely at the discretion of CIOs, procurement, and operations is now significantly influenced by the chief information security officer (CISO).

The CISO has historically been a technical role, focusing on data security, cybersecurity, and overall risk management from an IT perspective. The modern CISO, however, has become central to business strategy and operational resilience, amidst growing cyber risks and increasing regulatory scrutiny. 

These shifting priorities and demands have led to CISOs becoming the linchpin between IT departments and the C-suite. However, this new pressure to boost business resilience, mitigate risks, and hold a central seat in business strategy decisions has led to widespread industry burnout.

For channel partners, this is a watershed moment as they now have the opportunity to engage with CISOs as strategic advisors, as well as product suppliers.

The CISO is the new buyer 

The expansion of the CISO’s role can be largely attributed to the sharp rise in cyber attacks over recent years, compounded by the rapid evolution of AI capabilities.

The UK government recently reported that almost half of businesses suffered a cybersecurity breach or attack within the last 12 months. And while AI readiness sits at the top of the C-suite agenda, uncertainty around infrastructure readiness is slowing down adoption, with many organizations revealing they struggle with data lineage, security, and governance. 

In light of these findings, it comes as no surprise that 69 percent of IT leaders are kept up at night by data security concerns, according to our research. Data is at the heart of all of these concerns: how it’s accessed, governed, and optimized. As a result, CISOs have become indispensable for ensuring continuous and proactive resilience and operational continuity, overseeing the intersection of security, innovation, and compliance. 

As data governance, lineage, and compliance become board-level priorities for enterprises, the CISO’s expertise is increasingly needed at the C-suite table, with many now reporting directly to the CEO.

For channel partners, this presents an opportunity to a trusted partner of CISOs who are navigating the new demands of their changing roles by offering solutions that signpost long-term compliance, operational continuity, and risk mitigation. Those who position themselves to address these new sets of priorities will ultimately build stronger long-term relationships with CISOs through offering personalized, practical guidance that will move the needle and help protect their organizations.

Regulation as a sales driver

While always slightly behind the newest threats, compliance standards around the world have been making strides to keep pace. This manifested in shifting away from static, periodical security scans and audits, to mandating secure-by-design solutions and continuous monitoring under acts like the EU AI Act, DORA, and NIS2. In the UK in particular, the upcoming Cyber Resilience Act will require organizations to ensure stricter visibility across their IT environments, which is a foundational requirement for enterprises gearing up for AI implementation. 

However, these new regulatory demands have created a widening confidence gap. Indeed, our research suggests that less than one-third of IT leaders have confidence that they will pass their next regulatory audit. As security becomes a consideration from the outset instead of an added feature at the end, CISOs command a larger budgetary influence in IT modernization initiatives, in order to avoid penalties for non-compliance. 

The global compliance market is estimated to reach $92.1 billion by 2033, presenting a clear market potential for channel partners. With CISOs now playing a key role in safeguarding reputation through risk mitigation, the channel has the opportunity to engage with this role as a strategic stakeholder, offering best-in-class solutions and tailored implementation guidance.

The channel can take this further still by positioning itself to offer region-specific expertise to CISOs, playing a key part in ensuring that their organizations are prepared to stay ahead of changing regulatory requirements.

Modernization through a security lens 

In fact, concerns over security block IT modernization strategy success the most, according to 41 percent of respondents to a Forrester survey we commissioned. This highlights a diminished risk appetite among enterprises. Instead, organizations are actively prioritising addressing vulnerabilities and improving visibility and governance across their entire IT landscapes.

This is especially important because any organization looking to implement and scale AI needs a high level of visibility and solid data governance to ensure compliant, high-quality, and secure data pipelines across the entire ecosystem.

Consequently, the way channel partners present value to CISOs has shifted, too. Customers now look for partners that can support their long-term strategies and improve their organizations’ cyber resilience and regulatory readiness, rather than just specific products or features. Partners should evaluate and present modernization solutions through a security lens in order to guide the CISO through the increased scope and responsibility that their role now entails. 

What’s more, the transformation of the CISO into a key figure guiding boardroom conversations is not complete. In fact, Gartner predicts (as cited in an IBM article) that regulatory pressure and attack surface expansion will lead to 45 percent of CISOs expanding their remit beyond cybersecurity by 2027.  

As enterprises are being challenged to modernize faster, strengthen cyber defenses, and govern data more effectively, they will continue to turn to the CISO for strategic guidance.

Channel partners that position solutions around the CISO’s core priorities will thus be better positioned overall to support the CISO in buying decisions, while building long-term trust by alleviating pressures facing the modern security leader.

Starburst has moved to strengthen its security leadership team with the appointment of Paras Malhotra as its new chief information security officer (CISO).

A seasoned industry leader, Malhotra joins the enterprise intelligence vendor with more than 20 years’ experience spanning cybersecurity, compliance, privacy, and risk management across high-growth SaaS and cloud organizations.

In his new role as CISO, he will lead Starburst’s information security, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), and product security functions across both its SaaS and on-premises offerings.

The firm said he will work closely with engineering, product, and go-to-market teams to strengthen its security posture and support its growing focus on AI and data security.

In an announcement, Starburst’s senior vice president of engineering and security Jitender Aswani said Malhotra’s experience will be a key asset as the company looks to meet customers’ evolving AI and data security needs.

“As enterprises scale AI and modernise their data infrastructure, security and trust have never been more critical,” he commented. “Paras brings deep experience building and scaling security programs for some of the world’s leading cloud and SaaS companies.

“His leadership will help ensure Starburst continues to deliver the secure, enterprise-grade platform our customers need to power their most important data and AI initiatives.”

Malhotra joins Starburst from Datadog, where he served as senior director of information security. During his time in that role, he led the company’s information security organization, placing a particular focus on customer trust, proactive risk management, and continuous security monitoring to support growth across commercial and enterprise markets.

Prior to that, he spent almost a decade in senior security leadership roles at Amazon Web Services (AWS), including principal manager for AWS Security Assurance.

During his time at the cloud giant, he led engineering strategy and security assurance initiatives aimed at improving vulnerability detection, risk assessment, and compliance processes at enterprise scale.

According to Starburst, Malhotra’s experience in building scalable security programs and engineering teams will help the business balance innovation with customer trust and regulatory compliance.

Commenting on his new role, Malhotra said Starburst is well-positioned to help organizations navigate today’s increasingly sophisticated threats as they implement new AI technologies at speed.

“Starburst sits at the center of some of the most important enterprise data and AI initiatives in the world,” he explained. “I’m excited to join the company at this pivotal moment and help strengthen the security, privacy, and governance foundations that enable customers to innovate with confidence.”

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EfficiencyIT has announced the appointment of Giles Pattison as business transformation director, as the modular data center specialist looks to support growth across AI and digital infrastructure markets.

The UK-based firm – which focuses on prefabricated modular data centers, IT infrastructure, and critical communications environments – said the appointment will support its continued expansion across the UK and Europe as AI and high-density compute workloads drive demand for scalable infrastructure.

Pattison arrives with more than 20 years’ commercial leadership experience across the data center, channel, and digital infrastructure sectors, and has spent the majority of his career at Schneider Electric.

Most recently, he served as the vendor’s data center commercial operations and strategy director for Europe, where he led integrated commercial revenue and sales operations for its European channel business.

During his time in the role, he oversaw senior leadership teams across multiple markets and helped drive consistent growth and market share gains.

In his new position, Pattison will focus on helping EfficiencyIT scale its operations, refine internal processes, and support the development of its long-term strategy.

In an announcement, EfficiencyIT’s managing director Nick Ewing described Pattison’s appointment as “a significant moment” as the company continues to expand across the UK and Europe.

“His commercial acumen, leadership approach, and understanding of how complex organisations function will be instrumental in helping us release capacity, sharpen our long-term strategy, and ensure that we continue to deliver an exceptionally high-standard of service as we continue to grow,” he said.

The appointment comes as EfficiencyIT continues to invest in its leadership team to support a growing pipeline of modular and prefabricated data center projects, at a time when enterprises are increasingly seeking rapid deployment options for AI-ready infrastructure.

According to the company, Pattison’s newly created role has been designed to help the founders scale the business while maintaining the customer-focused approach that has underpinned its growth across enterprise, government, life sciences, and mission-critical sectors.

Commenting on his appointment, Pattison said EfficiencyIT has built “genuine credibility” in the data center market, with the firm earning its reputation through a high quality of service to its expanding client base.

“This is an exciting time for the modular data centre industry,” he added. “Speed to market, scalability, and best-in-class technology will unlock the potential of AI infrastructure, and EfficiencyIT is well-placed to support that growth.

“I am a firm believer in the power of the partner ecosystem, and I am looking forward to working with the team to help shape the next chapter.”

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Percona has announced the appointment of Louis Hood as its new director of global partnerships and channels, as the open source database software specialist looks to strengthen its partner ecosystem.

A seasoned industry veteran, Hood joins the business with more than 20 years’ experience building and scaling partner networks across the cloud, data, and enterprise technology markets.

In his new role, he will lead Percona’s global partner program, working to grow the firm’s relationships across cloud providers, global systems integrators (GSIs), independent software vendors (ISVs), and value-added resellers (VARs).

In an announcement, the vendor said Hood will focus on developing strategic partnerships that make its open source database solutions easier for customers to adopt, deploy, and scale across increasingly complex IT environments.

“Most organizations are operating across hybrid and multi-cloud environments while trying to manage rising costs and growing complexity,” Hood commented. “Percona’s open approach gives them a different path: more flexibility, better control over cost and infrastructure, and no lock-in.

“The way is open, and our partner program should reflect that — focused, strategic and built around outcomes that matter.”

Prior to joining Percona, Hood served as FinOps cloud lead at IT asset and expense management provider Tangoe, where he worked with organizations to optimize cloud spending and align technology investments with business priorities.

He has also previously held senior alliance and partner-focused positions at SoftServe and CDW, where he led go-to-market initiatives across cloud and emerging technologies.

Percona said Hood’s experience in building partner ecosystems will be a key asset for the company as customers continue to seek greater flexibility and control over their data infrastructure strategies.

Commenting on the appointment, Percona CEO Peter Farkas said Hood’s expertise aligns closely with the vendor’s own focus on delivering customer value through open source technologies.

“Customers want more control over their data infrastructure, not more complexity or lock-in,” he explained.

“Louis understands how to build disciplined partner ecosystems that create measurable customer value. His leadership will help us make Percona’s open source solutions more accessible, easier to scale and harder for the market to ignore.”

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Terzo has announced the appointment of former Accenture executive Daniel Haitz as head of strategic partnerships and channel growth, as the finance and analytics vendor looks to scale its partner ecosystem.

Haitz arrives with nearly two decades of experience across enterprise software, procurement transformation, and large-scale operating strategy. He joins the business from Accenture, where he led enterprise platform growth initiatives that tripled revenue over a three-year period.

His appointment comes as Terzo continues building momentum around its AI-powered financial analytics platform, which is designed to help enterprises transform contracts, invoices, and purchase orders into real-time financial intelligence.

In his new role, Haitz will focus on expanding Terzo's partner ecosystem and accelerating enterprise adoption of its platform across procurement, finance, supply chain, and revenue operations.

In an announcement, Terzo CEO Brandon Card said the seasoned leader's deep channel expertise will help drive the company's ongoing growth ambitions.

"Billions of dollars leak out of enterprises every year because nobody is continuously connecting what was negotiated to what actually gets paid, billed, or delivered," he explained. "That's the problem Terzo was built to solve."

"Daniel knows how to turn that kind of platform story into commercial outcomes through partners. He brings the operating discipline and ecosystem credibility we need for the next phase of growth."

Terzo's platform works to continuously analyze enterprise contracts and procurement data to identify spend leakage, compliance, renewal risks, and commercial optimization opportunities across both buy-side and sell-side operations.

According to the company, the platform has already delivered more than $1 billion in measurable customer impact – including a Fortune 100 deployment that generated more than 50-times return on investment.

Commenting on his appointment, Haitz said he aims to build on this momentum by strengthening and scaling Terzo's partner network.

"Every contract is a promise, and most enterprises stop tracking them the day they're signed," he explained. "Terzo turns those promises back into EBITDA – money already owed, leakage recovered, and renewals reshaped before the next negotiation – on both sides of the contract. That's a story that scales through partners, and I'm here to build that motion."

Meta is expected to announce further layoffs this week, as part of continued efforts to restructure the company around AI.

An internal memo seen by Reuters suggests Meta will lay off 10% of its employees, with a further 10% set to be transferred to better focus on AI, with staff "drafted" to areas of the business focused on the technology, including Applied AI Engineering (AAI) and Agent Transformation Accelerator (ATA), both of which are tasked with creating AI agents.

Beyond AI, the cuts are reportedly targeting managers in particular. This round of restructuring is expected to be announced on Wednesday, with staff told to work from home; further cuts are reportedly due at the tech giant later this year.

In the document, Meta's Chief People Officer Janelle Gale links the restructuring to improving AI workflows, in particular, the internal transfers of 7,000 staff. Reuters reported Gale saying such changes will become common across the industry as the AI rollout continues.

"As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles ⁠into their new org structures," she said, according to the report. "We're now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of ​pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership."

ITPro has contacted Meta for comment.

Internal uproar

This week's restructuring efforts follow similar cuts by Meta last year of 3,600 roles, and in 2024, targeting its Reality Labs as well as WhatsApp and Instagram. Big rounds of cuts were seen in 2023 and 2022, making such restructuring an annual occurrence at Meta.

The latest cuts were first rumoured last month, and reports sparked internal protests at Meta, with staff criticising managers for refusing to acknowledge the plans by sending them photos of elephants to raise the issue of the "elephant in the room" going undiscussed, Reuters added.

Similar AI-driven cuts have been seen more widely across the tech industry – however, not all are convinced that redundancies are due to AI but the tech is being used to cover up for overhiring or struggles amid wider economic pressures.

Beyond protesting the cuts, staff have signed a petition against tracking tools used to monitor employee work, intended to help train Meta's models about how humans work. According to one report, flyers advertising the petition that have been distributed in Meta offices ask: "Don't want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?"

The petition calls for a clear commitment from Meta that employee "computer use data" not be collected for training AI. That includes keystrokes, mouse movements, and screen content. "It should not be the norm that companies of any size are permitted to exploit their employees by nonconsensually extracting their data for the purposes of AI training," the petition adds.

Other changes at Meta

Alongside the restructuring, the memo seen by Reuters includes details of a new division dubbed Enterprise Solutions, with further information to be revealed Wednesday.

That comes as rival AI firms, notably OpenAI and Anthropic, battle for a piece of the enterprise market with business-focused AI tools.

OpenAI last week unveiled an AI consultancy for enterprises, while Anthropic has announced software and services tools targeted at specific industries, as well as setting up a new enterprise AI services company that includes Blackstone and Goldman Sachs.

HR and finance software specialist Sage has announced a double leadership appointment, with Krish Vitaldevara joining the business as chief product officer (CPO) and Anand Swaminathan as chief strategy officer (CSO).

As CPO, Vitaldevara will oversee the company’s global product and platform strategy, innovation roadmap, and delivery as it continues to develop and grow its range of intelligent AI solutions.

Meanwhile, Swaminathan will work closely with the rest of the executive leadership team to direct corporate strategy, growth priorities, as well as Sage’s long-term value creation agenda.

Vitaldevara will join the executive team on May 18, while Swaminathan will begin on June 15, with both based at the firm’s office in San Jose, California.

“Krish and Anand are proven leaders with deep experience building and scaling world-class products and businesses,” said Sage CEO Steve Hare in an announcement.

“Their appointments reflect our continued investment in innovation and growth, and I’m excited about the impact they’ll have for our customers, colleagues and partners”

A seasoned industry leader, Vitaldevara brings more than 25 years’ experience building and scaling AI-first platforms and products for large enterprises and holds more than 30 patents across distributed systems, trust and safety, as well as anomaly detection.

He joins the business from Salesforce, where he served as general manager and executive vice president following the company’s successful acquisition of Informatica, where he led the integration of products, people, and processes. He has also previously held general manager and senior leadership roles at NetApp, Google, and Microsoft.

Commenting on his new role, Vitaldevara said he joins Sage at an important moment for the business as it looks to further strengthen its market position.

“Sage has a unique purpose, a strong customer focus and culture, and a compelling opportunity to lead in intelligent, trusted solutions for small and medium-sized businesses,” he explained.

“I’m looking forward to working with the team to continue evolving the product portfolio and delivering meaningful impact for customers.”

Swaminathan joins Sage from McKinsey, where he served as a senior partner, advising management teams and boards across industries on AI transformation, technology-enabled growth, and enterprise transformation.

Prior to that, he held senior roles within Accenture Digital, where he helped scale the company’s global operations and supported growth across strategy, data, AI, cloud, and digital product development.

“Sage has a clear strategy and a powerful position in the market,” said Swaminathan.

“I’m thrilled to join the business and to help shape the next phase of growth, building on Sage’s strengths and ensuring we continue to create long-term value for customers, colleagues and shareholders.”

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SCC UK has announced the appointment of Alexandra Wilkinson as head of public sector for the UK, as the technology provider looks to strengthen its public sector presence and drive new growth in the region.

Wilkinson brings more than 15 years’ experience in the technology sector and joins the business from Microsoft, where she led digital transformation and AI adoption initiatives as sales leader for the UK and Ireland public sector.

Prior to her time at Microsoft, she held senior positions at Vodafone and has owned and operated multiple businesses alongside her corporate career. Wilkinson is also a qualified barrister.

In her new role, SCC said Wilkinson will lead its team of public sector experts to support local government modernization efforts, while contributing to central government initiatives around AI and secure data environments.

“I am delighted to join SCC UK and cannot wait to work with an incredible team at the forefront of Britain’s technology industry,” Wilkinson commented. “We have a unique opportunity to maximise the agility that comes with a privately owned UK business to drive AI integration quickly to solve real-world problems in the public sector.”

Headquartered in Birmingham, SCC provides end-to-end services across cyber security, cloud, data and AI, and infrastructure. The firm currently operates across major UK public sector frameworks, including the NHS, Home Office, and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

SCC’s latest appointment follows the recent arrival of Russell Brown as UK chief executive officer and comes as the company eyes further AI-led innovation and growth.

Wilkinson said that Brown’s vision for a “customer-centric, sales-led UK organisation” was a key factor behind her decision to join the business.

“We are ready to challenge the status quo and deliver more for our public sector partners, from local and central government to defence and advanced manufacturing,” she added.

Supporting SCC’s next growth phase

SCC said its expanded leadership team will focus on accelerating growth, deepening customer engagement, and expanding higher-value, solution-led services as it continues to shift its operating model towards a European shared services approach for delivery and operations.

Commenting on Wilkinson’s appointment, Brown said her combination of legal, commercial, and technology expertise made her well-suited to navigate today’s complex regulatory and technological challenges.

“The blend of rigour, sales excellence, and deep expertise in technology makes her the ideal leader for our Public Sector function,” he explained.

“As we continue to strengthen our position in the UK market, her leadership will be vital in helping our customers navigate an increasingly complex technological landscape.”

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Edge data center provider nLighten has announced the appointments of Dame Dawn Childs as chief executive officer (CEO) and Matthew Harris as chief financial officer (CFO).

Childs and Harris will help lead the company’s next phase of growth as it looks to expand through organic growth, strategic acquisitions, as well as continued investment in sustainable infrastructure solutions.

The firm’s pan-European platform currently consists of 34 data centers across seven countries.

The double appointment comes as enterprises, hyperscalers, and AI providers increasingly invest in edge infrastructure to support high-bandwidth applications, cloud connectivity, and latency-sensitive workloads across Europe.

In an announcement, nLighten chairman Nick Read said the pair bring the operational and financial expertise needed to support the company’s continued growth ambitions.

“Dawn’s deep experience leading complex, mission-critical infrastructure businesses makes her exceptionally well suited to guide the company’s continued growth, while Matthew’s strong financial and strategic expertise will be invaluable as we scale the platform,” he commented.

“As AI drives unprecedented demand for digital infrastructure and edge capacity across Europe, nLighten is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity.”

Childs joins nLighten from Pure Data Centres Group, where she spent nearly five years, initially as chief operating officer (COO) and most recently as CEO.

Prior to that, she led a multi-billion-pound transformation programme at National Grid and previously held senior engineering leadership roles at Merlin Entertainments and Gatwick Airport, following a 23-year career as an engineering officer in the Royal Air Force.

Commenting on her appointment, Childs said the company is entering a pivotal period for both the business and the wider digital infrastructure sector.

"The opportunity for nLighten to play a meaningful role in supporting Europe’s growing need for digital sovereignty is significant, particularly as demand for secure, high-performance and sustainable infrastructure continues to accelerate,” she added.

Meanwhile, Harris brings more than 15 years’ financial and strategic expertise across digital infrastructure, technology, and investment sectors.

He joins the business from Kao Data, where he served as CFO, alongside being a founding board member and investor director. He also previously held the CFO role at Goldacre Ventures, where he oversaw funding and growth initiatives across the investment firm’s portfolio companies.

"I am excited to join nLighten as it continues to build momentum across Europe,” he said.

“The company has a clear strategy and strong platform on which to build from. I look forward to working with the team to support its continued expansion and deliver long-term value for customers and stakeholders."

nLighten co-founder and outgoing CEO Harro Beusker will remain on the company’s board as a non-executive director to support the leadership transition, while also serving as a senior advisor to I Squared Capital.

Dame Dawn Childs will formally assume the position of CEO on June 1 and will also move into a non-executive position at Pure Data Centres Group. Matthew Harris will join the business as CFO on July 1.

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NetApp has announced the appointment of Jurgen Hofkens as chief technology officer (CTO) and vice president of sales engineering, as the firm looks to strengthen customer engagement and accelerate AI adoption.

Hofkens is tasked with leading the company’s technical strategy and customer engagement across the regions as enterprises are increasingly looking to operationalize AI and bolster data sovereignty and security.

Reporting to Willem Hendrickx, NetApp’s SVP and general manager for EMEA and LATAM, he will also play a key role in shaping how organizations design and deploy data infrastructure across on-premises, edge, and cloud environments.

In his new role, Hofkens said he plans to spend time engaging directly with customers and partners to better understand their challenges and co-develop solutions tailored to their needs.

"Every CIO and CISO I speak with is asking the same three questions: how do I turn my data into an AI advantage, how do I keep it sovereign, private, and secure, and how do I keep the flexibility to run it wherever the business needs it — on-premises, at the edge, or in any cloud?" he explained.

“I intend to spend the coming months on the ground with our customers and partners across EMEA and LATAM — listening, challenging, and co-designing what intelligent data infrastructure looks like for their business."

Hofkens joins NetApp from Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he led go-to-market strategy for AI infrastructure across EMEA, overseeing technical execution and customer outcomes as enterprises scaled AI initiatives from experimentation to production.

During his time at AWS, Hofkens led the EMEA technical teams covering core services and advanced computing portfolio.

NetApp said the appointment comes at a time when enterprises are navigating a major shift in how data is managed and leveraged as AI adoption continues to accelerate.

"Our customers and partners are navigating a once-in-a-generation shift: making their data ready for AI, hardening it against new cyber threats, and running it seamlessly across clouds and on-premises," commented Hendrickx, SVP and general manager for EMEA and LATAM at NetApp.

"Jurgen's appointment reflects our commitment to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them, backed by the deepest technical expertise in the industry.”

The company added that it is continuing to invest in its technical capabilities across the region, including expanding its sales engineering, AI, and cybersecurity teams to support growing customer demand.

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Node4 has announced the appointments of Neil Muller as chief executive officer (CEO) and Patrick De Smedt as non-executive chair, as the managed services provider gears up for its next phase of growth.

Muller joins the business with a remit to refine Node4’s strategic direction and expand its AI-led managed services platform, alongside its ERP, CRM, and data analytics offerings.

A seasoned industry veteran, he brings extensive experience in leading and transforming technology services organizations, with expertise in running complex, customer-focused businesses across both professional and managed services.

Prior to joining Node4, he served as CEO of Digital Space and Daisy Group, and has previously spent 20 years at Computacenter UK&I, including as managing director.

In his new role, Node4 said Muller will focus on driving further value for customers and partners by enhancing the firm’s platform capabilities, helping organizations to operate more efficiently and securely.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Node4,” Muller commented. “What stood out to me was the combination of deep technical capability across the team, and a genuine commitment to customers and people.

“Node4’s position within the top 1% of Microsoft Inner Circle partners gives us a powerful foundation to build from. There’s a real opportunity here to scale the business while staying agile, original and firmly customer-focused.”

Alongside Muller’s appointment as CEO, Patrick De Smedt has also been named as Node4’s new non-executive chair, succeeding Chris Woodhouse.

De Smedt brings significant experience in scaling technology businesses and a strong understanding of the Microsoft ecosystem, having previously held chair roles at Nasstar, KCOM Group, EMIS Group, and Microsoft EMEA. He currently serves as chair of Bytes Technology Group and The Rent Company B.V.

Node4 said he will provide strategic oversight and governance, working closely with the executive team to guide the company’s long-term direction and support its UK expansion.

Commenting on his new role, De Smedt described Node4 as a business with “a clear sense of purpose” and highlighted its strong track record of expansion since its founding in 2004.

The company now provides AI-powered cloud and managed services to more than 1,700 organizations across the UK, including public and private sector customers.

“From its origins in Derby to becoming a nationwide organisation supporting more than 1,700 customers, its growth has been built on meeting real customer needs and investing in talented people,” he said.

“I’m delighted to be joining at this point in the journey and to be working alongside Neil and the leadership team, as Node4 continues to evolve in a fast-moving and competitive market.”

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Claroty has announced the appointment of John Ryan as vice president of its global partner ecosystem, as the cyber-physical systems (CPS) security specialist looks to expand its channel reach.

In his new role, Ryan will lead the company’s xCelerate Partner Program, focusing on strengthening partner engagement, improving scalability, and driving long-term growth across its channel ecosystem.

He joins the business with more than a decade’s experience of developing and leading channel organizations across the cyber security sector.

Most recently, he served as vice president of EMEA and worldwide channel sales at Radiant Logic, where he was responsible for developing high-performing teams and driving record revenue growth.

Prior to that, he also held senior leadership roles at Orca Security, Illumio, Guardicore, and Mendix, as well as positions at Rapid7 and ForeScout Technologies.

In an announcement, Claroty said Ryan’s appointment will help support partners in delivering improved risk reduction and operational performance through its CPS protection programs.

“With his deep expertise in cybersecurity and proven success in scaling go-to-market strategies, John is an invaluable addition to Claroty,” commented James Love, Claroty’s chief revenue officer.

“We are incredibly excited for John to bring his background in team building, global leadership, and channel strategy, driving significant revenue growth and delivering even greater value to our partners and customers.”

Founded in 2015, Claroty’s AI-native platform provides visibility and protection across cyber-physical systems, combining asset inventory, exposure management, network protection, secure access, and threat detection capabilities to help organizations secure their critical infrastructure and reduce operational risk.

The firm’s xCelerate Partner Program is designed to support a broad range of partners – including resellers, VARs, MSSPs, and technology alliances – enabling them to sell and support the platform, as well as access a host of training and enablement tools.

Commenting on his appointment, Ryan said he will focus on further strengthening the company’s partner network and building on its growing market presence.

“Claroty’s rapid expansion and platform superiority in the CPS security market speak volumes about its commitment to the company’s vital mission,” he explained.

“I’m excited to help shape our go-to-market execution and leverage our partner ecosystem to bring Claroty’s industry-leading solutions to a broader global audience.”

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The UK Semiconductor Centre (UKSC) has announced the appointment of Brian Robertson as its new director of international partnerships, as the organization looks to strengthen the country’s position in the global semiconductor market.

Robertson will focus on building mutually beneficial relationships with international government bodies and businesses, placing an emphasis on attracting increased foreign direct investment into the UK.

The appointment comes at a time of rapid growth in the global semiconductor industry, with the market expected to double in size over the next decade due to growing demand for AI, quantum technologies, and advanced computing.

A seasoned industry leader, Robertson brings more than 25 years’ international experience across telecommunications, technology, and semiconductor ecosystems. He joins from GSMA, where he served as the organization’s head of industry strategy.

Prior to that, he held roles at Arm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and NXP Semiconductors, working across areas such as AI, quantum, mobile, and compute.

During his career, he has collaborated with operators, hyperscalers, and silicon vendors to build strategic partnerships, shape industry initiatives, and drive growth.

In an announcement, the UKSC said Robertson’s deep industry experience and expertise will be key to driving long-term expansion.

“We’re delighted to welcome Brian to the UKSC at a pivotal moment for the global semiconductor industry, which is rapidly evolving and creating enormous opportunities for the UK,” commented Raj Gawera, chief operating officer at the UKSC.

“Brian’s wealth of experience across the global semiconductor ecosystem will ensure that the UK is primed to capitalize on these opportunities, driving long term partnerships, investment and growth.”

Supporting UK semiconductor growth

The appointment marks the next phase of the UKSC’s efforts to position the UK as an internationally competitive center for semiconductor innovation and investment.

The organization was established to bring together and promote the UK’s semiconductor ecosystem on the global stage, with a focus on turning innovation into commercial growth.

It works to align support around key technologies where it views the country as having a competitive advantage – such as photonics, compound semiconductors, quantum technologies, and next-generation computing architectures.

In his new role, Robertson will play a key role in identifying new strategic international opportunities and helping the country navigate the increasingly complex global landscape – including supply chain challenges and geopolitical dynamics.

Commenting on his appointment, Robertson said the UK’s “strong and increasingly respected” semiconductor ecosystem has an opportunity to scale, attract investment, and strengthen its position in the global arena.

“International partnerships will play a critical role in unlocking that potential,” he added. “I look forward to working with colleagues and partners across industry, government and academia to build strategic relationships that drive collaboration, support innovation, and enable sustainable long-term growth.”

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Brother UK has announced the appointment of Mike Brown as business manager for its specialist print division, as the business technology vendor eyes fresh channel growth across the UK.

In his new role, Brown will focus on driving new business development, identifying and onboarding reseller and dealer partners, as well as building a pipeline of channel opportunities.

He will also work closely with partners to help unlock new revenue streams across Brother’s print and labelling portfolio, and managed print services (MPS).

A seasoned industry veteran, Brown brings more than 30 years’ experience in the print and document solutions space, having held roles across both vendor and reseller organizations. Previously, he served at Ikon Office Solutions, Altodigital, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh UK.

“Mike brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the channel to our team,” said Greig Millar, chief revenue officer at Brother UK.

“His ability to build relationships, understand partner needs and open new opportunities will be key as we continue to grow our partner network and support resellers in delivering value to their customers.”

Based in Tameside, Greater Manchester, Brother UK provides print, scan, and labelling technology to both organizations and home users through its partner-led go-to-market model.

Millar said Brown’s expert understanding of the channel and partner success reflects the company’s strategy of hiring industry talent to expand its partner ecosystem and strengthen regional engagement.

“Strengthening our team with strong industry talent is central to building on our position as a partner the channel can rely on,” he added.

Since joining the business, Brown has already begun supporting partner engagement initiatives – including ‘Meet the MD’ events designed to connect prospective resellers with the vendor’s leadership team and channel strategy.

Commenting on his appointment, Brown said he will focus on building stronger partner relationships and creating new growth opportunities across the channel.

“Having spent much of my career working closely with resellers, I’ve developed a strong understanding of what matters most to them – straightforward commercial models, reliable support and a vendor that’s easy to do business with,” he commented.

“That’s what attracted me to Brother UK – it’s a business that is genuinely focused on supporting its partners.”

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SailPoint has announced the appointment of Levent Besik as its new chief product officer (CPO), as the vendor looks to strengthen its position in the identity security market.

In his new role, he will lead SailPoint’s global product organization, working to drive product strategy, support expansion, and advance the company’s capabilities as enterprise security needs continue to evolve in the era of AI.

A seasoned industry leader, Besik brings extensive experience as a transformational product leader in the identity security space. He joins the business from Microsoft, where he most recently served as vice president of product management for its identity division, leading development for the Human and Agentic Identity platform.

Prior to his time at the Redmond giant, he also held executive product leadership roles at Okta, where he focused on customer identity, and at Google, where he led the firm’s Cloud AI platform and Solutions organization.

In an announcement, SailPoint said Besik’s appointment will help guide the business through its next expansion phase as organizations look to secure identities across complex, AI-driven environments.

“Levent’s deep expertise, coupled with his entrepreneurial mindset and passion for product innovation, make him the ideal leader to guide our product organisation through our next exciting phase of growth,” commented Chandra Gnanasambandam, SailPoint’s executive vice president of product and CTO.

“I’m excited to join forces with Levent as we continue to drive the future of identity security through innovation and strengthen SailPoint’s position as a leading trusted partner for enterprises navigating today’s complex security challenges.”

The appointment comes as enterprises face growing challenges around managing and securing both human and non-human identities as AI technologies continue to grow in prominence and complexity.

SailPoint’s platform is designed to unify identity, security, and data intelligence, enabling organizations to manage access and mitigate identity-based threats across increasingly distributed IT environments.

Commenting on his appointment, Besik said SailPoint is well-equipped to meet the growing enterprise demand for solutions that can secure, govern, and protect agents end-to-end.

“The world demands an identity solution that provides AI security and governance across all clouds and platforms,” he explained. “I believe SailPoint is uniquely positioned as the trusted partner to meet this critical need.

“As a recognised leader in securing and governing identities, we have the world-class talent, innovative technology, and deep understanding for enterprise complexity to empower our customers to safely and confidently innovate with AI through adaptive identity security.”

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AND Digital has announced the appointment of Chris Hardy as chief for strategy and operations, as the digital consultancy looks to continue its expansion in the US market.

Hardy will oversee operations, commercial growth, and client support services across the US business, while helping to shape the firm’s long-term strategy in the region.

The move comes as AND Digital continues to build its presence across key verticals including financial services, fintech, travel, and retail, alongside a growing enterprise customer base.

Hardy steps into his new role having previously served as vice president for AND Digital US, where he played a key role in shaping the company’s market vision and delivery across areas such as AI, data, cloud, and digital platforms.

As part of the appointment, he will also join the global Pioneer Group, where he will act as a steward for AND’s culture and its future success, the firm revealed.

In an announcement, Hardy said his appointment comes at an uncertain but exciting time for businesses, with technology set to play a critical role in attracting and retaining customers.

“We’ve spent several years building the foundations for growth in the US, and our clients and partners have been instrumental to our success, so I’m looking forward to continuing the great work across AI, data, cloud platforms, and digital transformation to solve their greatest challenges and allow them to focus on what they do best,” he commented.

Building on US market momentum

Hardy’s appointment follows a period of rapid expansion for AND Digital, with the company reporting 400% growth in 2025, fueled by rising demand for data-driven digital transformation.

The firm has also bolstered its partner ecosystem through collaborations with Dynamic Yield by Mastercard, a global premier partnership with Snowflake, and a strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) with AWS.

Additionally, Hardy’s appointment is the latest in a series of US hires for AND, with Catherine Rousseau named as technical solutions director back in March, and John Bintu joining the business as head of Databricks & Fabric.

According to the company, this momentum is helping to position the company for continued expansion, with ambitions to build a $100 million-plus Americas operation in the coming years.

AND Digital’s US president Mike Lee described Hardy’s market strategy and operations leadership as “invaluable” to the company’s regional success.

“Our continued growth reflects the wider demand for data-driven digital transformation across sectors, turning to tools such as AI, data, and cloud platforms to deliver value,” he said. “Working with Chris and the AND Digital team, we are equipping businesses with the tech and expertise to realise measurable outcomes and drive growth.”

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Alteryx has announced the appointment of Julie Irish as chief information officer (CIO), as the data and analytics specialist looks to the next phase of its digital transformation.

Irish will head up the firm’s global IT organization, focusing on optimizing systems and processes to support scalability, innovation, and operational efficiency.

The appointment comes as Alteryx continues to expand its AI-powered analytics capabilities and place an increasing focus on enabling data-driven decision-making across the enterprise.

A seasoned industry veteran, Irish brings extensive experience in enterprise technology and transformation. Most recently, she served as CIO at Couchbase, where she led IT, data, business technology, and security.

During her tenure, she modernized the company’s enterprise systems, scaled its data engineering capabilities, as well as embedded AI across core business processes.

She also adds expertise across the end-to-end revenue lifecycle, alongside a track record of leading successful pricing model transformations. Prior to her spell at Crouchbase, she held senior technology leadership roles at New Relic and Harvard Business Publishing.

In an announcement, Alteryx CEO Andy MacMillan said Irish combines strategic vision with strong execution capabilities and will play a key role in the company’s growth journey.

“She is a thoughtful, results-oriented leader who builds strong partnerships and delivers meaningful impact,” he commented. “I’m eager to see the impact she will have across the Alteryx organization and for our global community.”

Alteryx provides an AI-ready data and analytics platform designed to help organizations automate analytics workflows and generate actionable insights at scale.

The firm says its offering is now used by more than 8,000 customers globally to improve decision-making, manage costs, and mitigate risk across business operations.

Commenting on her appointment, Irish highlighted the opportunity to further connect data, analytics, and AI across the organization’s internal operations as it continues its digital transformation.

“We’re at a moment where AI is fundamentally reshaping how businesses operate,” she explained. “What energizes me about Alteryx is not just the pace of innovation, but its unique approach to enabling AI through governed, analyst-driven workflows—equipping lines of business to own their logic while scaling across the enterprise.”

Irish added that, internally, Alteryx has the opportunity to apply that same philosophy to how it advances its technology capabilities to support the business and its scaling ambitions.

“By strengthening how we connect data, analytics, and AI across our operations, we can move faster, operate more intelligently, and continue delivering impact for our customers,” she continued.

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Advania UK has announced a brace of senior leadership appointments, with Sabrina Harris joining the business as chief financial officer (CFO) and Tara Allison taking the role of chief marketing officer (CMO).

The company – part of the Northern European IT services provider, Advania Group – said the move strengthens its leadership bench as it continues to expand its position in the UK market.

Sabrina Harris joins the business from telecoms giant BT, where she served in several senior finance roles, most recently heading up commercial finance across global teams and complex customer contracts.

Advania said she will add deep experience in driving profitability, strengthening financial governance, as well as expertise in supporting large-scale transformation in technology-led environments.

"Advania has clear momentum and a strong platform to build on,” Harris commented. “I look forward to working closely with the business to strengthen performance and support the next phase of development."

Tara Allison arrives with more than 25 years’ experience in B2B technology marketing, adding expertise in building brands and delivering commercial impact. Previously, she led Trend Micro’s marketing activities across the UK and Ireland, aligning brand, demand generation, and sales to deliver sustained growth across the region.

"Advania has a compelling proposition and a clear role to play for customers navigating complex technology decisions,” Allison said of her appointment.

“I’m excited to help bring that to life in the market and build greater visibility and engagement."

Building on strong UK momentum

Since its entry into the UK back in 2021, Advania has grown to become one of the prominent IT service providers in the country, expanding its portfolio of services through the acquisitions of Servium and CCS Media.

The firm said its latest leadership appointments reflect its commitment to maintaining momentum across the region, with a key focus on performance, visibility, and long-term customer relationships.

"We have built a strong position in the UK in a short period of time,” explained Advania CEO Hege Støre, in an announcement. “These appointments are about building on that foundation.

“Sabrina brings the financial leadership needed to support disciplined growth and performance, while Tara will play a key role in strengthening how we show up in the market and how we connect with customers."

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