xMatters Asia-Pacific and Japan vice-president, David Wall
Cloud-based communications company, xMatters, has invested in its local operations with a series of key appointments.
Ty Flippin has been appointed A/NZ area vice-president; Louise Smith is the new Asia-Pacific and Japan client success manager; and Simeon Lobo joins the company as business development manager for the telco operator channel.
As A/NZ area vice-president, Flippin will lead the xMatters’ sales team and all sales activities across the A/NZ region.
Relocating to Sydney from Dallas, Texas in June this year, Flippin brings with him more than five years of experience with xMatters in the US, where he was most recently area vice-president of global service providers.
During this time, Flippin drove significant new relationships between xMatters and key strategic partners, in line with global strategy. He also held the role of regional sales manager in the company for more than four years.
Prior to his time at xMatters, Flippin was solution sales area manager at HP Software for almost three years.
Smith fills the new regional role of client success manager, a role previously operated out of the xMatters California headquarters. As client success manager, Smith is responsible for ensuring customer success throughout their full lifecycle as an xMatters client, achieved through proactive support and a thorough understanding of individual challenges and business goals.
Smith comes from a business continuity background. Before taking on this role, she was a senior analyst in business resilience and security for the Royal Bank of Scotland in London, where she managed a major xMatters implementation on the customer side.
Lobo takes on the role of xMatters business development manager for the telco operator channel. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the ICT industry, most recently working with Optus as strategic development manager.
On recommendation by Optus, Simeon was brought on by xMatters to help manage the recently announced Optus Business strategic partnership, which will allow xMatters to deliver its communications solution to its customers using Optus PowerOn Cloud.
xMatters Asia-Pacific and Japan vice-president, David Wall, said with the new employees’ combined experience augmenting xMatters’ leadership in the region, the company is well-positioned for its next phase of growth in 2015.
“These new hires are an important part of our continued growth strategy and are a tangible sign of the company’s commitment to the region. As our presence has grown, so too has our need to invest in the local team,” Wall added.
All three new staff will be based out of the company’s new North Sydney regional headquarters.Wall also told ARN xMatters intends on delivering value through three areas – business operations, proactive communications (which delves into as-a-service offerings), and the Internet of Things.
“The opportunity for partners is that the channel will help customers build their IT infrastructure, selling systems network applications monitoring products and services, doing all the consulting for them, and automating the last mile of service management.
“That’s the most important part of the process – the people part. That’s when you need a human involved in the process,” he said.
Most of the company play occurs in the financial services, insurance, healthcare, transportation, retail, education, as well as the mining and gas sectors but Wall claimed its solution and partner reach is beyond these verticals.
Wall also claimed the company is intending on growing its partner base in the three market spaces.
“Do we have a complete partner portfolio now? No. I’m a big believer in partnerships and I understand the value of it. In a rapidly moving marketplace, the aim is to build xMatters in this region as quick as possible and for that, we need a complimentary portfolio of partners made out of tech alliances, specialist organisations, managed service providers, and solutions integrators.”
In addition to the A/NZ market, Singapore as a hub for growth in the South East Asian market is also on the company’s roadmap.
Wall also said the company will soon be making advancements to its partner program, especially around partner education and collaboration. More information about this will be given in the coming months.
“We’re looking to double our growth in the next 12 to 18 months. It will allow us to dig deeper into the vertical market plays. The Asia-Pacific market is a relatively green area for us so it’s about building on our establishment in this space,” he added.
