Paul Shaw - Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) A/NZ northern region sales director
Former Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) A/NZ general manager of storage, Paul Shaw, has joined Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) as its A/NZ northern region sales director.
Shaw will report directly to HDS A/NZ vice-president and general manager, Nathan McGregor.
Shaw departed from his role as A/NZ general manager of storage in October last year, following a reshuffle in HPE's management pack in Australia, resulting in the departure of senior server and storage leaders.
ARN reported at that time that Shaw had the opportunity to apply for a different position within the company, or exit the business through the vendor's redundancy program.
Joining HDS, Shaw is tasked with focusing on the end-to-end business of the company for the region, growing the business for HDS enterprise IT solutions, as well as educating the market on Internet of Things (IoT) opportunities. He will be based in the company's Sydney office.
Citing a recent study by TechResearch Asia that showed 40 per cent of digital projects in Australia delivered either mixed results, were too difficult to measure, or provided no competitive advantage, Shaw highlighted the importance of digital transformation, saying that it would be one of his key focuses going into the new role.
“I’m looking forward to working with industry leaders on pathways to deliver tangible business outcomes with a modern application infrastructure leveraging the value, performance, and innovation of HDS technologies and services,” he said.
"Our breadth and depth of solutions will let us enable our clients to take advantage of a different set of business outcomes around digital transformation. The opportunity at HDS, is expanding that digital transformation into social outcomes."
Shaw said interest in the traditional infrastructure market is declining, with HDS customers looking for different sets of solutions to solve their problems.
"So, we want to capitalise on data and this has been our focus for quite some time. Leveraging big data, and analytics will build on this digital transformation conversation," he said.
He also said partners are critical in this equation.
"Having a strong channel that understands our solutions and wants to partner with us is critical. We've got a strong channel and I'm looking forward to working with our trusted channel partners to grow our joint businesses."
Shaw’s extensive experience in the channel is expected to aid him in delivering tangible business outcomes for digital transformation in the enterprise.
Having served in HPE for more than two years, Shaw was previously an executive at HP. He served in this business for about 10 years, across various roles including enterprise sales executive, client principal, and A/NZ practice principal.
"Having an understanding of the market, customers, their concerns, channel partners, etc. gives me a broad range of experience that I can draw on," he added.
Before joining HP in 2004 as a senior solutions architect, he previously also held technical roles at Rabobank, Compaq, and a start-up system integrator (SI).
“Paul’s strength as a transformational sales leader and deep industry knowledge will help our enterprise customers on their digital transformation journey.
“With the swiftness of the market changes, CIOs are looking for trusted advisors who do not only understand the technology but are also in a position to guide them through the structural and organisational challenges that mark the road to true digital success,” McGregor added.
