Credit: Kirill Petropavlov (Unsplash)
Australia-founded Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud consultancy firm Versent has turned to fresh talent from the likes of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and IBM as it works to bolster its Asian presence.
The move comes as the company, which began operating in Singapore in 2017, reflects on a growth rate of 400 per cent over the past year in the Asian market, expanding from a team of eight in 2019 to its current tally of at least 31 employees.
The new senior hires, all in its Singapore office, include roles spanning development and sales to consulting.
Among the new hires is Krishna Rajendram, who has stepped into the role of director, providing consulting support to the company’s Singapore banking customers and to drive the adoption of AWS.
Prior to joining Versent, Rajendram was at PwC, where he led a team in developing and implementing go-to-market strategies and reviewing delivery, commercial and engagement structures across Southeast Asia and Australia. He has also worked at IBM, where he was a customer-facing project and delivery executive.
Former IBM ASEAN global business services executive partner Jim Hampton, meanwhile, has also been appointed as a director, to help the company on its largest Singapore account, Prudential, as well as to support Versent in its growth heading into 2021.
Before coming over to Versent, Hampton was at IBM for 23 years, with his last 15 years at the company in leadership roles aimed at growing the banking and insurance markets in China, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Also joining the Versent Singapore ranks is former Experian Asia Pacific agile engagement lead Csaba Muha, who has been appointed as a principal consultant, leading Versent’s largest agile digital transformation program.
Earlier in the year, meanwhile, former AWS Canada senior Internet of Things (IoT) specialist solution architect Richard Kang was appointed as principal cloud engineer, helping clients design their cloud environments and lead their migrations to AWS.
According to Versent Asia general manager Jordan Windebank, the company is seeing tremendous growth opportunities in Southeast Asia, with COVID-19 working to further accelerate the pace of digital transformation in Singapore — a factor compounded by the Singapore government’s SG$500 million pledge to help support local businesses in their digital transformation efforts.
“Singapore organisations have had to adapt quickly to the new COVID-19 environment and for many that means moving their IT systems into the cloud and enabling their teams to work productively from home,” Windebank said.
“In the past, these teams would have had bigger budgets and the luxury of more time to get these digital transformation projects done, but in 2020 that has all changed.
“The technology expertise we offer, combined with the agility and speed at which we can complete projects, without the massive day rates that the global consultancies charge makes our offering in this market very compelling and I look forward to helping more organisations in Singapore with their digital transformation projects,” he added.
Versent's Asian expansion comes as fellow Australian IT services provider Exigo Tech makes the move to put boots on the ground in Singapore as part of its own expansion into the Asian market.
“We kept on hearing a lot of things from vendors like Microsoft, Telstra and organisations like that, asking ‘why are you not there? We really need a partner like you over there’,” the provider's managing director Vivek Trivedi said. “We were constantly thinking about ‘how do we take a step forward?’
“Finally, we got working with a couple of our clients that had branch offices in Singapore and we realised that it’s true, that top-notch quality of services that a multinational company’s looking for, we saw that as a great opportunity for Exigo Tech to be part of the competition there,” he added.
