Telstra's new head of enterprise mid-market, Sara Adams
Channel luminary and former managing director of Cisco's partner business group, Sara Adams, has joined Telstra as its head of enterprise mid market, after a two year hiatus from the industry.
Adams told ARN she is excited about her role at Telstra, as head of the newly created enterprise mid-market division, and is overseeing its new accounts.
After spending 16 years in the industry, including 13 at Cisco, Adams decided to take a break in 2013.
The first year she spent travelling, and the second she spent studying with the Australian Institute of Company Directors, doing a company directors course.
She is also a non-executive director for Ku-Ring-Gai Financial Services, part of Bendigo bank.
"That was a phenomenal experience, with phenomenal people," she said.
The new division at Telstra is made up of a merger of other enterprise divisions, with a focus on customers of around 500 seats, and fits within Telstra's Global Enterprise Services division. Her team will report to Colin Timm, Telstra's executive director of enterprise.
"It's a great opportunity to really sink my teeth in at Telstra. It's quite a remit, focused on the higher end mid-market, such as global enterprise services, as well as lower end mid-market locally," she said.
"It's a great focus, and there are lots of opportunities for us to broaden our solutions portfolio."
Adams could not reveal who the key customers are yet, but did say that the division will not be focused on any particular market vertical.
"It has been fun getting my head around working for a big local organisation, I'm used to working within giant American multinationals," she said.
"I'm looking at it like a luxury, our management, product development, everything is local. It also means I'm able to impact more local interests.
Adams has been a key driver of pushing gender diversity in the IT industry, providing mentoring to young female leaders, and was an early supporter of ARN's own Women In ICT Awards. She was awarded the inaugural award for her professional achievement in the industry in 2012.
"It's getting back into pushing Women in IT. I'm lucky in that Telstra's very proactive in this area, women are afforded great opportunities," she said.
"I'm having a lot of fun getting back into it."
