UPDATED: CA Technologies focuses on industry verticals with three new senior hires

IT management vendor, CA Technologies, has appointed three senior sales directors in a move to support a wider range of industry verticals in A/NZ.

The key industry verticals include telecommunications and media, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), commercial and State Government (CSG), as well as the Federal Government.

“We are looking into those key verticals as they are industries that have complex requirements which CA Technologies can address well, the verticals tend to spend a lot on the type of market we address and they are also big verticals to focus into,” CA Technologies A/NZ managing director, Bill McMurray, said.

The restructure sees appointees in newly created roles specific to industry verticals. The former system operated more geographically.

McMurray said working under verticals improved the effectiveness of how CA Technologies’ dealt with customers.

“One of the value propositions of dealing in a vertical nature is that you get customers from the same industry that have like requirements. It’s easier to replicate solutions from customer to customer more effectively and quickly,” he said.

Kevin Brough will head up as senior director of telecommunications and media sales, Craig Williams takes on the role as senior director of BFSI sales and Richard Kulkarni joins as senior director of CSG sales.

All three of them will report directly to McMurray, and will look after the business operations within the specific verticals. This includes strategy, sales growth and strategic business development.

McMurray said the sales directors’ first point of focus is to come to grips with their existing customer base, learning about the key initiatives surrounding those organisations, validating that those are the organisations and projects to focus on and developing their markets.

The company also hired a new A/NZ vice-president of services to direct the growth and development of a strategic services business towards each of the verticals.

Mark Bennett has been appointed to the role and will report directly to CA Technologies Asia-Pacific and Japan senior vice-president, Darren Reid. Bennett will also work closely with McMurray and his team to allow the close integration of sales and services.

According to McMurray, there is a need for the services and sales teams to work more closely than in the past. The teams will work together earlier in the sales cycles to ensure that the services team has sufficient time to plan its resources and ensure proper coordination within a specified timeframe.

Brough has had more than 20 years’ experience in telecommunications, and most recently served as Microsoft regional sales director for the company’s Asian telecommunications business. He has also formerly worked as the managing director of Nokia Networks in A/NZ and held senior sales positions at EDS and Lucent.

With over 15 years of experience, Williams joins CA Technologies from EMC Corporation, where he was the general manager of its A/NZ documentum business. Prior to EMC, he spent 11 years at Compaq/HP Australia, and was its Victorian general manager for the last six years.

Kulkarni has worked in the software industry for over 25 years and most recently worked at IDS-Scheer AG as its A/NZ managing director. He has also previously held senior positions in McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, JBA International, i2 Technologies, Parametric Technologies Corporation and Sage Business Solutions.

Prior to joining CA Technologies, Bennett led the Australian Professional Services business at Gen-I for five years. He has over 15 years of ICT management experience working across public and private sectors, service providers and technology vendors.

All the new appointees will be based at the CA Technologies’ North Ryde (NSW) office, with the exception of Williams, who will be based in St Kilda (VIC).

McMurray added that while CA Technologies is adopting a vertical structure, it is still focusing on its partner initiatives.

“Partners will allow us to reach into markets that we aren’t reaching today. We are looking to engage our partners within the verticals in offering customers with the solutions they require,” he said.

The company most recently appointed the Westcon Group as its Value Added Distributor.