The new structure is led by Sukh Rayat, senior vice president, north region and computer components and integrated solutions (CCIS). Rayat is supported by four sales directors with responsibility for a mix of technology, customer and vendor specific business units.
Laura Harman will continue as sales director for the independent software, networking and security and HP business units. In addition, she will be responsible for the mid-market, system integrators and strategic accounts business units.
Christian Curtis is promoted to sales director of the established IBM and Oracle business units. Curtis also heads up the fast growing services business unit. Services are increasingly important to Avnet business partners as a growth area. Having access to vendor specific services supported by Avnet technical skills plus a range of additional Avnet created services, such as a 24x7 support desk and IT estate management, provide important differentiators for business partners.
Joining from Magirus, Denise Bryant has been appointed to sales director of the open storage, EMC, NetApp, Hitachi Data Systems and Cisco business units. Bryant adds leadership skills and data centre expertise to a fast growth area of Avnet UK’s business.
David House completes the line-up of sales directors with responsibility for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and managed service providers (MSPs).
Linda Patterson will continue in her role as marketing director, responsible for driving market awareness of the Avnet brand and collaborating with the UK marketing teams to further increase solutions- and services-led demand generation activity.
Rayat commented, “With an increased focus on customer groups, solutions and services, this structure will drive more collaboration between business units as Avnet helps its business partners find opportunities to grow and move into new markets, such as those presented by cloud computing and infrastructure convergence. At the core of everything is the Avnet SolutionsPath™ methodology which gives our partners the knowledge, training, marketing and resources necessary to deliver solutions into high growth vertical markets and emerging technologies. With this structure we will significantly enhance our customer focus and engagement.”