Hitachi Data Systems hands out P45s ... to EXECUTIVES

Hitachi cuts as well this week. Aivars Lode avantce

Hitachi Data Systems hands out P45s ... to EXECUTIVES

By | Paul Kunert 28th February 2014 14:02

Storage firm cutting costs amid yet another restructure

Cost-cutting Hitachi Data Systems has put a couple of senior execs on notice of redundancy, including UK and Ireland channel bigwig Neill Burton and veep for emerging markets Russell Hill.

Staff were told about the potential redundancies yesterday, and promptly leaked it to The Channel.

"The company has got to find further cost savings across the region and decided to get rid of people that led the transformation work," an insider told us.

As part of that transformation work, Burton - who joined HDS from Computacenter as veep for channels and alliances at the start of 2012 - was tasked with recruiting generals to help beef up partner sales.

HDS admitted its channel unit had "lacked teeth", wanted partners to account for up to 80 per cent of company revenues, and embarked upon an aggressive customer acquisition strategy.

At last count, resellers and SIs comprised 65 per cent of UK revenues though the figure is understood to be tracking to a far higher run rate in the current fiscal.

Internal sales reps were handed a channel element in their overall revenue targets as HDS tried to improve links with partner businesses, and a team was assembled to blend all sales forces.

Three UK sales directors were put in place with Jonathan Naik heading the SI unit, Sue Preston the existing house accounts and latterly Lynn Collier, who replaced Nick Venables as new business development boss.

We asked HDS to comment on the moves, and it responded by confirming that Collier has been made COO for the UK biz, and this apparently will "elevate our focus on executing against a robust and effective partnering strategy."

"Lynn will also focus on leading sales enablement and productivity across both the direct and indirect routes to market," HDS added.

It added that Burton was a "valued member of the leadership team and has played a significant role in driving our partner strategy to date."

Burton and Hill were unavailable to comment at the time of writing.