01732 759725 62 AND FINALLY Philip Sansom, Director Business Development and Alliances, Barracuda MSP 60 seconds with… What’s currently having the greatest impact on your business? The Barracuda Managed XDR (Managed Extended Detection and Response) solution which enables MSPs to provide a state of the art cyber security solution for the SME market. Where do you see the next big opportunity? Helping MSPs to extend their cyber security offering and provide them with an opportunity to secure their relationships with existing customers, to generate new customers and additional revenue. What would make your day job easier? Being a little more IT ‘savvy’ – I have been working in IT for getting close to 40 years (I started VERY young!) but I still struggle a bit with the basics. What’s the best bit of business advice you’ve been given? Starting out as a salesman I was told that: ‘you have two of these (pointing to his ears) and one of these (pointing to his mouth) and that’s the order you use them!’ – absolute basics for any salesperson but amazing how many forget this hugely important lesson – listen. What was your first job? Office junior straight from school at an IT company called Micronology. What would be your dream job? Carrying Keith Richards’ guitars (and Keith Richards himself if needed) onto the stage. Fine dining and good wine, or curry and a pint? Somewhere in between, Sheeky’s Fish Restaurant in Covent Garden and a glass of white wine. How do you like to spend your spare time? Spare time does not exist with two boys – aged two and four, but I do love the gym. Money’s not an issue, what’s your perfect car… and where would you like to drive it? Ferrari 355 Spyder, it was the first (and only) Ferrari that I have driven but the wonderful noise the engine made when I started it still rings in my ears. I would love to drive it along the A1 from Manchester to Edinburgh – gorgeous car on a gorgeous drive! If you had had a crystal ball, would you have done anything differently? I started a company when I was 20 with two incredibly talented programmers – we had built a wonderful network monitoring tool but ran out of money after two years and went our own separate ways. The market exploded over the next two or three years and we were SO close to being right at the forefront of that ride – that crystal ball would have been very handy! Describe your most embarrassing moment. As a young salesman I was involved in a big meeting with BP – the technical demonstration was being delivered and I was standing at the back of the room out of sight (or so I thought) and decided that I would try and try and turn both my feet out facing horizontal – after many attempts I succeeded and looked up in triumph only to see the 20 plus people in the meeting all looking at me in disbelief. 10 years · I00 issues Philip Sansom Favourite holiday destination? Las Vegas or the Isle of Wight.
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