Securing the next growth phase

SoftGen general manager, Guy Coles, joined the distributor earlier this year and has been steadily expanding the business into new product areas. He spoke to ARN about his background in security, the company’s growth plans and his love of the industry.
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From there, I started my own company, Network Monitoring Solutions, distributing enterprise software from the US. I did that for three years, then took a year-and-a-half off and did a lot of travel. I joined Insight looking after their asset management product, before moving to Excom and now SoftGen.

What do you like about the current job?

The autonomy Jim has given me to go and grow the business is great – that’s what I do very well. I like start-ups – while SoftGen is certainly not a start-up, the growth we’re trying to achieve is similar and the way we’re expanding into new directions is comparable. I enjoy going to work. Our growth targets are a challenge, but that is what I enjoy.

Is growth the main objective for the New Year?

That is certainly one factor, but making sure we get it right is the other challenge. It would be easy to go out to market and rape and pillage, for want of a better term, but then you don’t fulfil. We need to have the strategy, infrastructure and planning in place to deliver on what we promise.

What do you dislike about IT?

I might be a bit political here, but I resist the Federal Government’s attempt to filter and control the Internet. With our democratic society, that just doesn’t sit well with me and I resist it. I wonder if they were challenged on it in a court of law, how far it would go.

What’s your biggest achievement to date?

I would say my two kids, but it’s not a career achievement. Growing the Vet business was the job I enjoyed more than anything. It was a phenomenal product and an amazing team behind it.

Do you like gadgets?

I’m a shocking gadget boy. I can’t count the number of mobile phones I’ve had in the last year or two. I love my HTC Diamond, I have the media centre at home; my kids and my partner’s kids love the toys. I use Linux at home.

What’s the next big thing?

From a broad perspective, I don’t think we’ve seen nearly as much virtualisation as we’re going to. What specifically those new technologies will be I don’t know, but virtualisation is one part of a bigger package. Certainly, cloud computing is an area of opportunity – how channel fits in the equation is the challenge.

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Register now for the ARN Security Forum 2013 on June 4 at the Sydney Mint

More about: ARN, CA Technologies, Excom, HTC, Linux, Promise, SoftGen, SoftGen Australia, Software Spectrum

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