DEEP DIVE
WE ‘ DEEP DIVE ’ WITH SIMON BENNETT , CTO FOR EMEA , RACKSPACE TECHNOLOGY , WHO TELLS US
ABOUT LIFE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICE .
Rackspace Technology is a leading end-to-end multicloud technology solutions company . As CTO for EMEA , Simon Bennett discusses his role at the company and tells us how he likes to relax and unwind outside the office .
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement in the data centre industry ?
Many years ago in a previous role , I worked with the Department of Work and Pensions to design a solution for the unemployed . We created one big database of all jobs being advertised across the country , rather than locally specific roles . At the time , this was considered groundbreaking as the public was able to search for an exponentially higher amount of jobs from all over the country .
What first made you think of a career in technology / data centres ?
I was always good at problem-solving and looked at things differently which fit nicely with a career in IT . I had a keen interest in IT and always tried to pick at technology I was given . I almost got kicked out of college for hacking its mainframe ! I took the entire campus offline to boost my compute capacity for my own work .
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?
There are three things that are important : to be forward-looking and ahead of industry norms ; to put the customer first ; and to be regionally-centred .
What do you think is the current hot talking point within the data centre space ?
I think the next hot thing hasn ’ t been invented ! We work in a fast-paced
I ’ M YET TO SEE A PROOF- OF-CONCEPT THAT REALLY DEMONSTRATES REAL LIFE VALUE . industry , developing new things and ideas all the time . I ’ m yet to see a proof-of-concept that really demonstrates real life value .
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?
I have a radio and search the waves for interesting conversations around the world . I also take my three dogs on big walks .
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry ?
The major area of investment will be to further develop Robotic Process Automation . This will be driven by AI but also in a rapid expansion of solutions at the edge to ingest and process new sources of data from IoT devices and via 5G .
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