A DAY IN THE LIFE
GET TO KNOW...
On the lighter side of things, we ask the industry-
experts what makes them tick…
Mark Ackerman – Sales
Director, Middle East, ServiceNow
What would you describe as your
most memorable achievement?
In my previous venture, I worked alongside a really great
management team, as a business partner, to build a private
company into a multi-national systems Integration organisation
with offices in over eight countries in the Middle East, Africa
and the UK. The company’s strength in the Telco sector was
eventually recognised and the company was acquired by a
FTSE-listed organisation creating international opportunities
for the company and the staff. It was a stressful but extremely
exciting and rewarding time working through the M&A where I
learnt a great deal about business.
What made think of a career in
technology?
In the late 90s I had a friend who was really making quantum
leaps in his career as a network engineer. After many discussions
with him and a little contemplation of my chosen career path at
the time, I decided to jump feet first into IT and resigned from
my job. I took a 6-month ‘sabbatical’ to focus on IT studies full
time in order to get my first job in Information Technology and
never looked back since.
What style of management
philosophy do you employ with
your current position?
My current position with ServiceNow coupled with the incredible
growth both within the organisation and externally in our
regional customer base, requires me to take a very hands on
management approach— we all need to roll up the sleeves
to support the growing team and our great customers. Our
customers come first in everything we do—our focus is to be
where the customers are, support their needs and requirements
and ensure we are providing the best service we possibly can.
We are building a phenomenally talented team and fostering a
culture of fun, casual when appropriate, but always customer-
obsessed and arguably most importantly, individualism within
a team effort. At ServiceNow we don’t employ talented people
and then tell them what to do, rather, we are bring in proven
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leaders who will ultimately guide our customers to success with
all our management support being provided as and when the
situation requires.
What do you think will be the hot
technology talking point with be
of 2017–2018?
Intelligent automation, Artificial Intelligence, Chat Bots,
Machine Learning and VR are some of the really exciting
technologies out there. In the context of the Middle East, I
believe that the cloud is close to the top of every CIO and CTOs
priority list and adoption is really starting to accelerate. This
shift to widespread Cloud solution adoption will ultimately start
opening the flood gates of modernisation and transformation
across all technology platforms we interact with today, both as
consumers and in the enterprise.
How do you deal with stress and
unwind outside the office?
Spending quality time with my beautiful wife and two children
playing sports or doing some outdoor activity is what I look forward
to most after a day at the office. However, my motocross and desert
Baja racing is the most stress relieving activity as it allows me to
clear my mind and focus 100 per cent on what I am doing, lest I
crash and burn! My competitive nature means I still participate in
all the local championships and the odd International Rally or Baja
when the opportunity presents itself.
If you could go back and change a
career decision, what would it be?
I am not one for regrets—I believe you make decisions based on
the information at hand and the situation you are in and then
move on without looking back. ¡
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