Claranet today announced four senior appointments as the business sets its sights on growth across Europe. The appointments mark the beginning of a new stage in Claranet’s evolution as a managed services provider. Following recent investment in a market-leading virtual hosting infrastructure and the ongoing development of its networking services, Claranet is set to capitalise on the growth in demand for cloud services across Europe. The new appointments are as follows:
- Olivier Beaudet, Group Chief Marketing Officer (Position held alongside existing role as Managing Director of Claranet France)
- Ian Finlay, Group Chief Information Officer
- Nigel Fairhurst, Group Finance Director
- Brett Shepherd, UK Operations Director
In the newly-created role of Group CMO, Olivier Beaudet will unify the brand’s communication strategy across its regions and play a central role in developing Claranet’s product roadmap.
The rise of cloud computing makes for an exciting time at Claranet. Ongoing development of our technology and managed services means we’re in an ideal position to ride the wave of cloud adoption – particularly the accelerating uptake of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). As CMO, my first task will be to standardise our service offering across Europe, so that customers of any size, in any region, can benefit from all of them. This will involve the staged roll out across Europe of our newly-launched Managed Virtual Hosting (MVH) service. Olivier Beaudet, Chief Marketing Officer, Claranet Group
Ian Finlay will be focused on the standardisation of the processes and technology that underpin Claranet’s services. This will involve investment in new technology and business systems, and ensuring the business aligns with ITIL standards across all of its regions. Brett Shepherd will focus on the continual improvement of customer delivery operations, and will work closely with Ian on the implementation of internal IT projects targeted at further improving the customer experience and aligning with ITIL processes. Nigel Fairhurst aims to enhance the integration of regional finance processes and, in doing so, enable each region to benefit more from resulting economies of scale. Claranet founder and CEO, Charles Nasser, commented on the appointments:
Claranet has come a long way since its humble beginnings 15 years ago as a consumer and business ISP. Investing in people and technology is how we got to where we are today, and we have no plans to curb this strategy – it’s part of our DNA. “Because of this continued investment we’ve been able to position ourselves ahead of the market time and time again, making significant financial decisions in the midst of the recession while other companies were holding back. This strategy has served us well - our offering now is a range of complex and sophisticated networking and hosting services, including cloud, which we offer to high-calibre customers such as Net-a-Porter, Five TV, Harvey Nichols, Football Association, Amnesty International and Ann Summers. We’re excited to have these new executives on board as we prepare the business for future growth. Charles Nasser, CEO, Claranet Group