For the last three and a half years Steve Swallow has traversed the region from his base in Tauranga, responsible for Datacom operations and customer relationships in Taranaki, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay.
“In regional New Zealand, you are dealing with people who are making stuff,” says Steve.
“It's manufacturing, its food and fibre, its ports, trucking firms. They know their business inside out and want to get to the rub of where the value is very quickly,” adds Steve, who during a 16-year career at Datacom has also worked extensively with government agencies and headed the public sector business in Wellington.
His experience during the Covid years in the regions has inspired the approach Steve is taking with his latest Datacom assignment, as Director of Market Strategy and Go-to-Market for New Zealand.
The new title reflects the role’s responsibility for steering Datacom’s market strategy and shaping its growth trajectory, in a period where businesses and government alike are contending with economic headwinds and of rapid technological change.
“There's less certainty about the future. Some organisations are questioning what they do and how they do it, whether they are even still relevant,” says Steve.
“What we need to do at Datacom is lean into the challenge, as a solver of problems, through the smart use of technology. The bottom line is we need to be very clear with customers in terms of the value of making technology-related investments.”
CIOs and the boards they report to, Steve explains, have spent the last 15 years undertaking a flurry of digital transformation, cloud migration, and customer experience upgrades. Now they are faced with daunting decisions about what path to take, with the latest generation of artificial intelligence presenting a fork in the road for many of them.
“When it comes to AI, they’ve mainly been in experiment mode, testing the water,” says Steve.
“There’s a lot of FOMO around AI at present. But ultimately, using it is about more than just removing cost or boosting productivity. Business leaders are telling us they want to de-risk processes through the use of technology, and seek Datacom’s help to understand and address the impacts of the challenges they face.”
In the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, daunting costs associated with urgent infrastructure upgrades, inflationary pressure, and uncertainty in global markets, customers big and small want guidance on where to invest time and energy.
“Datacom is well placed to offer that guidance,” Steve says. “Whether it's in our application management business, or in process automation and continuous improvement, we know how to help organisations make the most of their technology investments.”
His new role spans multiple lines of business and will allow him to continue pursuing some of his passion projects – growing talent and boosting Datacom’s presence in New Zealand’s regions.
The two priorities are intertwined, says Steve.
“There are lots of really smart people who would love to have a really challenging and rewarding career, but also live in a beautiful place where they can afford to buy a home for their family,” he says.
Datacom helps people do that. It’s not just about servicing local companies, he adds.
“We have people in the regions working for customers all over Australasia,” he points out.
“I’ve tested this with customers, they don’t demand that a Datacom person be in the same town or city as them. But they do want to see Datacom, as an organisation, investing in the growth of their region.”
Datacom has spent years doing exactly that. The Hawkes Bay office now has 22 staff with a new lease signed on a larger office in Hastings which will accommodate more staff. Other regional hubs are similarly in growth mode.
Steve’s priority in the coming months is getting out and talking to customers all over the country, to inform Datacom’s efforts to best serve the market and the changing needs of businesses.
“The message I’m hearing is don’t just come to us with another potential project. Help us maximise the value we get from what we’ve already invested in,” he says.
“People don’t spend money on the problems they are dealing with, they spend money on the impact the problem creates. At a time when we face a number of challenges with significant impacts on the economy, and society, Datacom is determined to do its bit to offer some compelling solutions.”
