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How can you optimise a successful business to set it up for an even brighter future? That’s the kind of question that Vickesh Kambaran specialises in. After 15 years consulting in London and Australia, his expertise has already helped Datacom define our values. Now, he will be pivotal in guiding Datacom in working toward its long-term vision – encapsulated in Strategy 2025, Datacom Beyond.
Vickesh grew up in Wellington, New Zealand, with a father who worked in tech and a natural interest in consulting. He earned bachelors degrees in computer science and management at Victoria University before completing a masters in management.
After graduating, Vickesh secured a global internship with the United Nations, spending six months in New York and another six months in Vienna.
“I had the time of my life working in UN agencies, and the exposure was incredible,” he recalls.
That experience gave him a taste for working with large organisations, his next role was with IBM based in Sydney, where he met his now wife. They married and moved to London together, where Vickesh worked for a boutique consultancy that was then acquired by KPMG. After the birth of their first daughter, the couple returned to Australia and Vickesh spent five years with Q5 Partners, first as a consultant and then as Director and Global Head of Organisation Design.
While at Q5, Vickesh worked with a number of clients to define and deliver enterprise-wide transformation. For example, he worked with then CEO of Metcash Food to design and implement a five-year strategy – which helped drive both cost savings and growth. In 2022, Vickesh began working with Datacom on developing our values. The programme enabled him to get a deep sense of the business, what people valued and enabled him to earn the trust of the senior leadership team.
“It was a fascinating piece of work – I had conversations with hundred of different employees across Asia, Australia and New Zealand” says Vickesh. “We learned what was special and what they valued about Datacom, and got a sense of the role it plays in the community. The caring and empathy people had for each other made it clear that Datacom was a people-based environment.”
When the chance came up for a role at Datacom, working on Strategy 2025, Datacom Beyond, Vickesh was immediately on board. His existing relationship with the team meant there was mutual understanding and trust. Plus, he not only appreciated the work that the business had put into its values, but also its history; “there’s something about it having started as a Kiwi business, and with me having grown up in Wellington – I always had a soft spot for Datacom.”
He's been really enjoying his new role, which provides the family flexibility he needs with two young children, and a chance to bring his whole self to work.
“There are two things that really stand out: first, within my team I feel respected and valued, which makes a big difference. And second, I can be myself; this is the environment where I’ve felt most comfortable to share.”
Vickesh’s role in Strategy 2025, Datacom Beyond, includes readying the business for the pace of AI opportunity, SaaS product development and helping the organisation use its multi-decade expertise to design and develop solutions to address the increasingly complex problems being faced by government and enterprise customers.
The role also involves looking for opportunities for Datacom to improve, and one of his first undertakings has been to start identifying the key aspects holding back our performance. By improving the way contracts are managed, for instance, he says Datacom can create more value for customers and prevent projects from creeping out of scope.
Another focus for Vickesh is helping everyone understand what makes Datacom so special.
“Being more aware of the role we play in the market, working with partners so we can be a better friend and a better competitor. That means thriving together – making it easier to collaborate across business units and designing even better systems. We are incredibly good at so many things, and we need to ensure we’re showing people what we can do and making it easy to work with us.”
Vickesh’s work will include finding areas of strength where Datacom can do more, to help the business reach its full potential.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to expand the spaces we’re in – I can see the next horizon of growth for Datacom,” he says. “We’re in a good position, with assets we can leverage even more strongly.”
He would also like to see Datacom find its individuality in the global marketplace.
“We’re not a family-based business any longer, but we’re also not a traditional corporate. We can have our own sense of identity and be proud of Datacom’s unique character.”
