From retirements to new integrated apps in a marketplace, here are some extracts from our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Thomas Goodmanson Steps Down as Calabrio CEO
Thomas Goodmanson has retired following 15 years at the helm of Calabrio.
Goodmanson hopes to take the opportunity to rest and spend more time with his family.
Taking the reigns is Kevin Jones, the former CEO of Rackspace Technology, a business that supports organizations in designing, building, and managing multi-cloud solutions.
There, Jones spearheaded a global expansion, growing its annual revenues from $2BN to $3BN.
While Jones was ousted from the role in November 2022 after his executive team backtracked on its intentions to sell parts of the business, the markets reacted poorly to the move.
Indeed, Rackspace’s stock dropped nine percent, which perhaps proved a testament to his previous successes.
Yet, despite the fallout, Jones is ready to jump straight back into the CEO hotseat.
Setting out his vision on LinkedIn, he stated:
As CEO, I will hold a laser-tight focus on our true-cloud business model, market-leading product, and global presence, but also stay true to my belief that there is no greater differentiator than our people and culture.
Jones also doubled down on Goodmanson’s mantras of empowering the contact center as a brand guardian and optimizing human-centric experiences.
Consequently, Calabrio customers should not expect a significant swing in strategy, which sometimes comes with a CEO switch. The recent changes at the top of 8×8 exemplify this.
Gartner Halves Its 2023 Prediction for IT Spending Growth
Gartner has chopped down its 2023 forecast for global IT spending growth from 5.1 to 2.4 percent.
The market analyst anticipates total spending to reach $4.5 trillion this year.
B2C companies will bear the brunt of the drop from 5.1 percent, a figure Gartner only forecasted three months ago.
The degree to which inflation continues to limit consumer spending power is central to the decline.
Thankfully, enterprise IT spend remains steady. As John-David Lovelock, VP Analyst at Gartner, said:
While inflation is devastating consumer markets, contributing to layoffs at B2C companies, enterprises continue to increase spending on digital business initiatives despite the world economic slowdown.
Much of this enterprise spend will focus on software and IT services. Indeed, Gartner expects these segments to grow by 9.3 and 5.5 percent, respectively, in 2023.
Meanwhile, the market for devices – which is typically a consumer-driven space – seems set to decline by 5.1 percent.
Perhaps this statistic, more than any other, highlights the differing economic realities consumers and enterprises face.