Feature
I
n his first, exclusive
interview since arriving
in the UK, Reed Exhibitions
new CEO, Hugh Jones
explains that he has a strong
background in technology
and that he intends to
use some of the key ideas
pioneered by Accuity/
RELX to modernise events,
and improve customer
experiences across Reed
Exhibitions.
The father of three from
Buffalo, New York, said:
“Think about the future.
Imagine if you have an app
on your phone and you’re
walking down the corridor
of an exhibition, and the
app on your phone says this
exhibit is somewhere you
should stop, and that they
are available to speak to you
right now, and the exhibitor
has also seen who you
are and they have already
preselected that they would
New chief signals
high-tech era for
Reed
Saul Leese speaks to the new CEO at Reed
Exhibitions about his new role and his vision for
the business
like to speak to you. For me,
it’s about making sure that
people can figure out the
best use of their time at an
exhibition.
“The same applies to an
exhibitor, because we want
to help them to understand
which exhibitions are the
most relevant to them and
help them to find their best
customers. If you can bring
data and AI into exhibitions
and use that technology
all over the world, that
matchmaking technology
can bring value and
efficiency to our visitors,
and make it more fun.”
Jones joined RELX in 2011
when it acquired Accuity,
where he was serving as
CEO. Most recently, he
has been the global MD for
Accuity, Cirium, Estates
Gazette (EG) and ICIS –
all part of Risk & Business
Analytics, a division of
RELX.
How is Reed going to
technically change?
Jones explains that being
part of RELX has distinct
advantages, he adds: “We are
not simply Reed Exhibitions,
we are an important, large
division of RELX Plc, one
of the most sophisticated
companies in the world at
massive, supercomputer
and data computation.
Our understanding of
AI, and our work around
HPCC, which is one of
our supercomputing
powerhouses, our data
intake and we have
LexisNexis, we have some
advantages because those
tech hubs are already there.
“I don’t have to build it, it’s
built. I can call my buddies
and ask them to
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