CHANNEL CHIEF
GRAHAM PORTER , Head of Channels, Middle East, Veeam, has
enjoyed a successful career working with some of the biggest names in
the IT sector before taking on the challenge of his current position with
Intelligent Data Management company Veeam. Here we talk about his
current job role, memorable achievements and managerial style.
D
Describe your current job
role and the parts that are
somewhat challenging?
I look after Veeam’s channel/distribution/
alliances for the Middle East and Central
Africa. To me it’s all about building
and maintaining relationships and
understanding what is in it for the partners
with whom we work. Things always
change and dealing with conflicts is an
important part of this, learning to manage
relationships and resolve things so that
most people are happy and the relationship
continues to grow is vital and this requires
a lot of diplomacy in this region.
When you look back at your
career what has been the most
memorable achievement?
I have been remarkably fortunate to work
with some of the biggest names in the IT
industry, IBM, HP, Sun, Cisco, NetApp and
now Veeam, all have allowed me to travel
half the world, meet interesting people and
hopefully add value to what they are trying
to achieve. I’ve also been very fortunate
in having companies which allow me to do
new things and support me with resources
to do it and managers who are prepared to
do something different even when it looks
unconventional, many people still remember
my Hawaiian parties for Sun Microsystems.
What made you think of a career
in technology?
When I was at university in the UK, I had a
year out from my Business Studies degree
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT
INTELLIGENT
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Issue 24
To me it’s all
about building
and maintaining
relationships and
understanding what
is in it for the partners
with whom we work.
Graham Porter, Head of Channels –
Middle East at Veeam
and I was very fortunate to work for IBM in
their UK head office for 14 months, the rest
as they say is history. . . .
What style of management
philosophy do you employ at
your current position?
When I worked for IBM they had four
key principles, one was ‘respect for the
individual’, which has stayed with me and I
like to think that people work with me and
not for me.
What is your style as a
team leader?
Following on from the point above, I
hire people who are self-starters; they
know what they need to do and they are
empowered to just get on with it. When
half of my team live in different countries,
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