technologyreseller.co.uk 43 OBSERVABILITY She adds that Kensu’s differentiated offering will be a real benefit for channel partners as the company expands into new markets and builds a network of VARs across the US, UK and France, from its strongholds in Belgium and Italy. “A lot of companies are talking about data observability and there’s a lot of interest in the market to find a way to solve these problems, but I don’t think there are other companies doing it the way we do it, so that’s a very exciting opportunity for the resellers that we’re talking to. It represents a unique and differentiated opportunity to go to market.” Kensu is in the early stages of talking to VARs in the UK and US, but the company also deals directly with end user customers, so what are the triggers that cause customers to investigate data observability solutions? “There are organisations that still struggle with data quality, though they may not put that name on it. We had a company that had to produce an executive report at 7 a.m. every morning and on occasions the data pipeline that supported that would break which meant they weren’t able to deliver those reports. They’ll be thinking ‘How can I solve this? How can I find a better way of doing this?’ and that’s where you can say ‘Actually, you may not be aware of this yet, but there are solutions that can give real-time updates on what’s happening, rather than you waiting and not knowing there was a problem or that the pipeline was broken until you try to run the report for senior management on a critical time deadline’.” Treharne-Jones adds that with a choice of cloud hosted, on-prem or hybrid models Kansu can meet the needs of customers at any stage of their digital transformation. “There are still many companies with digital transformation initiatives that are in the process of moving to the cloud, and when a company is introducing a new data platform or a migration is taking place it is often a very good time for it to address the health of its data. It’s a great time for resellers in that process to introduce data observability. There are also many companies in financial services and healthcare, for example, who still keep their information on-prem. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to address these issues, so being able to support companies with those needs and define with some European firms, a Danish firm, seeking to expand further into the European market. That foundation has been very valuable, particularly now with the path that Kensu is taking, as companies often find it challenging to bridge cultural differences between markets. It's been a good and interesting foundation to be able to leverage here. TR: Was your transition into the IT world a matter of chance or were you always attracted by tech? ET-J: Data fuels so much of what we do and I think it's a really exciting and important space and also one with phenomenal growth opportunities. So, for me, it was a very attractive space. That was where some of my early customers were and I've been excited to continue to work in the B2B SaaS space since. TR: Do you find that people need particular skills to prosper in the tech world or was your background in press relations and as CEO of your own business enough? ET-J: I think what it takes to be successful in business is listening incredibly carefully to your customer, staying very close to your customer, whether that's listening to a partner and understanding what their needs are and what they're hearing in the market, or whether it's a direct customer and really understanding the pain points that they're experiencing. I think if you're able to do that and stay close, then you're always going to be developing solutions that either disrupt the market, by finding a different way of solving that pain, or are an extension of an existing solution in the market. That empathy, that ability to listen and to understand is critically important. It also just happens to be a big part of a communications role as well. Eleanor Treharne-Jones has had a varied career since graduating from the University of Cambridge in 1996, starting out in public relations, working as a press officer for several Government departments including the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Defence. In 2010, as Head of Pursue Communications, she helped the Home Office implement a communications strategy in support of the Government’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In the same year, she co-founded an integrated PR & social media agency, Optimise, which she ran as CEO until January 2012 when she set up Conversation Co, a global strategic communications company delivering communications and PR campaigns for major clients including several in the IT sector, notably data privacy management company TRUSTe, which she joined as Global Communications Director in 2014. She has remained in the IT sector ever since, holding a variety of executive and senior management positions in the US, at TrustArc, IntraEdge, Odaseva, the enterprise data management platform for Salesforce, and now Kensu. Technology Reseller (TR): Before you entered the IT sector, you had a background in PR and communications, ultimately setting up your own PR agency. Has that background been helpful to your career in the tech sector? Eleanor Treharne-Jones (ET-J): When I stopped working for the UK Government, I set up my own business which was a strategic consultancy helping companies make the transition into different geographic markets. I worked with a couple of US technology firms seeking to break into the European market. I also worked A world of experience security requirements as well is a great advantage of Kensu.” This versatility should give Kensu and its VAR partners a significant boost as it looks to expand its footprint on both sides of the Atlantic, which, as TreharneJones points out, is right now its number one priority. “What we’re focused on at the moment is growth – customer acquisition and being able to meet the market demand for better solutions to this problem. That’s our primary focus at this stage.” www.kensu.io
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