The best connections: Russell Crampin

It sometimes seems that barely a week passes without news of a denial-of-service attack. Last year in one month alone, digital disrupters took down some of the biggest names, including Netflix, Twitter, Spotify and PayPal as well as several major newspaper websites. Even behemoth Amazon reported outages. Good network security has never been so important, and it’s no wonder polls show it’s at the top of the list of many CEOs’ concerns.
It’s also top of the list when clients come to Axians with their wish list, says its UK Managing Director, Russell Crampin.

Security is essential

Axians offers a portfolio of telecommunications infrastructure, software solutions, data systems, cloud-based services, and managed IT services. But it knows that nothing is worth offering unless it comes with good security. "It’s our main focus. We don’t see it as something you bolt on. It’s a part of everything we do," Russell says. "Reliable and secure technology is essential. The network is the fundamental way in which society interacts. Everything that has a technology badge drives more demand in every kind of network. But at the end of all those technologies are people who are relying on them to be available and to perform." As more and more devices are connected to those networks, demands increase and so does users’ insistence that their data is absolutely secure.

The pressure on companies like Axians is immense, but the company understands perfectly why this is so. Brand reputation is critical: having it trashed by a hacker can be a disaster, points out Russell. In extreme cases, the failure of a network to operate securely and reliably can be life threatening. A good network has become fundamental for everyday life, he points out, referencing the recent hurricane disaster in Haiti. One of the top priorities there was getting a network up and running so everyone could communicate and get aid to the areas that needed it. "You hear phraseology around smart cities or infrastructure, and all of these are just going to add more demand and devices, which also means more potential for security holes, so this problem is not going to go away," he adds.

Already the company is establishing an enviable track record in building secure networks with some of the biggest names around. One such example is the London School of Economics, which needed a reliable network to deliver secure data traffic between campus and off-site data centres. Axians’ solution involved layering protocols to create a high-speed, low latency ‘protocol hamburger’ using a DATA Centre interconnect over an encapsulated and encrypted tunnel for privacy.

Outcome focused

In addition to security, obviously businesses approach Axians with the need for them to provide solutions to complicated problems. Russell has enjoyed a wide and varied career spanning almost two decades within the IT industry and has made it his business to learn as much as possible about every area he’s been involved in. "That allows you to empower the people around you and recruit great talent," he says. Immediately before joining Axians, he was Sales Director with Logicalis, so it’s perhaps not surprising that one of the first changes he made at Axians was to reorganise the sales team to ensure it was more outcome-focused when dealing with customers. "If we don’t help customers change what happens in their business, we’re not really making a difference," he says. "The way the company has grown is that we’ve built a good reputation, particularly within our professional services and our support and management services capabilities. We’re making sure that what we offer customers is relevant to their business and will take them forward in what is a very exciting and challenging time in a disrupted market."

"I’m confident we carry a level of expertise within our team that fundamentally changes what our customers can deliver to their end users." – Russell Crampin

Like-minded partnerships

Taking his own company forward, Russell intends for Axians to continue investing in services and solutions portfolios and to look at opportunities to partner with like-minded businesses, running them to complement the current business.

"That way we will grow our market. We’re very strong in communications, research and education markets — and we’ll continue supporting those customers — but we’re looking at what new markets are emerging that will require the level of expertise that we have around network integration, in particular our expertise in carrier-grade networks. The way we go about this is to ensure our customers have the correct network to take them into their chosen markets and business. We then continue to be their trusted adviser. That’s an overused phrase, but I’m confident we carry a level of expertise within our team that fundamentally changes what our customers can deliver to their end users."

Partnerships are becoming increasingly important in the communications and technologies arena, which is why Russell is delighted that Axians are part of Vinci Energies, a company
well known for successfully building human-sized businesses — relatively small businesses that are absolutely expert in both their markets and customer solutions.

The partnership has allowed Axians to remain autonomous and empowered so it can meet market changes and respond quickly while also providing a large and well-established global enterprise. This is critical for providing networks to very large customers, as it provides extra reassurance that the organisation is rock solid and not going to disappear in a couple of years time. No-one wants to invest in new systems only to see the developer go under. "We pride ourselves on being easy to deal with, to buy from, and that we deliver value to our customers," Russell says.

Ahead of the curve

Another source of pride is the Axians team’s ability to stay abreast of new technology. "There is a slew of exciting software, either licence-based or offered as a service, which we build into our propositions," Russell continues.

"That means we can take advantage of core infrastructure but also start to stretch the network to make a difference to our customers’ end users. In some ways, technology is becoming increasingly commoditised; but while people want that, they are also more reliant on the performance of that technology and want it to be more agile, flexible and scalable."

Like any good company, Axians sees its staff as the differential that makes it successful. "We don’t produce products; our people develop solutions," Russell points out. Every individual customer has very individual requirements, and it’s only by having a top IT expert who can liaise with them and properly understand their challenges that they can be confident of receiving a network that will deliver their requirements. "Every person in the business has a development plan that embraces their personal and professional skills growth," Russell says. There are plans to continue nurturing talent even further with a new apprenticeship scheme. "We’ll be offering structured learning out of the office to our graduates."

Exciting times clearly lie ahead. It’s evident that Russell gets enormous satisfaction in meeting every challenge as Axians shows customers how to use connectivity to create new services, capability and network streams — and to do it reliably and securely.

It’s the perfect package.