The IT channel is built on relationships, and for channel veteran Kirk Jones those relationships have proven strong enough to pull him out of retirement.
Jones announced late last year he would be leaving his role as vendor alliance manager at MSP Secure Agility to retire from IT after 30 years in the industry. He planned to focus on his work for the NSW Rural Fire Service, where he has been a part time training and equipment officer for 26 years.
But Jones has come out of retirement to join Sydney field services company Best Technology Services as its partner alliance manager – a newly created role at the business. He will report to the company’s general manager Dean Yates.
Speaking about his return to IT, Jones told CRN, “After a short break and briefly working in another industry, I realised, believe it or not, I missed the IT Industry. I missed the comradery, and the day-to-day interaction with the people that I had built relationships with over the many years.”
“It wasn’t until I left that I realised what we take for granted and how fortunate we all are to work in a great industry full of remarkable and interesting people.”
Jones said he was selected for his new role due to his “experience working for and with partners and utilising the many relationships [he has] built over the years.”
Before working at Secure Agility, Jones was the strategic alliance director at Counterparts Technology from 2017 to 2018, and channel director for Hemisphere Technologies Australia during 2017. He also worked at AC3 as the manager, software solutions, from 2013 to 2017, and at SoftwareONE as strategic alliance director from 2012 to 2014.
He credits this experience with helping him better understand partners’ perspectives and craft value added offerings for the partner channel.
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