JB Hi-Fi enterprise services head departs in reshuffle

Robert Mittag, one of the architects of JB Hi-Fi's enterprise IT evolution, has departed amid a number of changes across the retailer's executive team.

Mittag, who was solutions general manager, led the acquisition of Network Neighborhood in 2013 - the deal that brought JB Hi-Fi into the education space with major contracts in the Victorian schools system.

He worked closely with Richard Murray, the former CFO and now chief executive of JB Hi-Fi, on building the retailer's footprint in the commercial IT sector.

The retailer's IT services arm, JB Hi-Fi Solutions, comes under the remit of online and commercial director Tim Carter. Carter has had supply chain added to his remit as part of the reshuffle.

Reporting into Carter are general manager, sales, Brett Armstrong, who joined JB Hi-Fi in 2014 after nearly 10 years at Winthrop, and general manager, professional services, Carlos Gouveia, who was appointed to that position in August after time at Data#3 and Dimension Data.

Murray explained that Mittag's departure was part of a number of discrete personnel changes in JB Hi-Fi. The retailer has hired former EY partner James Saretta to the role of strategy and digital director. JB Hi-Fi has also promoted national promotions manager Gary Siewert to GM of marketing, reporting to merchandise director Cameron Trainer.

Lastly, Belinda Minieri has been appointed to the senior management team as GM online and solutions operations.

"We are a streamlining management across Solutions," added Murray.

Growth in IT services

Originally dubbed 'JB Hi-Fi Education Solutions', the unit has gone from strength to strength over the three years since the retailer acquired a stake in $26 million reseller Network Neighborhood, which had placed No.15 in the 2012 CRN Fast50.

Richard Murray told CRN: "We have very solid management team in Solutions across Carlos and across Brett, all reporting into Tim. There is no lack of bench strength."

The JB Hi-Fi Solutions division employs more than 350 staff and offers a range of IT services, including servers and storage solutions, managed services and integration for enterprise customers in education, government and mining.

The retailer has publicly stated its ambition to grow the solutions business to reach $500 million of revenue; it is understood the business unit is currently turning over hundreds of millions of dollars.

One of the recent highlights was JB Hi-Fi's deal with Telstra on its cloud offering. The company also landed a spot on the Victorian Department of Education and Training's $495 million IT services panel, as well as the Western Australian government's common use agreement.

JB Hi-Fi grew its sales 7.7 percent to $2.12 billion for the half year ending 31 December. Net profit was also up 7.5 percent from $88.5 million to $95.2 million.

While sales for software was down 4.6 percent, revenue was held up by JB Hi-Fi’s expansion into the small appliances and whitegoods business. During the six-month period, four new JB Hi-Fi Home stores were opened and nine existing stores were converted to JB Hi-Fi Home locations.

Hardware and services are still the biggest earner, accounting for 84 percent of sales.