Actor/director Woody Allen coined the phrase: “80 per cent of success is showing up.” But if that was really the case, Hitachi Data Systems Canada would have had success throughout the decade.
But it took a former Digital Equipment Canada executive, Barry Morrison, a change in philosophy and a lot of hard work from him and his team to turn HDS Canada around.Morrison helped to transition a technically-based company into a sales organization with a 100 per cent channel-friendly strategy. He also repaired HDS’ fragmented business model and made it into a standalone unit.
Morrison also instilled a positive attitude at HDS Canada. With that type of outlook, the company’s sales doubled in his first year there and last year, it grew again just short of 40 per cent.
Another factor contributing to growth is that Morrison started a government practice at HDS and now 35 per cent of HDS Canada’s revenue comes from the feds.
The big announcement in 2010 was HDS’s virtual storage platform with 3D scaling and Morrison took it upon himself to get channel partners ready months in advance of the announcement so that they could hit the ground running when the product launched.
This move ensured another successful campaign for HDS in Canada. Regulations prevent Morrison from disclosing his 2010 growth to CDN, but he did characterize it as being “great!”