Apadmi's new Chair shares why he's joining Europe's fastest-growing digital product consultancy

What attracted you to working with Apadmi?

So it's obvious that mobile apps are where the value proposition has to be in the future. Just look at the amount of time everyone is using their devices - from work, to social, to buying and selling, it’s all on mobile.

So you’d think there must be loads of mobile specialists out there, but there are actually very few real experts, and that’s because it's complicated. There aren’t many partners with that level of specific expertise. It’s an area which is growing fast, with levels of complexity which need to be managed because customer satisfaction is mission critical. And it’s often driven by mobile.

As a Chair coming in, the combination of a strong portfolio of clients, hyper growth, technically complex services which can deliver high levels of customer satisfaction; Apadmi has all the right criteria.

What excites you most about joining?

Part of the process of understanding the growth of any business is knowing the people taking it forward. As part of me joining I was able to look at the key people involved and there was immediately a really good fit. That’s more than just personality and everyone being buddies, it’s that everyone is a good match in terms of complimenting each other’s skill sets.

It clicked from the off and quite quickly became ‘why wouldn't we do this?’ And you don't always get that, so it was a great feeling of comfort.

I think another consideration is that Apadmi is very well backed in having CBPE on board and it also has a really strong list of client logos. That's not to say the other businesses I've Chaired haven’t also had great logos, I'm just saying it made me very comfortable about this opportunity. The investors and the clients are serious organisations which would only be involved in companies they have absolute confidence in, which says a lot about Apadmi.

How is Apadmi differentiating itself in the digital product space?

The thing that has really struck me is that we're clearly very good technically and are really strong at understanding what our clients want. 

That’s not just about being good at meeting a brief and delivering a good app. It’s about talking to clients, doing a business review, understanding where mobile fits in and then coming back with a very logical breakdown of what to do and why it’s in a client’s best interest to do it.

The approach is much more consultative. It's not only developing apps. It's knowing there are many interdependencies and how they fit together from a technical point of view.”

How is the world of mobile experience changing?

In the future people won't use fixed devices or even mobile devices in the same way, because it will be a requirement for them to interact with all of our daily tasks and experiences almost remotely.

Today for example, it’s astonishing that I’ll walk the dogs talking to my mum who’s in Australia on FaceTime, then I'll book an uber to pick me up, I'll pay for that with an app, I'll get to the airport and use my digital boarding pass… It just goes on and it’s all mobile.

As a population, the way we will continue to lead our lives going forward is via a mobile device, but it doesn’t really matter what that device is. “Whether it’s glasses, a box in your pocket, it's irrelevant. It’s about the applications and the data sovereignty and the interoperability of those applications.

They will need to work seamlessly to deliver brilliant customer satisfaction and in the future, I think the satisfaction you have with your device and those applications interacting will be the ultimate measure of your overall customer experience.

Coming from an engineering background and starting at IBM nearly 40 years ago, that's why I'm excited about what’s coming next.

iOS or Android?

It’s iOS for me and there's a very good reason for that. When I stopped working for various companies and branched out on my own, I just needed something that worked and Apple is very good at that. So that’s the direction I went in. Apple is also very good at keeping you in that ecosystem - once you’re in, it’s very hard to leave. I have absolutely no animosity towards android, I just fell into Apple and have stayed there.

Which app can’t you live without?

It’s tricky, there are three apps I use which all do something similar. The first is Garmin. I do long distance triathlons, so I’m quite focused on my fitness data and Garmin is perfect for that. Then that extends into Strava, because it’s a great way of sharing with people and if you’re training with people that’s a great way of interacting. And the third is Windy, which is essential for sea conditions. So whether you’re swimming or sea kayaking, which I do a lot, it’s important to know what the conditions are. It also helps to decide if it is a swim, a paddle, a run or a bike day. So those three apps are my essentials. And if I had to pick one, it’s a tough call, but it would probably be Garmin.