VAR Varrow Gets First Formal CTO To Better Align With Customer Needs

Varrow, a 145-person solution provider, finally has a CTO it can call its own.

Jason Nash, a five-year veteran of Greensboro, N.C.-based Varrow and the company's former data center practice director, late last month became the VAR's first formal CTO.

It was a move aimed at helping the company better align itself with customer requirements, said Paul Nashawaty, Varrow's director of technical marketing and solution strategy.

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This year will see a big push by customers to focus on such areas as cloud, mobility and security, Nashawaty said. To succeed in these areas, solution providers have to step away from a tech-only focus, he said.

"Before, each of a solution provider's practices were stovepiped into their own areas," he said. "They focused on the technology. But as partners move higher up into a customer's business, they need to also move up the stack and get a more wholistic view."

Getting that wholistic view is difficult without someone dedicated to the task, Nash said.

"We didn't think we would be able to keep the pace without someone in this role," he said. "Keeping the stovepipe model would hinder our growth, and hinder customer solutions."

Given how Varrow interacts with customers to help them transform their business, Varrow feels it needs to transform itself as well, Nash said.

"We feel it's important to have our team align with customers' needs, and help them achieve their transformation," he said. "I don't think we could do it without a CTO. This needs someone to align the company, and keep it aligned, with new goals as the industry and our vendors change."

Prior to Nash becoming CTO, that job was handled in part by CEO and co-founder Jeremiah Cook, Nash said.

PUBLISHED FEB. 7, 2014