Friday Five: Avaya's Rob Wells

Renai LeMay
Friday, 26 November 2010 11:30

IT People - People

Every Friday we profile a prominent figure from Australia's IT, telecommunications or video gaming industries in the Friday Five.

Rob Wells is the managing director for Avaya in Australia and New Zealand. But he's also well known to the local industry for his previous roles, including as managing director of SAP subsidiary Business Objects. The executive also had a long stint at PeopleSoft culminating in a position of vice president of product sales in the Asia-Pacific region, and he was also the MD of Sequent Computer Systems for some time. Wells is our guest this week on the Friday Five.

1. What was your first job ever?

I started my working career at the age of 11 working in my dad's pub in the Midlands in England. My first job in the pub was working as a dishwasher, then I became a kitchen hand, and later was promoted to work in the bar. The day I graduated from the kitchen to the bar was a happy one - not only did I get to meet and talk with the customers in the pub, but I also was officially allowed to have a drink with the staff! It was a good start and taught me a lot about working with people and customer service.

My first job out of university was with Burroughs (now Unisys). I was on their sales executive graduate programme '” selling to large accounts in the City of London

2. What do you most like about working in Australia's technology industry?

The IT industry is a very vibrant and fast moving market and I'm passionate about working in an industry that is innovative and really changes the way people do business. I also love working in Australia - it's highly competitive and very stimulating, but also a market where you can build strong long-term relationships with partners and customers.