Graham Robinson

What are the top technology priorities for your customers during the next 6-12 months?

• AI & Automation at ScaleCustomers are moving beyond experimentation with AI into practical deployment. Priorities include:
  • Embedding generative AI into workflows (customer service, coding, analytics).
  • Automating routine IT operations (self-healing infrastructure, predictive monitoring).
  • Driving productivity gains while navigating data governance and security concerns.

• Cybersecurity & Digital ResilienceWith the threat landscape intensifying, resilience is a board-level agenda. Customers are focused on:
  • Zero Trust architectures and identity-centric security.
  • Extended detection & response (XDR) and AI-driven threat intelligence.
  • Resiliency planning (incident response, ransomware readiness, supply chain assurance).

• Cloud Optimisation & Hybrid ITEnterprises aren’t simply “moving to cloud”, they’re refining how they use it:
  • Cloud cost optimisation and FinOps discipline.
  • Balancing public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises for performance, compliance, and cost.
  • Preparing for AI workloads with GPU capacity and high-performance networking.

• Data Foundations & Compliance
  • AI is only as strong as the data it runs on, so customers are prioritising:
  • Building clean, governed data platforms (modern data lakes/warehouses).
  • Ensuring compliance with ESG, privacy, and sovereignty regulations.
  • Unlocking real-time analytics for faster decision-making.

• Employee Experience & Digital WorkplaceThe shift to hybrid work has matured, but customers are still evolving:
  • Enhancing collaboration platforms with AI-powered copilots.
  • Modernizing end-user device and app management.
  • Prioritising wellbeing, accessibility, and inclusion through tech choices.

• SustainabilityAcross industries, sustainability has moved from talking point to a procurement requirement:
  • Measuring and reducing carbon impact of IT infrastructure.
  • Extending device lifecycle management (refurbishment, reuse, recycling).
  • Leveraging digital tools for ESG reporting and compliance.

Please outline the top strategic priorities for your business during the next 6-12 months?

At Data#3, our strategic priorities are focused on helping customers achieve measurable business outcomes while navigating rapid technology change. Over the next 6–12 months, we are committed to five key areas:

• Aligning Services with Customer Outcomes: We are evolving our service delivery models to ensure every engagement is outcome-led. This includes strengthening our adoption services to help customers embed technology effectively into their organisations, and expanding our managed services to provide ongoing optimisation, resilience, and measurable results.
• Upskilling in Emerging Technologies: Technology innovation is accelerating, particularly in areas such as AI, cybersecurity, cloud, and digital workplace. We are continually investing in training and certifications to ensure our teams remain at the forefront, giving customers confidence that Data#3 can help them adopt and maximise the value of these technologies.
• Educating Customers on Business Value: Emerging technologies often generate excitement, but customers need clarity on how they create tangible business value. We are prioritising customer education through thought leadership, workshops, and practical demonstrations to connect innovation to outcomes such as productivity, sustainability, and cost efficiency.
• Enabling Our Sales Teams as Trusted Advisors: We are investing in equipping our sales teams with a deeper understanding of customer business challenges. This ensures they can act as strategic advisors — guiding customers through decisions that connect technology to outcomes, rather than focusing solely on products or features.
• Empowering Customers with Digital Self-Service: We are expanding our digital platforms and self-service capabilities, giving customers more control and transparency in how they engage with Data#3. From procurement to lifecycle management, our goal is to simplify interactions and provide customers with the tools they need to manage technology on their own terms.

Alternatively, what are the key challenges currently impacting your business today?

Like many in the technology industry, we are navigating a dynamic environment where customer expectations, partner ecosystems, and market forces are evolving rapidly. The key challenges we are addressing today include:

• Balancing Self-Service with Personal Engagement: As customers demand more intuitive self-service capabilities, we must strike the right balance between automation and high-touch engagements, ensuring that efficiency does not come at the cost of trusted relationships.
• Shifting to Outcomes-Based Delivery: Customers increasingly expect measurable business outcomes rather than transactional engagements. This requires continual investment in methodologies, skills, and frameworks that align technology delivery directly to customer success.
• Keeping Pace with Technology Change: Rapid innovation — particularly in areas like AI, cybersecurity, and hybrid cloud — creates both opportunity and complexity. Our challenge is to evolve our services fast enough to ensure customers can confidently adopt new capabilities without adding risk or cost.
• Sustainability and Compliance Demands: Sustainability is no longer optional; it is a procurement requirement. Meeting growing demands for transparency and environmental accountability while aligning with multiple vendor standards remains a significant focus area.
• Talent and Skills Evolution: The demand for specialised expertise in cloud, AI, and security continues to outpace supply. Ensuring our teams have the right skills, certifications, and capacity to deliver at scale is an ongoing challenge in a highly competitive talent market.

As an executive leader, what is the best advice that you have ever received?

The best advice I’ve ever received is: “Focus on the signal, not the noise.”

There’s no shortage of noise, constant emails, shifting priorities, emerging technologies, and competing demands. The challenge is to cut through the distractions and focus on the signal: the real drivers of value, the insights that matter, and the outcomes that will make a difference for customers and the business.

That mindset shapes the way I lead. It pushes me to question where the real impact lies, to empower teams to tune out distractions, and to ensure our energy is spent on the initiatives that move the needle.