Q&A with Peter Scott, CRN Channel Chief for 2021
By Shelly Koglin
Feb 08, 2021
Peter Scott, WANdisco’s SVP for Business Development, is no stranger to hard work and commitment: before making the leap to the technology world, he put in six years with the British Army, serving as part of the Royal Engineers to provide military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces. Peter joined WANdisco in 2008, coming on board from Empirix, which was being acquired by Oracle.
“Timing is everything,” he said. “WANdisco CEO David Richards flew over to the UK to meet me and I instantly bought into the core IP, passion and amazing potential to solve enormous problems — essentially to change the way the internet works.”
Today, we’re cheering him on as he is recognized by CRN as a Channel Chief for 2021, cementing his place as one of the most influential tech leaders and executives in the nation.
His journey to this moment has been marked by passion, commitment and a knack for recognizing and capitalizing on the right opportunities. We sat down with Peter to ask him a few questions about his work and his unique business philosophy.
This is a great time to look behind on what you’ve achieved, and also look ahead. What’s in the future for you at WANdisco?
Having co-developed and launched products with Microsoft during the pandemic, which is no small feat, and establishing WANdisco as a key partner to the leading public cloud and data platform providers — we’re expecting exponential growth in 2021. Doubling down on key partners such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, Databricks and strategic system integrators both global and regional who will adopt our technology as standard in their methodology and approach.
What element of WANdisco's technology excites you the most?
The core of WANdisco’s patented intellectual property solves the problem of keeping data consistent across globally distributed environments. The technology enables a new breed of distributed applications that benefit from the freedom of data to reside wherever and whenever it is needed — on-premises, hybrid cloud, multi region and multi cloud. The technology is ideal for migrating data to the cloud, and doing so with zero downtime or disruption of the production system. We are well versed on dealing with disbelief and claims of black magic.
Data will be the measure of cloud success for most IT organizations. Their ability to move data seamlessly between on-premises, and cloud systems and across clouds while managing and accessing that data is key. We believe we are extremely well positioned.
How did your experience in the British army help prepare you for the world of business?
Mantras such as adapt, improvise and overcome (or indeed “adapt or die”) were instilled into us early on. In military operations, that is the reality. It demands fast, objective, smart decision-making and reactions. I discovered very early in my career that there is really no reason to treat business operations any differently and that these principles are especially true in the start-up world.
The British Army certainly shaped my views on training, learning and development and teamwork. Learning and collaboration internally and with partners is in our DNA and learning from hard lessons makes us stronger.
Back in the 90’s, I earned the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal awarded to those that have served more than 1,000 days operational duty in Northern Ireland - most operational tours are 6 months in length, I spent almost 4 years there.
Psychological toughness and the ability to think with innovation builds habits, and sets you in good stead for business. Having a crystal-clear vision and being able to communicate it at all levels is essential.
What is the best piece of advice you've ever received - either for business or life in general?
Remember to have fun - it’s a core ingredient for any success, be it business or life in general! At WANdisco the culture has always been one of getting the job done, no excuses! We work extremely hard, and we play even harder. It is a great balance and I wouldn’t still be here without it.
