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Getting AI Ready

Adopting AI can seem complex, but it doesn’t have to be. The secret to successfully implementing AI is putting the right foundations in place.

Find out how

What we do

Getting AI Ready

Adopting AI can seem complex, but it doesn’t have to be. The secret to successfully implementing AI is putting the right foundations in place.

Find out how

Explore

About us

We’ve been helping ambitious businesses grow better for more than 20 years

We are known for doing one thing, brilliantly

We’re Microsoft experts. There’s no two ways about it.

Being a jack of all trades has never appealed to us. We only want to work with the best, and we want to do it perfectly – that’s why we’re committed to Microsoft.

Our focus on Microsoft has positioned us as a leading partner globally. It has fuelled our growth, and we’re showing no signs of slowing down.

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Grow with us

Our growth means nothing if you aren’t growing too.

Your success is what gets us out of bed in the morning. We’re focused on unlocking fearless growth for your business, because that’s what success looks like to us.

We’re guided by five core principles that enable us to create long-term value for our customers, and help them to grow better.

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Freedom

It shapes our future, and is protected by profit.

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Mutuality

Delivering  quality, reliability and transparency that benefits us both.

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Quality

Unique and ambitious offerings that provide value-for-money.

Efficiency

We’ve trimmed the fat to keep our costs are low and our output high.

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Responsibility

Setting high standards to ensure we do the right thing, collaboratively.

Our cloud is the silver lining

We’re not here to complicate things. We take the hassle out of working with a partner by providing absolute transparency around costs, projects and processes, and letting our delivery do the talking.

We build it right

Our solutions work because we build them to use them. We’re an operator at heart.

We have the learning edge

Microsoft are innovating at an unbelievable pace. Our teams are always learning, so that you can too.

We’re about teaching…

…not selling. We upskill your team and plug knowledge gaps because we want you to be self-sufficient.

We’re technology trend-setters

It’s 2003. Phones flip shut, data is on your desktop, and a cloud spoils a summer’s day. But our founder, Brett Raynes, has a vision.

He sets about replacing old-world, on-premises IT with a simple, scalable, and secure cloud service that organisations could subscribe to. Data storage becomes a utility, and Cloud Direct is born.

Why? To help ambitious businesses compete and thrive by freeing them from the physical and financial burdens of traditional IT – with absolute transparency from beginning to end.

Fast forward more than 20 years and we’re still market leaders in Microsoft cloud adoption. Today, we help businesses grow better by empowering their innovation with Microsoft technologies.

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Meet our industry experts

Senior Leadership Team

We’re a team of more than 200 people, each an expert in their field. Our Senior Leadership team ensures we are all pulling in the same direction, to help our customers grow better with Microsoft technologies.

Brett Raynes, Founder and CEO

Brett is a serial entrepreneur and has successfully launched and grown international tech businesses for more than three decades. With a background in marketing and engineering, Brett’s leadership has driven Cloud Direct to become a leading cloud services provider, known for innovation and customer service.

Ian Bowen, Chief Customer Officer

Ian is an experienced management executive with a strong record of growing businesses across the UK and Europe. With a focus on customer experience that has been a key driver of Cloud Direct’s success, he now oversees the delivery of our Microsoft cloud services ensuring they meet customer needs, objectives and expectations.

Jade Koen, Head of Operations

Jade has more than 15 years’ experience of managing IT service operations, having previously held key roles at Logicalis and Computercenter. Jade leads our Managed Service Centre of Excellence in Cape Town, and is known for her strategic leadership, operational excellence, and focus on customer service delivery.

Paul Sells, Chief Technology Officer

Paul has been transforming technology operations for more than 35 years. He’s passionate about leveraging the power of Cloud Technology to transform businesses, and is responsible for guiding our technical vision and strategy, ensuring the delivery of high-quality cloud solutions and driving innovation and excellence through our Cloud Centre of Excellence.

Guy Pointer, Finance Director

Guy is an experienced finance leader with a proven track record in scaling fast-growing technology companies. With international experience, he has successfully led growth initiatives, acquisitions and debt raises, with the expertise in financial planning, PE funding, tax structures, and business system implementations. A qualified ACA professional, he combines practical experience with a strong academic foundation.

Jane Hall, Finance Director (Non-Exec)

Jane is an experienced chartered accountant and board director with more than 25 years’ experience. As both a business leader and a non-executive director, she has delivered strong growth projects, overseen international mergers and acquisitions, and is armed with a deep understanding of technology and business operations that supports Cloud Direct’s continued growth.

Alex Bacon, Marketing Director

Alex has spent more than 15 years running B2B marketing teams in technology environments and with Microsoft partners. He has a proven ability to drive growth at scale-up IT businesses with innovative and creative marketing strategies, and now leads Cloud Direct’s product and campaign teams while steering our go-to-market approach.

Steve Price, Chief Revenue Officer

Steve has been in the Microsoft ecosystem for more than 20 years, working both internally and with partners. His focus on growth and innovation arms Cloud Direct with a transformative sales approach, where he is responsible for helping new and existing customers modernise their businesses with Microsoft cloud.

Jon Shaw, Sales Director

In his 20 years as a sales leader in the Microsoft ecosystem, Jon has supported countless organisations with their digital transformations.  Jon and his team are passionate about helping customers innovate and grow through their partnership with Cloud Direct, and by maximising their investments in Microsoft’s services.

Microsoft Powerhouse

Our teams are structured to align perfectly with Microsoft. We reflect their structures, practices, and principles.

We have Microsoft specialists heading up practice delivery, and a dedicated Alliance Manager to make sure we are working as closely as we possibly can with our partners.

Richard Cheney, Azure Practice Lead

Richard takes charge of all things Azure. Having joined Cloud Direct from Microsoft, he is responsible for ensuring that we’re perfectly positioned to help customers leverage the power of Microsoft’s public cloud platform.

Pete Murphy, Modern Workplace Practice Lead

Pete transforms the way businesses work. His role is to ensure that our customers are maximising their use of the Microsoft 365 toolkit in their day-to-day operations, and keep them secure while doing so.

Dan Knott, Data and AI Practice Lead

Dan is our data mastermind. He helps businesses make their data dreams a reality by planning and creating data platforms that perform exactly as needed.

Sean O’Brien, Head of Microsoft Consulting

Sean has one of the most important roles at Cloud Direct. His team helps our customers make the most of their investment in Microsoft, and he’s in constant communication with Practice Leads, customers and project managers to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Sophie Marshall, Alliance and Partner Director

Sophie is the glue between Cloud Direct and Microsoft. Her role is crucial in keeping us tightly aligned with Microsoft and making sure that our partnership is as strong as can be, while ensuring that we are doing all we can to help our customers make the most of Microsoft.

Join one of Microsoft’s closest partners

Our growth is constant. We’re always on looking for the next expert to join the team. Somebody curious, courageous and obsessed with transforming businesses.

Think you fit the bill?

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