Q&A: Lisa Hammond, CEO, Centrix Software

Why did you start up in business?

I’ve been involved with virtual desktop computing since the beginning. Back in 1997, I ran the European operations of a company that made thin client devices.

We were at the forefront of what has become virtualisation. At the time, there were simply too few skills and not many companies around that could help customers build larger scale virtual platforms.

So I founded Centrix to do just that - provide services that help companies successfully build virtual desktop platforms at scale and right first time.

Talk us through how you developed it

We worked as part of Kerridge to start a division focussed on providing virtual integration services to large companies. We completed an MBO with their support about a year later.

We then grew a services business, working predominantly with FTSE 100 companies and building platforms to support thousands of people using virtual desktops and applications.

We monitored the activity of around 2 million users, looking at how they used their existing corporate desktops. We then worked out how best to move them to a virtual world.

We looked for the very best software engineering, product, and go-to-market people we could find and in 2008 we launched Centrix Software as a standalone business.

We are still at the start of our growth but the milestones that have been reached so far have been incredible.

We have a fantastic set of free, perpetual, and pay-as-you-go products, and have attracted enormously supportive partners who are delivering successfully on our UK and European growth plans.

We have also had the welcome support of private investors in providing the considerable medium term funding we need to underpin accelerated growth around the world while ensuring our employees share in the success of the company.

What sets your offering apart from the crowd?

Centrix Software products have been built based on pragmatic experience and solutions that work in real world corporate end-user computing environments.

We enable companies and public sector organisations to understand how people really use IT assets and then how they can apply a more efficient way of supporting those users.

Apart from providing simplification and cost savings, our products can be used to answer fundamental questions around user computing and desktop strategies.

What has been your best moment in business?

This is a tough question as there have been so many! From each new customer we work with to securing a quality management team to signing new partners.

If I had to choose one moment it would probably be the buzz of identifying where £10m savings could be made for a major energy company.

What was your biggest mistake (be honest!)?

I make mistakes all the time. That’s OK, success and failure are two sides of the same coin. The biggest mistakes I have made have also been opportunities to display my biggest strengths. It’s how you react that is more important.

When you are an entrepreneur and a part of a successful growing business, you just have to get on with it. We say: “Be consistent in strategy but agile in tactics”. If you make a mistake, be honest about it, learn from it, move on and don’t make the same one again!

What is the hardest part of running a business?

Maintaining the balance and carving out the hours in the day to get all the things done, to enjoy time with family and friends, to make a difference, to take some time for myself and to give something back.

What are your plans for the future?

Do everything I can to support my family in being happy and healthy.

Do everything I can to support Centrix Software, our partners and customers, to enable their success and to grow our business around the world.

What is your best advice for would-be entrepreneurs?

Stop thinking about it, do it!!

Then... hire well – someone who you think is better than you, who you could work for, who you would be happy have round to your house for dinner and... if you have any doubts at all, whatsoever, don’t hire them.

Then give your team the freedom, the support and the resources to do what they do well.