Avanade has announced the appointment of Katherine Shaw-Paffett as Head of Sales and Marketing for its AI Center and Head of Cross-AI Solutions for the UK and Ireland.
The veteran comes with a decade of digital transformation experience and joins the business from Microsoft Germany, where she oversaw the company's AI and data partner ecosystem and worked to drive GTM sales and strategies with partners.
Prior to that, he worked in management consulting at Accenture's core banking division, focusing on post-merger integration and implementing business transformation at retail banks. She also previously served as a banking and capital markets consultant at professional services giant EY.
Avanade said the digital transformation specialist will now leverage its expertise to unlock strategic value and innovation through AI across the business and technology stack, working collaboratively to scale AI initiatives for its clients in the UK and Ireland. .
He will also lead sales and marketing strategy for Avanade's AI Center, which the company says will contribute to its role in the UK and Ireland.
Established earlier this year in Europe and the Middle East, Avanade's AI Center aims to “strengthen and optimize” its collaboration with customers and partners, acting as a central hub for its AI-focused activities.
The unit leverages experts from across the company to capitalize on market opportunities and act as a trusted advisor to clients as they implement AI as part of their digital transformation journeys.
“As AI is reshaping industries and redefining the relationship between people and technology, we continually strive to hire top-level talent in the field of data and AI to work with our clients,” said Annika Grosse. , Avanade executive for the AI Center in Europe. and Middle East.
“Katharine’s extensive experience helping organizations unlock the transformative capabilities of data and AI makes her a valuable addition to our team at UKI. “I look forward to working with her to help businesses in the region shape the future of our people, our customers and our society.”
Commenting on her appointment, Shaw-Paffett said the platform shift towards AI has created the need for “multidisciplinary collaboration” and the need to adapt business models.
“We need to rethink, challenge and transform our processes and business models, not just optimize them if we want to unlock maximum value,” he explained. “This requires creative and original thinking across diverse teams. Now more than ever, we need cohesion across all solution areas to ensure synergies and growth.
“As topics like data management and mining become much more federated, applications become increasingly smarter, AI-ready infrastructure, data platform and security enter every conversation, AI is becoming infusing all areas of the business, generating multiple opportunities and dependencies.”
He added: “I joined Avanade because I believe that our unique set of values, our diverse capabilities and our close and long-standing collaboration with Microsoft give us what it takes to do something very bold and very strategic in the market. “It is an exciting time to be working in AI and this technology gives us the tools to amplify our human capabilities and transform our clients' businesses.”
