The Sector Specialist

IRIS appoints Group Engineering Director to lead £20m investment in R&D in 2009

30 March 2009

IRIS has announced the appointment of Phil Dawes as Group Engineering Director with responsibility for the development and maintenance of IRIS’ software products across the group.

Phil DawesUnderpinning IRIS’ business strategy as sector specialists, Phil will lead the R&D teams in the delivery of enhanced and new business applications driven by the needs of the markets that IRIS serves. With a £20 million investment by IRIS in R&D during 2009 Phil, is planning to deliver major upgrades to existing products as well as new solutions utilising Web 2.0 and mobile technologies as well as engineering for 'cloud computing' (Software as a Service SaaS) environments where appropriate.

“We will be using technology to meet the needs of our customers and prospective customers whilst striving for continual improvements in performance and quality” commented Phil. “The good news is that there are similar requirements across our customer segments that can be met with common technologies and by working closely with Product Management across IRIS, we can identify such shared technologies and meet the needs of the majority of our customers.

Phil will report to CEO, Martin Leuw who added “Even in todays challenging environment IRIS has a strong financial platform and believes that investment in the future to the benefit of our customers, prospects, partners and employees is paramount. Phil’s appointment is central to the delivery of software products that are at the heart of our customers business.”

Phil, who joined IRIS in February 2009 from Verint Systems has spent the last 15 of his 20 years within the IT industry holding senior executive positions in a number of private and public software companies, typically during periods of significant change, and has been responsible for many of the key operations within those businesses. These positions include Senior Vice President of Global Services and Support for Witness Systems, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Research and Development for Eyretel PLC and Chief Operating Officer for the CODA Group plc. Reflecting this background, Phil has strong and extensive experience in leading programs to ensure successful and continuous performance improvements.