Rob Sims

Chief Technologist - Hybrid Platforms

A career spanning more than two decades has seen Rob craft his technical ability with a focus on delivering tangible outcomes. He enjoys helping customers see the possibilities available to their business and unlocking their potential.

About Rob

With an impressive track record spanning over two decades in the tech sector, Rob has held many diverse roles, ranging from internal IT positions to professional services, architecture, CTO, and finally, his current position as Chief Technologist for CDW. As a seasoned leader, coach, mentor, and inspirational speaker, he brings a wealth of experience and a broad perspective that extends across countries, sectors, and industries. His engagement with C-Suite executives ensures that he effectively communicates the business value inherent in technology products and services.

Rob started out fixing PCs and supporting local businesses in his early life in IT, before moving into an enterprise IT team. There he was able to test his technical capabilities by deploying solutions covering enterprise networking, shared storage, early virtualisation with VMware, and server and application migrations in the windows space, and into the end user space with Citrix and other thin client technologies.

Crossing over to the reseller space allowed Rob to leverage his enterprise IT experience to help organisations of all shapes and sizes. He did this firstly as an implementation engineer and then as a Solutions Architect, helping organisations from all sectors and of all sizes adopt the latest infrastructure, cloud, and workspace technologies.

It was during this time the realisation hit that he had the ability to communicate at both a technical and business-outcome level, and a unique talent for simplifying complex challenges into clear and actionable business outcomes. This allowed organisations to easily understand the value of technology as a route to strategic outcomes.

The final part of Rob’s journey, before CDW, involved roles as CTO and Chief Technologist, setting the strategy and direction for the organisations he was in, as well as working with customers and C-level executives to guide and align technology to outcomes. Taking one organisation through an acquisition provided a whole new set of skills and experiences.

All this experience has been focused on a core belief that technology should be a force for transformation in all organisations, and that IT teams should be enabled to focus on innovation. How we unlock that potential is his what drives Rob.

Joining CDW as Chief Technologist has allowed Rob to focus on his core strengths and beliefs. By building strong connections between market trends, technologies, and outcomes he helps coworkers, partners, and customers unlock maximum value from technology. By challenging the norms and bringing a fresh perspective, Rob ensures organisations are adopting technology in a way that will make a measurable impact, one that drives their organisation forward.

  • 20+ Years Within The IT Industry

  • 2nd DAN Taekwondo Instructor

  • 25% YoY Growth Until Sale of Previous Business

"The IT functions within your organisation should be a source of innovation." 

Rob Sims

FAQ's

What are Hybrid Platforms and why does it matter?

Hybrid Platforms covers the technologies that store the data and run the applications that underpin your organisation’s operations.

We connect and secure those systems, whilst ensuring you can leverage the true value of data so it can be used to drive differentiation and customer satisfaction. Put simply, we take complex ‘stuff’ and make it simple, so you can deliver great outcomes.

How can we use Hybrid Platform solutions and services at our organisation?

Every organisation is on a journey – we believe the future is consumption-based or as a service. The challenge is how to navigate the complex landscape of technical debt that most organisations have accumulated over the past several decades.

Our role is to help you manage this journey and ensure that we are enabling your data to be leveraged as a foundation for decision-making, driving change, and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

What is the biggest trend in Hybrid Platforms in 2024?

In 2024 two major trends are impacting the Hybrid Platforms Market. The first is the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom, disrupting 22 years of stability in the Hybrid Cloud space.

The second is Generative AI and the need for many organisations to work out how to extract the value without causing more future technical debt.

How do you keep up to date with the industry?

For me, it’s lots of research, partner meetings, and as much time speaking with customers (the best source of what is really happening) as possible, all sprinkled with a pinch of insights from those you know in the industry and a drop of my own thoughts.

How can my organisation get started on a Hybrid Platform strategy?

Everything starts with your applications and data; these are what your organisation runs on. Having an accurate view of all your data (locations, type, permissions, age, sensitivity, etc), coupled with an accurate application library (type, refresh cycle, access method, infra requirements, costs) will help you make informed decisions. Most organisations I speak to don’t have the level of detail or accuracy in these two key areas to accelerate outcomes.

With this data, we can make decisions about workload placement and ensure we end up with the right workloads on the right platforms to drive the most cost-effective outcomes.

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Hybrid Platforms

CDW's Hybrid Platforms solutions transform your workloads, bringing together networking, date centre modernisation, and cloud technologies to create a flexible and adaptable technology infrastructure suitable for your business.

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Contributions

  • Hybrid Platforms
Jun 25, 2024

VMware Cloud Foundation: 5.2 Release Review

Rob Sims reviews the VMWare Cloud Foundation 5.2, including technical features, strategy, benefits and more. 

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Jun 05, 2024

Dell Technologies World 2024: AI Edition

Rob Sims analyses Dell’s new offerings from the Dell Technologies World 2024 event, and addresses why AI is a central part of Dell’s future strategy

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Apr 10, 2024

Hybrid Platforms Trends Part 3: Cloud Reversal – Cloud Adoption Done Right

Cloud Reversal – Cloud when right and relevant. Rob Sims explores the trend of Cloud reversal, and what are the right time and circumstances to adopt Cloud into your organisation.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Mar 27, 2024

Hybrid Platforms Trends Part 2: Cloud Reversal – Cloud When Right and Relevant

Cloud Reversal – Cloud when right and relevant. Rob Sims explores the trend of Cloud reversal, and what are the right time and circumstances to adopt Cloud into your organisation.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Mar 13, 2024

Hybrid Platforms Trends Part 1: Cloud Reversal – Why Is It Even a Conversation?

Cloud Reversal - Why is it even a conversation? Rob Sims explores the trend of Cloud reversal, and how Cloud reversal fits into a multi-cloud strategy.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Mar 06, 2024

HP Trends Part 3: Cyber Resilience – Platform Recovery Isn’t Business Recovery

Cyber Resilience. Rob Sims explores cyber resilience in this new series. Discover how Platform Recovery differs from Business Recovery, and how to go about business recovery after a ransomware attack.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Jan 30, 2024

HP Trends Part 2: Cyber Resilience – the Importance of Data Observability

Cyber Resilience. The importance of Data Observability. Rob Sims explores cyber resilience in this new series. Discover The importance of Data Observability, and how to improve your own Cyber Resilience.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Jan 22, 2024

HP Trends Part 1: Cyber Resilience – Perception Versus Reality

Cyber Resilience. Perception versus reality. Rob Sims explores cyber resilience in this new series. Discover the perception vs reality of Cyber Resilience, and how to improve your own Cyber Resilience.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Dec 15, 2023

Exploring the VMware Software-Defined Datacentre (SDDC) – Part 4 – vSAN: New Architecture and Future Innovations

Part 4 of the VMware Software-Defined Datacentre series, focusing on the VMware portfolio. In this part, we are continuing the vSAN discussion with a focus on the new architecture and future innovations.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Dec 11, 2023

Exploring the VMware Software-Defined Datacentre (SDDC) – Part 3 – vSAN Redefining Storage

Read Part 3 of Robert Sims' blog on the VMware Software-Defined Datacentre, and learn how VMware vSAN is redefining data storage for VMware.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Nov 21, 2023

Microsoft Ignite 2023: Azure, Ms Studio, and Microsoft as a Chip Maker?

Read Rob Sim's Microsoft Ignite 2023 article about Azure, MS Studio, and Microsoft as a Chip Maker.

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  • Hybrid Platforms
Nov 03, 2023

Exploring the VMware Software Defined Datacentre (SDDC) – Part 2 – NSX History and Future

Part 2 Insights from Rob Sims, CDW's Chief Technologist - Hybrid Platforms, as he explores the VMware Software-Defined Datacentre (SDDC). Read about the history of NSX and what the future holds for the Software-Defined Datacentre.

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  • Microsoft
Jul 26, 2024

Demystifying AI: Empowering Nonprofits to Drive Change

Join CDW and Microsoft experts at our webinar event, focused on the benefits of AI and Copilot for nonprofit organisations, in partnership with Microsoft Tech for Social Impact.

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