SunGard Availability Services has announced a shake up to its management team. Chris Higgins has been appointed customer services director and Declan Sharpe senior vice-president, sales and UK sales director.

Higgins will be responsible for overseeing the customer management activities that underpin the delivery of availability services, while Sharpe will be in charge of the UK sales division, leading the sales team and also the pre-sales, solution architects and sales administration teams that support them. Both are longstanding employees of SunGard.

Higgins has worked for SunGard for ten years, in the strategic development and support of its managed services. Prior to joining SunGard, Higgins worked with BT Engage IT (previously Lynx Technology) in a range of roles that included IT, business development and regional management. Sharpe, who joined SunGard in 1999, has over 18 years of experience in sales and sales management primarily in IT services including managed services, business continuity and disaster recovery.

Keith Tilley, managing director UK and executive vice president Europe, SunGard Availability Services, commented, “Our global vision is to be the IT solutions provider of choice to ensure the availability of our customers' business operations and these two appointments bring both depth and breadth of experience in our industry and of the challenges our customers face are key to making this a reality. A strong customer service focus will be vital to us working with our customers to help them find the right balance between their business, recovery and production priorities. In recent years, we’ve introduced new layers of service to ensure SunGard will be even better placed to help its customers cope with the ever-changing nature of their own businesses including a 60 per cent rise in service management staff and increased use of online tools to allow customers faster access to SunGard.”

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