Software giant Advanced has appointed ex-Salesforce leader Simon Short as its chief operating officer.
The former executive vice president of global customer success for Salesforce will help bolster customer success around Advanced’s cloud solutions through driving high levels of retention, customer growth and acquisition.
Short is Advanced’s second major appointment in eight months after Chuka Umunna, the former Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, joined the company as a non-exec director to support is accelerated growth phase.
The appointment also comes 18 months after a £2 billion investment deal with Vista Equity Partners and BC Partners.
Short has an extensive track record, having worked for Salesforce in a senior customer success role, across EMEA and globally, for more than five years.
Previously, he was head of technology and business management at Vodafone as well as CTO and head of digital for the customer experience business at Capgemini.
He also served as an officer in the Royal Navy for 15 years where he supported major defence and technology programmes.
“Advanced is a fast-growing cloud software company and I am thrilled to be joining at this point in its journey,” said Short.
“The company has had remarkable success to date and I look forward to focusing on how to make a difference to its thousands of customers and grow the business through unrivalled customer success.”
CEO Gordon Wilson added: “We want to become the best cloud software and services provider, and Simon is the person who will help us get there.
“He is one of the customer success heavyweights in the industry. His vast experience in customer success, working for the world’s first and largest software-as-a-service business, gives us the opportunity to not only learn best practice but align to our vision of delivering a service to our customers that others can only aspire to.”