"Be careful how others see you at work—it decides where your career goes."
As of September 2022, Gareth Burton assumed the role of CEO at Orbus, bringing with him a wealth of experience garnered from diverse roles within global technology firms and SaaS enterprises. Prior to his tenure at Orbus, he served as CEO at ThinkProject and held prominent positions at Motorola and BT.
With extensive board-level engagements in IT across the oil and gas, mining, and construction sectors, Gareth boasts a decade-long stint as a CIO, contributing significantly to firms like Laing O’Rourke and Baker Hughes.
Throughout his professional journey, Gareth spearheaded extensive digital transformation initiatives, poised to leverage this expertise to propel Orbus Software forward in its growth trajectory.
He ardently advocates for digitalization within modern enterprises, emphasizing the pivotal role of visibility in achieving genuine transformation—a vision Orbus Software is dedicated to realizing.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Gareth Burton: I joined Orbus Software as CEO in September 2022, following an extensive career within international technology companies and SaaS businesses. I was previously the CEO at ThinkProject, another SaaS company, selling to the engineering and construction sectors.
I’ve held other senior roles at Motorola and BT and have over 10 years of experience as a CIO, working for companies within the oil and gas, mining, construction, and FinTech sectors.
Throughout my career, I’ve led large digital transformation programs. I passionately believe there is huge opportunity for organizations to transform. However, it must be a constant process to remain relevant and leverage technology.
This requires visibility into operations to enable ongoing optimization that drives success. If a business stops changing, it will stagnate, and success will ebb. And this is where Orbus Software can help.
Our platform assists companies in navigating the complexities of planning significant business or IT changes and making exceptional strategic decisions.
Enterprises across the globe, including banks, insurance providers, logistics firms, manufacturers, non-governmental organizations, pharmaceutical companies, private equity funds, retailers, and technology providers, trust Orbus to help them on their transformation journeys.
In my personal time, I am a keen cyclist, skier and I love traveling. If you haven’t seen it, try out the Been app. It helps you track your global travel. So far, I have been to 71 countries, which is 36% of the world’s total. The unofficial rule is you need to spend 24 hours with your feet on the ground.
An airport transfer doesn’t count! I am also fascinated by wine production, the end-to-end journey from growth to production to retail and consumption. I’m currently looking into a wine industry qualification.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Gareth Burton: The past 12 months have seen Orbus succeed on numerous fronts, we have delivered on a majority of the goals we set ourselves 24 months ago, including growing revenue by more than 30%.
However, for me, the highlight was being recognized by the UK Tech Awards, where we were a finalist in the prestigious scale-up category.
This achievement was validation, from the UK’s financial and technology leadership, of what the Orbus team has achieved over the past three years.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Gareth Burton: I wish I had understood how important your network is at the start of my career and that you must invest time to keep those relationships active. Platforms like LinkedIn are really helpful.
However, it’s essential to still connect with people in person. Making time to meet people over coffee is important, professionally and personally. As Orbus looks to scale globally, investing time in nurturing and expanding my network is very important.
It’s something that leaders and other mentors can help people at the start of their careers understand and explain how it can propel their careers and open up new opportunities for growth and development. I can mention a couple of people working with me at Orbus, who I first worked with 25 years ago.
Additionally, you must always lead by example. If you say you are going to do something, make sure you do it, as this directly impacts your personal brand.
Your reputation shapes your professional arc, so you need to carefully nurture it over the course of your career.
My focus every quarter is on continuing to build connections with customers, employees, and my network, as relationships are the key to long-term business success.
Here is a two-fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Gareth Burton: I’m a huge science fiction fan and love the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. I have to thank my father for that.
What’s amazing is that a lot of what he laid out in his book, including robots, missions to Mars, and space travel, are becoming a reality.
This background certainly laid a foundation (excuse the pun!) that directed my overall career path.
My go-to business book to gift is Rewired from McKinsey. This quote sums up my viewpoint on the world, “Business leaders will be digitally transforming their companies for the rest of their careers.
Rewired is the reference manual executives need for that journey.” I would personally add, “…and the generation after that”.
This book helps my team understand precisely what customers undertake when transforming and the issues they encounter. It synthesizes the entire process into clear and logical steps that are easy to understand, and the fact that transformation is a never-ending journey. This is why we branded our main product, OrbusInfinity, because change is an infinite process.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Gareth Burton: AI is set to transform how society functions, and the possibilities are awe-inspiring. This is fueling interest in all things AI.
However, I am concerned that we need some form of governance to realize all the positives of intelligence and minimize the negatives.
Governments and regulatory bodies must get involved now to help provide the proper support and address the ethical concerns resulting from the rapid adoption of AI.
It’s also worth noting that OpenAI is anything but open about its AI, data, or training process, which is fundamental for building trust. I was recently struck by a large banner at the State of Open Conference declaring the event was about open source, open data, open infrastructure, and ‘AI openness.’
The risks are too high for governments to delay action, and it requires collaboration between countries across the globe. This is a challenge facing every nation and business, and how we tackle it will shape the future.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Gareth Burton: CEOs, like organizations, need to be resilient to weather the constant ups and downs that come with the role. The ability to handle these pressures is often underestimated.
I’ve learned that despite any turmoil you encounter, staying calm and helping your team remain engaged and productive is the key to building a successful company. Tough decisions are an inevitable part of CEO life!
The best advice I’ve received during my career was just before I started my first CEO position. I was working for Simon Paris at Finastra, who is a great role model in how to operate successfully as a CEO in a high-pressure environment.
He told me to focus on two things to be effective:
- Look after your partner.
- Then it is all about finding and keeping talent.
I didn’t realize then how pertinent these pieces of advice would prove to be!
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Gareth Burton: People are the lifeblood of an organization’s success, and I’ve worked with some amazing people in my various roles, including the fantastic team we have here at Orbus. So, my business superpower is related to uncovering talent—the ability to hire the right people at precisely the right time.
We all know the cost and impact if we get these key hires wrong. When I interview for a role, usually the person you are meeting can do the role, they have the experience, and they’ve usually come through a recruiter and a few rounds of interviews already.
What I am looking for is fit. More specifically, cultural fit. I’m a huge believer in a diverse team and insist on a heterogeneous candidate pool for any senior hires at Orbus.
A people superpower would mean that each employee you hire is an excellent fit for the culture and the current opportunity. This would ensure that every team member is a surefire superstar, will get full job satisfaction, and will achieve to their full ability!
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Gareth Burton for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Gareth Burton or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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