Tell us a bit about your road to Kramer and brief background in the AV industry?
This will be my 33rd year in the tech industry, following tenures at resellers, SI’s and -the last 20 years – in the vendor space, covering both SaaS and Hardware. Prior to Kramer I headed up the European Video Collaboration business for a large well-known vendor. It’s there that Kramer first caught my eye, and I just knew I wanted to be a part of their journey!
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen during your time in the industry?
The pace of technological advancement never ceases to amaze me, especially so during the 90s, as display technology and system capabilities radically changed. However, that pace only seems to accelerate and I’m super excited about some of the current future trends in networked solutions.
Secondly, how we engage with customers is now very different. The importance of understanding the customer journey has accelerated so much in the past decade or two and has dramatically impacted how customers, resellers and vendors work together. All for the better!
Are customers now demanding more from collaborative solutions since Covid amplified the technology a couple of years ago? Can you give us insight into how Kramer is addressing these needs?
For sure, yes. From the IT customer perspective, we have focused on implementation, integration, management, availability, and support whilst continuing to drive technical innovation. From the end user standpoint we’re focused on powering users’ creativity, productivity, expression and connection. Our goal is simple – Kramer is the audio-visual revolution.
We can’t not mention industry-wide supply chain concerns of recent years. How are Kramer placed now that (hopefully) the worst is now behind us?
I’m very proud of our supply chain and demand planning teams here at Kramer. They too had a real challenge but, unlike many of our partners, our portfolio remained available and as such we took the opportunity to grow our customer base. The outlook is very positive, and we look forward to welcoming new customers who are struggling to promptly obtain their technology elsewhere.
Outside of work how do you like to spend your time?
I’m happy doing pretty much anything just as long as it involves spending time with my wife, Laura. We have been fortunate to live in Switzerland and France and we both enjoy similar things like hiking with our dog Izzi, entertaining, plus collecting (and drinking) wines and cooking.
What’s the last track / album you listened to?
I am completely hopeless when it comes to music. Always have been. I’ll pretty much listen to anything and know the words to none.
Finally, tell us something about yourself that may surprise people…
I love gardening. It’s a very recent ‘thing’ and for those that know me it’s likely to surprise them that I’m obsessed with weeding, not just the glory jobs like planting out a beautiful rose. Let’s see how long the weeding obsession lasts.
Pete joined Kramer in March of this year, and is based at the new regional headquarters in Amstelveen, Netherlands.
