Cloud solutions and software-based activation company Synchronoss provides innovative software to telcos, delivering solutions allowing operators to connect, synchronise and activate connected devices and services.
The company has three product lines: a network services division which helps carriers with inventory, network simplification and service capability; an activation division, which offers a combination of software and professional services, working with operators like AT&T who need to launch a new device or new network; and a cloud division, which provides operators with the ability to sync, store and share data, branded by the operator and allowing them to offer to add cloud storage and services to their portfolios. Synchronoss has been around since the early 2000s and was floated on the NASDAQ in 2006.
The company already has close ties with companies like AT&T and Verizon in North America and Halbard is in charge of mirroring that success internationally. Since becoming EVP and president of international since March this year, Halbard gets a thrill from tracking the results for the growing New Jersey-based startup. “If we can demonstrate that beachhead clients are scaling up with adoption of revenue, if we can add clients, if we can be more visible in the market, these are all things that easily prove that we are making real progress,” he says.
Halbard’s role is to grow the company outside of North America, where he is responsible for selling, building and delivering products and customer experience internationally. “We are not a standalone business internationally. It is our ambition to turn a Northern American business with some international beachheads into a global business,” he says.
Halbard’s role entails many different responsibilities and he spends most of his time in airports and balancing different time zones. “I hover between customer relations all over the world, development centres in Dublin and India, and reporting back to headquarters in New Jersey,” he says.
The $350 million startup is constantly on the lookout for innovation. “We are not allowed to stop. We are NASDAQ quoted, so we have to keep hitting quarterly numbers,” Halbard says.
However, the company needs to balance making progress and change, without risking the business. “We need to ensure we know what the right amount of change is at the right time,” he comments.
