Ex-Salesforce and Capgemini technology lead takes on senior role as software and services provider plans to invest £32 million in R&D this year

Advanced, one of the UK’s largest software and services providers, has appointed technology veteran Narinder Sahota as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

The strategic hire comes after a successful 18 months for Advanced, during which time it has made seven acquisitions, launched 26 Cloud products, and is investing £32 million in Research & Development (R&D) this year.

Narinder, who has more than 28 years’ technology experience, will be responsible for managing Advanced’s growing R&D facility and driving its technology strategy forward bringing innovative products and services to market driving value for the company’s 25,000 customers.

He joins from Salesforce where he held various CTO positions and, more recently, was the European lead for its business transformation consulting practice. Prior to that, he spent over 22 years at Capgemini. He was the Account CTO for the one of the company’s largest digital accounts, Royal Mail Group, as well as Chief Architect at one of the world’s largest outsourcing deals, where he drove technology strategy and governance of a 160-strong architecture unit.

“It’s been a privilege to work for two of the world’s biggest IT corporates, directing some of the UK’s most complex and large-scale technology programmes and partnering with enterprises to drive transformative change,” comments Narinder. “Now it’s time for a new challenge, which is to work for a company that might be smaller in size but has large ambitions and who have had massive success to date. Advanced’s software and services touch the lives of millions of people – whether they are calling NHS 111, travelling on a smart motorway, managing their people, accounting for their business, catching a train to work or donating to a charity – and I’m looking forward to joining the company as it enters the next stage of its growth.”

Narinder will report to Simon Short, Chief Operating Officer, who joined Advanced from Salesforce in February this year and is responsible for all operational aspects of the organisation, with a specific focus on nurturing a culture for customer success.

Commenting on Narinder’s appointment, Simon says: “Narinder has a deep understanding of managing technology operations across mission-critical, nationally significant environments. He cares for his people and creates high performance teams. It’s this experience that will further strengthen our R&D community which we will be expanding significantly over the coming months and years. We are very excited to welcome him to Advanced, as we continue to accelerate our company’s growth plans and evolve our technology solutions to help our customers solve all their challenges.”