Stephen Allott

Stephen Antony Allott is a British technology business executive. He is Chairman of pebble {code} which is a high-growth Technical Consultancy assisting businesses with digital transformation in Health, Transport and Insurance. Stephen recently developed the growth strategy for the UK Government G-Cloud,^[1] targeted at transforming government procurement. From 2011 to 2015, he served as the Crown Representative^[2] for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK government’s Cabinet Office. He co-founded Trinamo,^[3] a management consultancy for UK tech companies, as well as the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory RIng.^[4] Previously, he was the President, CFO and a main board director of Micromuse^[5] and Chairman of Redgate Software’s Council of Advisers.

Early life

Born in London, Allott attended University College School in Hampstead. He then read law at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn, London, and completed a pupillage at Essex Court Chambers.

Early career

Allott practised as a commercial barrister at 12 Gray’s Inn Square. He then worked as a Legal Adviser for Babcock International p.l.c. in London from 1984 to 1985. Subsequently, he worked as in house legal counsel for Rank Xerox Ltd and Sun Microsystems Ltd. He was the first lawyer hired by Sun outside of the United States.^[6] From 1990 to 1995 he worked as a Strategy Consultant at McKinsey & Co, specialising in the technology and telecoms industries.^[3]

Micromuse

In 1995, Allott joined Micromuse, a London-origin network management software company that grew from 50 to 800 staff during his time.^[7] His roles at the company progressed from Commercial Director, to MD Micromuse Europe, then SVP FInance and finally President, CFO and a main board director.^[3] Allott led the company, with Chris Dawes the founder, to Nasdaq IPO on 13 February 1998 (NASDAQ: MUSE).^[8] He worked as interim CEO before hiring Greg Brown as the CEO and Chairman in 1999. During the 6 years that he worked at Micromuse, the company’s annual turnover grew from $1 million to $213 million^[9] and market capital peaked at $7 billion market cap, the most valuable organically grown UK origin software company to date. Micromuse was acquired by IBM in 2006.^[10]

Cambridge University Computer Laboratory

Allott moved to the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory as its director of development in 2001.^[3] The Laboratory is an academic department within the university encompassing computer science, technology, engineering and mathematics.^[11] There he founded the Cambridge Computer Lab Ring,^[3] an association for Cambridge computer science graduates.^[7]

Trinamo

In 2005, Allott co-founded Trinamo,^[3] a management consultancy for UK technology companies. In three and a half years, under his chairmanship, the company grew to £2 million in sales with 20 staff and 75 clients (citation needed).

Red Gate Software

From 2007 to 2013 Allott worked in various roles at Red Gate Software, a Cambridge-based software company, and was head of the SQL Tools Division in 2009/10.^[3] During that time, the company featured among the Sunday Times 100 best companies to work for in the United Kingdom.^[12] He also served on its Council of Advisers from 2007 and as the Chairman from 2010 to 2013. Red Gate has almost 300 staff and over 200,000 customers.^[13] 91% of the Fortune 100, the largest public and privately held companies in the United States,^[14] use Red Gate’s tools.

Crown Representative for SMEs to the Cabinet Office

Allott served as Crown Representative for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Cabinet Office, from 2011 to 2015.^[2] He was tasked with building more constructive dialogue between the government and smaller suppliers, giving those suppliers a strong voice at the top table of government.^[15]

When Allott was appointed, the coalition government was promising more public contracts to small businesses. It was his task to ‘turn rhetoric into reality’.^[3] During his time in the post, he played an essential role in the technology buying policy introduced after 2010, that aimed to enable more SMEs to obtain public contracts. He worked to build a dialogue between government and suppliers, providing small businesses with a strong voice at the top table.^[1]

Allott and his team were behind the Innovation Launch Pad^[16] - a platform enabling SMEs to submit ideas to help save the government money and deliver better outcomes.^[17] The initiative was highly successful in terms of connecting smaller businesses with potential government buyers. Noteworthy, is the speed at which Allott and his team got the initiative going, through the use of social media; it was the first ever government initiative launched on Twitter.^[18]

Naureen Khan, techUK’s Associate Director for Central Government, described Stephen’s work in engaging suppliers as “fantastic”. She said it is crucial for SMEs to have a central point of contact in government.^[1]

G-Cloud and Digital Marketplace

On stepping down as Crown Representative, Allott took up a new role in the UK government^[3] leading the strategy development for the G-Cloud and Digital Marketplace. G-Cloud is a framework enabling public sector buyers through an online catalogue (the Digital Marketplace) in days rather than months. It has grown from zero to a run rate of £600 million in sales in 3 years.

pebble {code}

Allott became Chairman of pebble {code} in 2015, a digital transformation software house which builds software for both FTSE 100 enterprises who want to "innovate like a startup" as well as scale-ups. Founded in 2010, the company was born out of its sister company pebble.it who provide creative IT support & solutions.

Other Chairmanships and non-executive directorships

Allott has chaired Parc Technology (2001-2) acquired by Cisco Systems, Jacobs Rimell acquired by Amdocs,^[19] Tideway Systems (2005-6) acquired by BMC Software, Applied Generics acquired by TomTom, InforSense acquired by IBDS,^[20] Trinamo, COE Group PLC acquired by Digital Barriers, Red Gate Software (2010–13), Bar Association for Commerce, Finance and Industry (1992 when he was the youngest ever chairman).

Meanwhile, Allott has held non-executive directorships (NEDs) at: Zeus Technology Ltd (2007–2009), Trampoline Systems (2007–2008), the Governing Council of Cambridge Computer Lab Ring (2002 to present), The Governing Body of Hughes Hall, Cambridge University (2005–2008), Bright Computing BV (2015), Trinity College Business and City Association (2014 to present).

From Science to Growth

In 2006, Allott delivered the Hughes Hall City Lecture “From Science to Growth: What exactly is the mechanism by which scientific research turns into economic growth”.^[21] It explores the relationship between scientific research and economic growth. Allott argues that people rather than ideas are central to economic growth. Therefore, investing in ‘people centric’ initiatives may yield significant economic impact.^[22] Allott continues to give talks on this topic.

Personal interests

Allott belongs to London Dynamo Cycling Club and is a member of the Bobby Moore Club at Wembley Stadium.

References