Driving Disruption: Jed Ayres of ControlUp On The Innovative Approaches They Are Taking To Disrupt Their Industry
An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti
Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) is an important element in disrupting conventional DEX. We will be integrating AI early into new developments to enhance endpoint security and compliance. I am also excited about how AI can further enable our digital workforce to be productive and engaged.
In an age where industries evolve at lightning speed, there exists a special breed of C-suite executives who are not just navigating the changes, but driving them. These are the pioneers who think outside the box, championing novel strategies that shatter the status quo and set new industry standards. Their approach fosters innovation, spurs growth, and leads to disruptive change that redefines their sectors. In this interview series, we are talking to disruptive C-suite executives to share their experiences, insights, and the secrets behind the innovative approaches they are taking to disrupt their industries. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jed Ayres, CEO of ControlUp.
Jed Ayres is widely recognized for the transformational impact he is making on the end user computing industry. He joined ControlUp as CEO in August 2023.
Ayres has more than 20 years of technology experience and a wide range of industry experience across workspace management, virtualization, and mobility. Prior to joining ControlUp, he was the CEO at IGEL where he drove the company’s successful pivot from a hardware-centric to a software-first company and was instrumental in its acquisition by TA Associates. Before that, he was the SVP of Worldwide Marketing for AppSense, where he helped the company rebrand and achieve significant growth prior to being acquired by Thoma Bravo, and then integrated into Ivanti. Ayres was also CMO at MCPc, a $300m+ Solutions Provider in Cleveland that achieved rapid and sustained growth and was acquired by Logicalis. Before MCPc, he spent six years as SVP of Partner Management and Marketing at national solution provider MTM Technologies.
He has held a number of advisory board positions, including Citrix Platinum Council, VMware Global Partner Advisory Board, and the Cisco Marketing Council. Ayres holds a BS in Business Administration from Sonoma State University and an MBA from San Francisco State University.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about disruption, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
IGEL was a career milestone which influenced where I am today. When I started at IGEL as CMO and USA CEO I saw the need to transition the company from hardware-centric to software-centric and write the next chapter in the company’s history. That belief and vision led me eventually to take the role of global IGEL CEO. After successfully leading this transition, it was time for the next challenge. I chose to join ControlUp as CEO. The company was already on my radar as creating a new standard of excellence in digital employee experience (DEX) applications.
I am excited about DEX’s really unlimited future. It is a disruptive technology with the power to completely change how we’ve managed, patched and secured Windows devices and apps for the past 40 years. Today, we run 10 million automated actions but these are all crafted by humans. Now, imagine a world where these DEX automated actions are created in real time by AI. A single agent can collect thousands of data points in real time, seeing anomalies and correcting without human intervention. This has the potential to radically reduce the cost and complexity of managing devices. We will use less tools, be able to reallocate people to higher value tasks and achieve a more secure, better performance.
It is still early days in the dramatic transition to remote workers relying on a stellar digital endpoint performance to help them achieve success and productivity. I am excited about ControlUp’s opportunity to develop new innovations that will further empower employees around the globe. As CEO I am pleased to collaborate with our dedicated teams to bring these innovations to life and to each digital workspace.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
This is my favorite story. ControlUp has so many ways in which we can benefit people as they work but sometimes it is as universal as login. We were at a VMware event and a man from Dick’s Sporting Goods was dissatisfied with the average login time at the stores — 224 seconds. We were able to reduce their login time to less than 25 seconds. That’s a tremendous saving in unproductive login time and most importantly, a huge benefit in worker satisfaction.
Our company stands out because we have the technical talent to take our DEX platform wherever it needs to go to provide a better experience at the individual level and a better company-wide performance in monitoring use, reducing endpoint computing costs, and providing improved security.
We have the magical combination of technical depth, strong financial backing from our investors, and a growing network of partners in the channel who share our vision of expanding the role of DEX in day-to-day work.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The tech world thrives on innovation and creative people willing to work hard and long to bring their visions to light. From my experience, being able to look at the future and see a way to actualize an idea definitely helped my career. Add to that a deep-seated belief that each person in your organization must have respect and a voice in the overall success, is essential in a tech world that can be impersonal and hyper-competitive. Third would be to keep your ego in check and be humble and grateful for the opportunity to be a leader. Great things are always done by energized and aligned teams.
Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.
In my prior life, when I was talking to IGEL about joining the company, two colleagues whose judgment I trusted advised me to keep looking at other opportunities. They were very forceful, but I listened to my inner counsel and believed that IGEL was the right path for me. That turned out to be a great experience, that led to achieving significant customer success and eventually enjoying a new direction in my life as a CEO.
Keeping your own counsel also holds true as a company leader. Every day you can face competing decisions to be made but you must be clear about your vision for your company and stay the course you believe is right.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. In the context of a business, what exactly is “Disruption”?
Disruption, or disruptive, in the context of a business is providing a product or service that challenges a conventional way of working and living and provides a real life alternative. Uber disrupted the normal practice of using a cab service. Apple’s iPhone created an entire customer universe of users whose ‘smartphones’ became the new way of mobile communicating. The advent of streaming services disrupted viewer’s reliance on cable and network programming and created a more diverse entertainment market.
How do you perceive the role of ‘disruption’ within your industry, and how have you personally embraced it? Is it a necessity, a strategy, or something else entirely in your view?
In the tech world, disruption is a bit different than the first Uber ride. It is a constant dynamic because the rate of change in technological development is accelerating. Smart tech companies may disrupt the entire market, or they may disrupt their own business model, or both. Think of Netflix which started as a by-mail DVD service, then pivoted to on-demand video screening.
Within the end user computing world, in which ControlUp provides technological innovation, it really is a fluid dynamic in which we continue to develop new services to enhance the DEX work environment. Is it a necessity or strategy? I believe the priority has to be first, customer advocacy, developing products that add customer value. You get there by envisioning a DEX future, listening to customers, anticipating customer needs, and bringing this technology to market at a competitive pace. Then the outcome may be products that are disruptive, new, or iterative, but the goal must continue to be customer success and business growth.
What lessons have you learned from challenging conventional wisdom, and how have those lessons shaped your leadership style?
Conventional wisdom was that most CMOs do not move up to CEO. My transition to CEO at IGEL was a good example. I did learn valuable lessons in the change. Rather than staying in your marketing lane you must understand all the operations in your organization, evaluate the value of various operations, and then pull all that knowledge into a cohesive strategy going forward. Also, you must begin that new role by listening to your teams and being empathetic. When you’re new to a major leadership role it is best to avoid being heavy-handed at the start. Knowledge is priceless and your teams will have a lot of valuable input to share.
Disruptive ideas often meet resistance. Could you describe a time when you faced significant pushback for a disruptive idea? How did you navigate the opposition, and what advice would you give to others in a similar situation?
My vision to transition IGEL from a hardware-centric to software-centric company was a highly disruptive idea for a long-standing company built on hardware. To navigate the change, I built a strategic plan that showed the financial upsides and long-term value creation of making this change. Then I found a partner, Arrow, who could help us through this transition and do it in stages. This allowed us to take the physical inventory and human capital off our books but still produce hardware. We also worked with OEMs such as LG, HP, and Lenovo across this entire sequence to put ourselves in a position to completely exit out of hardware, at the same time putting our IGEL OS on their hardware.
As advice, you can never completely eliminate some pushback from those less agreeable to change. However, you can navigate the opposition, and gather support, if you present your disruptive idea backed by a well-thought-out strategy. Within an organization you must also be mindful of how the idea, if executed, will change work lives. To succeed you will need the collective energy of your company’s workers. Start with helping them understand why disruption has benefits and be sensitive about how it can change the composition of the workforce.
What are your “Five Innovative Approaches We Are Using to Disrupt Our Industry”?
1 . First, we are proving that DEX is more than the conventional thinking that it is about using digital tools, that DEX has a larger influence in a company’s culture and the overall end user computing marketplace. To reinforce this thinking and encourage looking at the unlimited possibilities of DEX, we have an amazing ControlUp Community network with more than 2,000 global members and an array of communication vehicles from podcasts to Slack. One community member said he liked the direct access to our employees to discuss product releases, architecture or to create a feature request. Rather than a typical competitive tech company, working in a closed-in environment, we see one-to-one community engagement as a greater opportunity for dialogue that can lead to new, disruptive ideas.
2 . Secondly, to continue the theme that DEX has a larger influence, we are focused on innovating new products to expand our portfolio beyond our successful real-time monitoring, troubleshooting and remediation products. DEX is still in an emerging phase, and we see no need to put limits on what DEX can achieve to support a global workforce. And to follow our own counsel, we need to be dynamic and look to the future of hybrid work, with the goal of continuing to set the DEX standard of excellence for others to follow.
3 . Thirdly, in keeping with expanding the DEX universe, we are disrupting the perception that DEX security is already adequately covered with existing architecture. We provide ControlUp Secure DX so IT teams have an easy-to-use, real-time detection and remediation solution. This enables better visibility into any loaded endpoint security software, flags vulnerabilities, and gives IT a heads up on needed patching. With the wide range of OS and applications in the hybrid work environment, we believe a more secure DEX is essential to extracting the maximum value from the mix of digital tools in use.
4 . Fourth, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) is an important element in disrupting conventional DEX. We will be integrating AI early into new developments to enhance endpoint security and compliance. I am also excited about how AI can further enable our digital workforce to be productive and engaged.
5 . Fifth, disruption can only be successful if you have a powerful network of partners. I am a passionate advocate of channel partnering and we are actively expanding our global reach in EMEA and APAC and stepping up our work with our North America partners. Our partners’ customers will benefit from ControlUp’s industry-leading DEX experience. We will team with our partners on DEX strategy and implementation and the integration of AI into DEX. It’s a great time to be disruptive!
Looking back at your career, in what ways has being disruptive defined or redefined your path? What surprises have you encountered along the way?
Starting as a marketing intern and working my way into executive roles, I would say being disruptive and never satisfied with the status quo is an element in success. Particularly in the end user computing environment, which has gone through a startling metamorphosis, if you don’t embrace change, or disruption, you won’t thrive. As for surprises, the pandemic changed the way we work in rapid fashion. Being involved so deeply in the end user computing industry, I have been right in the middle of it, supporting the greater need for secure endpoint devices people could use at home. That experience reinforced my belief that being open minded to change is the best approach.
Beyond professional accomplishments, how has embracing disruption affected you on a personal level?
On a personal level taking yourself out of your comfort zone always leads to growth. It doesn’t always work out as you planned, or even with a good outcome, but you always learn something, and you are smarter and stronger the next time around.
The people who take risks, think differently and push boundaries are the ones that change the world.
In your role as a C-suite leader, driving innovation and embracing disruption, what thoughts or concerns keep you awake at night? How do these reflections guide your decisions and leadership?
Well, I think the way to avoid sleepless nights is to believe you are in effective communication and alignment with your team leaders and to set disruptive goals with realistic timelines. As a CEO, I carry the vision and make strategic decisions, but our teams are vital to moving ideas from concept to a person’s digital workspace. Also, a lesson I learned previously is to come into a role, create an end goal but within that, set incremental goals to reach. That gives your teams confidence in being able to achieve results and supports a culture of alignment.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Sustainability, countering climate change, continues to be a great concern. While remote work, and putting less gas-powered vehicles on the road, is a start, we need to do more. Reducing emissions in technology use must be a priority goal for all organizations. We must cut our carbon footprint, reuse hardware where possible and look for new ways in which we can achieve sustainability.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
They are welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedayres/
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you continued success in your great work!
About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.
