Monday Interview: Stirling firm finds source of growth during pandemic

Mr Dalton is chief executive of SalesAgility, an open-source customer relationship management (CRM) software specialist that has seen impressive growth since the pandemic began. And according to Mr Dalton there is plenty of growth still to come.

“I’m really convinced that now is the time for open source to come to the table again,” he said. “It’s very relevant. I’m excited by that. I’m excited about taking my pool of 20 or so software engineers – highly talented, highly educated, highly skilled people, all based in Scotland – and making that 50 or 60 of them, and building a global Scottish-based technology business.

“I really think that is the opportunity we have got.”

SalesAgility was established in 2009 but has seen demand for its services surge since the pandemic took hold around 20 months ago. It has been helping increasing numbers of companies move into the e-commerce sector by providing open-source software that is tailored to the needs of individual businesses, allowing them to analyse data and offer a personalised, online presence.

“The pandemic has accelerated the move away from the high street by at least five years,” said Mr Dalton. “The growth in new enterprises that are completely web-based, without any footfall, has been staggering over the last 20 months.”

Mr Dalton joined the company around three months ago, after restrictions brought in by the pandemic made it difficult to continue his role as a roving consultant to private equity companies. He was keen to offer his experience of running businesses to a Scottish firm that was poised to scale up. “I got talking to a local head-hunter and really quite quickly this opportunity came up at SalesAgility,” he said.

“It is a very interesting stage for the business, [and] an interesting move for me as an individual as well.”

There was little technology when he began his career. He recalls London School of Economics taking its first suite of 10 Apple Mac computers during his time as a student, and researching in the library as a young graduate. But he said technology has since become a dominant theme of his working life, be it working in brewing with Scottish & Newcastle or running a giant flour mill in Nigeria.

He said: “Technology has always been a component of what I have led or tried to achieve in these various businesses, particularly on the commercial end. I think I am bringing a new perspective to the debate we are having with clients about the importance of difference, and the importance of engagement, and that is proving very interesting indeed.”

SalesAgility has clients in a broad range of sectors, and in markets around the world. Customers include Humanetics, a crash testing technology specialist, Watt+Volt (energy solutions), Titomic (metal manufacturing) and the Scottish Book Trust. It has also been holding talks with a large education provider that supports disadvantaged children in the US. For Mr Dalton, open-source software is an idea whose time has come.

“The guys who are now chief executives, chief marketing officers, chief technology officers, are much more technology-literate than people running companies previously were,” he said. “The way they look to make decisions, and understand this world of open source… the timing is very interesting. Open source has been around for a long time, but it hasn’t really been understood.

“People have been lazy and said: I’ll just buy something out the box, plug it in and I will adapt what I am doing to work with it. Rather than going through the intellectual exercise in a business or an organisation saying: what are the things that are really important for us?"

But he added: "I’m finding even in the short period I’ve been here that there is this groundswell of appetite for new adaptive solutions.”

SalesAgility’s biggest market is North America, which Mr Dalton said is “five years ahead of us” in terms of technology. Customer numbers in Scotland to date are more limited, but Mr Dalton notes this represents a “tremendous opportunity”.

One pressing concern, though, is the need to find good software engineers. While the company is keen to tap into “local talent”, moves by major financial institutions to shift “back-office” work out of London and into locations such as Glasgow and Edinburgh has meant that the demand for software engineers has “sky-rocketed”.

“What we can offer is a more creative, entrepreneurial space, and much more experience in development than those financial institutions,” Mr Dalton said. But with major finance houses able to offer considerable benefits, and a drop off in the pool of candidates because of Brexit, he added: “It’s proving to be quite a challenge.”

Q&A

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

Both for business and for holidays I’ve had the good fortune to have travelled to, and worked in, many countries around the world. It also makes it hard to pick a favourite. I would say that both Vienna and Budapest are top of the list, for the depth and richness of their history and culture.

When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

When I was young, I wanted to be a marine biologist. I was obsessed with TV programmes like The World About Us and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, and the window to other worlds that those programmes allowed you to glimpse through. I’ve always had a strong sense of adventure, and an interest of the world outside myself.

What was your biggest break in business?

When I was 32, I successfully raised £23m in funding to build the first chain of bars in Poland. It was the beginning of a great journey building a grass roots business from scratch in a dynamic and high growth market.

What was your worst moment in business?

When I was working at Scottish & Newcastle, I led a project to transform the international division.There was a big steering meeting in Paris with many key stakeholders and I remember a moment of both epiphany and great sadness when I realised that none of what was needed to turn around the division was going to happen and that the business would probably be broken up and sold. Needless to say, not long after, Carlsberg and Heineken teamed up and bought S&N, and Scotland (the UK) lost independent control of one its few remaining international consumer businesses of global scale.

Who do you most admire and why?

For me, Gordon Brown has always stood out for his remarkable integrity, intellect, and sense of public service. In a political landscape which seems increasingly lacking in talent and is predominately driven by self or minority interest, I think he remains the benchmark of what a true statesman should represent. If it wasn’t for the swiftness and surety of his actions during the financial crisis, and the boldness and unity of his leadership through the devolution referendum, our world would be a far poorer and lesser place than it is now.

What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?

At the moment I’m re-reading Milan Kundera’s Life is Elsewhere. I read most of his books when I was in my late ‘20s and like the way he engages you as a reader, not just to consider his characters and narrative but to contemplate the broader questions of history and human existence. There’s a warm sense of nostalgia you get revisiting a place or conversation you had once enjoyed.

For the tunes, most of the time I’m lazy and rely on my wife to provide the soundtrack to our lives, which can be fairly eclectic ranging from Stormzy, Christine and the Queens, to Teddy Pendergrass, and on the daily commute I tend to flit between Jazz FM, The World Service, and Radio 4.