‘Cloud CIO’ joins research firm Longhaus

Former chief information officer and Cloud advocate, Scott Stewart, will join Australian research firm, Longhaus, to lead research at the firm.

Stewart, who has held CIO roles at SunSuper and Wilson HTM Investment Group, takes over from co-founder and research director, Sam Higgins. He vacates the role in mid-Q2 and assumes a new position on the firm’s newly-established Advisory board.

Longhaus was established in 2005 as a boutique ICT research and advisory company and has clients throughout Asia-Pacific and the US. The company continues to grow rapidly and is seeking to free-up capital for expansion.

Stewart has worked with Longhaus in the past in a CIO capacity. The firm was engaged as an advisory in the decision to move Wilson HTM’s IT infrastructure and application delivery to the cloud. He will finish up with Wilson HTM next week.

“CIOs must ask: Do they want to continue ‘as is’ or do they want to look at the ‘to be’,” Stewart told CIO. “I am looking forward to helping people move to that ‘to be’ state.”

Higgins, who is a part-owner of the firm, will continue to participate in the company’s annual research and strategic planning activities and assist in client inquiries over the transition period through the end of the financial year.

“When we established the business many of our clients appreciated working with practical analysts who had recently been at the coal face of our ever changing industry,” Higgins said.

“I have been an advocate of analysts getting their hands dirty from time to time. Taking this particular path not only allows Longhaus to continue to grow through new blood, but gives me some time to re-engage my core ICT skills at a deeply practical level inside the end-user community.”

Longhaus co-founder and managing director, Peter Carr, said Higgins was among the top analysts he had worked with across the world.

“As a foundation stone for our company I will miss his daily presence and am delighted at his ongoing commitment to this company that he has worked tirelessly to build,” he said in a statement.

“The appointment of Scott [Stewart] as an analyst with Longhaus ensures strong continuity for our customers in key areas of ICT strategy” Carr said. “His industry experience, together with his participation in the Harvard Business School CIO Executive Program, and frantic speaking schedule make him a walk-up value-add to both our company and our customers.”

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