Robert Deforest Email & Phone Number

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Atlanta Metropolitan Area

Led the investigation and evaluation of gaps in the marketplace to design, develop and launch marketable edge cloud solutions. Created new product enhancements in anticipation of or in response to market changes. Drove the product development program to develop the most profitable new products by the most efficient means.• Guided the strategy, roadmap, and development of a multi-cloud virtual networking gateway platform supporting SD-WAN, cloud voice, virtual routing and security capabilities with $60M+ direct annual revenue.• Developed and launched a software-defined cloud interconnect (SDCI) cloud connectivity feature for AT&T private network services, enhancing a $300M+ business for those products by enabling customers to easily connect on demand to leading cloud service providers including AWS and Azure.• Led cross-functional product development project to research market demand to enhance SDCI product capabilities increasing the product addressable market by 500%. • Managed 3rd party relationships and go-to-market initiatives with leading datacenter and cloud service providers including Equinix, Evoque, AWS and Azure.• Identified gaps and spearheaded billing automation project that recovered $5M+ in unbilled revenue.

Greater Atlanta Area

Directed strategic initiatives aimed at simplifying business operations, driving revenue growth, enhancing sales effectiveness, and elevating customer experience.• Led a sales development program supporting cross-vertical sales channels, increasing seller productivity by 50%.• Developed and launched AR/VR Software as a Service (SaaS) simulation sales tool, improving seller effectiveness while reducing training costs leading to 4x faster training completion rate compared to classroom learning. • Streamlined methods and procedures to handle escalation work requests, reducing expense and cycle time by 40% and improving customer satisfaction.• Created and executed the communication strategy for the divestiture of a managed services subsidiary business that yielded ~$2B in transaction value. • Led strategic project aimed at revenue growth, sales effectiveness and customer service resulting in $80M+ in accelerated revenue due to installation completed ahead of schedule.

Greater Atlanta Area

Led the business development and go-to-market strategy while translating new technologies and market requirements into product design. Prepared and presented business case and roadmap for new products and services. Integrated products with other technologies including networking, security, and storage infrastructure.• Developed and marketed an enterprise grade private cloud service ranked as a leader in private cloud computing offers by Forrester Wave: Hosted Private Cloud Solutions Q4 2014.• Coordinated cross-functional certification efforts involving IT, Service Delivery, Operations, Legal, Sales and Marketing for managed enterprise networking services. • Collaborated with account teams and participated in customer presentations driving over $100M in incremental revenue.• Consulted with leading IT hardware companies, including HP, Cisco, F5 and Dell to develop enterprise grade managed services supporting Hosting and Private Cloud Solutions with +$300M annual revenue.

Greater Atlanta Area

Sales overlay lead with specialized focus on private and public Content Delivery Networking technology, Digital Signage and Content Management Systems. Gathered customers technical requirements and presented technical solutions, pricing, and contracts to executive level decision makers.• Led the Digital Media Networking strategy through targeted multi-segment sales campaigns, training, and customer presentations to drive awareness and increase funnel activity.• Designed and sold digital content management solutions resulting in a 35% increase in year-over-year revenue attainment.• Implemented innovative sales strategies that resulted in securing a multi-year contract for Content Delivery Networking services with a large gaming company.

Greater Atlanta Area

Solutions Architect for AT&T’s Enterprise Hosting and Managed Applications Services. Designed dedicated and multi-tenant IT solutions by gathering customer business requirements. Responsibilities included design, pricing, and contracting of complex hosted solutions that included space, power, network connectivity, servers, switching, load balancing and security. Provided post sale support for change order contracts to modify or add new services.• Designed complex tailored IT solutions for AT&T’s largest hosting customers leading to sold deals and upgrades that exceeded revenue targets and averaged $30M annually.• Awarded Circle of Excellence and Partner that Rocks awards for outstanding performance and revenue growth.• Rated top 2% among my peers for 2005 through 2009.