Regional Sales Manager Scott Nicholas Pioneers Everbridge’s Presence in Australia and New Zealand
When former firefighter and Sydney native Scott Nicholas heard that Everbridge was expanding to Australia, he jumped at the chance to bring software that protects lives to his home country Down Under. Below, he shares his experience as the regional sales manager, including the challenges he’s facing as the first employee on the ground and what he’s looking for as he expands his team.
What do you do at Everbridge?
I’m the regional sales manager for Australia and New Zealand. I’m the first person on the ground here, so right now I’m a team of one and I wear a lot of hats. While it is a new office, it is an expansion of our existing presence in the Asia-Pacific region, so I have the foundation of that team to lean on. I’m building our relationships with partners, customers, and potential customers, and developing the pipeline here. We’ve also started to work on expanding the team down here, starting with Technical Support, and eventually, we’ll be adding to Sales, as well.
Tell us about your background, and why you joined the team.
I’m originally from Sydney, but before moving back here a few months ago I’d been in the U.S. for close to 20 years. Most recently, I spent nine years at Akamai working in sales training and managing channel partnerships. Bob Hughes, who is now president of Everbridge, was president of Akamai while I was there, and I’d always thought he was a phenomenal leader — he is extremely smart, understands business, and has a vision that people want to be part of. I’d be proud to go anywhere he thought I could help.
But I actually started looking at Everbridge even before I realized Bob was here. I was a firefighter back when I first lived in Australia, so I knew firsthand how important a product like this could be. And I liked the idea of working on a software solution that actually had an impact on people’s lives, keeping them safe and keeping their businesses running. There’s plenty of software that’s nice to have — it might make your life a little easier, or make your shopping experience faster. But Everbridge actually helps protect people and affects their livelihoods. That’s rare. So I was looking for any opportunity I could find to get involved. I was like, “This is a company I’ve just got to be a part of.”
Tell us about your path at Everbridge so far.
I started out at our headquarters in Burlington in 2017, on the Sales Training and Enablement team. I got to work a lot with our senior leaders, which helped me understand the ways they’d made Everbridge successful. I combed their insights with the best practices I’d learned to put processes in place that would get us to the next level. I also had the good fortune to be involved in training and onboarding some of the companies we acquired. It was a constantly evolving job, which was exciting.
“Everbridge actually helps protect people and affects their livelihoods. That’s rare. I was like, ‘This is a company I’ve just got to be a part of.’”
At the time, one of the people from the Singapore office was visiting Australia every few months. But the team wanted someone on the ground full-time because there is incredible potential in this region. We have a very strong relationship with a partner here who was getting a lot of interest in our solution, and there is no one else in this area that has such a complete solution or our global reach. It was a perfect fit.
When I heard about the expansion, it seemed like a phenomenal opportunity — to be the person who starts things up here and grows the office — so I let leadership know I was interested. That’s one of the great things about Everbridge: when you see something you’re interested in, if you develop the right skill set and explain how you think you can add value, you can make it a reality.
What kinds of challenges do you face in launching a new region?
The big one for me right now is time management. This is such a large region with so many opportunities, it can be tough to make sure I’m prioritizing the ones that will be most productive.
The other challenge at the moment is that we don’t have the same local resources we would working at the corporate office in Burlington, whether that’s technical support, product managers, help with pipeline development, or marketing and brand awareness. So our team needs to just roll up our sleeves and get it done — no job is too big or too small.
What are you looking for in new team members?
I think that same “get it done” startup mentality will be important for anyone who joins the team here in Australia or New Zealand. The foundation is already in place because the platform is such a perfect fit for this region. There really aren’t any roadblocks. But it’s still going to take time and work. You need to be a team player and be hands-on in terms of making sure our customers are successful.
“When you see something you’re interested in, if you develop the right skill set and explain how you think you can add value, you can make it a reality.”
You also need to have passion — to be excited about getting behind a company that has this kind of mission and this kind of impact on people’s lives. If we’re all driven by those same core values, I think we’ll see Everbridge be a world leader.
Why is this an exciting time to join the Australia office?
Honestly, a chance like this is so rare. You might get to help start up a new vertical or expand a company’s reach in one particular region, but it’s not often that you get to open up a whole new country that’s entirely untapped. Anyone who joins this office is getting in on the ground level in a market that I think has endless potential. It’s an awesome, one-in-a-million opportunity.
