In a nod to the rising importance that major companies are placing on technology and its role in their growth, a leading communications software and services firm has made a major addition to its leadership team.

Unify, which provides integrated communications solutions for approximately 75 percent of the Fortune Global 500, announced it has appointed Stefan Ried as Head of Technology Strategy and Chief Technology Officer for the company’s Product House organization. According to the company, Ried will be instrumental in helping Unify drive the latest technology trends in cloud, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and the Internet of Things.

"With his unique industry knowledge and technology product management experience, Ried's broad view and insights into the latest technology trends will help accelerate our transformation to a pure-play software company," said Peter Kurpick, Executive Vice President of Product House at Unify. "He is the right person at the helm of our product house technology."

For his part, Ried brings some extensive ‘bona fides’ to his new position, with 20 years of experience in leading-marketing and software product development. Prior to joining Unify, he was VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester (News - Alert) Research, where he advised leading CIOs and software vendors about cloud platforms, the Internet of Things, and emerging business models, such as cloud broker.

Prior to that, Ried worked as SVP of Netweaver Product Management at SAP (News - Alert) and as VP of Product Management at Software AG.

"I'm thrilled to help further drive Unify's transformation to a leading software and cloud player," Ried said in a statement accompanying news of his appointment. "Business has moved to the cloud and communication, collaboration, and business processes need to work seamlessly across the cloud, and on-premise. I am looking forward to re-positioning Unify in the new ecosystem of technology vendors and the modern developer community."

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