Chris Gray is more than just one of the Photoshop guys

The law degree was never used and, instead, Gray pursued his interest in computers

By Vera Alves, Auckland | Friday, 15 July 2011
Chris Gray is responsible for the New Zealand sales of Adobe and says the country is a special place to bring the company’s products.

Despite the size of the market here, Gray appreciates the opportunity to work with highly creative people, as well as knowing that what he sells makes their job possible.

“New Zealand is small and we only have a small presence here, but some of the people here are doing world-leading stuff with our technology,” he says. He nominates SmallWorlds in Auckland and the Weta Studios in Wellington as two examples of such companies.

Gray started working in the sector three decades ago, after deciding to put his law degree in the drawer. Before joining Adobe four years ago, he was sales director at Borland Software.

“I have been in IT since 1980, and ran my own company for 10 years back in the 80s,” he recalls. “I have a law degree but never practiced, by choice, but also because of economics. I didn’t want a low-paid apprenticeship”.

Gray is now helping Adobe become more than just “the Photoshop and PDF people”.

“Adobe is very interesting,” he says. “I spend a lot of my time explaining what we do. We have more than 100 products.”

But, he adds, “it is less about the products these days, than it is about providing solutions to business challenges”.

Gray says the company currently focuses on three main areas: content creation, customer engagement management and online marketing optimisation. With so many companies moving their business online, he says providing a one-stop-shop with a web focus is vital for the business. “Adobe is now an end-to-end store. People aren’t necessarily aware that we are one of the largest SaaS companies in the world.”

The company does a significant amount of work with both the government and the education sector. “It is amazing what students are doing with our technology, even at a primary school level. They’re setting up radio and TV stations, for example. It’s hard to believe.”

He realises that Adobe products are seen as highly technical and require training to be used. According to him, that is something else the company is working towards changing, even though the newer generations seem to pick it all up a lot easier. “You should not have to read a manual to use our products and that is what we are working towards. The younger generation has no problem using these products.”

Locally, the company has the extra challenge of a range of customers spread from one end of the country to the other. “Geography is a challenge and we are gradually solving that with more online marketing.” Gray also adds “speed limitations and bandwidth” to the list of issues he is faced with working in this country.

He realises that there is a “significant training requirement” for resellers of Adobe products and the company has put up its own technology to deliver online training for partners.

Still, not everything can be done through the world wide web and Gray currently divides his time between Wellington – where his office is and where he lives – and Auckland. “There is still a need for face-to-face meetings.”

As part of the attempts to extend the company’s reach in the market, Adobe has also launched a subscription-based version of its Creative Suite, suited for students or small businesses who cannot afford to buy the entire product. Gray says that the company grew a lot last year in New Zealand and is expecting to continue to grow, along with its partners.