Fergus appoints Hugh Walker as Head of Customer Experience

Fergus has appointed Hugh Walker as Head of Customer Experience, with responsibility for leading all customer-facing teams and overseeing the customer journey for its job management software.

The company, which operates across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, has created this new role as it looks to further support field services and trade businesses through its cloud-based platform. Walker will be based in Sydney and brings over a decade of experience in customer engagement in both Australia and the UK.

Mark Bartels, Chief Executive Officer at Fergus, said, "Hugh Walker brings a wealth of experience to Fergus' high-performing customer support, customer success and go to market teams that will be invaluable in elevating our customer experience to new heights. His customer-first philosophy aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver our one-stop solutions that meet the evolving needs of today's trade professionals and technicians.

"In addition, Hugh is data-driven and has deep experience partnering with Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, and Finance teams. He's experienced in SaaS, having built programs that successfully support complex onboarding, and scaled them with partners and smart, agile internal teams. He will be a great leader and mentor for employees in the customer success and support domain."

Walker's background includes leadership roles at several software-focused companies in both customer support and customer engagement. Most recently, he was Vice President of Customer Success at Haast, an Australian automated marketing compliance company, where he supported the company's efforts in raising USD $6 million to drive growth in marketing and content compliance technology and to support international expansion.

Prior to his role at Haast, Walker was Head of Customer Success at Dataro, a company whose software supports not-for-profits with donor prediction analytics and live dashboard reporting. During his tenure, he worked to help clients grow their fundraising outcomes using artificial intelligence and data-driven insights.

Walker's experience also includes serving as Head of Customer Success (Global) for Ignition, formerly known as Practise Ignition, where he managed adoption, engagement, and growth initiatives for the company's customer base based out of London.

He also held several positions with Dext (formerly Receipt Bank), including Partner Engagement Manager, Customer Development Executive, and Customer Success Manager. In these roles, he developed and automated client-facing processes, introduced a suite of consulting services, and managed franchise and SME sales channels across Australia and New Zealand. Walker began his career at Fuji Xerox Australia as a Customer Engagement Consultant.

On his appointment, Hugh Walker said, "I'm excited to continue to enhance Fergus' deep commitment to guiding customers through transformation by driving customer implementation, support and success functions to give our customers the best possible experience on their job management journey. The company prides itself on always going the extra mile for customers, and Fergus' customer-first philosophy perfectly aligns with my own culture of service, innovation, empathy and hands-on collaboration.

"I am immensely proud to join the Fergus team and to leverage my passion for customer advocacy to further enhance the company's customer engagement strategies and to take customer experience to the next level while also delivering exceptional value to our industry."

Founded in 2012, Fergus serves over 21,000 tradespeople across the globe, providing cloud-based solutions for quoting, scheduling, time tracking, workforce management, health and safety compliance, and profit margin reporting. Its platform offers integrations with accounting packages such as Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks and links to suppliers including Bunnings, Reece, Rexel, Tradelink and others. Customers can also manage their administrative tasks via a dedicated mobile app.

Fergus aims to reduce the administrative burden for trades businesses and improve the efficiency of day-to-day operations. The platform is used by both small and mid-sized businesses and has helped users to generate billions of dollars in revenue through streamlined payment and operational processes.