Meet Peter Pavšič, the Director of Sales at Smart Com, Extreme’s Champion of the quarter.

Peter, you’ve been in the IT industry for almost 20 years. What is your biggest professional achievement?

I’ve been successfully translating business requirements into the IT network and IT infrastructure market in Slovenia for the better part of my professional life. What I consider my biggest achievement is ongoing; it’s the ability to seamlessly solve our customers’ needs and pain points by aligning them with an end-to-end ICT portfolio. That includes ERP and CRM systems, systems and network infrastructure,  and cybersecurity. What I’d also like to add to my achievement list is the ability to implement sales psychology in our practices.

What has been your greatest challenge?

In my line of work, I’ve always been challenged with developing a sales team. However, by applying my knowledge and leadership skills, I’ve been successful in building a highly driven and goal-oriented sales team from scratch.

What project involving Extreme solutions are you most proud of?

As far as my biggest personal wins with Extreme Networks solutions go, I should mention the successful project for one of the largest general hospitals in the region, which included the implementation of an Extreme end-to-end solution with switching, Wi-Fi, Extreme Defender for IoT, and ExtremeCloud IQ for network management. By solving the hospital’s ICT challenges, we’ve enabled the facility to provide high-quality services for its employees and patients.

What was your ace in the hole to see the sale through?

In my opinion, the Extreme Networks healthcare vertical case studies are what really helped us tip the scales here. They empowered us to address the challenges and needs of the hospital’s IT department and provided us with an additional expert foundation and reference points for reaching a favorable outcome.

Everyone knows that Slovenians love basketball. If you were to compare your working style to a basketball court, what position would you play? A strong forward who likes to drive to the net to create scoring chances or a point guard who likes to get his teammates involved?

Personally, I prefer the position of point guard. It is the most demanding position on the basketball court because it requires great ball handling skills, good scoring abilities, and a highly tactical mind. Driving the team and having the ability to handle tricky situations is hard work, but also rewarding.

Smart Com is one of the key Extreme partners in Central and South-Eastern Europe. Since its foundation in 1990, Smart Com has evolved into a family of independent businesses grown from Smart Com products. How does it feel to work in such a forward-thinking powerhouse?

Smart Com is one of the rare ICT businesses in Slovenia that is still owned by its original founders, in this case the Remškar family. The company has evolved thanks to the visionary leadership which has strategically positioned our operations in the networking and cyber security segment by providing managed services and solutions for some of the most complex and challenging verticals.

To be part of the leadership team of a company that puts such a big emphasis on developing the local market and addressing the needs of customers with the best value proposition, all while living the core values that define the Smart Com team, makes it a privilege to be here.

What do you consider to be Smart Com’s competitive edge in the market?

I’m proud that we’re agile and attentive to customer needs and changes in our immediate or global environment. To spotlight just a few: During the COVID pandemic, we swiftly and efficiently established an infrastructure for secure and reliable remote working, protecting critical IT infrastructure and systems needed by government institutions to ensure continuous  operations.

In order to bring our forward-thinking and ambitious growth plans to fruition, we have the determination to constantly invest in the knowledge and skills necessary to support our strategy, business, operations, and marketing teams, with a focus on the market.

Over the course of your career, you’ve worked with a number of different vendors, distributors, and customers. What do you personally value the most in your partnership with Extreme?

Since I’ve been in the IT industry basically all my professional life, I have had the opportunity to hold various positions, working with different vendors and distributors while applying the business knowledge and skills obtained over the years to engage with customer leadership and decision makers. If there’ one thing I’ve learned it’s that in order to deliver on promises of the best value and an excellent user experience, a sincere and truthful relationship within customer organizations and across the supply chain is a must.

As a director of sales and strategic procurement, my mission is to forge long-term relationships along the supply chain. In this respect, I personally value Extreme’s willing to go above and beyond to deliver. Furthermore, I commend Extreme’s sales and technical teams for their dedication, flexibility, and agility, as well as the out-of-the-box thinking that we’ve successfully applied to bridge the unpredictable and turbulent period of COVID-19 and supply shortages.

These nurtured, long-term relationships and personal contacts make a big difference in our highly competitive and constricted IT market.

How do you unwind after work?

For me, the best way to relax and regain a positive attitude is to spend some quality time with my teenage son and indulge in various sports activities, mainly tennis and skiing.

Speaking of activities, Slovenia has a lot to offer, including some of the best ski resorts in Europe and one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. Any favorite places you like to come back to?

Indeed, Slovenia is a home to many hidden gems of nature such as the exquisite blue-green Lake Bled in the Julian Alps or Postojna, the most captivating cave in the world where the first-ever baby dragon hatched.

Personally, my go-to place during the wintertime is Dolomite slopes ski resorts, and in the summer on Croatia’s coastline. I also enjoy coming back to Prague to visit the Extreme Networks regional team and discuss the development of our projects, as well as the current and future strategic cooperation, after which we indulge in the local culinary specialties.

Extreme Champions are a community of certified partner sellers who drive Extreme sales within our most esteemed partnerships. The program aims to recognize, reward, engage and enable a global network of partner sales professionals to help them drive Extreme sales within our most esteemed partnerships and become more successful in their respective markets.

Read more Extreme Champion blogs.

To become an Extreme Champion, visit our Extreme Champion Page.