CRN Channel Awards Australia: Finalist Q&A with Hugh Darvall, Channel Lead, APAC at Island

Hugh Darvall talks about being a finalist at this year's CRN Channel Awards Australia

Hugh Darvall is Channel Lead, APAC at Island, where he leads the company's channel and partner strategy across the full Asia Pacific and Japan region. Hugh has a strong track record of scaling up vendors to achieve critical mass in the region, taking businesses from smaller accounts through to becoming some of the biggest players in the market. Since joining Island, he has driven the company's rapid expansion across APJ, building out the local partner ecosystem and fuelling a strong uptick in customer adoption. Prior to Island, he built deep channel expertise at a number of scale-ups and established players in this market. Hugh is focused on helping partners deliver real value as Island continues to scale across the region.

What prompted you to enter the CRN Channel Awards Australia this year?

This has been a landmark 12 months for us in the ANZ market — we've significantly scaled our presence in the region, built out our local team and partner ecosystem, and seen a real uptick in customer adoption as a result. Entering this year felt like the right moment to put that momentum on the record and be recognised alongside the best in the channel.

What would winning this award mean to both your teams and your customers/partners?

For our local team, it would be validation of the hard work that's gone into standing up and growing our ANZ operation from the ground up. For our partners and customers, it's a signal that the investment we've made in the region people, support, and go-to-market; is delivering real, measurable value, and that we're here for the long term, not just testing the water.

What would you say is your company's proudest achievement over the past year?

Without question, it's the expansion into the ANZ region and the customer growth that's followed. We've moved from an early-stage presence to a genuinely established footprint, and the response from the market has been strong; a noticeable increase in new customer wins and expanding accounts as more organisations look for the solution we provide.

What have been the biggest challenges of the current year so far and how have you overcome them?

Scaling quickly in a new region always brings challenges; building local trust, educating the market, and standing up delivery capability fast enough to match demand. We tackled this by investing early in local hires and partner enablement, which meant that as customer interest grew, we already had the people and processes in place to support it.

What do you see as the main opportunities for the industry in the coming 12 months?

We see continued strong demand across ANZ and the broader region as organisations accelerate their move to next-generation solutions in our space. Having established a solid regional foundation this past year, our plan is to keep building on that momentum; deepening existing customer relationships while continuing to expand into new accounts across the region. What we've established in this short amount of time is a sign of big things to come.

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