The Argility Technology Group (ATG), part of Smollan, has accelerated its ambitions to become Africa’s premier Google Cloud and Google Workspace implementation partner, with the appointment of Matthew Chittenden as Google Cloud Growth Lead.

Chittenden brings over 20 years’ experience in working within the Google ecosystem and facilitating complex commercial technology transactions across numerous industry verticals.

His appointment follows Argility’s recent achievement of Google Premier Partner status – a rare distinction for one of only six partners in Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (SEEMEA). Argility was also recently named ‘Rising Star Partner of the Year’ by Digicloud Africa, Google’s reseller enablement partner in Africa.

Japie Saunders, ATG’s Managing Executive for Google Solutions, says Chittenden’s appointment is part of an aggressive growth strategy that has seen the company ascending to Premier Partner tier in record time and achieving 74 Google Workspace and Google Cloud certifications.

“We’re confident that Matthew’s expertise will add value both for our company and for our growing Google Cloud and Google Workspace customer base,” he says.

Holding an LLB degree, Chittenden moved directly into the corporate world where he worked as a global key account manager at one of the leading cellular network providers before transitioning into the Google Cloud ecosystem. He went on to be appointed to significant executive management positions, including in one notable organisation where he was instrumental in scaling the business 20x over a five-year period. He has delivered transformative projects for several of SA’s foremost corporations.

His mandate in his new role covers the entire Google Cloud growth life cycle, from orchestrating sales and go-to-market strategies and leading business development, to maximising partner funding and ensuring seamless deal closure and robust customer engagement.

Chittenden says his appointment will allow him to continue working with colleagues and solutions he has grown to know well over his years in the industry: “I’ve worked with Google solutions since before there was a Google Cloud, and I have well-established relationships with both the local Google South African team and broader international Google teams through Digicloud.

“Now, as more customers lean towards Google with the big shift to artificial intelligence and data analytics, Google Cloud is really strong in that space, and we expect the market to grow strongly. In addition, the Google Workspace environment is highly collaborative and well suited to the pan-African market, and Google has invested in the region by launching a local data centre, which positions both Google and a leading technology implementation partner like Argility quite well,” Chittenden says.

“The opportunity to combine Argility’s strong technical capabilities and Premier Partner credibility with my strategic sales approach, extensive market reach and dedicated business development focus is incredibly exciting,” he says. “Our strategy is to capture the rapidly expanding Google Cloud market in Africa and scale sales and revenue.”

Chittenden says while ATG is a leader in the retail sector, he won’t limit his focus to the retail space: “Vertically, I’ll be looking at where Google plays well – for example, across the healthcare and automotive sectors. On the horizontal layer, we will focus on every sector where Google’s collaboration, AI and generative AI strengths are applicable.”

Welcoming Chittenden to the team, ATG CEO Tanya Long says she believes the team is now well-rounded with immense potential for solid growth and providing customers with the best in market Google solutions.