HTWC specialized in IBM mainframe modernization. Its customers were large and medium-sized organizations, from banks to industrial groups and retailers, and they ran on applications written over decades. Inside those applications sat the rules behind transactions, production schedules and replenishment networks. Moving them to newer platforms meant keeping the knowledge intact. Through re-hosting and code conversion, HTWC offered lower operating costs, more flexibility and room to develop further, with continuity at the center of the work.
Avel led international expansion, alliances and business development across Europe and North America. The first question was where HTWC’s expertise belonged inside a larger technology offer, which customers needed it and what each partner would gain from the relationship.
The names alone explained little. Microsoft Global Accounts, Dell and Oracle, Fortune Global 500 technology groups, each brought different capabilities and access to enterprise customers. Regional partners and system integrators added local relationships, implementation expertise and support. Avel worked out how these contributions fitted together around one opportunity. Each company needed a commercial reason to take part, and their teams needed responsibilities clear enough to act on.
The work happened between partner organizations, client leadership and HTWC’s technical specialists. With the CTO and engineering teams, Avel studied the customer’s requirements before presenting an offer. She needed to understand the existing system, and she needed to understand the organization using it: its priorities, the services it had to protect and the changes it expected the investment to support.
This preparation gave the business case its substance. Costs had to reflect what implementation required. The migration plan had to account for dependencies inside the customer’s operations. Partner commitments had to match the expertise and resources available for delivery. Avel worked with the relevant teams on implementation plans and agreements, and she kept the customer’s requirements present through every negotiation.
Several people examined the same proposal for different reasons. Technology teams wanted architectural and implementation detail. Procurement examined the terms. Senior management weighed the operational and financial consequences. Avel adapted her presentations and commercial material to each of them. As talks advanced, the emphasis moved from why modernization mattered to the specific work, risks and commitments involved.
Positioning was part of the job. She developed client presentations, partner programs and market communication, and worked on joint initiatives and industry events. She spoke at international events and led workshops on leadership, sales and marketing with specialists from HTWC and its partners. Teams in different companies needed to know when to introduce HTWC’s technology, how to discuss it with a customer and when to bring in technical specialists. The same positioning work contributed to Gartner including HTWC among the leading global players in mainframe modernization.
Her work continued after the first engagement. She followed changes in client priorities, worked with partners on local support and looked for the point where one project gave a reason for the next. Expansion meant regular contact across countries and time zones.
It began as a question of how to bring an Italian specialist into the accounts of much larger companies. It grew into partnerships and customers across Europe and North America. For each customer the agreement concerned systems the business would keep depending on, and Avel’s responsibility was to keep the commercial relationship tied to this reality, from the first discussion to the work of delivery.