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Nico Devocelle
IT & Digital change professional, MBA, enabling Digital transformation and renewal through API-led connectivity
Professional Background
Nico Devocelle is a highly skilled technology leader with over two decades of experience in IT and business strategy transformation. As a dedicated business relationship manager, Nico has honed his expertise in driving organizations toward agility and innovation through API-centric and cloud-first strategies. He has a remarkable ability to connect applications, data, and devices, fostering an operating model characterized by flexibility, governance, and resource reuse—essentially transforming traditional business practices into digital-first environments.
Throughout his career, Nico has held prominent roles in various global organizations, where he has continually contributed to significant improvements in operational efficacy and value generation. He is known as a pragmatic problem-solver, capable of building high-performing teams, inspiring collaboration, and consistently pushing for excellence across the board. His approach to managing IT investments through a well-defined digital agenda encapsulates his commitment to continuous improvement and strategic alignment with business goals.
His first-class record for providing substantial benefits is evidenced by his contributions in demanding environments, working closely with operating boards to ensure that technology serves as a pillar of support for core business functions. Nico's notable experience encompasses a portfolio of over 150 IT services that support approximately 80% of the ordering channels for a major global organization, contributing to a daily revenue of €14 million.
Education and Achievements
Nico has an impressive educational background, having pursued various degrees and certifications that bolster his knowledge and implementation capabilities in technology and business management. He is an alumnus of the prestigious University of Warwick, where he completed his self-funded MBA in Business Administration, Management, and Operations, equipping him with a strong foundation for effective leadership in high-stakes environments.
His journey in education includes:
- ITIL V3 Foundation Certificate: Studied at BCS - Sysop, establishing a foundation in IT service management.
- MBA: Self-funded at Warwick Business School, focusing on Business Administration, Management, and Operations to enhance his capacity to lead organizations.
- Diploma in Business Administration: Business Administration, Marketing, and Computing at Reims Management School, which allowed him to integrate business fundamentals with technological strategies.
- Master of Science (MSc): Digital Technology - Enterprise Architecture at Northumbria University, delving into advanced topics around enterprise strategies and digital solutions.
- Bachelor of Arts (Hons): European Business Administration, Marketing, and Computing at Middlesex University, providing a comprehensive understanding of diverse business practices.
Nico's academic achievements are complemented by substantial successes throughout his professional career. He played a pivotal role in building critical infrastructure and managing considerable projects, including the delivery of three IT strategies and roadmaps, leading to a staggering growth from a £22 million revenue company to a £238 million business centered around a shared service model for a FTSE 250 company. His strategic foresight has been instrumental in transitioning technology investments into lucrative up-selling opportunities, transforming £100,000 into an impressive £2 million revenue.
Moreover, Nico has successfully project-managed significant operations such as private cloud outsourcing and disaster recovery systems designed to protect the sales of £900,000 a day for a UK plc. His acumen for M&A activities was evidenced through his meticulous management of 15 acquisitions worth a total of £182 million across Europe, ensuring smooth integration and high adaptability of acquired entities.
Achievements
Nico Devocelle's career highlights a remarkable list of achievements that not only showcase his capabilities but also his influence on the organizations he has served:
- Accountable for Portfolio Management: Managed a portfolio of 150+ IT services to support 80% of the ordering channels generating €14 million daily revenue for a global organization.
- Breeding Transformation: Key member of the transformation teams leading integration and renewal initiatives within a global organization.
- Driving Revenue Growth: Delivered three IT strategies and roadmaps, which dramatically propelled a UK plc from £22 million to an astonishing £238 million business, marking him as a key player in the growth trajectory.
- Innovation in Technology: Identified and implemented technology solutions that converted £100,000 into a significant up-selling opportunity of £2 million, underpinning his ability to leverage IT for business enhancement.
- Streamlined ERP Delivery: Led the ERP deliveries that supported central processes for an FTSE 250 plc with a vast network of 140 depots across six EMEA regions.
- Robust Disaster Recovery Management: Effectively managed the project for private cloud outsourcing, establishing secure data centers and disaster recovery systems to protect sales integrity.
- Expertise in M&A Activities: Navigated pre and post-sales due diligence in M&A, managing a diverse portfolio of applications, platforms, and people, integrating 15 acquisitions across Europe worth a total of £182 million.
Each of these accomplishments illustrates not only Nico's adeptness at handling complex IT landscapes but also his visionary mindset geared toward actionable results and sustainable growth. His unique blend of technical knowledge, operational management, and strategic foresight positions him as a valuable asset to any organization aiming to embrace digital transformation and maximize technological potential.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.