Hornbill has appointed Frank McIlroy, a highly experienced and respected business manager, to the position of CEO for Hornbill Service Management. The appointment is part of a wider restructuring programme designed to support Hornbill's strategic plans for continued growth and development. Hornbill's new structure creates an environment where focus on each of its areas of expertise is harnessed and developed. Hornbill Technologies will focus on the underlying platform technology, while Hornbill Service Management will concentrate on service management applications and services with a strong market-led outlook. Both strategic business units are part of the Hornbill group.

Gerry Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Hornbill and CTO of Hornbill Technologies explained, "Our primary aim with the restructuring of Hornbill was to underpin our longer term strategic goals. Key to our strategy is ensuring that we not only remain a recognised leader in the Service Management arena, but also focus on expanding that leadership both beyond service management and geographically. It has been evident for a number of years from the way in which many customers use our technology, that our platform has the flexibility to support numerous line-of-business applications outside service management alone. In recognition of this we have re-organised Hornbill and are designing our next generation platform technology to be the most advanced service management application platform available, while also being supportive of other business application areas."

With an impressive track record of driving consistent growth in sales and operations, Frank McIlroy joins Hornbill from Oracle Corporation. Before Oracle, Frank held senior positions with BEA Systems, Progress Software and Computer Associates.

On joining Hornbill Service Management, Frank commented "Hornbill is recognised as a leader in the ITSM market with an enviable pedigree of innovation and customer service. With new product and marketing initiatives being launched, I believe Hornbill is poised for rapid growth and increased market share. Our emphasis on "Customer First" in everything we do presents an opportunity to exceed customer expectations and drive the business to new heights. I am very proud to join Hornbill’s leadership team and, in this highly competitive market, believe our outstanding people give us the edge to become the first choice for service management solutions."

Gerry Sweeney added, "I am delighted and excited to welcome Frank to Hornbill and to have him as part of our leadership team. He has an excellent track record in both sales and general operations, and is a highly customer focused individual who has demonstrated leadership and continued success within some of the world's most respected global software organisations. Frank has assumed overall responsibility for our Service Management business and we are all looking forward to working with him in what are very exciting and stimulating times for Hornbill."

For a number of years, Hornbill has operated internally with an informal two-tier development structure. Following the restructure, Hornbill has two very highly focused and scalable teams, each working in their own area of expertise: one concentrated entirely on core platform technology and the other on service management application development. Each team has dedicated product management, development and quality assurance functions, with resultant increases in quality, innovation and creativity across the board.

The first products to be developed and released under Hornbill's formalised two-tier development structure are shortly to be announced. Supportworks ESP 7.4 platform and Supportworks ITSM Enterprise 3.0, plus a technology preview of a zero install Web 2.0 browser based client technology, will soon be available, as previewed recently at the Service Desk and IT Support Show (Earls Court, 27 – 28 April). Supportworks ITSM Enterprise 3.0 was certified as ITIL v3 compatible for eleven processes by PinkVERIFY™ in April 2010.