Lifecycle Software appoints Ross Devereux as Chief Executive

Lifecycle Software has appointed Ross Devereux Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

He succeeds Liz Parry, who has moved into a new strategic leadership role at the telecoms software company. The appointment comes as Lifecycle shifts towards a more product-led model focused on giving customers greater control over platform configuration and use.

Devereux has spent 20 years at the business, joining as a placement student before moving through software engineering, research and development, and professional services. Most recently, he was Professional Services Director, leading two separate business functions.

His background gives him operational, product and customer experience across the organisation, alongside technical knowledge built over two decades. It also puts a long-serving insider at the top of the business as Lifecycle changes how it delivers software to telecoms operators and service providers.

Product shift

Lifecycle is seeking to reduce reliance on heavily customised deployments by giving customers more direct control over how they configure its platform. The approach includes further investment in APIs, self-service tools and an AI agentic layer designed to let users interact with and adapt the platform using natural language.

The aim is to help customers launch new propositions more quickly and adjust services without lengthy discovery, development and configuration projects. The strategy reflects wider pressure on telecoms providers to change tariffs, bundles and digital services faster while keeping costs under control.

Devereux also brings direct experience from delivering and operating the technology behind Coop Mobile in the Channel Islands. Lifecycle says the mobile brand has captured 67% of the region's annual mobile switchers since launch.

That experience has been cited internally as part of the case for his appointment because it links product design and service delivery with commercial outcomes in a live telecoms environment. It also gives him first-hand exposure to the demands on operators launching new offers in competitive markets.

In comments released with the appointment, Devereux pointed to both his technical roots and his later customer-facing work.

"I joined Lifecycle straight out of university, writing code and learning how the products worked from the inside out. Twenty years on, I'm now responsible for the business as a whole, making sure we're building the right things for our customers," said Ross Devereux, Chief Executive Officer, Lifecycle Software.

"Moving from R&D into professional services was a big change, but it has given me a much broader understanding of what customers need and how our technology translates into business outcomes. That experience is shaping the direction in which I now want to take the company," he said.

Customer control

Under Devereux, Lifecycle's strategy emphasises enabling customers to manage more changes themselves rather than relying on a supplier to build each modification. In practice, that means more self-service options and tools designed to simplify configuration.

Artificial intelligence forms part of that plan, though Lifecycle presented it in operational rather than speculative terms. The proposed AI layer is intended to reduce complexity in how users work with the platform by allowing changes and interactions through natural language.

Devereux said the model is intended to serve both customers and the company more effectively.

"Customers increasingly need to be able to adapt their propositions themselves rather than wait for a technology provider to build every change for them," he said.

"Our focus is therefore on making the platform easier to configure, giving customers more self-service capability and applying AI where it can remove complexity and genuinely improve the way they work. That is a more scalable model for our customers and for us. I look forward to building on our strong customer relationships and helping them innovate faster while delivering real value," he said.

Parry, who previously held the Chief Executive role, said Devereux's long tenure and range of roles made him well suited to lead the next stage of the business.

"Ross has seen Lifecycle from almost every angle - from building the technology to working directly with customers," said Liz Parry.

"His journey reflects our commitment to investing in people and developing talent from within. Ross combines deep technical expertise with a strong understanding of our customers and business, giving him a clear view of where we create value today and where we need to go next, making him the ideal person to lead Lifecycle Software into its next chapter," she said.