Wow, where have the years gone?!

I had my first experience with SOLIDWORKS back in 2007 as part of my university degree in Product Design. Having graduated university, I was very proud to achieve a First Class honours degree.

I remember attending a talk from Greg Cocks who would later become my Manager. The talk was about an opportunity to join his company in Cornwall as a Graduate. So, after the interview process I packed up and headed to Penzance, Cornwall.

In Cornwall I was working for a company called Rigibore who design and manufacture precision tooling. I also worked for a company called Bassett Defence Services on various engineering projects for the MOD with my Project Manager there Richard Berryman. We had excellent manufacturing facilities and I was fortunate to be surrounded by incredible Engineers. It was a great experience into the world of design, engineering and manufacturing.

Fast forward to 2010 after coming back home to Wales. I was looking to further my career in the engineering industry and joined Emyr Hughes and the team at CCSL (a SOLIDWORKS Added Value Reseller) as an Application Engineer. My duties included technical support, delivering training courses, installations, consultancy and demonstrations all across the SOLIDWORKS portfolio.

SOLIDWORKS Elite AE Award

I had to cover the ever expanding portfolio from PDM, Simulation, Electrical, Composer and more. As a result, I quickly managed to work my way towards and achieved the SOLIDWORKS Elite AE award in 2013.

To receive the Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS Corporation Elite AE award (a one-time honour), individuals must pass a set amount of certification examinations and be recommended by your local SOLIDWORKS technical manager. The award recognises not only your success with testing but also your ability to make a difference in the user community, including participating in local user groups and special events.

This award still represents a valuable milestone for an Application Engineer, and at Visiativ we guide and train our Engineers to achieve it. Such progress helps them deliver the best possible technical support to our customers and it’s one of the reasons we’ve been awarded the ‘Platinum Support‘ Status from Dassault Systèmes.

What Happened Next?

I took charge of the CCSL Technical Support Team as Technical Manager in 2014. Then 2017 I become Director, and helped grow the business before its acquisition by Visiativ in 2019.

We then merged with Innova Systems to form a larger SOLIDWORKS reseller in 2020. This gave us better coverage and more Engineers across the UK to serve our customers.

Under the leadership and guidance of Scott Henderson I was tasked with a number of different senior leadership positions covering different areas of the business from technical to commercial and everything in between.

In 2024 we brought on board Solid Applications to the family to strengthen our service throughout the UK. This combined together many years of industry knowledge and experience.

Leading Visiativ UK and Ireland

These days I’m honoured to lead the Visiativ business and serve our 3,500 (and counting…) customers in the UK and Ireland as Managing Director, a role I took on at the start of 2025.

Under the leadership of Romain Doutre, Bertrand Sicot, and Laurent Fiard, the Visiativ group operates in many countries throughout the world. This means we can offer the same first class service with the same first class products anywhere. The Visiativ Group is in constant contact, sharing knowledge and working in collaboration to service customers who operate out of multiple countries. Below you can see a great team photo taken at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 in America where representatives from Visiativ offices around the globe came together.

Our mission is to continue to provide the best possible service to our customers on the SOLIDWORKS portfolio, while developing and offering our own suite of products that bring additional value to businesses that operate in the design, engineering and manufacturing sectors.

It has been a rewarding journey so far. One where I’ve met and worked alongside many great leaders and engineers doing incredible things with our products. Thank you to everyone I’ve met so far along the way.

From starting as an Applications Engineer at CCSL to Managing Director at Visiativ, it’s been an inspiring journey. Long, challenging, but truly rewarding.

I have a great team and we will continue to do our best. Aligned to our core values of Co-development, Integrity, Flexibility and Trust.

I look forward to continuing to serve our customers and our people for many more years to come.

If you’d like to learn more, give us a call on 01223 200690 and we’ll be happy to discuss your requirements.

Mike Jones,

Managing Director, Visiativ UK & Ireland