I’m a Senior Manager – Strategic Initiatives – Cloud Communications, responsible for driving strategic change by supporting and driving different business initiatives and projects within Cloud Communications.
In one sentence what do you do, and what does your team do?
What did you do before joining BT?
I started my career in travel and then moved into finance by becoming a part-qualified accountant before realising that my passion and personality suited roles that were more project delivery, change management and transformation.
How does the work you do impact BT and our customers?
The work I drive, and support enables us to deliver the yearly targets across Opex/Capex and delivers major initiatives such as the better workplace programme driving collaboration, key locations of work, improved workspaces within key cities. All IP programme (Internet Protocol) enabling migrations of legacy products & services off the PSTN network to VOIP (voice over IP) services and products, by 2025, which contributes to critical business change and future technologies for BT and the UK.
How important is cloud for the technology transformation within BT and how we serve our partners?
Cloud is a critical fundamental growth of our business as the majority of our customers utilise Cloud based services especially during the pandemic and even more now with the new ways of working, products such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc. are utilised more than ever before. BT delivers products and services to some of the biggest companies listed in the Fortune 800 as well as being one of the Global largest Fortune 800 Company.
Cloud is the future strategically to deliver customers their IT stacks and services, enabling them to reduce Opex and Capex costs as well as provide greater services than they have today. BT enables this by delivering the products and the end 2 end services faster and more steam lined to enable business operations.
We in BT partner with world class cloud operators such as Microsoft to build and deliver an number of complex services for Enterprise customers such as contact centre solutions. BT’s core network is now being developed as part of technologies such as micro services and cloud native applications and within BT we are looking at hosting several core network applications in a public cloud in order to reduce BT’s Opex and Capex.
Do you have to be a technical person to work in technology?
Technically you do not need to be a designer, engineer, or developer to work in technology, however you do need an element of technology understanding in order to be able to develop your knowledge and skills within technology. By having a good level of technical knowhow enables you to support and deliver technology solutions and projects. It is key to have a mix of transferrable skills and technology skills to ensure that the end 2 end is managed effectively and efficiently for the business and the customer.
Working in technology enables you to continuously develop your technical skills as it can be a very fast paced with technologies evolving and changing regularly. It’s an exciting area of the business to be part of as you learn multiple skills that are transferrable but also specialist skills that you learn by working with your colleagues and experts in their technical field to deliver solutions.
How is BT driving innovation?
BT is driving innovation across multiple different areas, some of the areas I have had the pleasure to be involved in are across future technologies such as Cloud, All IP, new processes, Agile methods of working, Automation, and growing our skills to ensure we can provide the best products for our customers but also manage our networks and services efficiently.
These are exciting times with the amount of change and transformation we have enabling us to drive BT’s Vision for the future and makes us the best in what we do. As an industry and organisation, we need to remain competitive and become more Agile in what we deliver through innovating and streamlining how we do things today, keeping in mind our customers at the heart of what we do while keeping things simple and personal.
Having done different things throughout your career, what are the transferable skills to get a role in technology?
I am a strong believer that you need a mixture of skills and the right mind-set throughout your career to succeed in what you do. For me having the passion, determination, and the ability to champion and embrace change has been key in my career whilst working on major transformational and delivery projects or programmes especially within technology as it can be fast paced, and things evolve and change regularly.
There are many transferrable skills that are beneficial across technology, Finance, Commercial, Customer Interfacing, Stakeholder Management, Supplier Management, Problem Solving, Delivery, Strategic Planning, Communication, Project & Programme Management, Governance, all of these touch across most if not all end2end deliverables and it’s important to have an understanding of how the technology impacts the business but also be able to influence and deliver the benefits as well as the technical solution.
Technical skills are always transferrable and gives you the base knowledge especially as technology changes, it’s important to grow your knowledge when times change and share your knowledge to encourage others into Technology and grow within their own roles.
What would you say to someone considering a career in Technology?
Really focus on what gives you that buzz, the kind of work and activities that bring the passion from within out into the role you play. Remember that technology is not just technical roles, you can still be technical and not necessarily have to be an engineer.
