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I have worked in the legal IT industry for over 25 years, and joined Boult, first serving as an IT Manager and now as the firm’s IT Director.
My role has always enabled me to develop strong interpersonal and technical skills. I have built strong relationships with some great people and acquired a wealth of knowledge and expertise within fast-paced IT environments both in the UK and internationally. I spent 10 years of my career based in the Asia-Pacific region managing major projects from opening new offices, to office relocations, datacentre moves, as well as various lifecycles of software and hardware. On returning to the UK, I was drawn to Boult by the challenge of employing my previous experience in building a new team and upscaled IT function. What really convinced me to join was the strong family culture here at Boult – it was evident from the first interview that this was a place where I’d really fit in and thrive.
Day-to-day, I manage a team of technical support staff ensuring the business has the technology it requires to meet customer needs and business objectives. We are driven by the need to ensure a happy, secure and seamless IT function for all of our staff. Seeing our people make use of systems or tools we have implemented and receiving positive feedback about completed projects, is always really satisfying.
Strategically planning IT systems, security and AI is something I’m really passionate about, and is obviously critically important in the modern workplace. During my time at Boult, we have undergone several changes to our infrastructure with a strong focus on security, machine learning and cloud technologies. In 2019, we acquired Cyber Essential PLUS & IASME certification and more recently ISO 27001. The journey through Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus through to the ISO 27001 has taken around four years and encompasses developments to our physical IT security, our policies and processes, and the implementation of new controls to create as secure a working environment for our staff and clients as is possible. We’re one of the few intellectual property firms in the UK to hold ISO 27001 certification, which is something I’m really proud of and believe provides the best possible protection of our clients’ data assets.
These projects have helped engender a real cultural shift in the way our people approach security – which we regularly promote through internal communication on IT safety awareness. We won’t sit still on the accomplishment however, as we need to remain at the cutting edge of security infrastructure to continue to keep the information assets of the firm and our clients as secure as possible. The past five years have thrown up many challenges, no more so than the pandemic and the switch to full remote working and more recently the move to hybrid working. Due to the proactiveness of the firm and my team, we managed to adapt to the new way of working with very little disruption to business.
I am delighted that my role with Boult enables me to explore technical solutions with stakeholders within the firm who have extensive knowledge in fields such as Machine Learning, cloud technologies and Artificial Intelligence. It’s great to work in an environment where there’s a real understanding of the inner workings and importance of software, hardware and security, and a real willingness to develop and invest in our IT function.