University of Derby Director of IT Services Neil Williams has been the leader of improved performance management and recruitment approaches at the higher education institute, creating a different workforce which is more enabled for handling disruption and change. The university is also in the process of a technological transformation which includes process re-engineering, infrastructure resilience and Big Data analytics. Job TitleDirector of IT Services When did you start your current role?2010 What is your reporting line?to Deputy CEO & Finance Director Do you meet with and discuss business strategy with the CEO every week?Generally 2-3 times per month Are you a member of the board of directors?Yes What other executive boards do you sit on?I am a strategic advisor to IDC and Oracle. I also volunteer as a school governer to gain incite into our supply chain. Does your organisation have a CDO?No What different responsibilities does the CDO have?I am the CDO – the responsibility for general data management is within my remit. In this area I am responsible for ensuring good data management across the organisation including policy, ownership and training. This covers all data types electronic and non-electronic. What non-technology responsibilities do you have in the organisation?I led the production of the corporate plan and have numerous advisory roles with different business units. I have the main portfolio management team which supports change management in the organisation. I have FOI and DPA responsibility and a general responsibility for data management and security. I have responsibility for leading strategic business change activity where there is a connection to IT systems. I operate on several steering/planning groups relating to assessing new business ventures and developments such as our estates portfolio. How many employees does your organisation have?3000+ Does your organisation carry out significant trade in the EU?Yes What number of users does your department supply services to?30,000 (27000 students and 3000 staff) How do you ensure that you have a good understanding of your business and how your customers use your business's products?I am a corporate leader and sit on 10 business unit boards. I am an advisor to IDC and Oracle which gives me early insight into trends. I attend industry events to identify and respond to trends. I have responsibility for leading the strategic portfolio of business change projects and ensuring there is pro-active governance including mutiple business stakeholders. I have significant involvement in strategic planning and long term (10-year) planning. In 2014 I led the development of the corporate plan to 2020 leading a team of colleagues inlcuding business leaders, sales and marketing. I have also put metrics and reporting in place to understand business drivers. I also established a governance mechanism for assessing requests on our IT systems and their ROI. University of Derby technology strategy and agenda Is your organisation being disrupted by the internet, mobility or technology oriented start-ups?Yes Are you empowered by your organisation to disrupt from the inside?Yes Describe a disruptive measure you've led or played a major part in?I am heavily involved in one of the UKs most unique online learning business units where we have established a business model supported by unique processes and systems to gain a global competitive edge. The approach has not been tried by any other UK University and we are growing substanially every year. I have also been a leader of improved performance management and recruitment approaches for the University creating a different workforce more enabled for handling disruption and change. Although not externally disruptive, I have also led us to being the first UK University to gain cyber essentials certification leading the sector in improving data security. What major transformation project has been recently completed, or is underway at your organisation?I am currently delivering transformation projects in the following areas – customer relationship management, process re-engineering in our application and enrolment systems, Big Data services in corporate data, learning analytics and marketing analytics, infrastructure security, infrastructure resilience, process engineering for efficiency, new payment and cash collection services, new planning tools and new service centre systems for all business units. Recent completions inlcude a new CRM capability, a new data centre and internal cloud provision and a hybrid cloud solution for portfolio and worklaod planning. In 2014 the department has been a finalist in six national awards in areas such as personal excellence, project excellence and organisational excellence. What impact will the above transformation have on your organisation?Increased income, improved student outcomes, improved decision making and predictions through better information analysis, improved staff and student satisfaction through more useable systems with improved reliability and access. We will improve our competitive position which is absolutely fundemental in an increasingly competive and deregulated HE sector. How has your leadership style contributed to the outcomes of the transformation project?I identified the required projects through highly collaborative dialogue with key stakeholders and colleagues as well as sector and industry trend monitoring. My open and supportive style helped me gain full agreement and support for a large portfolio of complex projects which all require IT and business resources. I gained executive and corporate approval through presenting to various boards and governing bodies. I am now leading the change management of the portfolio. My leadership of my department has ensured full support from my own management and resources even though the portfolio will have a significant and sustained impact on the department. What key technologies do you consider enable transformation?Technologies such as cloud, mobile, and business intelligence tools are the main enablers. However, the real enablers of change are people once given licence to think and create. The technology rarely constrains transformation – its generating the ideas and turning them into reality through strong change management and leadership. Are you increasing the number of cloud applications or infrastructure in use at your organisation?Yes What is your information and data analytics vision for the organisation?We are currently building several data warehouses and reporting systems across a wide range of data sets. Currently this is mainly capturing and reporting on data and creating truth sources of truth. The vision however is to use this data to build predictions and trends to directly link into decsion making processes. This activity has been identified and agreed bu the organisation and I am now leading the initial project work to start this journey. We intend to improve our income through using data to improve recruitment conversions and to improve our student performance through better support and awareness of their progress. How is mobile and social networking impacting operations and customer experience?Mobile and social networking are not impacting operations, it is enhancing them as we are an education provider and these technologies enable much better student engagement in learning and peer working. The main challenge is balancing the power of social web for learning with the risks of data security. This is why we have focussed on cyber security improvements and the education of staff and students. Describe your strategic vision towards shadow IT and BYOD. How do you influence and engage executives and employees around choice?We influence primarily through educating key stakeholders, executives and employees about risk. We generally support the use of personal devices but we require users go through data security training before we allow access to corporate data. We are also enhancing mobile management solutions to better integrate personal devices with corporate data. We try to utilise quality technology such as Apple so users do not feel constrained but we put governance around the use. We also have unique governance mechanisms for reviewing consumer cloud offerings to try and advise users on what is good (and what is not). What strategic technology deals have been struck and with whom?We have strategic technology approaches with Oracle for databases and ERP, Cisco for servers and network and VMware for virtual infrastructure. We are about to be one of teh first UK Universities to sign a startegic deal for the deployment of hyperconverged storage which will make us one the the few UK Universities to operate a highly integrated and modular server/ storage infrastructure. Who are your main suppliers?Oracle, Cisco, VMWare , Microsoft and Blackboard. University of Derby IT security and budget Has your organisation detected a cyber intrusion in the last 12 months?Yes Has cyber-security risen up your management agenda?Yes Does your organisation understand the potential cyber-security threats it faces?Yes Has this led to an increase in your security budget?Yes What is the IT budget?£7.3m pay, non pay and maintenance plus circa £3m capital per year. How much is the IT operational spend compared to the revenue as a percentage?5% What is the strategic aim of the 玩偶姐姐 and IT operations for the next financial year?Increase marketing capability and income generation.Improve student performance to improve University league table position and hence brand equity. Create an analytics capability to enable predictive analytics and intervention management to improve business performance. Are you finding it difficult to recruit the talent you need to drive transformation?Yes Has recruitment and retention risen up your agenda as a 玩偶姐姐?Yes Are you looking for recruits in the EU to fill the skills shortage you have?No Does your IT organisation operate an apprenticeship schemeYes University of Derby technology department How would you describe your leadership style?The following is the decription of me that my staff wrote for an award submisison: "Neil has led the transformation of ITS to a position where the focus on business engagement and the provision of an effective, responsive and forward thinking service is now the norm. Neil continues to lead and inspire within the department and across the institution. His staff, his peers, and the organisation clearly recognise that the true measure of successful leadership is not that which is achieved in a single instance, nor a short period, but one which requires a significant and sustained approach to deliver continuous improvement. Neil has been extremely successful in achieving this over the past 12 months: for the Business by his ability to influence, engage and effect strategic change across the University, by his peers for whom he is increasingly seen as one of the key “go to” leaders for advice and guidance and by his department, reflected in further, substantial improvements in staff engagement results. He continues to grow the support, trust and commitment of his staff which has seen proven, sustained results and a commitment from them to provide the highest possible levels of service, quality and development. Neil has worked tremendously hard to embed two-way communications and a culture of shared responsibility to communicate between the IT department and all of its customers. Neil understands and drives forward the University's service/business environment and consistently gains co-operation and support from peers in other units to improve the service.£ Explain how you've supported and developed your senior leadership team to support your overall objectives and vision?I guess again I will use text that my senior team wrote about me for an award submission as an indicator of my approach: "Neil's drive for professionalism, aligned with industry- standard accreditation has developed further. Building on the departmental wide training and development of staff in best practice for both Project and Service Management (PRINCE2 and ITIL) he is now leading the utilisation of COBIT for IT Governance and TOGAF for Architecture. Neil leads by example in undertaking the development alongside his staff, to ensure that he knows that which he is asking of them, but also enabling him to positively challenge them to push forward in the best interests of the Business. Embedding clearly that our customers, quality and professionalism are at the heart of everything we do, he has established a comprehensive skill set requirement for all service staff, which includes both formal, technical certification and an on-going commitment to their development as professionals with the level of values and behaviours we expect as one of the key service departments within the organisation." How many employees are in your IT team?108 full time equivelent. Circa 120 staff. What is the split between in-house/outsourced staff?100% in-house. Does your team include key skilled workers from the EU?Yes