For this week’s edition of MD Culture Club, we spoke to managed cloud and security services provider iomart, interviewing three of their team to gain insights into what life is like there and what attributes make up their company culture.
人才引领……
Jane Middleton，首席人事官
Can you tell us a little bit about the company, before describing the culture at the organisation?
iomart is a managed cloud and security services provider. We partner with organisations to help design and manage their IT environments. 成立于1998年, 我们于2000年在伦敦证券交易所上市, 继续在技能上成长和投资, 技术, network and data centre infrastructure to help our customers deliver their services efficiently and securely.
We have around 400 employees who would normally work out of our offices and data centres across the UK however 结果是 of the pandemic most are currently working from their homes. A significant number live and work in Manchester and North West England.
我们是一个相对‘年轻’的组织, in terms of how long we’ve been in business and have been very acquisitive over the years – as such, 我们的文化在不断发展壮大. 尤其是在过去的12个月, we have placed a big focus on developing and harnessing the right culture to make us as successful in the future as we are today.
We are a managed service provider and that means we need a customer centric culture and in turn, 这意味着我们都是十大网博靠谱平台人的. This can be a challenge in a technically focused organisation but we try to place just as much emphasis on values and behaviours as we do on technical know-how – this is really important.
This has played out through our company values, which we defined and communicated during lockdown. 当然, launching values doesn’t change your culture but it is important to communicate your expectations and talk about the kinds of behaviours that underpin those values – relentlessly! We’ve spent considerable time on this and whilst doing this remotely was a challenge, 我们真的开始看到好处了. Our values are focused on positive relationships and teamwork as well as everyone being accountable for the part they play – at the core it’s about customer centricity – so if we all do these things the way we should, 我们确实把客户放在第一位.
The biggest challenge has been lockdown and doing all of this remotely – human connection is essential with the kind of culture we are developing. So we’ve adapted and tried to do much more on people engagement to gauge feedback – I think that has been the hardest thing to do due to remote working so we’ve done a lot with our people and managers on this. Some of this feedback has led to other things being implemented 例如, we now have a mindfulness and well-being programme in place covering the next 12 months and beyond; and we recently launched a new flexible working arrangement providing far greater flexibility to our people on start and finish times. It’s really important that people have a way to provide feedback and even more important that they can see change happening following the feedback – this is encouraging a much more open and innovative culture at iomart.
How does the company go above and beyond to attract and retain tech talent?
As part of the work I’ve described above on culture and values, it was essential that this was hard wired into our recruitment processes and hiring decisions. We’re doing what I would call ‘values’ led recruitment. 这并不意味着我们不认可技术技能, 显然，这对我们的许多角色都是至关重要的, but it means we focus on behaviours and values just as much as we do on someone’s technical ability. It is really important that people understand our values before they join us and that we’re comfortable that they will succeed and progress in our organisation.
We’ve also changed our performance management framework and we’ve moved away from annual appraisals and appraisal ratings, it was a huge administrative task with very little value. 我们开发了MAP——管理敏捷性能. MAP encourages regular ‘check-ins’ throughout the year that talk about progress. 这是十大网博靠谱平台人们分享他们的成就, 讨论他们的挑战，更重要的是, 在行为和输出之间建立联系.
我们也非常注重多样性和包容性. The sector overall has its challenges on this subject but that’s no excuse not to focus on it. We want to be really aspirational with our culture and to achieve that we must foster one that is diverse and inclusive. One of the main areas we’ll be looking at to address this is a Leadership Framework. This will include a comprehensive development programme for our people managers aimed at driving a more diverse and inclusive culture. At a more tactical level we’re looking at some of our people policies, 例如, we are currently reviewing some of the language we use in our recruitment adverts to ensure we are attracting the talent we need to bring in to our organisation.
这一切都与敏捷有关, open and innovative with our thinking when it comes to our people strategy.
What does the future look like for the company and its employees?
We have ambitious growth plans and this will create challenge and opportunity for our people.
Our culture will continue to evolve and I think in the last 12 months this has definitely accelerated as we’ve adapted to new ways of working.
It is very likely that we will move to a hybrid working model in the future – this is a great opportunity to retain and attract great talent!
新的启动器…
Sharon Mars Leach，首席营销官
你能描述一下你在公司的角色吗?
我最近澳门十大正规赌博娱乐平台iomart，担任首席营销官, which means I’ll be responsible for how we are positioned in the market: how we look, 我们说的话, 以及我们怎么说.
A major part of my role is focussed on our customers – listening to what they want and need, and working with our business to meet those expectations. The industry in which we operate can be quite technical and it’s all too easy for some businesses in our sector to resort to acronyms and product jargon when speaking with their customers. My job is to bridge the gap between our highly skilled technical experts and our prospective customers in the market – connecting the services we provide with the everyday challenges our customers are facing in order to make their lives easier.
What was it about the organisation that attracted you to the role?
iomart是一个了不起的英国成功故事, having grown from early stage tech start-up to a publicly listed company in the past 20 years. The business is bubbling with potential and remains as ambitious today as it was when it first started out, 这使它成为一个非常令人兴奋的地方.
具体地说, 从营销的角度来看, I think we’ve only just scratched the surface of what the brand could be and a significant focus of my role will be to continue to develop the brand profile and maximise awareness of iomart in the UK market.
看看这个空间……
Can you describe the onboarding process you’ve experienced?
It’s been unusual as we were in full national lockdown when I joined, therefore my entire introduction to the company has been done virtually. 然而, despite it feeling a bit strange being sat in the same room as I was while carrying out my previous role, 我不得不说这太棒了.
Every virtual introduction I’ve done and every call I’ve been on I have been genuinely quite taken aback by how humble and down to earth everyone is. 在我的世界里没有自我的空间, 结果是, there is a real sense of teamwork and being in it together. Something that will set us in good stead as we begin to execute the next phase of our strategy and, 就我个人而言, a group of people I am very much looking forward to working with in the coming years.
长期雇员……
韦恩·惠特林，数据中心服务经理
你能描述一下你在公司的角色吗?
I oversee the daily operational effectiveness of the multiple data centres iomart owns across the North of England and the Midlands, to ensure our customers’ services are up and running 24 hours a day. 我在十大网博靠谱平台工作, 我们有几个dc, and travel to all the sites across the regions I’m responsible for regularly. My job is to manage the engineering team and work with third party specialists to make sure any planned and reactive mechanical and electrical maintenance is completed correctly and successfully.
数据中心是非常技术性的环境, 包含各种形式的IT托管设备, 例如网络交换机, 处理系统和存储设备. 停机时间是一个禁忌, 他们必须一周七天都在工作, 365 days a year to deliver the high quality service our customers expect and deserve. 这意味着适应力至关重要, 所以我一直在监控我们的主电源, 备用发电, 电气协调和整流, 设备和配电的冷却.
I also help our technical sales teams around specific requirements for our customers and I support our compliance manager to ensure that our data centres are auditable in line with iomart’s many ISO accreditations.
你已经在这家公司工作好几年了, can you tell me what has kept you at the company for so long?
Diversity in the working environment is what keeps me at iomart. With so much equipment in use, every day brings a new challenge. 我可以为客户的项目提供建议, 在紧迫的时间内修复故障, 或者管理一个复杂的维护过程.
Supporting the business and influencing the development of our services for customers gives me great satisfaction. When you are continually building your knowledge around different parts of the business, 没有比这更好的了.
What would you say to a person considering joining the company?
This is a fast paced, constantly changing environment that will be challenging. 如果你拥抱它，你就会享受它.
iomart is a great company to work for with big ambitions and there is plenty of opportunity to progress.
为了了解更多十大网博靠谱平台imart和他们所做的工作， 点击这里.
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