DEEP DIVE
How do you deal with
stress and unwind
outside the office?
Stress management for me is
about maintaining a sense of
perspective and trying to plan
ahead to avoid things piling up.
As for relaxing, as a stereotypical
Yorkshireman I enjoy taking my
whippet, Ted, for walks (if there is
a pub involved) and I’m constantly
DIY-ing in a couple of old properties
I have.
What do you currently
identify as the major areas of
investment in your industry?
Security services are probably the
area where a lot of companies are
playing catch up. GDPR has raised
the financial stakes and focused
businesses on finding ways to protect
their customer data. Data centre
physical security is just one small part
of this.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
What are the region-specific
challenges you encounter in
your role?
Node4 is primarily UK-focused. We do
deal with several global businesses
though and challenges tend to arise
when they expect us to be compliant
with American or other regional
standards. We try to keep everything as
international as we can by adopting ISO
standards where possible.
WE TRY TO KEEP
EVERYTHING AS
INTERNATIONAL
AS WE CAN BY
ADOPTING ISO
STANDARDS
WHERE POSSIBLE.
What changes to your job role
have you seen in the last year and
how do you see these developing
in the next 12 months?
We’re currently in the final stages of
adding a lot of infrastructure capacity
to our data centre sites, so once this
project work is finished, we’ll probably
settle into more of a routine ‘maintain and
replace’ mode. Unless we decide to build
something new.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain a
senior position in the industry?
As in any industry, treat people well
and build good relationships at all
levels. It should go without saying,
but you need to have good, experience-
based knowledge of the field you are
managing in.
You don’t need to be the best technically,
but you need to understand what is
achievable and how to pick talented
individuals to work with you. ◊
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