Welcome to Season 1, Episode 1  Putting the Human Back into Technology AKA  the PHIT podcast. Here at gatinellis.com, Whilst we know physical fitness is essential, our mental health is vital too, and our fit podcast is all about “putting the human back into technology.”

One thing we can probably all agree on is the last year or so has been unprecedented, so we wanted to seek out the views of technology leaders and business owners and consultants. Many others from a range of different businesses and organisations discuss the impacts on their business on their humans and their technology and how they see the future unfolding.

On Season 1, Episode 1, we are joined by our own Mark Williams. Mark will be joining me as co-host of the show in future episodes, and we decided to try out our season one questions on Mark as “the pilot” episode. 

The questions we asked are in bold and I have paraphrased and summarised Mark’s answers for the blog post have so you get the gist of his answers. You will need to listen to Podcast to get his answers in full.

Some fascinating answers here I think you’ll agree?

Tell me a little about what you do, your business, job role?

Mark has had a varied career, starting sales in the mid-1980s, selling Computer and PC training. His sales of PC training was in the days before Word and Excel. So, it was Lotus 123, DB2 and WordStar.

He moved into CRM and ERP work and whilst enjoying the commercial side of things, he started to realise he wanted the delivery aspect more and moved into that. Since then, he has delivered transformational change in a variety of industries, has served as an executive and non-executive director, and then a few years back, he started his business, Wyeden.

Wyeden provides solutions and project consultancy. Past clients include Not for Profits such as the RCN, Wealth management firms, Digital Business Process Outsourcers, Law Firms, Utility providers and Distribution / Manufacturing companies.

How has the last year impacted your business?

“It’s been an extraordinary year.” You can say that again! “It’s been tough for many people, and you can feel almost guilty answering this question with a positive answer”. Lockdown has been OK for Mark; his family are safe and well, and his business is still going. He was invited back to work with the RCN, to deliver a cloud transformation, and was able to do this lockdown. This separate interview is worth listening to so you can understand how they managed this for the nurse’s union in the middle of the pandemic. He also commented on the additional flexibility that remote working has brought about for his business.

How do “people” fit into your IT departments/business delivery model?

“People are front and centre” – Mark believes that technology is there to help and support the business, the people in the organisation, and what the business aspirations are. Focus on the problems, “if it is not broke, don’t fix it.”

“Technology is not the hard part.” Getting the people aspect right is the key to digital transformation and success. Supporting and encouraging the team is a critical factor.

How do you drive value from data /technology for your business?

“When you try to do these things (technology change), people and organisations often set out in the right place.” They are business focused and business-aligned. Then, they get into delivery, and they forget the business alignment and think of it as an IT system. To get value from the system ”remind people they are doing this for business reasons and what the business needs”.

Are you on a cloud journey – which cloud? And are you there yet?

Short answer – Yes but it’s complicated. “Leaders of these sort of organisations sometimes don’t know what they mean by cloud”. They say they should be in the cloud, but they don’t necessarily know what that looks like as a final solution? Organisations are at different points on the “Cloud curve.” What are they trying to achieve, when and most importantly…why? Currently Feels that most cloud journeys are more IT-led than business-led and Buzz Words need more clarity so businesspeople can properly understand and get the most value.

Who do you think should be driving an organisations adoption of digital transformation?

“The Business.” Simple.

What advice would you give your younger self or those starting or changing their career into the IT industry?

Confidence is key.

“As a broad brush, our education is not providing people with the ability to engage or embed themselves in a new organisation properly. It’s not setting young people for the world of work” Controversial!

Find ways to give yourself confidence

Tell me a fun fact about yourself that perhaps nobody else knows about you?

Mark was born at the Celtic Manor – before it was the 2010 Ryder Cup golf course. Long before it was the Ryder cup golf course. It wasn’t even a hotel then.

You can listen to the whole interview. It’s fascinating listening and viewing. You can listen on all good Podcast platform, and you can watch the interview on YouTube too.

Here are some links

• https://anchor.fm/gethyn-ellis
• https://open.spotify.com/show/4QgcmtweuDNjcm4vbjGd53
• https://youtu.be/6qOhAmbBGAk

Check out other episodes on our Putting the Human into Technology – Season One Page

I’d like to thank Mark for being the first guest. We have some great people lined up for season one, be sure to check back over the next few weeks as we have some very high profile leaders in the UK IT industry sharing their thoughts with us