Tell us a little more about yourself…  

I was born in Gibraltar and moved to England when I was three years old. In between, I lived in Scotland for 18 years, before returning back to England. Currently, I live in Rugby with my wife and three children.  

I’m a keen bowler and used to compete in ten-pin bowling for Scotland. Nowadays motorsports take a big chunk of my weekends; I’m a track marshal at Burlington Park and Silverton Racecourse. One of my all-time goals is to get a racing license and do a bit of racing myself.   

How long have you worked at BrightCloud Group?   

I joined in January 2022.   

Describe a typical day in your role as a Senior Contact Centre Consultant. 

A typical day is predominantly delivering customer projects focused around either NICE InContact or Cisco Webex Contact Center, and integrations such as Webex Calling and Microsoft Teams. A lot of the work is done remotely, with occasional visits to customer sites.    

What were you doing before working at BrightCloud Group? 

I was a Head of Collaboration and Voice Strategy for an MSP called CANCOM. My role was centred around a collaboration platform I built, owned and managed. The breadth of what I do now is a lot broader, I would say.    

What would you say is the most rewarding aspect of your role?   

There are a few things. Definitely the variety in the role and having customers across industries. BrightCloud Group has a number of very interesting, high-profile customers and it’s been a pleasure to work with each one of them. Also, it’s exciting to be at the forefront being able to deploy the latest contact centre products and technologies.   

What is your biggest achievement since working at BrightCloud Group?   

The project that I’m most proud of at the moment is a contact centre platform we delivered for a higher education client. We built and designed it from the scratch, and then tested it thoroughly. During the testing phase, we tested the platform with around 300 queuing calls, as agreed with the customer. And when we went clearing, we queued in excess of 700 calls. At the end, the platform and the contact centre stood up to more than double the demand that it was originally provisioned for.   

What three words would your colleagues use to describe you?  

Fun, knowledgeable and professional (I hope!).  

Tell us the most memorable moment that has happened at BrightCloud Group whilst you’ve been working there?    

One would be the university contact centre project I mentioned earlier. Another great moment was at the Comms Business Awards this summer when BrightCloud Group received a special industry recognition. It was a great feeling to be there with the team for an occasion like that. Overall, since joining BrightCloud Group I’ve been blown away by the technical capability across all aspects of the business.   

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?   

I bought Apple AirTags for my luggage when I went for a holiday this summer in case they got lost.   

What item could you not live without?   

I love telly! When it comes to other technology, I wouldn’t be too upset if it disappeared tomorrow.  

  What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?  

The most significant change hasn’t been technology itself but the way we work and consume technology post-pandemic. If you look at the last ten years, all the technology we have today, like telephony, video conferencing and other UC and collaboration applications, has been around. But we didn’t use them until now that remote working has become the new norm.  

  If there’s one thing you could change about the industry, what would it be?   

Overall better integration and interoperability between applications and devices. To have everything at a single level so that no matter what application you use, the experience and reporting is the same across board.  

Who or what has most influenced your career and why?   

In the early years of my career, I was in an IT support role that didn’t feel quite right. I was looking for more recognition within the business and had a desire to move to telephony space. To provoke a reaction and get what I want, I decided to hand in my notice. And my manager actually let me go! After I got home that day, I felt a massive relief and soon found myself a new job. And from that point onwards, I worked for Cisco partners and progressed my career through to where I am today. About a year later, I spoke to my manager from the previous company and asked him why he let me go back then. He said he couldn’t see me grow because they couldn’t offer me what I wanted. So, instead of it being personal, he let me go to nudge me towards the right direction in my career. If it wasn’t for him, I would probably still be in that IT support role I was then.