I started my professional technology career during the early growth of the commercial web and internet. Since then, I’ve built a rewarding and enjoyable career that keeps me learning new things and working with highly-motivated people on exciting projects.
I’m what I would term both an ‘outside-in thinker’ and a ‘pragmatic strategist’ – I’m motivated to understand how best to use technology to achieve desired outcomes rather than on the internal mechanisms of a specific technology itself. I believe this gives me the ability to clearly identify and communicate technology’s role in generating business value to executive leadership.
I first started in software development and over time moved into enterprise architecture. Along the way I’ve held a wide range of leadership roles and I’m now Head of Technology Advisory Services at BJSS Consulting. This means I’m responsible for defining the vision for our technology consulting and strategy services, shaping these into effective offerings and building a great team to deliver for our clients.
Over the years I’ve gained a wide gamut of experience, encompassing major M&A’s, groupwide multi-year transformation programmes, and market entry and exit expertise across a broad spectrum of industries including Telecoms, Media, Finance and Insurance, Defence, Logistics, Transportation, Central Government, Criminal Justice, and Public Safety. Having this depth and breadth of experience helps me anticipate the impact new and emerging technologies could have for our clients and help them leverage these technologies for maximum success.
A day in the life of a BJSS Enterprise Architect
For an Enterprise Architect (EA) at BJSS, there isn’t really a regular ‘day in the life’. As one of the most in demand roles at BJSS, the span and scope of what EA’s do is both broad in challenge and varied in domain. Practically speaking, it can range from providing a capability review of a client’s existing technology platform to helping another client form a technology strategy from first principles.
Client projects can last from a few weeks to a few months and often involve working in a small team of BJSS consultants from across business consulting and technical delivery domains. This often means being comfortable with engaging widely across a client’s business and technology organisations, spanning CxO stakeholders, end users, and technical teams.
The type of person that thrives as an EA at BJSS is multifaceted, comfortable with ambiguity, and self-starting. This means possessing not only a broad range and depth of technology skills, but also multiple industry and domain experience. It requires an individual with high levels of emotional intelligence able to use their experience to understand our clients’ goals and objectives, can clearly frame and communicate the challenges they are facing, and know how to help them overcome these to gain the best value possible from technology investments.