Can you give us an overview of your day?
Each day can generally throw up any number of challenges depending on staff activities across the UK sites. However, my daily responsibilities include the building of hardware operations and maintaining systems, as well as setting up home offices and overseeing the smooth running of the help desk. I am also responsible for the purchasing of company consumables, from IT software and photocopiers through to toners and back-up equipment.
What do you like most about your job?
The nature of my job means that I am constantly challenged and I am lucky to work on lots of varied and interesting projects. I also enjoy working as part of a great team.
What makes your role important to the business?
By using our range of strengths and capabilities, the IT team are able to offer excellent, around-the-clock, IT support. I also find that a friendly attitude assures users that they can approach me with any technical problem. Every effort is made to solve issues promptly, allowing employees to continue with their work as hassle-free as possible. Also, by keeping the systems up to date with the latest technology where possible, users can feel confident that IT systems will not let them down.
What do you find most challenging and rewarding about your job?
I absolutely love problem solving and enjoy nothing more than tackling awkward dilemmas to come up with workable solutions for the most challenging tasks. Seeing my ideas put into practice to successfully help make technical jobs easier and quicker for employees all around the company is really uplifting, and I find this part of my work very rewarding.
What are your hobbies out of work?
Being secretary of our local Greek School takes up a lot of my free time, as does that old favourite DIY, but coming from a family of chefs I especially enjoy cooking up a treat for my family and friends.
The manager’s view?
Some of the work that Tommy (and his team) does is not visible to much of the business. For example, they can be found at 2 o’clock in the morning remotely supporting the night shift with RF issues, or building and installing new servers at the weekends so that there is no downtime for the business. All this and he still manages to maintain a constant smile! This flexibility is a great benefit to the Finnforest business.