Spotlight on….Karen Milligan

In what capacity did you join BiP?

I joined BiP almost ten years ago as an exhibition sales executive and was promoted into the Senior sales role, followed by the Sales manager role and my current role is Head of Exhibition and Event Sales.

What takes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day? 

Meetings tend to take up a lot of my time whether that’s event scoping meetings, project meetings, meetings with the sales team, SMT meetings or the most important ones – prospective client TEAMS meetings.

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP? 

I would like it if BiP adopted an early finish Friday as a permanent feature. Slightly longer working hours Mon – Thursday and a business wide early finish every Friday would be great. I think this would support a stronger work life balance overall.

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could your colleagues help? 

If I was answering this a few years ago during a global lockdown and no face-to-face interactions being permitted, it would have warranted a very different answer – thank goodness that’s a thing of the past😊

The biggest challenge I find in my role just now comes down to me. Time management and being organised is not my best attribute (to put it mildly) so juggling everything and prioritising different tasks tends to be challenging at times.

I feel very fortunate to work with some amazing people across BiP and there really is a sense of willing everyone to succeed therefore, even in the crazy busy periods (which is always, when it comes to events!), I know that my own team, Laura A’s team and generally the wider business is always happy to lend a hand and help out to make sure what needs done, gets done.

What do you like most about your job? 

I love working in event sales and being a people manager in this industry is brilliant. The buzz of the chase and the satisfaction of achievement as well as the psychology behind what makes people tick all add to just some of the things I love about my job.

What do you like most about working at BiP? 

The main answer here must be everyone that works at BiP.

I do also love how we work in a constantly changing market. Every week there is something new to learn and BiP are very good at making sure everyone in the business can be as knowledgeable as possible across our market sectors.

What does a great day at work look like?

Being Head of Exhibition & Event Sales, the answer must be = Lots of event sales 😊

Do you have any unusual hobbies? 

Moving house lol. I have moved house many, many, times since joining BiP and I do think buying and selling houses is quite exciting but it’s a very expensive hobby, so my plan now is to look for a slightly cheaper hobby.

Been anywhere strange?

I haven’t been anywhere strange that I can think of, but I do like to travel. So, recently I have been trying to visit one or two new countries each year. I am only 10% of the way around the world’s list of countries so far.

Blow your own! … what do you excel at? Work or leisure 

I like to think I am a positive and friendly person.

Quick fire: 

  1. Coffee or tea – Tea
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog
  4. Hot or cold – Hot
  5. Salty or sweet – Sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – Tattooed
  7. Night out or night in – Both ?!
  8. Email or meeting – Meeting
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? – Video
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Desk (but this is a bad habit that I am trying to stop!)
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

Spotlight on…Amy Madden

In what capacity did you join BiP?

I joined BiP last September as the BI Marketing Executive. I then became the Senior Marketing Executive for Supply2Gov in January this year.

What takes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day? 

Creating Email Campaigns; they are one of our main resources when campaigning for S2G.

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could colleagues help? 

Not working directly with other people on Supply2Gov, sometimes you need other people to keep you creative. But the wider marketing team are a great support if I ever need to bounce ideas off them!

What do you like most about your job? 

That every day is different. Also, I get a lot of freedom to come up with different marketing strategies and campaigns for Supply2Gov.

What do you like most about working at BiP? 

The people! Everyone is so friendly and sociable.

What does a great day at work look like?

I like to start the day off with a coffee. If I get through my to-do list and registrations for Supply2Gov are on track, it’s always a good day!

Do you have any unusual hobbies? 

I recently started a boxing class. Not quite a pro yet, but it’s fun!

Been anywhere strange? (country/place/bar/tourist attraction?!) 

Not been anywhere strange, but my favourite place I have ever visited has to be New York.

Quick fire: 

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog – I have a dog called Ruby.
  4. Hot or cold – Cold
  5. Salty or sweet – Salty
  6. Tattooed or not – Tattooed
  7. Night out or night in – Night out
  8. Email or meeting – Email
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? Audio
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Breakout altogether
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

Spotlight on…Fraser Haddow

In what capacity did you join BiP? What role did you start in and what role do you have now?

I joined BiP in the role of Scrum Master, but have recently transitioned to Platform Success Manager.

Whattakes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day? 

Azure DevOps! It’s the platform that allows us to track progress on our product development and keep track of any issues, so it’s use forms a large part of the role.

What do you like most about your job? 

I like seeing a product improvement travel through all the stages from idea to implementation and then deployment, overseeing the journey to completion provides a great sense of satisfaction.

What do you like most about working at BiP? 

I like interacting with lots of people that span multiple departments and roles, this keeps things interesting, and it always helps to see things from other people’s perspectives.

What does a great day at work look like?

It always starts with coffee – then a day with a few meetings (not too little or too many!) and some time to get some work done. Ideally, right now a good day also involves bugs being closed and no new ones being opened.

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

I’m a big movie nerd and am very into low budget/indie horror which is maybe unusual! Music wise, I also am very into death metal and New York hardcore which is a little unusual.

Been anywhere strange? (country/place/bar/tourist attraction?!)

The most fascinating place I’ve been is a city called Varanasi in India – would recommend to anyone, it’s super interesting.

Blow your own! … what do you excel at? Work or leisure

I like to think I’m quite good at guitar and drums. Work wise – I think I’m pretty good at being organised, but my colleagues can tell you if that’s true or not!

Quick fire: 

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog (I have a Spanish greyhound)
  4. Hot or cold – Hot
  5. Salty or sweet – Salty
  6. Tattooed or not – Not
  7. Night out or night in – Night in 
  8. Email or meeting – Depends on how many other meetings are on!
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? – Video
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Usually al-desko
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

Spotlight on…David Stewart

Thanks for joining me, David. How are you enjoying life at BiP?

I really like it, even though it’s taken a while to get to grips with B2B. I came from B2C, so I‘d never done business sales before, but the rewards are starting to come through. I managed to do 175% of my target last month and I’m on track for target this month – if everything goes to plan!

What did you do before coming to BiP?

I had a seven-year career at EE, starting as a part time sales advisor through to managing a couple of shops and being a sales manager for them.

And what would you like to be in the future is there a dream job or a dream position?

Aspirational goals? I’d love to get to director level at some point within a company. So be that Sales Director, Operations Director, that’s my goal

What takes up the most of your day-to-day?

Most of my day is genuine client interaction, customer interaction and reaching out to new prospects. Understanding what their challenges and struggles are to work with the public sector.

And what sort of challenges do your customers have? what sort of challenges can you help solve for them?

The challenges I’m hearing are that they don’t understand how to build the relationships with the public sector buyer before the tenders are published. They need to get in there as early as possible, to develop these relationships and we really are making a difference to their business because they’re not just running a tender, we’re helping them build a relationship for future business.

It’s actually good to know you’re making a difference to somebody when you’re selling something.

Do you prefer to be Working from Home or in the office?

I like being in the office. I like having an atmosphere around me and the support network, your manager and your teammates. I’ve always thrived off a good atmosphere, so I prefer to be in the office than work from home.

Are there any sort of changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP?

I ran a couple of charitable events at EE before, Charity 11 aside football matches and things like that. There’s a lot of buildings around, there’s the BBC, The Village hotel, big corporations, big businesses that I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t want to get involved in charity stuff like this. It’d be great to implement something like that.

What the biggest challenges you have in your role?

Managing customer timelines and managing my own pipeline. That’s the hardest part of this job. Not knowing when something’s going to come in and when something’s pulled out from under you.

My colleagues and my manager Chris help me regularly with this and are extremely supportive.

What do you like most about your job?

The interaction with people, I’m a big people person. I really enjoy speaking to people in different industries, different businesses and just learning more about what they’re doing for two reasons. It builds up my knowledge of the market in general and lets me understand what businesses are really struggling with. Speaking to people and making a difference is the thing that makes a big difference to me. Speaking to someone about the challenges they’re having, and if I can genuinely fix it for them, that’s what I like most.

What do you like most about working at BiP?

The culture is very good so far and very much gives back as well and looks after its employees.

The support and the culture in the business to make sure everyone succeeds is incredible.

What does a great day at work look like?

A great day looks like this: seeing my name up in that sales board a few times on one day. As soon as a deal comes in, but also coming in to a reasonably filled diary.

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

I’m a very keen badminton player. I’ve been playing for years competitively. I had my own deejaying business for a couple of years as well.

Quick fire.

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – film
  3. Cat or Dog – Dog, I have a dog.
  4. Hot or cold – I prefer being cold
  5. Salty or sweet – Sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – tattooed
  7. Night out or night in – Night out.
  8. E-mail or meeting – Meeting
  9. Teams call video or audio – Video, always video.
  10. Lunchtime: Al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Break out altogether, I like sitting in the breakout zones.
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

A spotlight on… Jen Flitcroft

Jen is based in our Salford office, working on sales for Cadence Marketing. She’s been with the company for over seven years, seeing BiP take on the Ingenium brand in 2016 and moving to the Media City office in 2017.

In what capacity did you join BiP? What role did you start in and what role do you have now? 

I joined back in 2015 prior to the BIP acquisition as a BDM. Went off on maternity leave in 2016 and came back to a new company and a new office! I have since progressed through a couple of role changes to become a Senior Account Manager. My role is to seek out organisations that want to increase their reach into the public sector through targeting marketing campaigns, persuade them to have a meeting with me, and show them all the amazing ways we can help them to achieve their business goals 😊

What takes up the most amount of time in your day-to-day?  

It’s a really varied role, which is why I love working here – generating leads, prospecting, onboarding, account management, firefighting – but the majority of time is spent cold-calling and holding meetings with new prospects.

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP?  

I’d actually love a ‘bring your kid to work day’ as I’d love my little boy to spend a day seeing what Mummy does when she’s not at home! There’s quite a few of us with little ones and it would be lovely to have them all in here together (not sure how Stu McAndrew would feel about that though, ha!).

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could your colleagues help?

Fitting everything into the day! I personally struggle with time management – getting all of my admin done, making enough prospecting calls, ensuring my current clients are happy, lead-sourcing, etc. There have already been quite a few changes to the structure of the Cadence team lately which is taking a lot of the client management and delivery away from us, which massively helps, but I could really use my own admin assistant!

What do you like most about your job?  

I love speaking to so many different people and learning about their businesses, really getting under the skin of what they need and then being able to actually help them, seeing a job well done.

What do you like most about working at BiP?  

I’ve made some great friends here, some lovely long-standing relationships and we’re a very tight-knit team, which makes all the difference on a bad day!

What does a great day at work look like? 

Everyone being in a great mood, a buzz in the air with everyone on the phone, having really good conversations with new prospects, getting them excited about what we do, and of course, closing some nice big deals!

Do you have any unusual hobbies?  

Not necessarily unusual, though possibly a bit ridiculous given my age (I’m 41, not 8) but I have a serious and rather expensive Lego habit – (Hey Jen, no judging it’s ages 4 to 99 on the box!) I also sing back-up in a band/duo and I am trying (and failing) to write a book!

Blow your own! … what do you excel at?

Workwise, I think my biggest strength is getting people to talk and open up to me. In my personal life, I’m going to say I think I’m a pretty awesome mum – the best in the world according to my six-year-old!

Quick fire:  

  1. Coffee or tea - tea
  2. Book or film - book
  3. Cat or dog - cat
  4. Hot or cold - cold
  5. Salty or sweet – salty
  6. Tattooed or not - not
  7. Night out or night in – night out
  8. Email or meeting – meeting
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? video
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether - prefer the pub, but it’s al-desko usually!
  11. Mountain or beach – mountain (sand gets everywhere!)

A Spotlight on….Adam Hughes

As February brings longer days and hopefully less cold and rain, we take turn our staff spotlight on the Marketing Department and Adam Hughes. Adam has been with BiP for a year and a half, beginning as a Marketing Executive. He now leads on marketing for Cadence.

In what capacity did you join BiP? What role did you start in and what role do you have now?

I joined BiP a year and a half ago as the Marketing Executive for BI. I spent around a year in that role and had some great experiences. It’s mad how much you learn here!

I then transitioned into the Marketing Manager role with Cadence and have been doing this for around 6 months. It’s been a rollercoaster so far, but I am hopeful we are starting to head in the right direction!

What takes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day? 

Spreadsheets! All of my friends think Marketing is making fancy pictures and putting out tweets but marketers spend large parts of their week reporting on marketing activities.

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP? As February brings longer days and hopefully less cold and rain, we take turn our staff spotlight on the Marketing Department and Adam Hughes. Adam has been with BiP for a year and a half, beginning as a Marketing Executive. He now leads on marketing for Cadence.

Standing desks would be cool!

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could your colleagues help? 

The target audience for Cadence Marketing are often marketers themselves who have seen every trick in the book. We have to be really convincing and creative when explaining why Cadence can really impact suppliers success.

What do you like most about your job? 

I like that my role involves working with virtually every department of the business, it is very varied. My favourite thing is probably seeing people register for a webinar you are running. It’s great to monitor the leads coming in and seeing that what you have done is working.

What do you like most about working at BiP? 

The people! Everyone is hard at work but will always make time to help. It took me no time to settle in here because everyone was so welcoming.

What does a great day at work look like?

A nice coffee, followed by loads of leads!!

Do you have any unusual hobbies? 

Got a secret addiction to watching the Kardashians

Been anywhere strange? (country/place/bar/tourist attraction?!) 

I toured through Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia when I was a student which was amazing. Desperate to go back to Vietnam actually.

Blow your own! … what do you excel at? Work or leisure 

Facial hair.

Quick fire, choose one option: 

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – film
  3. Cat or dog – dog
  4. Hot or cold – cold
  5. Salty or sweet – sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – not (yet…)
  7. Night out or night in – night in
  8. Email or meeting – email
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? video
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – al-desko
  11. Mountain or beach – mountain

A spotlight on…. Anne McKinnon

We start 2023 with a look at one of our long-term employees at BiP Solutions, Anne McKinnon. With over 15 years at BiP in public sector sales, Anne knows a thing or two about the company, its people and products.

Anne is responsible for managing UK Public Sector sales team, working closely with business stakeholders, product development and promoting UK leading electronic tendering tool Delta eSourcing.

She’s most recently been involved with the relaunch of Delta, giving one of BiP’s oldest products a fresh new look, bringing new life and energy into the platform and the overall brand itself. The new Delta will energise the evolution of eSourcing and put the Delta brand in a great position to continually adapt and grow in an everchanging industry.

In what capacity did you join BiP? What role did you start in and what role do you have now?

I started my career within the business as a Sales Executive, now knowns as Client Relationship Manager. My role now is Head of eSourcing and Supply Chain.

Any interesting stories from back in the day?

No mad crazy, bad things, just weird coincidences with timing and people.

I was interviewed and offered a job in the Tracker team a few years before but turned it down for another role in another company.

When I did come to work in the Public Sector team, my first day in the role I heard the dulcet tones of someone shouting my name, (you know how you get the fear! Especially when they use your maiden name), turns out it was Sandra Toner who was my classmate in primary and secondary school.

Later that week I met my Business Development Manager I would be partnered with, and it was a very old friend John McGhie I hadn’t seen since I was 10 years old, just over 20 years. Our IT expert back then was Andy Brodie who I worked with before, and it goes on….just seems this place is about timing, people, and good people. Made some long-term friendships here.

What takes up the most amount of your time in your day-to-day?

Now there’s a question LOL.  Client meetings/support/demos, team support, internal meetings.  Never a dull moment.

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP?

I think we are already a very progressive and innovative company when it comes to supporting our staff with internal initiatives but also how we affect and deliver change when it’s needed to help support the business strategy and growth. The fact that everyone can and should feel they have a voice within the business is important and hopefully everyone feels this to be true. We all make the business and can help implement changes for the better.

Everyone should make use of the suggestion box via the Hub https://bipsolutionsltd.sharepoint.com/SitePages/BiP-Suggestion-Box.aspx

Selfishly, one bug bear of mine is lunchtime meetings and colleagues inserting meetings into your diary where you don’t have time to breathe in a busy day.

Stop, Start, Continue, something we all need to think about. What can you stop doing, what can you start and continue that adds benefit and value to you, your role and your team.

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could your colleagues help?

Market Changes. Our market within Public Sector is changing all the time, from compliance within the new Procurement Reforms, to requirements on product development to sector specific suppliers and awarding authority collaboration, reshaping the market volume and proposition.

We are looking at a BiP wider portfolio proposition we can offer our core Delta clients to bring them in to the fold and looking at how we are approaching new markets and enhancing our Supply Chain and PASS offering.

Colleagues and business are supportive in developing and marketing a fit for purpose product in Delta eSourcing, which you will have seen from our new Refresh at the end of November, with further development planned in the next 12 months. Core areas of the business play very important roles in what we are achieving from product development, marketing, research and very much so is our sales team and Help desk support team.

Colleagues do help and continue to help, teamwork is key.

We start 2023 with a look at one of our long-term employees at BiP Solutions, Anne McKinnon.

What do you like most about your job?

Building relationships with new and existing clients and chasing a deal.

What do you like most about working at BiP?

Always the same answer…. The people. Some real gems and it’s what makes us who we are and as successful as we are.

What does a great day at work look like?

Ticking off and completing my to do list, solving a problem or removing a hurdle for someone and having time to laugh.

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

Not really, normal stuff like gym, love music, spending a lot of time trying out new cooking recipes, mainly Indian food (love Indian food), spending time with family & friends. I do dabble in some not so mainstream stuff….love a conspiracy theory (or are they?), horror movies, UFO’s, good energy, poetry, and a lot more. Yes, I’m one of a kind.

Been anywhere strange?

Went to Iceland a few years ago with temperatures like -10 and stood in the blue lagoon wearing a bikini, face caked in mud, sipping Prosecco with icicles in my hair while the pool attendants walked around wearing full blown winter wear, boots and balaclava’s LOL just weird but amazing!

Blow your own! … what do you excel at?

I make a mean Indian Pani Puri and Italian meatball.

Can beat the best of them when it comes to doing shots (well mostly LOL).

Being a good friend 😊

Quick fire, choose one option:

  1. Coffee or tea – coffee
  2. Book or film – film
  3. Cat or dog – neither, had every conceivable pet growing up, had enough lol
  4. Hot or cold – hot
  5. Salty or sweet – sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – tattooed
  7. Email or meeting – meeting 100%
  8. Teams calls: video call or audio – video
  9. Night out or night in – in
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – break room
  11. Mountain or beach –  beach

Celebrating talent – staff awards

BiP Solutions is proud to announce our quarterly staff recognition award winners.

Our quarterly awards recognise staff excellence across our teams, with the team members nominated by colleagues.

We have three awards which celebrate staff throughout the company over the last quarter: the Sales Excellence Award, to recognise and celebrate exceptional sales performance, an Outstanding Performance Award, to recognise and celebrate exceptional performance, and our Values Award, which is open to all colleagues across the business and is designed to specifically recognise and celebrate colleagues who demonstrate positive behaviours in line with our values.

Once again, the quality of nominations received across each category was exceptional, and the spread of nominations across the different teams in the business, from old colleagues to those who have recently joined us, was impressive.  A great effort from all as always!

This quarter, our winner of the Sales Excellence Award was Dawn MacTaggart.

Dawn’s line manager Alan McMenemy, Head of Sales in Glasgow, said: “Dawn was nominated for this award for many reasons. First and foremost, she’s hit her quarterly target, and hit target for each individual month as well. She also navigated her way around a two-week break in the middle of the quarter and managed her own pipeline effectively to allow for this. Dawn has also been an early adopter of our new BI product suite, and got the first HCI, Tracker-Pro and Contact Data sales. She’s been able to do this by fully investing and immersing herself in the products. Dawn also led the line at P4H and Procurex Scotland, and delivered keynote speeches at both. Last, but not least, Dawn has been really open to coaching and adapting her style to GAP methodology over the past three months. An outstanding nomination for, and worthy winner of, our Q2 Sales Recognition Award.”

Well done, Dawn! Very well deserved.

Our second winner was our lovely Event Coordinator Mhairi MacNeil who won the Outstanding Performance Award.

Mhairi’s line manager, Laura Aitkenhead, had a few words to say: “Mhairi moved into a new role in the Events Team only three weeks before the start of our event season in Q2. The job and skill set are very different to her previous role, but Mhairi jumped straight in and picked up the GO Awards Scotland and Wales, showing a passion for these projects, and a commitment to making them the best events possible. She worked with stakeholders across the business to ensure all requirements were met, showing, after only a short space of time, a clear understanding of the key aspects of this new role. Mhairi really stepped up to the mark and I’m delighted to have her as Co-Ordinator in the Events Team”

Congratulations, Mhairi!

The final winner of our Q2 Awards was Rob Atherton, who was the worthy winner of the Values Award.

Rob’s line manager, Grahame Steed, said: “Rob is a highly deserving recipient of the Values award. He exemplifies our values with his consistently high level of professionalism and openness – whether dealing with external clients or colleagues. He is always willing to embrace change and try new approaches. He is also an excellent content creator who supports his colleagues and strives to deliver outstanding results. Anyone that works with Rob has only positive things to say about their experience, so it’s great to see this recognised.”

Well done, Rob!

The quarterly winners will go through to our finale, held at the annual staff awards dinner, where our overall winners will be crowned.

We look forward to seeing the nominations for next quarter.

A spotlight on… Stephen Allan

We’re welcoming Autumn as the clocks go back and we’re commuting in the dark, so let’s catch up with another BiP team member, Stephen Allan in our finance department. Stephen joined in 2018 as a Trainee Management Accountant

In what capacity did you join BiP?

I joined straight from university (well technically whilst still studying).

What does your role in Finance entail?

My main duties include producing the monthly accounts and other financial reports, presenting financials to the SMT & Board, collaborating with different areas of the business, various financial analysis, assisting in the yearly financial audit and lots of different ad-hoc finance related tasks. I spend a lot of time using Excel, Sage & Salesforce.

What do you like most about your job?

I like looking for trends or the reason why things have moved in a certain direction, so the problem-solving element.  

What do you like most about working at BiP?

I have had the opportunity to learn, grow and progress whilst working at BiP. Also, the people really do make BiP – everyone is very welcoming and friendly!

What does a great day at work look like?​​​​​​​

Day one of month end – big cup of coffee and a lot of excel, sage & salesforce reporting!

Do you have any unusual hobbies?

I am really into sim-racing… basically its virtual car racing using VR headsets, motion simulators, wind simulators, fancy steering wheels & pedals – it’s very immersive!

Quick fire, choose one option:

  1. Coffee or tea – Coffee
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog
  4. Hot or cold – Cold
  5. Salty or sweet – Sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – Not
  7. Night out or night in – Night in
  8. Email or meeting – Either or!
  9. Teams calls: video call or audio? Video call
  10. Eating: al-desko, break room or break out altogether – Desko
  11. Mountain or beach – Beach

A spotlight on… Aimee Crawford

This month’s spotlight falls on our new scrum master, Aimee Crawford. Having joined the business in August Aimee is working hard with our tech teams on developing BiP tech and keeping up with the latest developments.

If you caught the knowledge sharing session earlier this year, you’ll have an idea of how she fits into the BiP family – but what does a Scrum Master really involve? And has it got anything to do with rugby?

Thanks for joining me, Aimee, first off:

What does your job as Scrum Master entail

My job is a bit of a mix of things and fortunately for me, doesn’t involve anything to do with rugby! I work to remove any impediments from the development teams, help them become more productive and efficient. Capacity planning and stakeholder management is key. It’s often compared to the work of a Project Manager. However, I’m also responsible for coaching and training in agile ways of working. Ideally, not just in IT, but across the whole business.

What are the biggest challenges you have in your role – how could your colleagues help?

Currently my biggest challenge is learning what is going on in here! I’m still pretty new. I need to learn more about how our products are built and what the future looks like for us. However, that aside, I guess the challenging aspect of this role can often be communicating with stakeholders. Often you have to bridge a gap between the development world and the wider business. I think the best was for colleagues to help is to be open to learning about other people’s roles within our company. A better understanding of what each other do, and what impact it has, will bring people together and communicate better.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What do you like most about your job?

While the communication side of things can be challenging, it is also my favourite part. I like to work with all different areas of the business as well as my team. I also like working with a variety of personalities and finding ways to make them all work together more effectively.

Who/what has had the most positive impact on your career?

This can sometimes be a hard one to talk about, but I truly believe that this is the case…my Dad passing away when I was 18, has and continues to have the greatest positive impact on my career. I am more determined, ambitious and empathetic. I proved to myself some things I didn’t think I was; resilient and brave. It’s given me a different outlook on life and continues to make me want to work hard to achieve my dreams, while not losing who I am.

With IT and software changing before I can comprehend them, what major developments do you think are on the horizon?

I really do feel like anything is possible and things are changing very quickly as you say. Technology has developed extremely fast over the last number of years, and I feel this is only set to increase. Over the next few years, I think there will be greater use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. I also think we will see more companies moving to a distributed infrastructure model and heighten their attention to cyber security.

Achieving a more diverse workforce in some areas, such as tech and construction, has been a priority for government and sectors for a number of years, can you tell me what led to your career in tech?

I was always interested in technology and engineering from a young age. I do think it was heavily influenced by my parents. After university, I was offered a dream job in Woking but I knew I wasn’t quite ready to leave home. So, I looked around at what was booming in central Scotland, with good opportunities and quite literally thought, that sounds interesting, I’ll give it a go. I was fortunate to get the opportunity to try many different roles within the IT/Digital sector and now I’m here!

Are there any changes or initiatives you’d like to implement into BiP?

I’d like to help bring more women into our IT workforce for sure. I’d also like to help the business as a whole move to more agile ways of working and promote knowledge sharing.

What initiatives could make tech a more appealing career for women?

I actually think a lot of perspective starts very early in life. I fortunately grew up knowing I could give anything a go, but many young girls believe maths and other subjects alike, are ‘boys’ subjects. I recently was part of an Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation course where we done some primary school level research, and this view really came through. I remember feeling so shocked and disappointed. So, we must let our young women know that nothing is out of their reach! I also believe in showcasing the female talent we have and how they got into their current role, sometimes it’s not a path you would have expected. I think encouraging women to take up a career in tech could be helped with something as simple as talking about and celebrating the women already there.

Quick fire, choose one option:

  1. Coffee or tea – Tea
  2. Book or film – Film
  3. Cat or dog – Dog
  4. Hot or cold – Hot
  5. Salty or sweet – Sweet
  6. Tattooed or not – Not, not brave enough!
  7. Night out or night in – Night in
  8. Email or meeting – Meeting
  9. Teams calls: video or audio? Video

BiP Solutions Limited is a company registered in Scotland with Company Number SC086146 and VAT number 383030966 and having its registered office at Medius, 60 Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1DZ.

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