In this Q&A, we caught up with IT Director, Hugo Sweeney to learn more about the history of our IT Department, the current innovations and how they support and protect our business.
Can you give us some background information as to when our IT department was set up, why, and how it’s grown into the fantastic support function that we know today?
When I joined the company in 1996, Kelly Group’s IT set-up was fairly basic like most companies at that time. In 1995 the UK was hit with heavy storms which caused damage to the BT overhead poling network.
This presented Kelly Group with its first opportunity to work with BT carrying out critical repairs to their poling infrastructure, which later allowed The Group to become one of BT’s major suppliers. However, in order to work on this contract, one of BT’s mandatory requirements was to have an integrated network infrastructure in place to support Database applications which could handle the volumes of work, which was non-existent in Kelly Group at the time. This became the catalyst for the formation of the IT Department which has organically grown in line with the business to become the skilled team of professionals we have today.
As a department, we support 3,500+ users daily from the field engineering workforce across the UK to the back office and management teams in our numerous office locations.
How long have you been with the business?
I joined the business in August 1996 as an IT graduate from the University of Ulster. My first role with the company was working for Larry & Dermot doing plant audits. I travelled the length and breadth of the country counting everything from drills to widgets which gave me a great feel for the scale, culture and people within the company. This was only ever meant to be a stopgap until I secured a role within the IT sector in London. However not long after I started, Kelly’s landed the poling contract with BT and that’s when I was approached by the business to establish an integrated network that could support the software applications and communications with remote sites.
Quite a challenge at the time but with a lot of hard work, a can-do attitude and the help of some knowledgeable individuals we got the job done!
Can you tell us what we have done in the past and what we’re currently executing to achieve the smooth operation of our business while implementing innovative technologies?
The IT team have delivered many innovative solutions over the years to assist our operational teams in achieving their contractual obligation to our clients in the most efficient, intuitive and cost-effective ways. Obviously over time and with technological enhancements, these have evolved.
One that stands out for me was not so much a eureka moment or an innovative App but more a strategic evolution that derived a return on the investment made. That return came in March 2020 with the advent of COVID which dramatically changed the working landscape as we knew it. We were able to seamlessly facilitate the back office and support teams to work from home. All systems were already migrated to the cloud therefore location was irrelevant as long as an internet connection was available.
Our dispatch control teams could answer and make calls from their homes as if they were in the office, again because we invested in a cloud-based call centre solution.
The Kelly board are always very supportive of innovations and continually invest in the infrastructure and systems which enables us to scale and operate at the forefront of our industry. Testament to this is the fact we are continually working with Openreach in their beta testing phases of their innovations and have done since 2013.
We introduced IFS as our ERP solution in January 2021 which handles the core support functions of the group which include HR, Finance, Procurement, Plant, Fleet and Self Service. With all these functions residing on one solution it ensures we have one process-driven approach for the respective elements resulting is one source of the truth.
An excellent example is our Vehicle check application. Drivers can now easily submit the weekly checklist for each company vehicle. If any defects are identified, the submission automatically generates a ticket for our fleet department on IFS, swiftly reaching a mechanic who can initiate a service if necessary. In contrast to the previous paper-based system, where drivers submitted sheets to their local back office, which were then scanned, sent to the fleet department, and manually entered into a database. The new approach dramatically reduces the processing time which greatly improve the vehicle repair time.
It’s a clear illustration of our commitment to streamlining operations. Importantly, these innovations aren’t meant to replace our staff; instead, they reduce their workload, providing more time for critical tasks making our business more efficient while minimizing the risk of human error in our processes.
We have significantly increased our data analytics capabilities, introduced a new BI tool called Qlik and recruited two Data Analysts, Priya and Alagesh. They have and continue to develop a comprehensive suite of dashboards incorporating data from IFS, Samsara, KRS, KVB and many more applications so users can effortlessly filter information based on project objectives or ongoing tasks.
This strategic application has notably replaced the need for time-consuming Excel sheets, particularly evident in our Openreach contract.
All essential information, catering to everyone from directors to engineers, is intuitively represented on this platform.
This not only eliminates the tedious task of report creation but also enables real-time performance monitoring as our engineers and teams progress through their daily tasks.
Can you give us some information on what Kelly Group is currently implementing and what our future plans are as we strive towards a safer and more efficient working environment?
Recognising that AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the future, we’re excited to embrace this technology to explore its potential benefits. However, it’s important to acknowledge that AI comes with certain limitations and risks. Therefore, we’re adopting a sensible and measured approach to its integration, ensuring that our utilisation aligns with the capabilities of the technology whilst also addressing its current limitations.
This strategic approach allows us to leverage the power of AI responsibly and effectively while enhancing our operations.
Our current evaluation of AI is focused on an application for analysing images submitted by our engineering workforce. Our goal is to discover or develop a solution that, leveraging machine learning, can assess whether installations, site setups or test readings have been executed correctly or not. Knowing this at the point of execution will enhance our ability to get it right first time.
Can you give us 5 tips on how to keep our work devices safe?
I cannot imagine there is anyone who is not aware of what Cyber security is but incredibly we all put ourselves at risk every day. My advice to protect yourself and the company would be to follow these 5 tips...
- Protect your accounts by using a strong unique password which is changed regularly.
- Install the latest software and app updates.
- Backing up your data
- Turn on 2-factor authentication (2FA)
- Think Before You Click
In the last year in particular the Team have done a huge amount of work ensuring our cyber security. However, there’s no denying that humans are the weakest link in cyber security. No matter how strong our technical defences, such as firewall, IPS, or IDS, are, they can always be circumvented by a determined attacker if they can find a way to trick or coerce you into giving them access.
THINK, CHECK & PROTECT
