Jon Nicholas Email & Phone Number

Reading, Gb

Reading, United Kingdom

After a large acquisition and a restructure there were some big changes for the cloud and storage team. The challenge was to bring together two teams that were performing the same function, split across 3 different geographic locations, so in-person collaboration was always going to be difficult. The approach taken to bring the team together was people first, with the view that both teams had excellent technical abilities and we can use this to create platforms and process that are best of breed from both the businesses. The approach meant that everyone felt they were listened to and very much part of moving the team forwards, with the result being that we have come together as a highly skilled team that is focussed on continually improving our platforms and processes, while also supporting each other on technical challenges.This role changed how I worked with the the technologies, meaning that I was not involved with the hands-on technical changes. Instead, I had to have a full understanding of how the products and technologies interacted and how they underpinned our business offerings. When the team had technical challenges and potential solutions identified, I need to be able to understand all elements and make informed decisions around how we would move forwards or advise on other avenues we could investigate to identify the best solutions. At times there might not be a ‘best option’. In these instances, I would evaluate all information presented, work with the technical lead and select the best option to allow the team to continually move forwards.Alongside all the technical work, I took an active role in the developing of vendor relationships, there was a key focus to reduce software spend where possible. A significant reduction was achieved with one of over key vendors, while also allowing us to incorporate a Technical Account manager which is allowing us to look further ahead at what new features we can leverage on our existing or new platforms.

Reading, United Kingdom

As the success of both the shared and dedicated environments continued a dedicated team was formed to focus on supporting the shared cloud infrastructure which had grown to 300+ hosts and 80+ dedicated private cloud. Alongside the growing shared storage footprint. The role was a 60/40 split between technical work (including on-call) and team management. As this team had broken away from being purely a support function, I was able to further influence decisions regarding how the shared platforms developed. While at this point, I was not responsible for any budgets, I was advising the business on when capital investment was needed to increase capacity or performance. Due to the increase storage demand needed by our customers, we took the opportunity to review our storage strategy with three key factors in mind cost/TB, performance and usability.During this time our networking team deployed a new datacentre fabric and integration between this and our shared cloud and storage platform was critical. I was able to lead on this technical integration from a cloud and storage point of view to design and implement a resilient and high-performance solution.

Reading, United Kingdom

Having worked up through all levels of the support structure, this role allowed me to specialise on supporting the cloud and storage platforms within the business. With years’ of support experience behind me I was able to pull on a multitude of skills to ensure I was best placed to resolve any customer queries.With the ability to focus on a subset of the technology portfolio, I could start to take a pro-active hands-on approach for managing the platforms. There was also an increased engagement with pre-sales and technical architects to assist with customer solution designs.

Reading, United Kingdom

Reading, United Kingdom

Reading, United Kingdom

Reading, United Kingdom