Tech leader interview: Dai David, Group CTO, Arup
With the UK IT Industry Awards fast approaching, Computing catches up with Dai David, Group CTO at Arup
With the UK IT Industry Awards fast approaching, Computing caught up with Dai David, Group CTO, Arup, whose organisation is shortlisted in no fewer than three categories: CIO of the Year, Inspirational Individual of the Year and IT Team of the Year.
Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers.
Dai David: We are a global professional services which has been at the forefront of design and engineering for over 70 years. We have a strong presence in the UK, with 6,000 people working on cutting-edge national and international projects in the built environment. We have a reputation in the industry for continually pushing the boundaries of what is considered possible. As a technology team, we aim to do the same.
CTG: How is your company different from its peers?
DD: Arup is a membership organisation, without shareholders or external investors, run for the benefit of its members. This means we set out own direction and choose work that aligns with our values, which were developed by Sir Ove Arup decades ago and have stood the test of time. I've been at the firm for five and a half years and have experienced a huge amount of transformation in this time including the consolidation of regional and global IT functions into one Digital Technology Group. The multi skilled technical talent within our team is a big differentiator compared to other firms I have worked for - we can get a lot more done due to our depth of expertise and are not over reliant on third parties.
CTG: What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
DD: We successfully shifted our key collaboration technology services to the cloud during the last 12 months, which has had a massive impact on enabling the firm to operate as normal during the pandemic. As part of this we accelerated the migration to cloud of several Microsoft services such as Dynamics CRM and Exchange Online, freeing up VPN access to support client facing projects. Collaboration is at the heart of our firm and the work we do, and we received very positive feedback when we were able to roll out Microsoft Teams to 15,000 colleagues globally in a matter of days. It's fair to say that the last year or so has really lifted the profile of the Digital Technology team at Arup - the talented people we have and the importance of the work we do, for both the firm and our clients.
CTG: What are you working on this year?
DD: Lots! I am Programme Technical Director for the rollout of a new People System (Oracle HCM) which is a major business change undertaking for the firm and a key enabler of our People Strategy. To support our Digital Strategy I am Project Director for the Arup Data Platform which provides a standard set of cloud based data services to accelerate the development of new digital products and services. To make sure I don't get bored I am also directing the systems workstream of the firm's Future Organisation programme ensuring all our corporate systems are configured to support new operating structures, performance measurement and reporting.
CTG: Why are events like the UK IT Industry Awards important to the IT industry?
What's great about awards is it gives people a real boost - not only those who are nominated, but their team mates too. It's one thing having your line manager or stakeholders give you positive feedback for achieving an amazing outcome, it's quite something else when you're being judged against an industry standard. For team based awards, it really helps lift spirits and encourages them to lift the bar even higher. We're always looking for great people to join our team and winning awards definitely helps with the recruitment process - candidates are attracted to teams that have had their success acknowledged by the industry.
The UK IT Industry Awards will be held on the evening of the 10th November in Battersea, London.