Amerdeep Riat - Head of IT, Heartwood

What's your proudest work-related achievement of the last 12 months?

Seeing the IT team of developers and infrastructure staff I recruited respond to a complete server failure and subsequently replacing the complete stack in a well-executed implementation.

What's the number one skill today's IT leaders need?

We in IT are still a people-oriented business as they are our most important asset. The number one skill for an IT leader is managing people and letting these SMEs surpass strategic and tactical goals.

How many people work in IT in your organisation?

We have thousands of IT infrastructure and development staff around the world. As part of the UK IT management team we manage over 200 in the UK.

What's your top priority for the next 12 months?

Using current business change projects to further underpin the security of our environment and make it even more robust.

What's your annual IT budget?

Confidential.