Alan Shields - IT Chief Architect, LGSS

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

Through extensive research and information gathering, convincing the organisation to drop its contentious 'on-premise first' policy and getting them to support a 'cloud-appropriate' policy. Making them see the cloud as not just a another version of hosting, but a completely new way of working beyond the paradigm of just 'lift and shifting' services.

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

The ability to cope and adapt to the high pace and rate of change within the IT industry, coupled with a healthy appetite for risk. We can be far too risk averse, especially in the public sector.

How many people work in IT in your organisation?

Approximately 450.

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

Due to the need to relocate a major data centre in 18 months' time, migration of suitable services to the cloud. Plus moving to Microsoft Office 365.

What's your annual IT budget?

Approximately £17m.