It has been a successful year for the Atkins Group
information systems team, writes IS director Lesley
Hume.
We successfully established IS account managers to work with our
internal clients and they are increasingly being invited to
participate in the work of our business units.
We have delivered a new back-office infrastructure and desktop
computing services upgrade across the group, and group IS operating
costs have reduced when compared like for like with last year.
Long lead times from technology suppliers have continued to be a
challenge for Atkins. We have also faced difficulties in getting
quality project management resources from the market and have had
to cope with a generally higher demand for all IS staff, which has
added significantly to the recruitment challenge.
We have trained end users in Atkins to get the best use out of
the technology resources that we provide. We use a blended approach
of e-learning, on-site classroom and outsourced training to raise
the level of expertise throughout the group.
The IS team is becoming increasingly involved in the process of
bidding for new projects. There is a growing dependency on
technology in the work that Atkins undertakes, and involving our IT
staff early adds great value to the bidding process.