Tom Gray

My responsibilities as a Systems Administrator are to govern over the Microsoft stack and provide technical support for all of Freebridge's Microsoft Systems.

I help to advise the business partner on current Microsoft best practises (which of course change quite frequently) and provide documentation for the 1st line service desk team to skill up and use knowledge articles I create to attain quicker service desk resolutions for our staff. The Microsoft estate that I administrate over includes Exchange, Active Directory, SCCM, M365, Power Platforms and Azure and have a good strong working knowledge of licensing for these products.

I also administrate over Mimecast, Varonis, Lookout for Work, Sharegate and Veeam (which we use to keep regular incremental backups as well as full back ups for virtual machines on servers.) I use both intune and SCCM for the deployment and management of applications to managed devices.

I'm responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of Windows servers and monitor vulnerabilities with Nessus - I use Lookout for Work to scan vulnerabilities for 3rd party applications that the business requests.

I work closely with the Service Desk Manager and helped to set up the existing service desk software, building workflows and reports from scratch.

This year I have attained certification for all 8 Microsoft Fundamentals including M365, Dynamics 365 CRM and ERP, Azure Data, AI and Fundamentals, Power Platforms and the Security, Compliance and Identity certificate. I recently passed for the Azure Administrator certificate. I am about to take the AZ-305 exam to become an Azure Solutions Architect. In todays climate, its more important than ever to be a force for resilience in a business which is why I undertook this quest for a broad knowledge across the Microsoft stack.

As a Service Desk Analyst my job was to ensure I met the standards set by the Service Desk Manager, we sought to follow best practise from iTils and SDI. I was the first point of contact for the internal staff for any and all of their ICT incidents or requests. A first response would be given to the customer, with follow up questions or to set times for me to remote onto the customers machine to take a look at the problem.

80% of incidents or requests were resolved on the 1st line, requests that required specialist knowledge or were not solvable without jeopardising Business agreed SLA's would be escalated to 2nd line support.

Prioritisation of requests and good quality communication kept strong satisfaction ratings and helped promote the service desk. Procedure and process helped to guide our customers to the portal rather than direct messaging or 'walk-ups' which circumvent the natural flow that must be present for an efficient and effective service desk. After two years on the Service Desk I deputised for the Service Desk Manager in order to help create a working knowledge base archive and solid workflows for future generations of ICT Service Desk Analysts.

Customer Service and Rapport building are so important at this level as it is surprisingly easy for an ICT department to isolate itself from it's customers - where possible I would opt for a phone call over an email, though correspondence would be logged on the request nevertheless and filled in with all relevant details. Resolutions were added to requests to provide instruction for future technicians who have the same troubles.

As an analyst I was also responsible for inductions and leaver requests for staff as well as providing building access badges and fobs. A working knowledge on android mobile devices (tablets and phones) and laptops was a pre-requisite.

I kept good house keeping with the mobile device and laptop spreadsheet (though we have now of course moved away from spreadsheets!) and continue to housekeep the Knowledge Base Archive.

I passed iTils V4 fundamentals at the end of my 1st year as an analyst (and am keen to renew this.)

In my role as a Service Desk Analyst I oversaw the migration of our old Service Desk into the new Halo Service Desk whilst the Service Desk Manager was on extended leave.

I dealt with Suppliers over the phone and by email for our peripherals and device procurement.

Change management was not a requirement at this level, however as my desire to provide more resilience for the wider team grew I found myself taking on further responsibilities in this role (with agreement from the Service Desk Manager and the Business Partner.)

Deputising for the SDM I monitored performance through reports that I helped to create on the Service Desk and to generate KPI's for the business Partner.

As a Teaching assistant at a complex needs school, responsibilities included safeguarding of children, the training and subsequent use of Norfolk STEPS for helping to support challenging physical behaviour, risk assessment creation and management for ad hoc class trips, delivering lesson plans in the event teachers were sick or unavailable.

Restorative practices, de-escalation tactics, mediation and the ability to quickly recognise a change in emotional state from change in behaviour or from an action that doesn't fit a pattern for a specific child was essential in this job. Pre-empting when there could be challenging behaviour of one pupil that could impact the learning of others was necessary on almost a daily basis.

Though the school (like almost all businesses and organisations in the modern day) had a handful of core values, I think 'inclusion' was the value that was both the most important and the most complicated. All children should be included in activities, but when extreme behaviour threatens the safety of other pupils despite all best efforts - inclusion for inclusions sake becomes fallacy. It's not how all people view it however, which is where the complexity lies.

I helped to prepare positive, productive learning environments (in and out of the classroom) with engaging wall displays and effective resources to meet the vision of the teacher and to conform with the schools Ofsted objectives.

I engaged with parents to help show progress and support for their children and to provide any answers to questions that I was qualified to answer in accordance with the schools policies.

• Interacted with customers whilst scanning and packing items, personalising shopping experience.
• Facilitated smooth store operations, performing daily opening and closing functions.
• Replenished sales floor stock regularly to maximise customer purchases.
• Built customer rapport by identifying specific needs and making appropriate product recommendations.
• Processed store deliveries, distributing products to storage areas and shop floors.

Blue Inc. is a clothing store which was tailored mostly toward young men and the 'smart/casual' style. Along with the quite generic duties of a shop assistant, the most important aspect to this job was knowing when to be of assistance. I had already had quite a lot of experience in talking to lots of different people of all ages, creeds or colours before starting this job, and felt very comfortable in when to ask if there was a way I could help or if it was best to not be a nuisance.

In Blue Inc. I discovered that I wanted to be a useful asset to people, which has only driven me towards stretching myself to provide more resilience for people and take on more work and gain more knowledge.