IT Life: Ruling The School

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So has BYOD influenced your views on the cloud? Are you a believer?

I am. We’ve just been given iPads in the IT department here, just to have a look and see how effective they could be and what ideas we may have. So I think it could be quite a big thing and if I look at the younger generation, they virtually all have smartphones, they all have laptops and a few of them are beginning to get various types of tablets. They’re very popular so I think it will become increasingly important

What do you regard as the great challenge for an IT department today and what’s your budget going forward?

For us, I think it’s providing the types of reporting that the managers and senior managers want, specifically making sure that the metrics are accurate.

Compared to last year, our budget is contracting, but not by a lot. We just happened to spend a lot on projects last year.

Apart from your own, what company do you admire the most and why?

I think probably Apple because they have a good work ethos, they are able to build teams effectively with the right balance of skills and are able to keep up these teams’ motivation.

Who is your tech hero and do you have a tech villain?

My tech hero is a rather nerdy one, but I have to go for Sir Clive Sinclair because he brought about home computing. The first computer I had at home when I was around 10 or 11 years old was a ZX81, and you had to programme it to get it to do things. So not only did he bring computing to the home, he brought programming to the home, which has since almost disappeared. That’s a great shame, although I see recently they’ve brought out the Raspberry Pi to try and get more kids and teenagers into programming.

As for tech villain, I’m not really sure. I can’t really think of anybody off the top of my head, maybe Larry Ellison.

What is your favourite piece of technology?

In general terms, I like the iPad. Actually, I should answer iMindMap, which is Tony Buzan’s software. I’ve become really addicted to mindmapping in the last couple of months. I keep doing it on my iPod, my iPad and my PC as well.

And finally, what did you want to be when you were a child?

When I was a child? I’m trying to think back. Probably a fireman.

Solid answer

That’s a good way to put it.