Martine Proctor

#HappyLittleCloud challenge Day23 as The rest of my Nation are somewhere watching and hoping that #Scotland can qualify for the next round of the Euro’s I’m in my Home office wondering amongst other things which would be the best service to identify last used services withing an AWS Organisation so I can consider blocking the unused ones via SCP - https://lnkd.in/eymmYZCn   This and many more topics will be covered between now and the exam it’s a pity I’ve got an actual session for work to deliver tomorrow or I might have managed to squeeze in a little more prep. So, While the Nation Shouts #C’mon #Scotland I’m more focussed on #AWS #Architecture #Professional and the giant questions. This one will be tough to #Recertify and not to take anything away from it I do feel it won’t be down to the wire as #Advanced #Networking was Have good week everyone and with only one week left of my self-imposed challenge we shall see where we end up 😊 #AWS #cloud #SkillBuilder

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Assurity Ltd has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud 14 framework (Lot 3: Cloud support). We offer FIXED-PRICE data warehouse and BI migrations to the Microsoft cloud (Azure) for the NHS, wider public sector, and SMEs. We will move a SQL Server-based data warehouse to Azure SQL Managed Instance and migrate your SSIS packages to Azure Data Factory. Note that we will convert any ETL to ELT as part of the process - unlike some other offerings, which migrate the SSIS packages to ADF, forcing you to retain SSIS into the future to maintain the packages! #migration #cloud #Azure #NHS #sme #SSIS #SQLServer

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It's been a full-on few weeks with lots of new roles, candidates to speak with & tight timescales - but when you get feedback like this, it makes it all feel super worthwhile! 🙏 Recently I placed Matt into his new role as a Senior Transformation Project Manager, and it's fair to say he was happy to give some feedback: "The experience was seamless. Ian worked with me to understand my role requirements and future ambitions. He stayed in constant communication whilst sourcing the right opportunity that matched my profile. He supported me throughout the recruitment process & ensured the employer was fully briefed on my profile to secure the interview" But it get's better, I have also recruited for Matt for a numbers of years now - placing Business Analysts & Change Professionals into his team: "I have been fortunate to work with Ian for many years. As a recruiting manager, Ian has supported me with previous recruitment campaigns sourcing several highly skilled change professionals." "Recently I found myself on the other side of the table as a candidate. It is refreshing to find a recruiter that puts a candidates needs first. Through his perseverance & guidance I have just secured the dream role. I couldn't be happier with the service Ian has provided and I wouldn't hesitate to reach out to him in the future." We take placing Transformation & Change professionals seriously at Investigo - if you're keen to experience what Matt has over the last few years, drop me a note on [email protected] 🙌 #hiring #techrecruitment #transformation #change

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A good day in Leeds delivering an IT Strategy to one of my clients and catching up with some excellent partners, recruiters, and suppliers. Shame about the weather….seems that summer has perhaps ended! 😌 If your business would benefit from support developing an IT Strategy and/or technology roadmap, please get in touch. Alex Pidgeon, James Milner, Ashley Dell, Sam Hameed, Matthew Bramah. #itstrategy #leeds #yorkshire #itleadership

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The 4 major cloud service providers offer 500+ services for businesses, developers and cloud engineers to take advantage of but to get a real grip on cloud you only need to understand a handful of foundational services! I've teamed up with cloud guru Jordan Atkinson to put together a gentle introduction to some of the most important foundational services across AWS, Azure, GCP & OCI, and this time we're covering Virtual Storage! Cloud storage provides scalable, cost-effective solutions for storing, managing, and accessing data remotely. It’s the backbone of modern IT infrastructure, enabling: ✅ Disaster Recovery & Backup ✅ Media and Entertainment Content Storage ✅ Big Data Analytics Check out the carousel for more info and take a small step towards building your cloud knowledge. I hope this is a useful deck and please let me know if there are any other cloud concepts or services you'd like to learn more about! #aws #azure #gcp #oci

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The Christmas Cracker of IT Solutions You Didn’t See Coming” 🎄 It’s Christmas! You’re eating your body weight in mince pies and chocolates, the King’s Speech is on, and repeats of Only Fools and Horses are playing. But amidst the joy (and questionable jumpers), there’s one festive tradition most businesses forget: 🎁 The Year-End IT Review. With that odd ‘what day is it?’ gap between Christmas and New Year, it’s the perfect time to reflect: ❄️ Is your IT support as solid as Aunt Linda’s overcooked turkey? ❄️ Are your systems secure, or do they look like Swiss cheese ❄️ Could you be getting better value for money? At Hybridge Solutions, we help SMEs make IT easy, affordable, and headache-free. Use this time wisely before 2024 rolls in – let’s see if we can make your business IT sparkle brighter than your Christmas tree. 🎅 Let’s talk IT. You’ll thank us when the mince pie fog clears. #BusinessIT #SMELeaders #ITSupport #ChristmasProductivity #TechReview

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IT contractors have experienced a worsening market with each budget since the start of IR35 regulations in 2017, and have just been handed more bad news through this Autumn Budget. Click here for our Managing Director Matt Collingwood’s analysis for how this budget will affect contractors: https://bit.ly/3Asxjao #autumnbudget #ITcontracting #contractIT #ITrecruitment #techrecruitment

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I appreciate that sometimes you step over the budget but when you lose control of the financials, council goes bust and the system is still not safe, secure and potentially not fit for purpose. Questions genuinely need to be asked. This isn’t the first time government or local government project spiral. Are they choosing the wrong partners? Is there something missing from the tender process? Are they just blindly choosing a partner from a framework? Maybe a reform on the tender/framework process is needed.

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50 - 80% Cloud transformation projects fail... Those figures are pretty depressing, whether you're an FD allocating spend on upcoming projects, or an IT Director dealing with an increasingly complex cloud infrastructure. Ensuring your cloud projects are part of the successful few is vitally important, to deliver maximum ROI and value across the business. Careful planning, implementation and measurement is the key to this, and I've gone into detail below to help you to achieve that: Planning: 1. Define clear objectives - cost savings, scalability, performance, security etc 2. Cost-Benefit analysis - weigh the direct (licenses, development) and indirect (training, downtime) costs against the anticipated benefits to generate a realistic ROI 3. Choose the right cloud or subscription model for you Implementing: 1. Migration strategy - plan how to best transfer your data or processes to a new system to mitigate any risks or upheaval 2. Training - a well-trained team reduces the learning curve, encourages uptake and reduces user-error 3. Collaboration - choose experienced partners to help guide you through the process and avoid any common pitfalls Measuring: 1. Set KPIs - set KPIs that align with the goals you first set (time savings, efficiency, user satisfaction etc) 2. Review performance - set reviews internally and with suppliers to hold both sides to account 3. Continuous optimisation - technology changes constantly, so it's important to ensure you're getting the most out of your systems. A solution which was innovative 5-years ago may not be any more, so speak to your suppliers / the market to keep on top of developments These are just a few ways you can ensure your next cloud project is a success. The capabilities of cloud-based solutions are huge, but accessing this potential needs a strategic and diligent approach.

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#AWS is expanding the AWS re/Start program to 30 locations across the UK, helping to address the digital skills gap and creating new cloud computing career opportunities. 💻☁️ With 72% of UK businesses reporting a need for digital skills, AWS re/Start is stepping up to prepare unemployed and underemployed individuals for entry-level cloud roles at no cost. Participants will gain hands-on experience and professional skills training and be connected directly with potential employers. This program empowers individuals and enriches local economies by providing businesses with a diverse talent pipeline. 💼 AWS is committed to building a future-ready workforce and strengthening the UK's digital economy. Read more here!

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TLDR: I cant make any financial decisions without my husband's permission/approval. Nor am I capable of putting some wood filler in a hole and sanding it 🙅‍♀️ Context... Had our lovely bathroom floor fitted today, and they tried to do our ensuite but couldn't because some of the boards needing filling. It was all well and good, until they said to me (verbatim) "When your husband is home from work, get him to have a look and fill and sand the gaps". When I asked for the alternative cost of ply boarding, I was given a price and then told "Check it over with your husband and get him to let us know". I have some things to say about this... Why does it specifically have to be my husband? People that know me, know I am an absolute demon with some filler and sandpaper. I am chief filler and sander in this home. Do I not look capable of doing this? Follow up question, why do I not look capable of this? What is it that screams incapable? Why do I have to check it over with my husband before letting you know what WE would like to do? I will do, because we are a partnership and we discuss things that affect us both, but why do you automatically think that he is the decision maker of this house? I don't normally make things about gender, but I just couldn't resist this one.

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I had a lovely time at the Midlands Women in Tech event today. There was a fantastic panel of speakers compeered brilliantly by Xpertise's Phil Brindley. The event itself was hosted by Rolls Royce and this was the fabulous sight that greeted me as I approached - I was driving so I snuck this photo off Googlemaps and it really doesn’t do the building justice! Speakers included Rolls Royce CIO Norma Dove-Edwin; Suzanne M., MD at Experian; Kristie Grinnell, a DCX executive who travelled from the States for the event; and Lauren Colbeck, CPO at Adro. A couple of takeaways from me plus one opinion 🫣: -         ALLYSHIP: why is it often the lone woman on the board who is asked to champion the women’s network (see also any other diversity initiative)? How lovely it would be to see our allies doing the heavy lifting too. We saw it in the room today and it was very well received. -         BEING YOURSELF: panel discussions that resonated with me included admissions of being ‘introverts pretending to be extroverts’, of having a cry when a job opportunity didn’t go someone’s way, and the awkwardness of pretending to enjoy golf to fit in (OK, I've never done this - much too sporty!). I took this as tacit permission to be myself from some extremely successful women. -         THE OPINION: there was disagreement on whether imposter syndrome exists and/ or is a women’s issue. I felt that this was semantics. Everyone agreed that operating outside of our comfort zone results in, well, discomfort. In my view, ‘imposter syndrome’ is as good a name for this as any other. And is it a women’s issue? Well, the feeling is a universal one, yes, however anyone operating outside of their ‘norm’ is more likely to experience this. Therefore, women in tech will experience it more often than men in tech... in a work setting. It’s a numbers game. I was also excited to hear a career in tech described as particularly appealing to anyone interested in solving puzzles and getting creative. It’s certainly why I moved into tech: it’s a challenge, it’s creative and it’s endlessly interesting! Thank you for the invite. I’m very glad to have been there. #WomeninTech #womeninSTEM #RollsRoyce #XpertiseRecruitment

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Happy Friday everybody 😀 #Reflection on my first week of a new role: 1) Chris Tunnecliff set me up for success with a comprehensive onboarding plan involving meeting LOADS of lovely people #Thankyou 😍 2) Adam Kearns has 'buddied' me fantastically - sharing knowledge / advice and general support #Thankyou 😍 3) I've leaned into my strengths: Building team 'structure' with regular touchpoints, opportunities to 'Make Tomorrow Better' and informal chat vectors 4) I'm building notes on what trends I'm seeing, rather than reacting super fast to the individual opportunities & challenges I'm hearing...will help me to make a more meaningful & strategic impact 5) I'm asking all the 'stupid' questions - so far nobody has laughed at me 😎 6) I'm really #Proud that a team member already feels part of a community (and shared the GIF below!) ... And next week I'm excited to start engaging with my business stakeholders (and maybe get to visit some operational locations / people 🤞 ) Hope this helps anybody else starting a new venture 🆕 #FridayFeeling #GrowthMindset #NewJob #Reflection https://lnkd.in/eBpEhf3a

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Have a read about how my team's suite of digital services are improving legacy processes and delivering efficiencies throughout CP7 and beyond. https://lnkd.in/e5wGe5cp

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Off to Manchester for a Copilot event hosted by the The Inform Team Copilot phase 2 update have been announced so we will have plenty to discuss, the below is all very exciting. 1. **Copilot Agents in SharePoint**: Users can now create and share AI-driven agents within SharePoint to automate tasks and streamline processes without needing coding skills¹. 2. **Copilot in OneDrive**: Enhanced capabilities to summarize, answer questions, and compare files, making file management more efficient¹. 3. **Copilot Pages**: A dynamic, collaborative canvas within Copilot that allows users to create, edit, and share content seamlessly². 4. **Python Integration in Excel**: Advanced data analysis using natural language, along with support for more formulas and conditional formatting². 5. **Narrative Builder in PowerPoint**: Customizable presentation outlines and alignment with company branding, enhancing the creation of professional presentations². These updates aim to boost productivity and collaboration across various Microsoft 365 applications. 😊 #Copilot, #Microsoft #phase2 #informteam

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Finding the time to complete training is never easy balancing a full time job, a Uni Degree, being out of the house for 14 hours a day for work, however, after spending 6 hours alone this weekend, I have now completed the CySA+ training on ITPro, from ACI Learning Excellent content yet again from Daniel Lowrie, Anthony Sequeira, Wes Bryan and 👾Sophie G. With all of the information you need not just for the exam but also for putting this stuff into practice! On to booking the exam and getting the certificate! #training #CompTIA #professionaldevelopment

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How quickly we forget years of working productivity and opening up our homes in a very personal way.

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