SSG23: Reboot, Refocus, Recharge: Redefining the world of Support Services

Account Executive specializing in Customer and Employee Engagement technologies.

At Freshworks I handle our full suite of SaaS solutions for; CRM, Omnichannel Support, Sales, Marketing, and ITSM. Over the past 7 years, I have enabled businesses across many industries to adopt cloud-first communication strategies, re-gaining ownership of their customer & employee relationships and technology.

Caroline joined IT Services 1996 as part of the front line team providing support for students. Caroline is now the Head of IT Customer Services and as part of this role, leads a team that provides first and second level support to all university IT users and is responsible for a portfolio of projects to enhance and improve the IT customer service experience.

David is an IT Specialist, activist and trade unionist from Loughborough University. They initiated Loughborough’s LGBT+ Awareness course, which educates staff on gender identity and sexuality. They’ve led numerous trans-inclusion initiatives and delivered workshops on trans-inclusive feminism for the Women in Higher Education Network and Manchester University.

I'm a results driven sales professional, with the ambition of developing high-quality relationships in fast evolving markets. I find motivation in learning and sharing experiences with others, in order to help organizations achieve scalability through leveraging SaaS solutions effectively (CX, ITSM, ESM, CRM).

Jake has worked for the University of Southampton for over fifteen years and has been leading teams both small and large for most of that time. He has a strong track record for turning team performance around and building positive and inclusive team cultures. Jake is a popular speaker at UCISA known for his highly engaging talks that always give you practical takeaways.

Jamie Pitchforth is vertical sales specialist with responsibilities for Higher Education across EMEA. In addition to initiating HE specific business development activities, Jamie is a Juniper Ambassador, authorised to write press articles & attend press engagements. Jamie’s primary area of value is supporting sales in climbing to C-level engagement with focus on business outcomes, strategic values and mapping sales win strategies to MEDDICC. Jamie joined Juniper in July 2019 and brings over 25 years of frontline networking experience.

Jenine joined IT Services at the University of Sheffield in 2021 as the Business Continuity Lead. Here, Jenine is accountable for developing and delivering an effective business continuity programme -coordinating departmental business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans for critical systems. Previously, Jenine worked in the construction and utilities industries as a Business Continuity Manager and Risk Manager.

John is the Director of Customer Services for central IT at the University of Oxford. He has been involved in IT sustainability initiatives in various roles, initially focussed on reducing in-use energy consumption but more recently encompassing supply chain and full lifecycle impact. Projects have included a University-wide PC energy monitoring and reporting service, driving end-user device purchasing strategy towards low-carbon solutions, measurement and modelling of emissions associated with EUC and GPU-intensive systems, and initial development of a carbon footprint calculator for IT services and projects.

After starting as an IT trainer, Katherine has spent 20 of her 23 years at the University of Oxford managing a help or service desk. She has a proven track record of motivating her team and even inspired a consultant, who was analysing the service, to write that he had rarely seen such passionate support for the user base and empathy with them as that displayed by the manager and staff.

A CIO for over 30 years in education, public and charitable sectors, Laura Dawson's focus is building high performing teams and helping organisations make the best use of their data and technology. Laura was CIO of LSE till 2023 and now is a Governor and Charity Trustee and Founder for Leaderly Consulting.

Michael has worked with Northumbria for the past 6 years and leads their Enterprise Service Development function, developing the strategic vison and deployment of the ServiceNow platform. Prior to joining the University Michael ran a software consultancy and development business with clients in Financial Services, Higher Education, Transport and National Government.

As a Senior Account Executive at Freshworks, I specialize in transforming IT service desk operations and driving exceptional ROI. With over 10 years of SaaS experience, including 5 years in ITSM, I offer a unique perspective as the main point of contact throughout the sales process. My goal is to empower clients with innovative solutions that deliver results in today's dynamic business landscape.
I enjoy physical activity, particularly rugby, golf, and cycling.

Having spent over 9 years at the University of the Highlands and Islands as Customer Services Manager, Mike has recently moved to become Head of Service Delivery at the University of Warwick, leading a new team to refresh, develop and professionalize the Service Management portfolio within the newly formed Information and Digital Group. Mike has always been passionate about good customer service. As well as his work in UCISA SSG Committee over several years and achieving ITIL Expert, Mike also spent a large number of years working as Operational and Compliance Auditor for over a dozen international car manufacturers.

Richard is responsible for a wide portfolio of services at the University of Stirling including the IT service desk, AV support, University library and archives, programme management office, digital learning and academic development. He is the President of CILIP in Scotland for 2023, and outside of work is a scout leader and chairs his local Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Simon’s core day job is to provide strategic leadership and management of the University’s IT Service. He is also responsible for the vision and delivery of the IT Strategy and acts as an advisor and advocate with key stakeholders, to maximise opportunities for innovation and technology change across the University. Simon is responsible for all the technology infrastructure across the University, including the network, storage, servers, and end user computers ensuring that these are resilient, reliable and secure for all staff and students. He is responsible for the technical customer support, to provide a responsive customer-focused service to all staff and students and the delivery of multiple technical change programmes to support the University strategy and vision.

Simon is responsible for defining and delivering the IT Strategy and service that will deliver the technology elements of the business outcomes set within the wider University strategy. At University Executive, Simon supports colleagues as to how technology can support achievement of organisational wide ambitions, providing resilient infrastructure enabling business outcomes around teaching, research, and Knowledge Exchange.

Susanne has been in Higher Education IT since 2006 when she left the world of finance to make the positive move into education, at the University of South Wales, managing the then IT Help Desk. The common thread of her roles throughout her career has been customer service and delivery, something that was quite new to HE when she joined, thankfully so much more appreciated now. She is passionate about the impact that education can have on changing lives, especially the widening participation agenda, something very close to my heart.

Tanaz is the Chief Revenue Officer at Roc, where she is responsible for driving the company's revenue and growth strategy. With a career spanning over 20 years in the IT industry, she has worked in various roles such as training and consulting, engineering, solution architecture, operations, sales, and general management. Before joining Roc, Tanaz was the Commercial and Solutions Director for Claranet UK's cloud business, where she led a diverse team of customer-facing sales, portfolio, and technical professionals. Tanaz is passionate about technology and an advocate for women in the industry. She mentors members of the Girls' Network and speaks at schools to encourage young women to pursue careers in tech. She firmly believes in the power of technology to transform businesses and society for the better. Originally from Germany, Tanaz moved to the UK in 2007, where she currently resides with her husband and children in SW London

Catherine has entered HE ten years ago in a technical role in networks. Five years ago, she accepted the challenge of a secondment into project management, working of the USW Network 2020 refresh project. Since then, having gained more experience and success she has now progressed to a programme manager role for Cloud Migration, having successfully managed the USW Cyber Essential Certification project among others

Adam is an experienced, enthusiastic and effective technologist who has held various technical, consultant and leadership positions within the IT industry for more than two decades. He currently leads the Technologist team at Softcat Plc, and has a demonstrable track record of delivering successful change programmes for both domestic and global organisations.