Mike Bathurst

I’ve been working in IT for over 30 years across several different industry sectors. Initially based in the home counties, my career started in software development working for GEC Marconi on rocket guidance and battlefield engagement systems.

My current role within the group is Chief Technology Officer. My responsibility focuses on developing our Digital Strategy which delivers on the needs of our diverse business across all areas of Technology. I ensure that the technical solutions and resources are best aligned to meet the needs of our business as we strive to drive digital transformation across our business.

Do you have any Professional Goals/ Aspirations for the industry?

All the various functions within Global’s IT Team have been working towards a cloud-first mobile-friendly strategy for several years, this has led us to migrate the majority of our services from on-premise solutions into cloud-hosted services.

There is still work to do to take us to point where I think we should be, which is where all of our systems are fully available to all staff wherever they are located and on any device providing real-time information to drive efficiency and support decision making.

I’m also keen to minimise the impact of IT on our environment to support this we’ve migrated our legacy data centre to Microsoft Azure which is carbon neutral, implemented a printing management solution to increase the visibility of printing impact and cost to drive people towards a paperless environment and the Service Desk team is currently awaiting delivery of our first electric van.

Do you have any Personal Goals that you are hoping to achieve?

I’m always looking to broaden my knowledge and learn new skills, the technology landscape is constantly changing and keeping up to date with new advancements is important to me both in and out of the workplace.

What inspires you?

Ultimately, I’ve always been inspired by helping to solve people & business problems from early in my career by developing applications through to the design of large-scale systems and now by defining a vision and strategy for technology to add value to our Group.

For me, a large part of job satisfaction comes from seeing the initial ideas spring from smartboards and conceptual ideas through to solutions delivering benefits in the real world.

Why do you work with GEG Group of companies?

One of the great things about working for Global is the opportunity to work with such a diverse range of businesses all of which have their own individual characteristics and nuances which need to be understood to be able to deliver solutions that fully meet people’s needs.

The combination of acquisition and a hunger to achieve more creates an environment that keeps you on your toes and at the top of your game, which whilst challenging and not for the faint hearted, is quite addictive.

What is the best piece of advice you have been given?

Accept what you cannot change and change what you cannot accept – it’s a bit of a cliché really but I’ve seen so many people use up all their energy and mental capacity trying to change something which is not within their sphere of control or influence. Far better to look at what elements could be changed, modified, and improved to focus on positive change.