An interview with the former Managing Director of ITSB, and now COO of VIZST, hosted by Simon Mewett from TECHNEDs.

We sat down with Lee from VIZST to find out about his journey with ITSB.

SM: how would you describe the cultural identity at ITSB?

LD: We are a driven and focused team of individuals. We are we’re all about family and that means being friendly and supporting each other. We drive each other forwards and continually developing our community where everyone feels supported. I’d like to think that no one is left out and we are achieving something with a common purpose.

I think I think it’s fair to say we all like to help customers and we live a customer first approach to business and that works really well for

SM: So did you do you know what profession you would like to go into when you were at college or university?

LD: I didn’t know what to get into IT! I only got into the sector because there was an apprenticeship in the local paper at East Dorset council and my dad encouraged me to apply where I was shortlisted down from 100 people to get the role. I did study business studies at college and I always thought at some point I’d like to run my own business

SM: What’s the most valuable lesson that you’ve learned from your time at ITSB?

LD: Never second guess people

SM: That’s really interesting, tell me why thats important to you

LD: Because people surprise you in many ways and ultimately we are a people business and you got to get the people but right. So my biggest learning is learning how to work with people, manage people and don’t guess why. As a leader you have to work how it is that they want to better themselves so you need to work very closely and set some standards.

SM: Does that save you time emotionally?

LD: Yes 100% . Just getting out what you want to say without having some context can be damaging. Fundamentally we’ve got business full of great people and one thing you can’t copyright is our USP which is our people.

SM: Which professional accomplishment are you most proud of?

LD: Wow hard to say just one, we’ve achieved so many.

SM: Can you narrow it down to 3?

LD: I’ve got to say signing up to this new office which is taking us to the next level

Number two is the really big achievement by managing to recruit the quality and calibre of staff we’ve got working for us another. I’m really proud of the fact that we can attract high quality staff and there are good people that otherwise we wouldn’t be able to attract a few years ago. We’re now as a business really attractive proposition

The same applies to the clients. Being able to attract the calibre of clients were now working with makes me so proud to name companies such as EasyJet who are now the books. When I look at the list of our managed service customers with satisfaction. We wouldn’t have been able to compete in the sector without the team with people who we’ve put together. So yeah, I’m really proud of the clients the customers and this new this new office ready for our next step.

SM: Away from work, what causes or what things are you really passionate about?

LD: Away from work, there are two things that drive me. There is my family and football coaching. I coach my younger son’s football team so I’m really enjoying the challenge of learning to coach kids football and for me it’s not just the football. It’s about teaching them how to be team players how to learn about respect, develop their skills but I want to see them talking on the field and being able to hug each other and support each other. You win together, lose together kind of mentality. I consider what I do on a daily basis and try to look at things as professional athlete would and I think to myself “am I doing everything I can to get the best out of my performance and help others to get the best out of them”.