Andrew Snowdon

Job: ICT Director
Department: Department: ICT (Information & Communication Technology)
Site: Doncaster

Can you tell us what you do at BRIDON International Ltd.?

I look after the company’s information and technology department; the people, the infrastructure, hardware & software. My role is to help define the IT strategy, aligning this to the business’s wider objectives with the Executive team, and arrange the various IT contracts. BRIDON’s servers and applications are all based in our new Doncaster data centre; we have a modern Integrated Oracle based solution that allows all our Orders, Manufacturing and Finance departments across Europe to operate as one. As the software is designed and written here at BRIDON, I get involved in meetings with the ict team to specify and implement constant improvements. The team takes care of more than 350 PC’s on people’s desks, 30 servers and over 250 mobiles and Blackberries.

It’s about ensuring that technology is available, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week when the business or another colleague needs it, although we have some automated monitoring software these days so the guys can get some sleep!

What do you enjoy most about working at BRIDON, and about your job in particular?

The people and friends you make along the way; I enjoy being busy, that’s never a problem here, but working on many different issues in a week with people from around the company means it’s never monotonous. I’d hate to push paper all week so I also get involved with the support roles such as installation and repairs around the place.
The new offices, which I had the pleasure of project-managing the build, was one of my great achievements ; it’s a great place to work, but getting around the sites and factories is equally interesting, and seeing the products and the IT services we support in use!

What made you want to work for BRIDON, how long have you worked for the Company, and how did you start?

I started back in 1985 at the age of 19 as one of four pupil trainees, having completed my studying of electronics at Doncaster College. I spent 6 months in the production units at Doncaster, and then moved onto Finance, Sales and Planning. At the end of the two years I had the best and most rounded background and knowledge a new starter could expect, I initially took on a role as a programmer within the IT department. I worked as a programmer for a year, and then moved up to systems analysis, project management and eventually IT manager in 1997. I have been lucky enough to be the IT Director for the last few years.