Projects
Beneport has given me the great opportunity to lead and manage its technology department for the past 6 years. With that came many exciting projects. Leadership embraced me as a forward thinker and we took our technology abilities to a new level. We evolved from on-premise servers to the cloud (over 5 years ago) in a way that enabled our users to operate within a secure bubble and satisfied the need to scale users seasonably.
I've directed projects that only involved a few users and others that have affected 100+ users at a given time. The pressure can be intense, but I love it!
Listing the many projects I've spearheaded would be excessive; however, I hope that you have a moment to review a couple of the most impactful accomplishments that greatly affected the past year and half.
Project Achievements
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Our call center scales up and down with seasonal work and our users have been working remotely for years. We had a functional VoIP phone system in place but decided it was time to explore what improvements had come about in telecommunications in the years since our 2016 phone implementation project. In 2019, after reviewing the lessons learned from the prior project, I spearheaded the exploration options by creating a wish list and getting key stakeholders on board with the idea of a change. Under my leadership, we put forth our terms and with some negotiation, found our new vendor. Handled all programming for the new system in-house. The user experience was improved with the new platform, we lowered our monthly recurring costs, reduce hardware needs, and added functionality and tools that improved work flow for users in every department.
WINDOWS 10 UPGRADE (put us in perfect position to be prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic)
Our Win10 upgrade project has been my greatest badge of honor for 2020. In mid-2019, I pitched the idea of upgrading all of our users' hardware in anticipation of Windows 7 reaching Microsoft's support life-cycle. In the Fall of 2019, I purchased 60+ new laptops to kick off our project. By January 2020, all of our users were on newer, more robust laptops. The supply chain crisis brought on by the pandemic did not affect us. Beneport did not have to panic-buy any hardware.
SECURITY AWARENESS TRAINING
Security Awareness Training is one of my most favorite activities! Attending IT security conferences (such at Black Hat USA and B-Sides Tampa) along with online information sessions enable me to update our training materials every year. My sessions are lively and encourage participation. Cybersecurity affects everyone. Educating our users about good practices promotes digital behavior that benefits the organization in addition to empowering users.