it_user72771

Info Sec Consultant at Size 41 Digital
Has 10+ Years Of Experience

Badges

215 Points12 YearsTop 5

User Activity

Over 6 years ago

Asked a question: Advice please - currently we use Cofense PhishMe but have been recommended Sophos Phish Threat

Over 7 years ago

Contributed a review of Sophos UTM: Allows our client to use cross-region AWS VPCs to connect remote dev offices

Over 7 years ago

Contributed a review of Cisco Secure Firewall: Keeps costs low and provides granular control using appliances familiar to the team

Over 7 years ago

Contributed a review of Splunk AppDynamics: Enables us to edit config files easily and make reports our own

Almost 9 years ago

Answered a question: When evaluating backup and recovery software, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

With GDPR coming to the EU in May 2018, granular control over data is getting higher and higher in the list of things to need.

Almost 9 years ago

Commented on It provides a straightforward e-commerce solution, but it has little scope for customizations. We compulsorily have to go with the partners they have chosen.

You don't have to go with partners they have chosen. I've worked with outside DWRE devs and it worked out fine.

Over 9 years ago

Contributed a review of Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Cartridges take away the need to develop a lot.

Over 9 years ago

Commented on Using this for backlog prioritization is the key to either kanban or scrum processes.

"Development teams, especially scrum teams, need some type of tool. For geographically dispersed teams, the ROI has a quick payback period, less than three months." True. JIRA is a good tool for working with multiple stakeholders.

Over 9 years ago

Commented on Reliable Service, lots of change

"I wouldn't recommend adopting the first version of any of their new products." Nice tip there. "All of the marketing is about fanatical service but in practice it's very hard to live up to those expectations. " In my experience (certainly the DB lot) they were pretty…

Over 9 years ago

Commented on As a centralized helpdesk solution, it's been a huge success for our account and IT managers in tracking open tickets, but I need a more powerful reporting tool.

I'm with you on this: ...getting the full details on every networked component can be a challenge. The product has gotten better over the years but there are still some complexities you will more then likely struggle with it's a bit of a grind to get all of the info you…

Over 9 years ago

Commented on Merchandizing and website features are easy to master and set up but integration with other systems is not easy

Did you have any major problems with your demandware install?

Almost 10 years ago

Contributed a review of SQL Server: High availability/failover clustering makes DR straightforward.

Almost 10 years ago

Contributed a review of Sitecore Experience Manager: It's a CMS with the usual features and functions. It was an old version and for us to move to a newer version we had to take three separate projects with each one incurring significant cost.

Almost 10 years ago

Answered a question: When evaluating Business Intelligence Tools, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

Easy to use, performs well, cost, and not going to send me insane integrating it with other systems. Everything else is gravy.

Almost 10 years ago

Answered a question: When evaluating backup and recovery software, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

- Ease of set up and continued use (and also how easy it is to get it off your systems) - Useful and easy reporting - speed of backup - Multiple recovery options - cost

Almost 10 years ago

Contributed a review of SugarCRM Platform: Very basic UX and UI, but does what it says on the tin.

Almost 10 years ago

Contributed a review of Skype for Business: In one of two companies, I was introduced to it as, "problematic." Now, having used it for months, multiple times a day for video, voice and chat, I never had a problem with it.

Almost 10 years ago

Commented on The modules that are included with it will help us displace the local anti-virus that we're currently using.

Thanks for that. Why it's so hard to find catch rates is a mystery.

Almost 10 years ago

Contributed a review of Cisco Meraki MX: We had a problem with our MX100 and Meraki sent us a spare the next day so we'd have it on hand in case of issues.

Almost 10 years ago

Commented on The modules that are included with it will help us displace the local anti-virus that we're currently using.

I'd be interested in hearing about the catch rate comparison too.

About 10 years ago

Commented on Problem free and effective AV

Yes, I hasten to add - AV is great in a suite of defences (including defence in depth: IDS, UTM, encryption, etc)

About 10 years ago

Commented on Will Office 365 change the SharePoint vendors focus?

I've worked a lot in the charity sector and they have held onto the Finance Director as Head of IT (or at least controlling the IT purse strings) business method. This can make the cloud conversation hinge entirely on money, and working out a TCO can be complex if you…

About 10 years ago

Answered a question: Gartner's Magic Quadrant for IaaS maintains Amazon Web Service at the top of the Leaders quadrant. Do you agree?

Yes. AWS's innovation is matched only by its ability to deliver. You can look at AWS at a distance and the breadth of their offerings are hefty. Basics like load balancing that is really simple to implement or CDN for websites. I mean, you can dip into AWS and use a…

About 10 years ago

Commented on It is more stable than any infrastructure you will have in your own server room. The only problems I had with deployment were with Amazon authorizing our account initially.

Amazon is interesting because you go away for 6 months, come back, and there are 5 new products that work. Not many cloud suppliers can match that.

About 10 years ago

Contributed a review of Jira: Perfect for keeping track of large amounts of bugs, tasks queries and releases for fixes.

About 10 years ago

Commented on IT Central Station Elite Squad

@Ariel: what solution will your next review be about? Hmm, good question. I might clear up some of the stuff I used in charities like: Dropbox, JIRA, and probably AWS. AWS seems to come up a lot in job interviews now...

About 10 years ago

Commented on IT Central Station Elite Squad

Morning all :) I'm currently Head of Tech and Cyber Sec. My love of IT goes way back. I got my first computer when I was 8yo. Since then I've built them, secured them, managed projects to enhance their capabilities, and generally enjoyed my time in the industry. Which…

About 10 years ago

Contributed a review of WordPress Business-Enterprise: WordPress - not just for blogs anymore.

About 10 years ago

Contributed a review of VMware Workstation: It's enabled us to fire up speedy sandboxes to test software or malware in a closed environment.

Over 10 years ago

Contributed a review of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN: We can easily monitor the up/down time so establishing KPIs and SLAs for the IT department becomes something attainable, but there can be problems if using older POS devices.

Over 10 years ago

Contributed a review of Amazon AWS: It is more stable than any infrastructure you will have in your own server room. The only problems I had with deployment were with Amazon authorizing our account initially.

Almost 12 years ago

Answered a question: Are there any reasons to opt for Rackspace vs. its cloud competitors?

Irrespective of any other points, Rackspace's support is pretty awesome and I think that is one area that they truly excel in. I found their products to be great and they do what they say on the tin but - it is the knowledge that should something terrible happen to the…

Over 12 years ago

Contributed a review of Microsoft BitLocker: Bitlocker - defence in depth

Over 12 years ago

Contributed a review of Symantec Endpoint Security: Problem free and effective AV

Over 12 years ago

Contributed a review of Spiceworks: Charities and IT monitoring

Projects

Over 12 years ago

Application Integration Project

Managed nine mission critical projects at the same time, with 0.5 members of staff.

Over 10 years ago

Created an online learning platform in 1 week

Created an online learning platform in 1 week using WordPress and AWS.

Over 10 years ago

Business Inteligence integration

BI integration

About 10 years ago

Departmental transformation

Departmental transformation, for when your IT department just isn't working the way it should: - virtualisation- old infrastructure into the cloud- intro of SLAs and KPIs- Outro of underperforming contractors. - fit for purpose DR and BC plans- Software upgrade - Security…

Almost 10 years ago

Back up app replacement

Ensuring effective back-up and replication of data meant we had to replace the legacy app that didn't have the features we needed.

Almost 10 years ago

Website app upgrade for a charity

Micro-charities don't always have the resources or skilled staff to make sure their systems are uptodate and secure. Volunteering to help make sure basics like CMSs are current and plugins work and are the best available is a good way of helping out.

Almost 10 years ago

Counter-intelligence database design and creation

Counter-intelligence database design and creation so trends can be monitored from worldwide events using inputs from all around the world.

Over 9 years ago

Launch a FMCG transactional website in three months

Launch a FMCG transactional website in three months because of a hard stop with old website (black box) server closure, with zero handover from previous project manager.

Experience

Reviews

Almost 10 years ago

Skype for Business

In one of two companies, I was introduced to it as, "problematic." Now, having used it for months, multiple times a day for video, voice and chat, I never had a problem with it.

Almost 10 years ago

SugarCRM Platform

Very basic UX and UI, but does what it says on the tin.

Almost 10 years ago

Cisco Meraki MX

We had a problem with our MX100 and Meraki sent us a spare the next day so we'd have it on hand in case of issues.

About 10 years ago

Jira

Perfect for keeping track of large amounts of bugs, tasks queries and releases for fixes.

Almost 10 years ago

Sitecore Experience Manager

It's a CMS with the usual features and functions. It was an old version and for us to move to a newer version we had to take three separate projects with each one incurring significant cost.

Almost 10 years ago

SQL Server

High availability/failover clustering makes DR straightforward.

About 10 years ago

WordPress Business-Enterprise

WordPress - not just for blogs anymore.

About 10 years ago

VMware Workstation

It's enabled us to fire up speedy sandboxes to test software or malware in a closed environment.

Over 10 years ago

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

We can easily monitor the up/down time so establishing KPIs and SLAs for the IT department becomes something attainable, but there can be problems if using older POS devices.

Over 10 years ago

Amazon AWS

It is more stable than any infrastructure you will have in your own server room. The only problems I had with deployment were with Amazon authorizing our account initially.

Over 9 years ago

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Cartridges take away the need to develop a lot.

Over 12 years ago

Microsoft BitLocker

Bitlocker - defence in depth

Over 12 years ago

Symantec Endpoint Security

Problem free and effective AV

Over 7 years ago

Splunk AppDynamics

Enables us to edit config files easily and make reports our own

Over 7 years ago

Cisco Secure Firewall

Keeps costs low and provides granular control using appliances familiar to the team

Over 7 years ago

Sophos UTM

Allows our client to use cross-region AWS VPCs to connect remote dev offices

Over 12 years ago

Spiceworks

Charities and IT monitoring

Questions

Answers

Almost 10 years ago

Backup and Recovery

When evaluating backup and recovery software, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

Almost 9 years ago

Backup and Recovery

When evaluating backup and recovery software, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

Almost 12 years ago

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

Are there any reasons to opt for Rackspace vs. its cloud competitors?

About 10 years ago

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

Gartner's Magic Quadrant for IaaS maintains Amazon Web Service at the top of the Leaders quadrant. Do you agree?

Almost 10 years ago

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

When evaluating Business Intelligence Tools, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

Comments

Almost 9 years ago

eCommerce Platforms

It provides a straightforward e-commerce solution, but it has little scope for customizations. We compulsorily have to go with the partners they have chosen.

Over 9 years ago

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Using this for backlog prioritization is the key to either kanban or scrum processes.

Over 9 years ago

PaaS Clouds

Reliable Service, lots of change

Over 9 years ago

Help Desk Software

As a centralized helpdesk solution, it's been a huge success for our account and IT managers in tracking open tickets, but I need a more powerful reporting tool.

Over 9 years ago

eCommerce Platforms

Merchandizing and website features are easy to master and set up but integration with other systems is not easy

About 10 years ago

IT Central Station Elite Squad

About 10 years ago

IT Central Station Elite Squad

About 10 years ago

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

It is more stable than any infrastructure you will have in your own server room. The only problems I had with deployment were with Amazon authorizing our account initially.

About 10 years ago

Enterprise Content Management

Will Office 365 change the SharePoint vendors focus?

About 10 years ago

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)

Problem free and effective AV

Almost 10 years ago

Virtualization Security

The modules that are included with it will help us displace the local anti-virus that we're currently using.

Almost 10 years ago

Virtualization Security

The modules that are included with it will help us displace the local anti-virus that we're currently using.

About me

I'm a Prince2 Practitioner with ITiL v3 It Service Management . A problem solver. A fixer. I smooth out issues in your processes and procedures. I deal with risk so it won't hit your finances or reputation. I will increase your businesses capacity and reduce costs - safely, in a controlled environment. I've dealt with corporates, charities and start-ups.

Certifications

Prince2
ITiL V3 foundation Rackspace - CloudU
University of Virginia - New Models of Business in Society
The Johns Hopkins University - The Data Scientist Toolbox

Employers

Private consulting

Education

University of Michigan
University of Washington
The Open University
Google Analytics
Barnet College
British Quality Foundation
Career Match
Mindleaders
Open IT
Rackspace

Interesting Projects and Accomplishments

Over 12 years ago

Application Integration Project

Over 10 years ago

Created an online learning platform in 1 week

Over 10 years ago

Business Inteligence integration

About 10 years ago

Departmental transformation

Almost 10 years ago

Back up app replacement

Almost 10 years ago

Website app upgrade for a charity

Almost 10 years ago

Counter-intelligence database design and creation

Over 9 years ago

Launch a FMCG transactional website in three months