Eclipse Internet Blog

Lorna Maclean says she can spend her time at work “spinning plates and juggling balls.” No, she’s not a circus performer, but Head of IT with KCOM.
“Because of the complexity of the job, the only things that remain the same every day are that it’s always challenging and always varied,” explains Lorna.

As one of two Heads of IT, she is the primary contact into Business Transformation and Technology Services for directors and senior managers in Affiniti and is responsible for ensuring that BTTS delivers the appropriate services to enable Affiniti to deliver its business objectives and responsibilities to its customers. Managing the mix “If there is a typical day, it’s a mix of managing issues and progressing
new initiatives.
“There may be a problem with our incident management system. If it’s not operating properly, it has a
significant effect on our ability to service customers. It can affect the customer service desk’s ability to
effectively log faults, which in turn impacts on our ability to fix the call within agreed service levels, which results in a poor customer experience.”

She also oversees initiatives using new technology and is currently facilitating investigative workshops into cutting-edge resource and demand technology which the business unit team is interested in adopting.
“We may think it’s a great idea and will drive benefits but we need to understand how it’s going to work; what benefits can actually be realised and when; what it’s going to cost, and then generate a business case for funding,” she explains.
She adds: “Another part of my job is looking for new opportunities that will enhance the relationship
between BTTS and Affiniti, such as how can we optimize shared knowledge and skills to
deliver a joined-up service to the other KCOM business units.”

Lorna got involved in IT in 1986 – quite a switch from her early ambitions to be a psychologist.
Having qualified in Scotland with an MSc in Educational Psychology, she moved to Manchester and ended up on a Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL) computing course. The rest, as they say, is history.