Robert Hitchcox - Technology

• What inspires you?
• Why did you choose to join GRB Technology?
• What does GRB Technology do?
• What have you been doing since you joined?
• Can you outline any interesting projects you've been involved with?
• What support and training have you had since joining?
• What qualities do you need to succeed in GRB Technology?
• Have you been involved in any inspirational moments?

Transcript

What inspires you?
I’ve drawn a picture of Kermit the frog, which I know sounds very random, but links back to when I was travelling, we passed through New Zealand and at the time we considered doing a skydive. We did in the end and the night before I had won a great big 4ft Kermit the frog. I turned up to the skydive centre with this frog and instantly told I was going to skydiving with it. I went up to the full height, 12,000ft, jumped out the plane, landed safely, got a great video and the reason I think that’s a little bit like working at Barclays is because you’re often jumping out to the unknown, often on a world’s first, normally land safety and you feel great after doing it.

Why did you choose to join Technology?
I chose CIO as it was called at the time, but now GRB Technology mainly because I’ve always had an interest in technology.

I think that IT these days is quite core to a business like Barclays, especially in terms of giving them the competitive edge, keeping up with the ever changing needs of customers.

I think it’s very forward-looking, you get to get involved with new technologies, see what’s coming round in the future, and one factor in particular that took my attention, was if you took the whole IT department out of Barclays, it would still be company that would make the FTSE 100. I thought that that was quite a good selling point.

What does Technology do?
CIO within Barclays or GRB Technology is essentially the IT department for the bank, so broadly speaking it’s got two functions. One is looking after all the IT systems around the world, so that’s everything from the ATMs, internet banking, global payment systems, to investing in change and new technology, so researching ways of doing things better and bringing new technologies into the bank.

What have you been doing since you joined?
A range of roles actually which is what I was after. The first one was in applications delivery, that was more a technical support role.

The second one was in a department which is called ISD projects, which was more of a project management role. I was given almost 6 million pounds worth of infrastructure kit to control and make sure it was delivered on time.

The third rotation was in a technology office, which essentially is the one-stop shop for the business and I arrange their technology requirements on high level project management of projects.

So I was actually doing a web development role there, so again a totally different role. My most recent rotation was in the architecture and strategy group, which is a high level group looking at ways of bringing new technologies into the bank. I was involved in quite a cool project called ‘Branch of the Future’, looking at new ways of improving the branch network.

Can you outline any interesting projects you’ve been involved with?
Been involved in quite a few projects really, I’ve been very lucky, one of the most recent ones was a project called Branch of the Future, quite aptly named. It was especially good because it involved such a number of roles.

It was everything from coming up with futuristic ideas, and gadgetry, and actually being in this concept branch installing them, plugging in all these boxes and wires; to managing the vendors, making sure that the technologies were there in the first place on time, and an aspect of project management as well, so organising timelines, reporting to stakeholders, making sure everyone knows what’s going on.

Best thing about it, I think, is that it was quite a high profile project that’s been visible to a lot of senior executives. A lot of people have had exposure to it, a lot of people have heard about it so to say that you’ve been involved in it is a definite plus.

Second project which probably takes my interest was a project for ISD Projects. It was a project management role, I was basically given a budget of about 6 million pounds to install and deliver the infrastructure for a system to replace the Barclays global investigation system, which is basically like an investigation system for all payments for any customers worldwide.

So to see that going in, it was a part time role that was handed back to another project manager, but just to see it for that time and just to see that amount of money going in and to get that much contact with that many technological teams was a brilliant way of building up a network, improving your confidence and knowledge in that area.

What support and training have you had since joining?
Support and training has been really good. The very first week that we joined we were put up with the rest of the graduates - there was about seventy of us in total - in a big hotel in Greenwich. We did a load of team-building activities.

We were met by the graduates from the previous year. We basically went out for dinners and drinks, got to know everyone really well and format an initial network of graduates which are eventually going to be the business players of all areas of Barclays. We were assigned a buddy and a mentor, so a buddy basically is a graduate from last year who can give you a bit of guidance on the graduate scheme, a little bit of helpful advice on getting a future role, and a mentor being a more of a senior management person, that you can go and speak to about your career path and give you a wider view of Barclays.

On top of that we have the two thousand pound training budget which we can basically spend on any course that we like. I’ve chosen to do web development myself, a couple of other graduates have chosen to do technical architecture, personal soft skills. Basically it’s up to you so it’s been very good.

What qualities do you need to succeed in Technology?
I think the assumption is that you need to have a technical mind, which certainly helps but it’s not essential. I think the key to GRB Technology is knowing how technology applies to the business, but also being able to communicate your ideas to people who don’t necessarily understand technology, that’s definitely key. And just being able to be a people person, and get on with people in the business and let them know what you’re all about basically.

Have you been involved in any inspirational moments?
There’s been a lot of inspirational moments at Barclays especially with the new group that I’m in, the architecture and standards group. One of their main jobs is to be blue sky thinkers and to think of new ways of doing things.

Just being sat in the team meetings, I’m quite new to the group so just being sat there and seeing ideas bouncing off each other and taking them away and acting on them and coming back and coming up with new architecture is quite inspiring.

There’s the Branch of the Future work that I’ve also done. We’re literally just given a meeting room and let our mind run wild and come up with ideas, futuristic gadgets, things that we’d like to see in branches and then actually going out realising ideas and putting them into practice and getting them delivered into the branch.