Optimising IT

Managing Director

Technical Director

Leading the technology direction and delivery function for Optimising IT and our clients.  Currently providing advisory services across large public and private organisations to deliver value with a strong focus in the following areas:

Commercial - sales, route to market for products and services, new customer acquisition, 
Technology Direction - Cloud, SaaS, IaaS, Networking, Infrastructure
Cyber - PCI DSS, ISO27001, Cyber Essentials- CISSP, ISO27001 Lead Auditor
Leadership - Mentoring and coaching, training, team structure and direction

I work with a range of customers in the SME space.  That being said, my largest customer has 4000 users in 130 sites around the UK.  I am also currently working with an insurance company that has offices in the UK, Ireland, Africa and the far east.  I work with a mix of business leaders, IT principals and Information Security departments to deliver risk based, pragmatic Cyber and Information Security advice.  I cover a number of sectors, including finance, manufacturing, professional services, retail and health care.  I also have experience working in the education and marketing sectors.
What could I do for your organisation?
I work in a dual-purpose role across IT and Cyber security.  Some of my team have deep domain knowledge with UK government in both IT and Information Security.   

Ultimately, if you have a challenge with any aspect of your Cyber and/or Information Security, I can provide the right level of advice and help for your organisation, based on industry standard approaches, including NIST, Cobit, Cyber Essentials, ISO27001 and PCI DSS.  As with anything, understanding your organisational risk, risk appetite, budget and the current technical and procedural landscape, and subsequently that desired target state are key to any successful engagement.
As an organisation, we can also help with all aspects of HMG Information security assurance activities, including risk assessments, documentation and design work.

According to the 2018 Allianz Risk Barometer, Cyber is the #1 risk to UK organisations.  If you have a specific area you need help with, have had a cyber attack or breach and need some help, or indeed want to understand your current level of cyber security, please feel free to get in touch for an informal conversation and I’ll see if I can help.

Feel free to give me a call, drop me a message on LinkedIn, a connection request, or indeed just drop me an email – contact details are on our website, www.optimisingit.co.uk or in my profile.

Head Of Consultancy

Ever wonder if you are doing the right thing, at the right time, in the best way?  We focus on delivering value across IT and Information Security, offering you assurance that you are not only achieving value from your IT investments, but also that you understand your risks and are well equipped to operate in todays online world.

Lead Consultant

Through understanding our clients' key drivers and ambitions, we ensure that they know what IT services, infrastructure and personnel they need in place to deliver their goals and that they have the right technology strategy and guidance in place to do it.

We work with a number of clients across Automotive, Professional Services and Travel to deliver a seamless IT Function as a service.

IT Consultant

Occam DM Ltd

In this fast paced, growth focused dynamic environment leading a team of ten, I have overall responsibility for IT including:

IT Strategy
Infrastructure design and implementation
Driving and delivering group projects
Information Security - ISO27001 and PCI DSS
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning
Supplier Management including cloud, managed hosting and WAN providers
Budgets
Coaching
Team Management

IT Manager

St Brendan's Sixth Form College

Leading a team of 7 engineers I delivered a customer focused IT service in line with requirements of the college:

Refreshed 600 desktops
Designed and delivered internal training for the IT team
Coached and mentored team members
Defined new infrastructure direction to improve service, reduce errors and increase customer satisfaction

DST Output

During my time as IT Manager at DST I was responsible for:

Infrastructure technology and direction
Line management
Supplier management
Software licensing
Purchasing
IT Project Management
Business Analysis
Capacity Planning
Systems Architecture
Recruitment

I delivered:

Group WAN communications - increased resilience and business collaboration whilst reducing cost
VOIP roll out - multi site telephone system roll out
Dual site SAN installations - delivered virtual and physical server storage solutions, increased performance and resilience and enabled true DR and BCP capability
Virtualisation project - migrated to vmware based virtualisation solution

Support, design and delivery of all systems and infrastructure:

Designed, planned and delivered full technology refresh including servers, storage and networking - underpinning the continued rapid expansion of the business.

Infrastructure solution and design
Project Management
Systems architecture
Information Security - ISO27001

Network Support Analyst

Optimising IT offers a comprehensive range of IT services designed to Run, Protect and Grow your business:

1.	Managed IT Services: We provide fully managed IT support, handling everything from desktop support to network management and infrastructure optimisation. This allows businesses to focus on their core activities while Optimising IT takes care of your IT needs.
2.	Cyber Security: With a strong focus on cyber security, we offer services to protect businesses from digital threats. We provide comprehensive cyber security solutions, including Cyber Essentials certification, SOC, and SIEM services, in person cyber train for the team and the board & much more.
3.	Cloud Services: We help businesses harness the power of the cloud to increase computing speed, build system resilience, and reduce costs. Our cloud services are designed to give businesses a competitive edge using Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
4.	IT, Data & AI Consultancy: Optimising IT offers consultancy services to guide businesses through IT changes, upgrades, and consolidations. Their goal is to help businesses maximize returns, save time, and future-proof their operations through data analysis, reporting, automation and AI
5.	Remote IT Support: We provide dynamic, responsive, and effective remote IT support. Businesses can contact their experienced IT service technicians via email or telephone to manage incidents and reduce downtime.
6.	Customer-Centric Approach: Optimising IT prides itself on a customer-centric approach, ensuring that their services are aligned with business goals. We avoid jargon and tech-talk, making IT accessible and understandable for all or our customers and partners.
7.	Certified and Accredited: We are a B Corp Certified, ISO27001, and Cyber Essentials Plus certified enterprise, ensuring high standards of service and security.  We are also an NCSC Assured Service provider, ISO9001 certified, Microsoft and Google partner.

Optimising IT's services are designed to be flexible and scalable, catering to businesses of all sizes and across various industries, including education, public sector, manufacturing, professional services, and financial services. Their commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction is evident in their high customer satisfaction scores and rapid response times.

If you have any specific questions about our services or need further details, feel free to ask, if it's a technology or related service, we can help.

We help ambitious, growth-focussed businesses and BCorps - the changemakers and builders of the future.

www.optimisingit.co.uk

Heads up - invites coming soon.

17th March 2026 we are running TFI right here in sunny Exeter

'Tech for Impact' - a session aimed at tech leaders in fellow B Corps and impact businesses across the South West.

We'll have sessions focussed in the following areas:

- Minimising the environmental impact of IT operations, including cloud and hardware
- Productivity & Automation (yeah - some AI in here, but zero hype)
- Cyber - it's the number one business risk, regardless of what your business does

We also have a key note speaker lined up from one of the worlds biggest impact organisations - talking about what it is like to run IT Strategy and operations in a globally distributed organisation, in difficult and sometimes hostile locations.

This is invite only, so keep an eye on your inboxes.

Todd Gifford

I’ve been working in IT for 23 years, 18 of those in Information Security focused roles. Today, I work with a great team at Optimising IT where we spend our time focused on helping customers current and new protect themselves from Cyber threats in our cloud based world, as well helping make the transition to the modern workplace with the best the cloud has to offer.

I’m also prone to writing blogs and posting them on our website, www.optimisingit.co.uk, and I do like to talk publicly about IT and Cyber whenever I get the chance.  If you want some engaging content and a lively delivery which is business focussed to help engage your client base, feel free to drop me a line on 01242 505470.

	‘Cyber’ is great marketing, but what does it mean to any organisation that is worried about being hacked?  We are really talking about Information Security, which is really just risk management.  All the technical stuff is detail, but it’s the detail that catches you out.  I can help cut through the jargon and get to things that are important to you – Cyber Essentials/Cyber Essentials plus, ISO27001, PCI DSS – Vulnerability management and remediation, or even an answer to a simple question – is my website secure? 

	Current role – Leading the teams and driving the technology roadmap and transition for the digital future with a security focus at Optimising IT and for our customer base across financial services, public sector and health.  I’m also acting in an advisory capacity and providing IT leadership at a large NHS organisation, as well as my board-level responsibilities, which include sourcing and delivering a 7-figure consultancy and project function.

	Get in touch – call on 01242 505470 or email us at hello@optimisingit.co.uk and let us help you with tailored, pragmatic solutions 

	Specialities and focus – Driving new business from customer engagement including interactive webinars, training sessions and public speaking, training sessions, turning around failing IT and information security functions, implementing structure and appropriate process and procedure, leading and developing top-performing teams.

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