BUSINESS PROFILE

Can you tell us about your role at Ellisons and what this looks like day to day ?

I am Ellisons ’ IT & Operations Director – a large department in the business with many moving elements . My key responsibility is inspiring and heading the team , which – within a fast-paced environment – provides a great opportunity to watch and ask why – something which I believe is fundamental to continue to learn and improve business processes .

Usually , the first part of my day is spent checking in with the management and supervisor team . This time allows us to ensure that any critical issues are dealt with efficiently . Our monitoring and reporting systems will alert us of P1 issues but it is important that we have regular catch-ups to address any other matters .

The greater part of my day is then spent reviewing ideas and aligning them with our business strategy . Having been at Ellisons for over 15 years , I can successfully assess the impact a change will have across the business .

What is so great about working at Ellisons is that no single person has all the ideas , everyone in the team contributes something and we all celebrate the successes together .

Can you outline Ellisons ’ core values and how they align with your strategy for IT innovation ?

Ellisons has seven values that underpin everything we do : supportive ; honest ; innovative ; passionate ; professional and ethical . Our focus on innovation , in particular , has allowed the business to become an IT company that happens to sell hair and beauty products .

Our prior focus on innovating and strengthening our IT processes was a saviour when COVID-19 hit . On the day that we all got sent to work from home for the foreseeable future , only our physical environment changed as the way we work was set up to accommodate such changes . We already had a policy of using informal chat functions , rather than emails , to talk within the team , all employees had laptops and no one had a desk phone . This allowed us to easily adapt to remote working in a supportive ; honest ; innovative ; passionate ; professional and ethical manner .

Lee Farmer , IT & Operations Director at Ellisons , speaks to us about the implementation of Node4 ’ s solution and how it has allowed the business to scale .

How has Node4 ’ s solution enabled you to maintain your position as one of the UK ’ s leading suppliers to hair and beauty professionals ?

Being a B2B company , any failure for us has a knock-on effect as anything that affects our customers , also impacts their customers . In a competitive

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