Ash Cooper, who started his career in IT over 20 years ago in PC support, unexpectedly found himself as the CIO of FTSE 100 law firm Kingsley Napley earlier this year. Despite not initially aiming for this position, Cooper has always been focused on technology and customer service throughout his career.
After graduating with a degree in business information systems in 2005, Cooper had to search hard for job opportunities and faced numerous rejections before finally landing a role on an IT help desk for a law firm. From there, he progressed into infrastructure and management roles, continuously honing his skills through training courses like ITIL and Prince 2.
Cooper emphasizes the importance of change management in implementing new IT strategies, especially as businesses evolve towards a cloud-first approach. His goal is to ensure that technology changes have a positive impact on day-to-day operations and efficiency gains for employees. He also stresses the need for measuring and monitoring the success of technology deployments.
Throughout his journey, Cooper has learned the value of understanding the business challenges and leveraging influential individuals within the organization to help drive successful technology changes. He believes that aligning technology changes with the needs and interests of end users is crucial for the overall success of IT initiatives.