and they can ’ t happen during term time or processes such as the end of the financial year . Etherington and his 180-strong team have focussed on deploying change rapidly and with minimum disruption to the business , thinking of recruitment in almost retail terms . Etherington says : “ No retailer would make a change to its systems in December risking its Christmas sales . Why would we risk the experience of our students during recruitment or exams ?”
To make the entire process of IT management run more smoothly , Etherington ’ s team introduced a ‘ Service Improvement Programme ’ which is being rolled out across
the Department and University . This ‘ professionalisation ’ of Service Management focuses on meeting the University ’ s diverse needs in repeatable , achievable and economic ways .
“ What we found was that we were trying to be everything to everyone ,” says Etherington . “ As such we were finding it almost impossible to standardise our provision and proceduralise our support of that provision . In any business you grow organically , but we knew we had to partner with the wider University to agree a sustainable technology provision . The alternative would mean technology costs quickly becoming www . businessrevieweurope . eu 71