Employee Testimonials
Paul Ireland
General Manager, UK&I
I joined one of the founding companies of CDS in 1976 and was appointed as CDS General Manager in April 2017. I started my career as a Mobile Customer Service Engineer and have enjoyed continuous development opportunities in the various roles I have occupied.
During my time with CDS I have been mentored by some very dedicated people and have been supported with a considerable amount of technical and non-technical training including the Open University. Being part of a service industry, in a fast changing sector, guarantees that each day will present a new and varied set of experiences which we need to embrace and convert into opportunities. One of the great strengths of CDS is that we have developed a customer focused culture that trusts and support our employees to develop innovated solutions for our customers. CDS, being a delivery only organisation, places great emphasis on the skills and capabilities of our employees as they are our product and enabler allowing us to differentiate our services in a competitive environment. To support this strategy we need to have trust and confidence in our people requiring us to select and train the best talents irrespective of cultural background or gender.
CDS has a passion for training and development, apart from the obvious need for technical training (which is considerable), we have a significant amount of soft skills and technical training packages which are self-paced and open to all. This is supported by our formal development programs such LEAD, Talent Management and a very successful Modern Apprenticeship scheme.
I have been a very fortunate a recipient of these programs and now that I am General Manager I will continue to make an employee development culture pivotal to our growth strategies
Cathy Laws, Project Manager
I joined CDS in 2006, and during this time I’ve had various roles within Customer Support and Change Management.
My current role is as a subject matter expert and I have the opportunity to work with a diverse range of people from different teams around the world on initiatives and transformation projects.
I thrive on learning new skills and have been given a number of development opportunities that have helped me to progress my career, which is one of the biggest reasons why I have remained with the company for 11 years.
Highlights for me include the Talent Management Programme and attending a workshop in Bangalore to support the UKI SFDC deployment.
I always feel encouraged and supported by my Managers to broaden my knowledge and put myself forward for new opportunities.
Catherine Hayward, Team Leader
I started with CDS in July 2011 as a Specialist Administrator based on a customer site with dedicated Engineers. I am involved in the monthly meetings with the customer and have also chaired them in the absence of HPE Account Business Manager.
2016 kick started my progression within CDS as at the request of HPE I have put together a 2nd team of dedicated engineers to perform the installation of new servers.
I applied for and successfully gained the Team Leader role on our site, looking after the dedicated engineers.
I successful applied for the CDS LEAD Programme which I am finding very useful and am learning a great deal. Being on the programme is building my confidence and is giving me more knowledge about HR / business side of CDS. There are aspects of this Programme that I can use in my day to day role and hopefully will be able to help me progress within CDS.
As of October 2017 I am also a member of the Employee Forum, as one of the Reps for the North. Like the LEAD Programme this gives me more background into CDS and is a good chance to meet different people along with the mobile engineers.
Since joining CDS in 2011 my experience has been an excellent one. The opportunities that I have had have been fantastic and the knowledge and understanding I now have of CDS is largely due to the people and support I have around me. Being on the Employee Forum and the LEAD Programme has increased my profile within CDS. I look forward to many more years within CDS.