Places for People builds cross-functional IT for cloud transformation

Places for People technology officer Dean Garvey-North joined the property management firm in 2020 to lead infrastructure and technology teams. It was a daunting challenge, not least with technology leadership being restructured in the wake of CDIO Norma Dove-Edwin’s departure in March, but also owing to complex business operating across five departments and more than 20 companies.

His immediate focus was on shifting to remote work for staff and on infrastructure, developing digital, data, and technology strategies for Places for People while benchmarking the organisation’s internal capabilities. He also wanted to increase the visibility of IT – with the COVID-19 pandemic giving him a helping hand.

“Prior to [the pandemic], most organisations were probably looking externally to drive technology change,” Garvey-North said. “The pandemic forced organisations to focus internally.”

Places for People held up against economic and social difficulty. Group turnover hit £816.5 million in 2021, compared to £866.7 million in 2020 and £827 million in 2019, with 50% coming from a growing affordable housing business, even as the business’s construction and leisure sites were forced to close temporarily. Throughout this time, Garvey-North has focused on three areas of business: to improve IT operations and ways of working, to build a performance and governance team to deliver projects and improve IT governance and ensure strategic technology and digital delivery is aligned with business objectives.

Building a cross-functional IT department

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with Dove-Edwin’s departure, saw Places for People reevaluate technology leadership and delivery. The growth of the affordable housing business meant the IT department needed to work harder, faster, and smarter, and to collaborate with business departments to achieve better customer outcomes.