Technology and culture, together.
Bringing technology direction, people strategy and enterprise automation into the same conversation.
CIO
The setting
As CIO at Synaptek, I worked on technology and people strategy, company culture and internal innovation. Enterprise integration and intelligent workflow automation were central to the work.
During the same period, January 2019 to November 2021, I also held the role of Innovation Director at Spherica.
The question behind the work
Integration spans systems, teams and organisational boundaries. The role involved connecting technology roadmaps with the needs of customers and the teams responsible for delivery.
What I did
- Provided technology leadership and direction.
- Worked with automation and integration teams on integration strategy.
- Collaborated with enterprise architecture teams on technology roadmaps.
- Built relationships with technology partners and external vendors.
- Supported a culture of innovation and explained the possibilities of automation.
Connecting the information engineers needed.
While supporting an enterprise customer, I wanted to bring information from across its technology estate together so engineers had better context for diagnosing issues. Discovering Workato at a Slack partner event opened up a broader opportunity.
That experience led me to found Synaptek and build a consulting business around integration and automation. Our work included an integration-platform-based IT incident management system, recognised with the Workato Innovation Excellence Partner Award in 2020.
What this chapter brings together
Technology leadership, enterprise architecture, partner relationships, integration strategy and organisational culture.
Enterprise automation
My involvement in the Workato ecosystem included practice sponsorship and automation advocacy. Mary Vue, who worked with me through Workato, described my role as the Workato practice executive sponsor.
“It’s rare to find technical chops, business acumen, and passion all in one place.”
Read full recommendation from Mary Vue
I worked with Karl from my time at Workato, where he was the Workato practice executive sponsor and one of our very best evangelists in the EU. It’s rare to find technical chops, business acumen, and passion all in one place. Karl is exactly that, super knowledgeable about technology, a trusted leader by customers, partners and peers, and truly passionate about innovation and digital transformation journeys.
Tech Leader of the Year, 2021.
I received the Tech Leader award at Birmingham Tech Week in 2021. Invest West Midlands reported the recognition during my time as CIO at Synaptek.
Read the award coverage ↗“Karl has an innate ability to see simple solutions to complex problems and the strength of character to drive through their implementation.”
Read full recommendation from Steve Jennings
He has a clarity of vision that allows him to set challenging goals and objectives, always thinking about the big picture and the direction in which our business should be heading. He is a constant source of fresh, innovative ideas. Karl has an innate ability to see simple solutions to complex problems and the strength of character to drive through their implementation.
Career background
In a 2020 interview with The Recruitment Doctor Podcast, I discussed my route into technology leadership, company values and using Slack automation to recognise colleagues’ achievements.