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V3 Hot Seat: Cats Protection head of IT, Tony Gamble

The feline fan rates big data, thrillers and Apple

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Tony Gamble - head of IT at Cats Protection - with catIn this week's V3 Hot Seat, we hear from Tony Gamble, head of IT at charity Cats Protection.

Gamble has considerable IT operational leadership and project/programme management experience, as well as significant experience of change management, legal compliance, customer relationship management strategy, service-level agreements, security technology and disaster recovery.

Previously, Gamble was an energy technologist at Building Sustainability, and served as IT/business services director at furniture store Kinnarps for 12 years. He has also had several IT manager roles at other building and property firms.

Gamble's move to Cats Protection in 2011 saw him join an organisation that has grown from humble beginnings in 1927, to become the UK's leading feline welfare charity. It now helps around 218,000 cats and kittens every year through its network of more than 250 volunteer-run branches and 30 adoption centres.

Gamble is one of many big players to take the V3 Hot Seat, following WWF UK director of ICT David Southern and LateRooms.com's enterprise data architect Ryan Offord.

V3: What does a typical day involve?
 
Gamble: A typical day at Cats Protection starts with an hour-long car journey, which gives me a chance to catch up on the day’s news on Radio 4. My mornings are usually spent answering emails, attending meetings or getting rid of cold callers trying to sell me something.

I’m very lucky to work in the beautiful Ashdown Forest so I try to get out for a walk at lunchtime. There’s plenty of wildlife to admire but avoiding the adders is one of the downsides. In the afternoons, I try to catch up with my managers and then give myself some quiet time to reflect and plan.

My job also involves writing papers for the charity’s trustees and council members, so a sizeable amount of my time is taken up with this. The journey home is accompanied by some loud music to blow away the cobwebs.
 
Which mobile phone and tablet do you currently use?

I use a Samsung Galaxy S3 and Apple iPad.

Which person do you most admire in the IT industry?

Steve Jobs (RIP) – “stay hungry, stay foolish."

Which technology has had the biggest impact on your working life?

For me it's the smartphone.

What was your first job?

I was a computer technician at the Royal College of Surgeons.

What’s your favourite thing about working in the IT industry?

The continuous potential to change people’s working lives for the better.

What will be the next big innovation of the coming years?

The complete useable mobile virtual office and intelligent easy-to-use business intelligence feeding from big data.

What keeps you awake at night?

Nothing, I sleep very well.

What was the last book you read and was it any good?

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It's a good thriller.

Who is your favourite band?

Pink Floyd.

E-readers or real books?

I like real books.

The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

The Stones.

Favourite film?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Windows or Mac OS?

For work, Windows; at home, Mac OS.

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