Risk and compliance: Business continuity

Paul Sypko
Consultancy Director

“Charities and not-for-profit organisations are demanding users of information systems and digital technology. There’s a clear sense of purpose in the sector, and that shows in how technology is used to achieve impact and obtain real value. Not-for-profits often hold massive amounts of data, much of which is highly sensitive in nature, and they engage in many different ways with a very broad range of stakeholders. Whether it’s using digital channels to support personalised ‘user journeys’ or high-impact campaigning and engagement, or diligently taking care of back-office systems to deliver an efficient and cost-effective service, it’s great to be working in a sector where technology can be used so effectively to make a tangible difference to people's lives.”

Paul is a highly experienced technology management consultant, with a senior-level CIO/CTO background and expertise in areas such as technology strategy development, digital solutions, infrastructure and systems management, function reviews, information security and data protection, and selection and management of technology partners. He has 25 years’ experience of leading high-impact consultancy engagements, the majority of which have been with clients in the not-for-profit sector. Prior to Adapta, Paul held senior roles at not-for-profit specialists Sayer Vincent, Crowe UK, and BlueSpark Consulting. He also brings to his engagements significant experience from the commercial sector, having worked for “Strategy &”, a leading firm of strategy consultants that is now part of PwC, where he was awarded their Professional Excellence Award while leading a large-scale digital transformation and innovation programme. Paul has led assignments for more than 100 organisations, including charities, membership organisations, trade unions, trade associations, royal colleges, professional institutes and other not for-profit and commercial organisations. Paul's recent clients have included ActionAid UK, ClientEarth, Cranstoun, Tate Britain, St. Peter's Hospice, the Institution of Civil Engineers, British Gymnastics, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, the Education Support Partnership, National Children's Bureau, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Lymphoma Action, SPANA, the Woodland Trust, the Trussell Trust, Volunteering Matters and Woking & Sam Beare Hospices. Paul specialises in strategic planning for information systems, function reviews and outsourcing, commercial contract negotiation, project planning, data protection, information security management, business process improvement, and procurement of business applications such as CRM. Paul holds a MA (Oxon) degree from the University of Oxford, having gained a scholarship to read Economics and Management at St. John’s College and the Saïd Business School. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Consulting and has a particular interest in helping others to achieve their potential. Following a long period of time spent on various committees in a voluntary leadership capacity, he was pivotal to the development of the ‘Chartered Management Consultant’ award which was launched in 2020, and he often provides guidance and support to people working towards their professional qualifications. Paul is also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management, a Certified Business Advisor and a member of the British Computer Society’s IT Leaders Forum. In his spare time, he is also the chair of trustees for a local Scout group.

“Paul is enthusiastic, dedicated and a highly capable person who works with such integrity and to a high standard. I very much value Paul’s support and guidance and know I can always rely on him.”

Steve
IT Security, Risk & Compliance Associate

Steve began his interest in IT when he gate-crashed a school computer class, where he found it interesting so he signed up to the O level course Learning to program using punched paper-tape! After repeating the course, with some extra items, he obtained his A level and degree in Computer Studies and went on to work for ICL, being part of the ICL Health team developing applications for the NHS. Ten years at ICL and he decided to set up his own business and went freelance, working on projects for local and central government, and many utility companies, including being part of the architecture team for BT's five 1,000 seat call centres handling the "Friends and Family" project in the mid 90's; and being part of the start-up business that became 118118 in the early 2000's. More recently Steve has concentrated on the Information Security aspects of the organisations, finding his 40 years of IT experience a great benefit when dealing with today's IT environments. Since 2014 Steve has been involved in Information Security and the ISO27001 standard, having achieved over 20 successful certifications in that time. The approach he uses is to keep it simple so that staff understand the requirements and what they need to do, without the jargon and waffle. Steve has been a full member of the British Computer Society (BCS) since 1987, a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng) since 1995, Chartered Information Technology Professional (CITP) since 2004, a member of the Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec) since 2015 and a Core member of Cyber Wales since 2015. In his spare time he is involved with the local branches of Cancer Research, Talking Newspapers, Rotary and is a founder member of Electric Vehicle Association of Wales