Life at Auxilion is an interview series focusing on employees from across the company.
Dale Walton is head of Auxilion Digital Services, based in the Sheffield office. He has worked in various roles with I.T. Alliance since joining the company in 2007.
What was Dale’s background before joining I.T. Alliance, an Auxilion company?
“At university, I did Business & IT. From there, I moved into my first IT role, which was in the retail area. We did all the networking and infrastructure for supermarkets and online retail. I was with that company for ten years. Towards the end of my time there, the company was going through a difficult period, and IT staff were put in some difficult positions.
“In 2007, an opportunity came up through a friend. He let me know that there was a role available with I.T. Alliance on a project we’d just won with the National Health Service. The project was based in Sheffield. It was a really interesting project and a great opportunity. I jumped ship from my previous company and joined I.T. Alliance.”
Multiple Roles
Dale has worked in several roles since joining the company.
“I worked my way up through the ranks at I.T. Alliance. I joined as a Wintel Server Engineer for the NHS project. After a year there, I was promoted into a VMware and Wintel Team technical lead role. After that, I was seconded to Professional Services. During that time, Dell UK came and asked for someone to come in and do some consultancy work with one of their customers in Doncaster. I was seconded into that role for about nine months under Professional Services.”
“From there I continued on different projects with Professional Services. Exchange migrations, storage, various kinds of projects. That was up until 2015, when I left I.T. Alliance. I went to work for the company I had been seconded to. I was there for four and a half years and then I came back to Auxilion.
“I left as a techie and came back in a management role as an ops manager. I ended up managing the Remote Management & Monitoring team in Sheffield. I did that role for about two and a half years and I’ve now moved into the role of Head of Auxilion Digital Services (ADS).”
Dale’s journey has now seen him return to the team he was previously part of, although in a different capacity.
“I’ve gone full circle in a way. I’m heading up the team that I used to be a member of when I was last with I.T. Alliance. I’ve only been head of ADS since February, so I’m still very new to it, but it’s a really exciting and interesting role for me and I’m looking forward to seeing where I can go with it.”
Day-to-Day
What does Dale’s day-to-day role involve?
“We’ve got a team of consultants who are out and about on our clients’ sites delivering on various projects. My role is mainly managing them, making sure the projects get delivered, and delivered on time and on budget. I make sure the customers are happy and that they have the information they need. Then we build on that and grow the team. “We have a growing team of consultants who cover a range of technology areas. We’ve got Modern Workplace, In Tune, SCCM and Azure specialists and architects. We the have technical consultants who cover areas like Exchange, VMware and Hyper V.
Dale is also involved in other areas of the business.
“I’m based in Sheffield but I’m on the Innovation Forum, which has now moved into the Office of the CTO. I’m involved in decisions around strategy and innovation for the company, how we want to move in terms of technology and how we’re going to grow. We focus on different areas that we could move into that we don’t currently operate in. It’s really important that all areas and all locations of our business – Dublin, Belfast, Sheffield, Warrington – play a role in these forums to make sure that the Ireland and UK offices are on the same page, to make sure that we’re aligned culturally and strategically.”
Fundraising Efforts
Alongside his work with Auxilion, Dale fundraises for Paces Sheffield, an organisation supporting people living with cerebral palsy and motor disorders.
“I try to do something for charity every year. During lockdown, I came across a local charity, ten minutes from my house. I’ve always known it was there, but I didn’t know exactly what they did. They’ve grown recently and employed someone to do their social media and marketing and to develop that side of things, so I became more familiar with their work through that. I got involved with them and I volunteer for them now quite a lot.”
Dale has a more ambitious fundraising project planned for next year.
“There’s a team of about ten of us taking part in an eighteen-day trek to Everest base camp to raise funds for Paces. I can’t wait for that. It’s a really challenging and exciting expedition, it’s about 5,500 metres in altitude and it will require serious preparation. We’re all really looking forward to it and we’re delighted to be supporting a great organisation through it.”
Support From Auxilion
Dale and the team will make the expedition with Auxilion’s support.
“We’ve spoken to various businesses about sponsorship and Auxilion was the first to get behind us. Out of everyone we approached, Philip [Maguire, Founder and CEO of Auxilion] was the first to put his hand in his pocket to support the trip. Paces now classified Auxilion as a Charity Partner, so we’ll be continuing to work together, it’ll be an ongoing relationship. I’m really proud of that. They do really important work and the fact that they’re so local to me means I’m expecting to be very involved with them in the long term. I’m delighted Auxilion will be a part of that too.”
Next Phase
How does Dale see his career with Auxilion progressing from here?
“Auxilion really supports individual growth, but it still ultimately comes down to each person. I’m obviously new into this role, so I need to grow into it before thinking about what I want next. But in terms of development of staff, they’re strong on that here, in terms of training and willingness to support development. If someone wants to go in a certain direction, they really will support that. People here want to build careers rather than just do a job, so we want to facilitate that as much as possible.”
