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SOME of the people most integral to keeping Muir Group Housing Association within reach of residents are the technical team members at its heartbeat.

While housing officers and customer service teams deal personally with residents, face to face, on the telephone and via email or social media, it is Muir’s Information Communication Technology team who keep the Association’s systems up and running.

Muir’s ‘backroom boys’ not only ensure staff remain online however, but also venture out into Muir communities to help residents find us at the touch of a button by helping them become familiar with the internet.

“I can honestly say that no two days are ever the same when you are a member of Muir’s ICT team,” said Tom McKevitt (pictured above and with team manager Mark Gould).

Tom has worked as a Technical Support Analyst with the Association for five years 

He said, "We put a lot of work into ensuring that we, along with our systems, are proactive, but we also have to be reactive with our workload depending on the events of the day.

“As a team we provide the support and maintenance for Muir’s ICT Systems, maintaining more than 100 servers at Muir’s Lightfoot Street head office in Chester and approximately 40 at our colocation site in Manchester.

“The Manchester site would take over the business in the event of an issue in Chester. We could divert our traffic there to access what are considered as Business Critical Systems for users to continue working, including our telephony systems and computer programs.

“We have also visited residents in some of our supported housing schemes to help them get online which can be really rewarding.

“Team members enjoy visiting the schemes when they can and help residents become more familiar with the internet.

“Not only are they able to visit the www.muir.org.uk website which contains all of our news and information, but it also gives them another new window on the world which provides a host of opportunity.

“It is great to see them getting involved and having the confidence to try it themselves,” Tom added.

 

Fellow team member, Chris Bunnell (pictured right), has been a Muir ICT team member for two years.

He said: “It is nice to know you are helping to make a difference, both to the people you work with and to residents who rely on our services to get assistance when they need it.”

Mark Gould is the team’s technical manager and says a good team spirit is key to the way they operate and reflects the values Muir holds at is core as a housing association.

“Being a member of the ICT team means you get to enjoy a very varied role and we do have a fantastic group of people working here who get along really well.

“The team is very knowledgeable and although we work hard we have fun doing it.

“A good team spirit is important and it is one of the things Muir encourages both among employees and within the communities it helps to create.

“We are pleased to be part of it.”