The strength of our consultancy lies in the expertise and passion of our people.
Today, we’re sitting down with Alex Guy, one of our Senior Consultants, to learn more about his background, his bespoke approach to client management, and what life looks like beyond the audits.
Alex, tell us about your role at iso360 and what a typical day looks like for you.
As a Senior Consultant, my day-to-day is centered on managing our clients and providing them with strategic advice on their policies and procedures.
I’ll go through and review things, make sure actions are being done and provide any advice.
If our clients have any questions about a policy or a procedure then I’ll help them out.
A lot of my work involves implementing management systems for new clients and conducting internal audits.
We have a system where I’ll swap audit tasks with my colleagues, like Fran or Siju – if I’m consulting, Fran will audit, and vice versa.
How did you end up working in ISO consultancy?
Before joining iso360, I was at an IT services company called CGI and part of my work there was maintaining ISO 22301, the Business Continuity Standard. Prior to that, I worked at BJSS as a Data Protection Officer and worked as the internal audit function for the ISO standards they had there, which were 27001, 9001, and 14001.
Originally, though, I was a police officer. I joined the Old Bill when I was 16 or 17 and my first job was in the call centre taking 999 calls. After a couple of years, I joined as a police officer, but it wasn’t for me. There’s not enough time to do the actual police work when you’re doing 8 hours of paperwork in a 12-hour shift.
What do you like most about your job now?
I enjoy meeting different clients and learning about different industries and businesses – how they’re run and the type of people that run it.
We’ve got a lot of good clients at the moment. They’re enthusiastic about the management systems and ISO certifications.
What is it about the iso360 approach that resonates with you and your clients?
The flexibility and custom approach. Each client has a different way that they want to implement these standards and manage them on a monthly basis, so it’s a case of working out in an individualistic way what each client wants. It’s not just cookie cutter template type stuff – our clients want their own bespoke management system.
When we have our initial calls with clients or potential clients, we want to listen to what their problem is, we want to understand what their requirements are and then we really do customise everything for them.
People can sometimes switch off from what the client is actually saying and then hand it over to a junior member of staff to send over a bunch of templates, but we don’t work like that.
We’re very much client driven and we make sure our clients have a single point of contact – it’s a big thing for Gray and Sharon that we’re the owners of that client relationship and the clients really appreciate that.
Looking back at your time here so far, is there a particular achievement you’re most proud of?
I designed an integrated management system for a client that combined ISO 27001, ISO 27701 (data protection and privacy), and ISO 42001.
Rather than have three separate management systems, I suggested we make an integrated management system with a big document as the core which would hyperlink out to other documentation they needed.
They wanted a really slick, small management system without too much overhead work. Now we’ve integrated it, it really works for them. They don’t really have any additional work because most of it is integrated within that single, streamlined system.
What’s next for you? Are there any specific professional goals you’re working toward?
I’m about to go on a certified Data Protection Officer (DPO) course. It’s a great qualification for me personally and it gives us the ability to provide data protection support for our clients.
Finally, what do you enjoy doing when you’re not helping clients achieve ISO excellence?
I love my football – I’m a Liverpool boy. I love movies – I’ve just bought a projector so I can get a nice little setup at home.
I do a bit of yoga, and I love food – going to Michelin starred restaurants. Sorrel was a recent favourite. I’ve also got a three-year-old son, so I’m running around after him most of the time.
Need practical compliance support shaped around how you work? Get in touch to find out how Alex and the iso360 team can support your business.