Meet the Team: Head of Operations Dermot Frost

As the co-founder of Annertech, Dermot Frost has been part of our DNA since 2008. While he has always influenced our journey from the boardroom, he has officially stepped into the fold as our Head of Operations.

Dermot brings a wealth of experience from the IT and telecoms sectors, but at Annertech, his mission is to streamline the corporate services that keep our distributed agency humming. 

From donning his HR and compliance hats to achieving international quality standards, Dermot’s focus is on ensuring our internal excellence matches the high-spec digital solutions we deliver to our clients.

Dermot and his wife, Stella Power, founded Annertech in 2008, and he has been on the board of directors since then, but it’s only recently that he’s taken up a permanent role with the company. We sat down with him to chat about his transition from director to the “day job”, the challenges of scaling a remote culture and why you won't find him on a yoga ball.
 

What drew you ‘back’ to Annertech? 

Myself and Stella founded Annertech in 2008, primarily to allow her to leave a pretty boring job and follow her dreams as a fulltime Drupalist. 

Over the years I’ve always been involved in the background as a Director of the company and helping out with a few things here and there, but I kept my own career separate from the company. 

However, as Annertech has grown over the last few years I could see there were a few areas where my experience could help more directly, so when I finished up with my previous job it made sense to officially join the team.

How does it feel to be back in the “office“ with some familiar faces?

Some of those faces are very familiar! I’m married to Stella, so working fulltime together will probably have its ups and downs. 

I’ve known Anthony (Director of Managed Services) even longer than I’ve known Stella and we used to play in various rock and heavy metal bands together. In the early Annertech days we would often hold all day company meetings around our dining room table and I’d know everyone there.

I also used to line up my holidays with big events like DrupalCon and bring the kids to whatever city the event was in, and I’d meet a lot of the team at those events too. But as the company has grown I haven’t been able to keep up with all the changes so it will be nice to get to put faces to names I’ve heard in passing.

What is it that you’ll be doing at Annertech?

My role is Head of Operations so taking ownership of the day to day running of the “corporate services” of the company. So that means things like human resources, legal, compliance etc. This will free up time for others in the senior management team to focus on the technology and our clients. 

While my background is in IT and Telecoms, my thing is playing around with servers, storage and networks. Annertech generally partners with companies like Upsun to provide hosting to our clients so I won’t be getting my hands dirty in this role.

What is your number-one priority for making Annertech’s internal processes even smoother for our clients?

To be honest, our internal processes are pretty good at the moment. One of my priorities for this year is to achieve ISO 9001 certification for the company, which will provide external oversight of our processes and procedures, giving comfort to our clients that we are a quality outfit. 

That said, I’m sure there will be tweaks and changes to our processes as we complete 9001 – nothing is set in stone.

How does ISO 9001 certification specifically benefit our clients in the public and non-profit sectors?

ISO certification in general assures clients that Annertech is carrying out its business in line with international best practice. The company is audited by an independent, external assessor for compliance with the standard. 

For 27001, that we already have, it means we have to have good data handling, network security, training and a range of other information security (infosec). When we achieve 9001 certification, we will have had to show that our processes are properly documented, appropriate for the activities of the company, and address the needs of our clients from the initial sales pathways, through project scoping and delivery, and into long term support with the managed services team.

In a distributed agency, how do you manage data security and data protection compliance across different jurisdictions? 

Data security all starts with the person. If a member of the team doesn’t know what they are doing then you’re in trouble before you even get started. So we have training that all staff members get on infosec that includes basic things like strong passwords and multifactor authentication, using disc encryption on laptops, and avoiding phishing attempts. 

We also have more advanced training in specific areas for those that need it, particularly in securing client websites with firewalls and carrying out vulnerability scanning.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adds another dimension to our infosec posture. As a European company, mainly working with European clients, we have to be aware of GDPR provisions whenever we are dealing with personal information, either directly as data controllers, or on behalf of our clients as data processors. 

Luckily as an EU regulation, GDPR is standard across all member states, with very little variation. There is also an adequacy agreement in place between the EU and the UK so the same regime mostly applies for staff and clients based in the UK. 

I work closely with our Data Protection Officer, Maeve Dunne, to ensure our training and policies in this area are kept up to date.

How do you see the Head of Operations role evolving as Annertech continues to grow internationally?

I’d like to think I’ll get first dibs on the corporate jet when we get one! But seriously, Annertech continues to grow its client base across Europe, and so we are finding ourselves working in different jurisdictions more regularly. 

As Head of Operations it is my responsibility to make sure we’re getting the best advice on financial, contractual, and regulatory issues in those countries. 

The tech side of the business stays the same no matter what country you’re in, which is great for scaling, but the paperwork seems to grow each time we expand.

How do you approach operational excellence without losing the flexible, human touch Annertech is known for?

It is hard as a company transitions from a small organisation where everyone knows everything that is going on, to a medium-sized one where things can get a bit siloed. It is important to retain the company culture that has developed over the years, both internally between colleagues and externally with clients. 

Our daily 15-minute coffee morning call with everyone is one example – no work talk, just general chit-chat about movies, families, pets, interesting news stories. It gives new team members a chance to get to know the human side of their colleagues. In a fully remote company this is even more critical. 

What’s one operational tool or habit you can't live without?

I have to have a to-do list, otherwise I’m scuppered. While we use a number of internal tools to track projects and plan across the company, I need to keep my own todos in one place or else I know things will fall through the cracks. And I need lots of tea to keep me going during the day!

What does your ideal remote-work setup look like? 

I’m pretty low maintenance. As long as I have my MacBook Air and some wifi I’m good to go. Standing desks and yoga balls are not my thing!

When you aren't streamlining agency operations, how do you spend your time?

For most of my life, my main hobby was choral singing. I’ve been in a number of choirs performing all the classic repertoire from Bach, Mozart and Verdi. 

However, since the kids have grown up that has taken a back seat and I’ve become more involved in coaching their GAA teams. Considering I’d never held a hurl in anger until they started playing I think I’m doing all right at it.