Grant Powell MBCS speaks to Rachel Steenson FBCS, Chair of Council, and Eliot Smith MBCS, Vice-Chair of Council, to learn about its activities, influence and some exciting plans.
Rachel Steenson FBCS and Eliot Smith MBCS are passionate advocates for IT and technology when utilised and delivered ethically and fairly for the good of society. Here they explain their vision for BCS Council, the elements that drive their passion and enthusiasm and why there has never been a better time to get involved.
Please introduce yourselves and tell us how you became involved with Council.
Rachel: I'm a BCS Fellow and the Chair of Council. In my day job I work for BT in Northern Ireland as an account director. I’ve been in the IT industry for over 20 years, working across both the public and private sectors. I became a BCS member when I was working in the civil service. A BCS Northern Ireland Branch Committee member reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in joining, and that’s how it all started. I immediately registered, became involved with the local committee, was vice chair of the Northern Ireland branch within a year and chair the following year. Once my term finished I decided to get involved directly with BCS Council, and I’m now in my second term as chair.
Eliot: My involvement with BCS started at university. We had a BCS Chapter there, so I got involved, went to a few talks and joined some debates. Upon moving to London and taking a job at Deloitte there was a big push to become a member of a professional body and to keep up to date with current best practice. I decided I wanted to become a bit more involved, so ran for BCS Council and had a great three year run. I was successful again this year, and was elected to be vice chair alongside Rachel, which is fantastic. In my day job I currently work at NTT DATA as a managing consultant, dealing mostly with digital strategy and helping clients get the most out of cloud technology. I am also an Army Reservist in the Royal Signals.
What appeals to you most about Council and keeps you interested and active?
Rachel: The reason that I'm involved, and still really passionate about what we do, is that I firmly believe in the aims of BCS — addressing the digital divide, promoting education, championing diversity and inclusion...I think that technology really does have the power to solve so many of the problems in the world today, but tech has to be used in an ethical way and in a professional way. BCS is positioning itself front and centre to ensure that the right messages are getting out there, to help shape the industry, to promote healthy competition and collaboration, and to transform IT and tech use for the better.
Eliot: When you look at other industries — accountancy, HR for example — you need to be a member of your professional body to be able to practise. While we don’t have that in IT, BCS is certainly becoming synonymous with quality, and members of BCS can be regarded as a safe pair of hands, trusted within their field to do the right thing and perform to the best of their ability in an ethical and fair way. We deal with so many critical functions in the IT world that being backed and supported by a professional body such as BCS is vitally important.
What is Council’s central function and why is it so relevant?
Eliot: BCS Council represents the conscience of the membership and also plays a significant role in advising the direction of the business. Our yearly strategy day with the trustee board is really what sets the tone for the year.
And I would say having those Council voices as a key factor in determining that direction, influencing that steer, is vitally important. If, as a BCS member, you have strong views about what you think BCS should be doing, you don’t want to be sitting at the back unheard! Being on Council enables you to help drive change. I think that will resonate with a lot of people who want to get involved and play a key role in influencing BCS’ activities but perhaps don’t quite know how to do it.
Rachel: BCS Council represents a great opportunity for someone who's looking for a senior role, and perhaps wants to gain that experience before taking the next step up in the day job. I think we have a really good cross section of people and the similarities and the differences that we all bring makes for a great mix. But, also, it becomes apparent that we're all grappling with same current issues and challenges; the ethical use of AI for example. Together, by combining knowledge and expertise we can make some important decisions about how IT is going to impact society. This is what makes Council so relevant — it’s a place that really brings together people who work in IT, who have a passion for IT, who want to help shape its future, and believe in doing what is right.
BCS is committed to promoting and encouraging EDI as standard within our industry. What can Council do to help us get there?
Rachel: Equity, diversity and inclusion is a major area of focus for us. We believe that a great step toward creating a more diverse and more accepting industry is to encourage diversity within BCS Council. We have all seen the stats about there not being enough women, not being enough people of colour, not being enough of those who are neurodiverse within our industry, but I think greater representation of all communities where the decisions are made will result in multiple different voices being heard, resulting in some fresh perspectives and a more diverse more dynamic industry that’s accessible to all.
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Eliot: Age is also a key factor, and there is a need to bring in younger professionals to tech roles. If you’re a young person working in IT, working with AI, involved with cloud, involved with UI development, you should absolutely be affiliated with your professional body. The challenge lies in explaining why BCS is relevant, and presenting it as a place where people can come together as part of a joined up, unified and exciting profession. In addition, it’s important to consider that IT is not necessarily always office based. IT is used by our armed forces out in the field, it's used on oil rigs, on aeroplanes — and so the challenge also lies in promoting what we do to a much wider audience across industry, while also ensuring that everything we do is anchored around the importance of diversity, inclusion and fairness.
Why do you think now is a prime time to join Council?
Rachel: In many ways IT has never been more interesting or more exciting. AI is certainly set to change our lives, and we’re continually seeing new and emerging uses of technology coming to the fore. Alongside this, there have also never been greater risks from a cyber security perspective. We’re seeing threat actors becoming more intelligent in terms of their methods of attacking organisations. BCS has real power to influence change; it can lobby government and get involved in policy and law making; it can ensure that we're teaching the right things at school, college and university so that people will come out of the education system with a fully rounded understanding of ethical practices; it can encourage best practice and provide pathways, frameworks and certification to encourage its members to always operate with integrity and professionalism. Joining Council gives you a voice and the power to use it in a transformative capacity to help govern, steer and shape our industry.
Eliot: Council is an open and collaborative forum that’s very much geared towards gathering opinions, putting them together, making recommendations to the trustee board and pushing them forward. Joining Council presents a fantastic opportunity to bring about change and really make a difference. Tech has become an integral function of modern living, it's prevalent across every industry and is changing so fast. There's so much going on, and so much that BCS can get involved in. We have a really good opportunity to make an impact.
Finally, can you tell us about the Council Roadshow initiative?
Rachel: BCS’ membership is global, and there has long been a widespread network of branches and specialist groups. We decided that it would be beneficial if Council could also move away from being seen as London-centric to speak to people in their own locations. The Council Roadshow has now come to fruition, kicking off in Belfast. Everybody will gather together for two days, and we have five different events taking place. We’ll have sessions on the digital divide and on diversity in education, there will be panel discussions, round table debates, and much more. We’ll be inviting representatives from the public sector, the private sector and the third sector, and want to make sure that everybody comes away with some key takeaways that are of real value. It presents an opportunity to raise the profile of Council, and to reinvigorate BCS in Northern Ireland.
