Faces of Pinnacle | Meet the IT Services Team | Keith Patterson

Pinnacle Team: IT Services
Role: IT Services - Support Consultant
How long you have been working for Pinnacle: Since Oct 2014
Highest Qualification: BSc Hons in ICT with DIS

1.Tell us about your background in IT?

I’ve been working in IT since 2009.

Throughout the years I’ve gained experience in supporting both hardware and software. I specialise in areas such as:

- Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint
- HP client & server, Draytek routers
- Backup software: Veritas, Symantec, Veeam, ArcServe, DataBarracks
- Sophos IT Security
- GFI Server & Client monitoring
- Troubleshooting utilities
- Managing security permissions, opening and closing ports to allow or exclude incoming traffic.

2. How did you come to work at Pinnacle?

Early in my career I deployed PCs for the Health Service and also in the education sector at the Ulster University. Later I worked for a global insurance company in the software testing division. Before Pinnacle I worked at a large construction firm supporting their internal IT network. This included remote users and PDA devices. As an additional role I managed the procurement of IT infrastructure for the company. This meant researching the market to find appropriate infrastructure for the network.

Moving to Pinnacle meant not only would I be supporting in-house users but also a large customer base. This included a new challenge for me as I knew I’d be working with customers and completing onsite visits.

3. Could you give us an overview of your typical week at Pinnacle?

A large part of my job is dealing with support calls from our customers. The vast majority of calls can be resolved remotely. When an onsite presence is required, staff from the closest office to the customer will provide it.

When a customer purchases some new IT Infrastructure, I will work on it in the office before travelling to the customer to install it into the network.

Another part of my weekly duties is monitoring the networks of our IT Services contracted customers. Along with the rest of the support team I monitor servers and client machines for any warnings regarding: Backups, Storage, Server health etc.

I am also part of the team who manage Pinnacle’s in-house IT requirements across our 11 offices.
This includes:

Office 365, Active directory, Hardware and Software setups, VOIP phone setups
Networking (switches, patch panels, firewalls, internet access), Security permissions and software (prevention of ransomware and other malware) and Backups.

4. What is the most memorable support query you have encountered?

Once I was requested to relocate 15 users for a Seafood company. Each user had to be moved from one building to another which was 500 yards down the road. This included literally hauling servers and computers down the road but also making sure all network wall ports were patched and active for when the users moved across.

I then patched in all the printers and shared them out via the network. Finally I set up a wireless stream to a TV in the boardroom. This allowed users to cast their laptops onto the screen and was great for presentations etc.

All in all a great days work by the seaside!

5. Are there any recent developments in the IT world that you find particularly interesting?

I am interested in cloud-based Backups and IT Security. IT developers are working hard to cope with the growing amount of data that modern companies consume. Innovative products are required to provide suitable data storage solutions and to fight off cyberattacks including the most deadly type of all - Ransomware.

6. What do you like most about working for Pinnacle?

The IT Services division are a very close knit team who operated across the UK and Ireland. Everyone at Pinnacle is friendly and great to talk to. Our team days out are great fun, often involving an activity that I haven’t done before e.g. escape rooms, go karting.

Company events are the best I have ever experienced and really well organised. They also give us the opportunity to meet colleagues and any new faces of Pinnacle.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy spending time with my wife and ‘furbabies’ (cats). I also have a passion for music and photography. These are hobbies but I also work as both a performer and a photographer in my spare time.

What 3 famous people, living or dead, would you want at your fantasy dinner party?

Dave Grohl & Taylor Hawkins (The Foo Fighters) aka King of Rock in my eyes, Michael Jackson (King of Pop).

If you could time travel, where would you go?

I wouldn’t travel back in time, but travel into the future to see the advances in technology and see how this has affected human behaviour.