Member Article

Army Specialist helping businesses to win the information

After completing the last overseas deployment of his Army career in Lashkar Gah in Afghanistan, the Task Force Helmand Head Quarters for British Forces, Staff Sergeant Jamie Leishman has returned to his native north east to help businesses in the region win the information technology battle as a SharePoint* expert with CCS Mobile at their head office in Sunderland.

Leishman, 37, from Billingham who also completed tours of duty to Northern Ireland and Bosnia volunteered for redundancy from the Army following the birth of his first son Daniel in 2010.

In what his Commanding Officer described as “an exemplary 20 year career” in which he had experience of dangerous high intensity operations he initially specialised in Telecommunications and Electronic Warfare and Countermeasures, which saw him engage in dangerous explosive ordnance disposal tasks in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.

After re-training as an Information Systems Engineer he led the military IT support team and facilitated the introduction of new IT capabilities overseas. From 2006 to 2009 he led the BOWMAN military communications system and managed complex technical and training tasks.

Prior to his posting to Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Leishman was assigned to 4th Mechanized Brigade HQ at Catterick and tasked with managing vital information flows and data dissemination, which ultimately resulted in him designing and building a SharePoint service for over 2000 users across the Brigade.

On deployment to Afghanistan he replaced the outdated system being used in Helmand with SharePoint.

In a military theatre situation such as Afghanistan information must be disseminated in many different formats and often the problem is information overload. Leishman recognised that getting the right information, in the right format, to the right people at the right time was mission critical. Ultimately, the deployment of the SharePoint service in Afghanistan significantly improved the ability of the Helmand HQ to process and disseminate information.

Leishman said: “One of the key benefits of SharePoint is that it creates a virtual office environment for disparate groups to communicate and collaborate, which is particularly important in military theatre where activity is high tempo and in an ever changing environment. Passing information and orders to people at the right time is critical in the military just as it is in business.

“Following the deployment of the SharePoint service in Helmand HQ in Afghanistan momentum grew far quicker than I ever expected as users instantly embraced the technology because they saw an immediate benefit. There is no doubt that being able to get the right information to the right people, on time and in the right format can make a significant difference to any business just as it did in a military situation.

“Whilst I am still getting used to life outside the military it is exciting to be working at a company that wants to be a leader in innovation and to help companies use the latest advances in telecommunications and technology to give them the competitive edge.”

Commenting of his appointment Chris Lee, Managing Director of CCS Mobile added: “We are delighted to welcome Jamie to CCS Mobile and see it as a bit of a coup to have secured his services as our SharePoint expert. The experience he gained in Afghanistan is quite exceptional and unique and I have no doubt that his skills can and will benefit many businesses in the region.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nicole Lee .