Rahima Bhatti

Rachel Lyddon – Staff Nominated Non-Executive Director

16/05/2023Rahima BhattiBoard Members, UncategorizedComments Off

Rachel Lyddon – Staff Nominated Non-Executive Director

Rachel has worked as the Financial Accountant at Delt for just over five years.

As a qualified chartered accountant (FCA) for nearly twenty years, Rachel has worked in in a variety of sectors including both the NHS and local government. She completed her chartered accountancy training at Mazars LLP which involved auditing a wide range of clients in the public and private sector.

Having grown up near Plymouth, Rachel has lived and worked in various locations, including completing a volunteer role as an expedition accountant in Central America. However, Rachel returned ‘home’ to Devon in 2018 and soon took up a position with Delt.

In addition to her accounting experience, Rachel is a qualified teacher and spent several years as a lecturer in further education.

In her free time Rachel likes to dabble in a spot of sea swimming, the colder the better!

Blog – Questions vs Answers

03/05/2023Rahima BhattiBlogComments Off

Questions vs Answers

In case you don’t know about Alex the parrot, let me introduce you to him. Alex is/was (unfortunately he is no longer with us) considered one of the most articulate animals to interact with humans. Alex developed a considerable vocabulary and was, amongst other things, able to answer questions about the name and colour of objects. This is pretty impressive, but perhaps not out of the ordinary given there are monkeys, dogs, seals and other mammals that have similarly mastered language skills. What makes Alex more interesting is that he was the first known animal that formed his own question.

Once he had mastered the primary colours, he was shown his reflection in a mirror and asked what colour he was. That’s quite a breakthrough, no longer is he showing willingness to “talk” for a food reward, this was a parrot wanting to use language to enquire and learn more.

The point is that one of the key attributes of the best staff is their interest in development and learning. In other words they are ceaselessly asking questions. Alex stands out amongst all the other talking animals in that he wanted to use his language skills to understand what the name of his colour was. (Makes you wonder if he wasn’t a bit disappointed to be grey given the wide pallet of colours that other parrots enjoy?).

Since the arrival of AI chat bots – with Chat GPT that wrote a previous blog for us – the end game appears in sight for those of us who thought that we were employed on the basis of being able to answer questions. Whilst at times we are expected to know the answers to do our jobs, the arrival of software with the power to understand natural language questions and provide uniquely crafted and increasingly better responses is going to reduce the premium given to roles requiring expertise or analysis. One of the vital skills in a post AI chat bot world has to be knowing what the right questions to ask are. This like any other skill, is one that requires practise. Making time to consciously reflect on the situation we find ourselves in and find the right questions to ask in order to resolve problems or exploit opportunities will be what we need in a modern workforce. Anyone with these skills might also be the more interesting people to share time with too! So, returning to the issue posed by the headline on this article and asking whether which is better: questions or answers, I would contend that whilst we can’t ignore the power of knowing the answer, in the long term those who understand the power of asking a question will be more successful.

If you don’t believe me about Alex you can find out more about him here: https://www.bl.uk/the-language-of-birds/articles/alex-the-african-grey-parrot

Peter Honeywell, Non-Executive Director

NEWS – Delt Partners with Reliance Cyber to Offer Industry-leading Cybersecurity Services to the Public Sector

26/04/2023Rahima BhattiNewsEngagement, staff, surveyComments Off

Reliance Cyber, Cyber Security, Delt Shared Services, Public Sector PNG

Delt Partners with Reliance Cyber to Offer Industry-leading Cybersecurity Services to the Public Sector

Delt Shared Services and Reliance Cyber have partnered to provide industry-leading managed security services to public sector organisations.

The partnership with Reliance Cyber aims to provide an ‘always on’ security approach that will strengthen the defences of public sector organisations and safeguard them against the increasing number and complexity of cyber-attacks.

With the increasing number of attacks on the public sector, comprehensive cyber security is vitally important. In August 2022, 36 NHS organisations were impacted by a severe cyber-attack that had significant and long-lasting effects. Incidents like the attack on the NHS are costly, time-consuming, and disruptive. Such attacks, highlight the need for public sector organisations to have comprehensive cybersecurity defences in place.

Delt’s partnership with Reliance Cyber will provide public sector customers with a fully managed security service which includes 24/7, 365-day-a-year monitoring, detection, and response, mitigating their risk of cyberattacks. This partnership is a significant milestone in the expansion of Delt’s capabilities and is a direct response to the market’s need for increased resilience against cyber threats.

Giles Letheren CEO of Delt, expressed his delight at the collaboration, saying, ” We are committed to always providing our customers with the highest level of service, working with Reliance Cyber enables us to further meet this objective. Letheren went on to say, “The partnership provides a top-level security service that supports and responds to the real threats facing public sector organisations. ”

Rob Walton, Chief Revenue Officer at Reliance Cyber, added, “We are proud to work with Delt in protecting public sector organisations from the mounting threat of cyberattacks. Our team of experts is dedicated to providing best-in-class security, and we look forward to collaborating with Delt to further secure their customers.”

The Delt and Reliance Cyber partnership is set to enhance the cybersecurity of public sector organisations and provide Delt’s customers with peace of mind. Delt believes that its clients should feel confident that they are protected by the best possible security service in the market. With Reliance Cyber’s expertise and experience in advanced cyber threats, there is confidence that this partnership will provide customers with the highest level of protection. By working together, this partnership will help clients mitigate their risks, stay ahead of emerging threats, and focus on their core operations with the knowledge that their critical assets and data are secure.