IT Analyst Niels is about to become IT Application Coordinator

In #wearecircet we introduce both the new recruits and seasoned professionals in our team.

Meet Niels Verheijen  

Function: IT Analyst – IT Application Coordinator (from 2024)  
Employed since:2019 (from 2017 already with Circet through an external partner)
Site/department: Kontich

👉 What does an IT Analyst do? And what exactly does the role of IT Application Coordinator entail?

As an IT Analyst you sit at the table with your internal or external customer to identify their needs in relation to a new feature in one of our applications. You then convert this wish list into technical specifications for the developer. You monitor the development process from start to finish and check whether the end result meets the initial requirements. 

An IT Application Coordinator oversees one or more applications and manages a multidisciplinary team which includes IT Analysts. It’s a new role at Circet. It was mainly created because our application landscape keeps expanding.

👉 Why are you making the switch from IT Analyst to IT Application Coordinator?

“In recent years, as an IT Analyst, I was dealing a lot with specific features in our applications. As a coordinator, I will manage a multidisciplinary team and my job will be to zoom out and keep an overview. If you compare it to a puzzle, the analyst is always handling individual pieces, while the coordinator ensures that all the pieces of the puzzle fit correctly. It’s a big new challenge.”

👉 What do you like most about your job?

“That I speak to many different people within our organisation or with our customers. Or with software vendors, sometimes also supplying the customer. This job means I can be deployed all across the organisation, which suits me a lot and is very varied. In my early years, I mainly worked on Service Cruiser. For example, I helped with the migration from the old to the new version for Vodafone Ziggo. It was my first big project at Circet as an IT Analyst.”

“As an IT Application Coordinator, you make sure that the puzzle fits correctly. It's a big new challenge.”     

👉 What are the biggest challenges for an IT Analyst at Circet?

“Our very extensive application landscape, definitely. The IT Analyst therefore needs to be a generalist. Even if the person you’re talking to has a very high level of specific expertise, you should not get bogged down in small details. It’s only when you keep looking at the bigger picture that you can produce a feasible solution based on your customer’s briefing and your technical expertise.”

“It's only when you keep looking at the bigger picture,
that you can produce a feasible solution."

👉 What are you particularly proud of?

“As an IT Application Coordinator, in addition to managing my team, I will also be the owner of one application: Sitetracker. Sitetracker has become one of the most important platforms within our group and its impact on the fibre roll-out is significant. Sitetracker 2.0 is by far the toughest project of my career at Circet, but I am very proud to have been entrusted with managing all of it for the Benelux organisation.”

👉 Which tip would you give a Circet newcomer?

“Make sure you quickly identify who does what within the different teams, how the structures work and who can help you with what. In other words, develop your internal network within Circet. This will enable you to do your job much more efficiently, but colleagues will also know how you can be of help to them. That’s gratifying.”

“As a newcomer, develop your network within Circet as quickly as possible.”

👉 Do you have any plans for the future?

“Well, I’m about to make the switch from IT Analyst to IT Application Coordinator and I’m really looking forward to it. To prepare for my role as a manager, I followed the natural leadership training last year together with eight other colleagues. It’s nice that Circet gives us so many opportunities to follow training courses, whether to acquire technical skills, or soft skills such as coaching and leadership.”

👉 How do you help build the infrastructure of tomorrow? 

“The software applications that we manage and further develop form the backbone of all the infrastructure projects that we carry out with Circet. In addition, every action or event is recorded and documented in there. Even many years from now, all that information will still be available. This is also how we are future-proofing.”