Simon Hartog – Head of Technology and Innovation

Simon is an infrastructure specialist and systems analyst who has been involved with Virtual IT since its inception. As Head of Technology, Simon has been responsible for the strategy, design and building of the product infrastructure, as well as the ongoing product enhancements and evolution required to enable the Virtual IT solution to deliver its critical service levels to its customers. Simon has extensive experience in analysing business IT and enterprise hosting requirements and building cost-effective platforms for clients.

Prior to Virtual IT, Simon was Senior Systems Engineer at NTT/Verio, which at the time was the world’s largest web hosting company. He was instrumental in building some of NTT/Verio’s largest Windows-based enterprise web hosting solutions and he also designed and built the Europe-wide backup solution to protect customer systems throughout NTT/Verio’s European hosting centres.

Simon is a Chartered IT Professional, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for IT and a Professional Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

 

Esther Jones – Financial Controller

Esther has been the Financial Controller with Virtual IT since 2006. Currently Esther is responsible for Virtual IT’s finance and procurement department.

Esther has worked within finance for 12 years coming to Virtual IT from the then largest independent record company in the UK.

Esther graduated from the university of Liverpool with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Social Policy. She is currently completing her CIMA qualification.

 

Tom Playfoot – Head of Customer Relations

Tom has played a key role in the growth and development of Virtual IT. In 2007, he set up the Client Relationship department to bring more effective and proactive account management to Virtual IT’s customers.

Until the 1997 election, Tom worked in the House of Commons for a prominent Labour MP. He then started working for David Somen in a number of roles with a strong focus on operations and customer service. Following a two year stint in Kenya as General Manager for the group’s international telecoms and Internet provider, Tom returned to London to join Virtual IT from its inception.

Tom graduated from QMW, University of London, with a BA in politics.

 

Toby Wakelin – Head of Customer Services

Currently responsible for Virtual IT’s Customer Service and Customer Engineering departments, Toby heads up the IT Support team of helpdesk personnel, build room technicians, and systems engineers.

Toby has worked within customer services for 12 years. His first team leader role was in the Sales Administration department of Powergen’s (formerly TXU Energi) industrial and commercial retail division. In 2004, he moved into IT Support for Tech Team Global, a market leader for outsourced helpdesk services, where he took on the role of managing Ford UK’s IT helpdesk, supporting 26,000 users across Europe.

Toby graduated from Greenwich University with a Bachelor of Science in Multimedia Technology. Toby holds a Six Sigma Green Belt and is ISO9000 qualified and ITIL trained.