This is the first in a series of Fastnet Staff Profiles for our blog. We think it’s important to show our customers who we are and what makes us tick. Chris bravely stepped up to be number 1.

Who are you?

Chris Lamb, Finance Director – I’m French, I love skiing and mountain biking, traveling the world and learning new things. All caked in lots of music.

What do you do?

I’m responsible for the smooth running of all financial and administrative information flowing in and out of the Company, and the ongoing development of its systems.
With all this data I have to keep finding good ways to turn financial information into something less boring looking and more meaningful! Looking at a load of numbers repetitively can be numbing, so I have to think of ways to keep it looking exciting.

How long have you been here?

14 years

What’s good about working at Fastnet?

Variety: I get to deal with so many different types of businesses and individuals. All from diverse industries and backgrounds, from corner shops to cinemas, local historic buildings to modern office suits.

Creativeness: It’s hard to be creative when todays work is based around a mass of emails and spreadsheets, but allowing for some sideways thinking is what keeps us pioneering our people, our systems, and our processes.

Making people happy: Our business is based on ‘service’ and aside from the networks it runs on, it’s our people supporting it that makes it shine. The paradox is that when the service is great, and ‘just works’, people don’t notice it, so it’s only when things go wrong and we work to resolve things that people notice.
Our flat management structure allows for ideas from staff to be taken on to progress quickly. The flexibility we allow employees makes for a relaxed workplace, where they can develop organically with us.

What’s been a highlight?

In the early days, things like automating our billing system to E-Billing, becoming accredited for Direct Debit and customising the platform we use for it, building our data centre, moving offices, and more recently it’s been revamping our accounts department with further skills training and shaping roles. However, so many things happen in 14 years and I think it’s taken all these years and experiences, good and bad, to learn how to work with such a variety of smart staff who all have different skills and personalities. I’d say the biggest highlight has been having the privilege to experience that.

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