Making a difference

Supply Chain Analyst Roselyn Mutongerwa joined Agilisys Guernsey in January 2020. Now one year into her career with Agilisys, Roselyn shares what the past 12 months has meant to her and the Supply Chain Team. 

What have you been doing since you joined Agilisys Guernsey? 

I joined Agilisys Guernsey as a Supply Chain Analyst at the start of last year - one of two new recruits to our Supply Chain team based in our St Peter Port office. 

My role gives me the opportunity to draw on my background in law and use my skills in a commercial contracts context, working with my colleagues to find the best solutions and unlock the best possible value for the States.

I have really enjoyed being able to merge my commercial interests with my legal interests to make a meaningful impact to the community through our work with local businesses.

What is the role of the Supply Chain Team? 

We are committed to working as much as possible with local suppliers, creating long-lasting relationships and partnerships with suppliers on-island, as well as delivering the best value for the States and for Islanders. 

Approximately 50% of the IT supply chain is with on island businesses – amounting to around £5.2m per annum. The vast majority of the other 50% is allocated to licenses for enterprise software such as Microsoft licenses, or to the provision of specialist hardware from industry-leading technology vendors including Dell and Hewlett Packard. 

To make it as easy as possible for local suppliers to provide services to the SMART Guernsey Partnership, we established a Local Supply Chain Framework last year. As a result, Guernsey’s Resolution IT is supplying hardware and support services for the States transformed IT estate. They have also recently supported us with laptop distribution in response to the new Bailiwick lockdown.In total, 14 local companies have provided IT and digital services in the first year of our SMART Guernsey Partnership.

I think it’s also our approach to close partnership working that has enabled us to tackle some of our greatest challenges. This was especially evident during the initial lockdown in March 2020. We needed to get laptops into the hands of essential workers at a time where devices in the supply chain had almost completely dried up. Our local partners played a key role in supporting us to roll out hundreds of laptops to civil servants and politicians across Guernsey – enabling the States to operate remotely.

What are your reflections on the last 12 months? 

It’s certainly been eventful – I think just two months after joining Agilisys, jurisdictions across the British Isles went into lockdown, and our team had to adapt quickly to a new way of working remotely with each other and our supply chain partners. 

So, from being in the same office every day, the sudden jump to remote working wasn’t without its challenges. But we were fortunate to have a lot of support from the business, and a lot of different initiatives were undertaken to ensure that even though we weren’t physically together, we were still communicating frequently and we still felt like we were a part of one team.

Can you tell us about your team?

While the Supply Chain Management team is quite small, we’re also a very diverse group, made up of people with different professional backgrounds and experiences based both in Guernsey and the UK. It’s this diversity that I believe enables us to think creatively and innovatively about any challenges that we face.

We know that we all perform better when we bring our whole selves to our jobs, when our work is driven by purpose, and when the company we work for reflects our own values. And so, creating a culture where all employees can be themselves and feel like a part of the community is crucial.

I’m also a member of Agilisys’ Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Committee. Within the Committee, we have multiple D&I groups, providing an opportunity for members to meet each other, gain or offer support, participate in social activities, and share experiences. 

I think that having colleagues of all backgrounds engaged within these groups gives us an opportunity to create a culture of belonging. In these forums, we have a chance to ask and assess what we should be doing better, and how we can enable people of all backgrounds to thrive within Agilisys.

Why did you decide to join Agilisys?

I wanted to join Agilisys because I could see the company really encourages its people to have an entrepreneurial spirit. 

Working in a fast paced and dynamic environment is what I enjoy most. It is always exciting and there are so many amazing opportunities to learn and challenge myself.

Over the past year, I’ve learned a lot of key skills – just by surrounding myself with colleagues who are passionate about what they do, and who look for imaginative ways to solve problems or to implement new solutions. 

If, like me, you’re looking for challenging and rewarding work where you can make a real difference to the local community, Agilisys Guernsey is a great place to start.

Roselyn Mutongerwa Roselyn is a Law graduate from the University of Edinburgh and is currently undertaking a qualification with the Chartered Governance Institute to further her expertise in Corporate Governance, Risk Management, Law and Strategy. 

Roselyn previously worked as a Graduate Analyst at the Guernsey Financial Services Commission before joining Agilisys. You can find her on LinkedIn here.