Leo Skelly | Prima Group | Business Intelligence Analyst
LS: I provide the group with both detailed and aggregated business-related information using analytic software and techniques, putting benchmarking, data and business intelligence at the centre of the decision-making processes for the business. Additionally, I ensure that data and insight support our business improvement initiatives and statutory reporting requirements.
What's the best part of your job?
LS: There are two elements to my job that I love; programming and the people. I'm a creator so I like nothing better than to start off with nothing, travel the highs & lows of that road, and end up with a completed project or product having transformed an idea or a request into something of great use and benefit to others. A sense of achievement. The people are great and because we're a small organisation, we really do know everyone across the business and we work well together towards our common goals, and when we celebrate, we celebrate together.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your role since the beginning of the pandemic?
LS: The digital world is at the heart of everything I do. When the pandemic struck, I saw a sharp increase in the demand for information specifically as face-to-face business elements were either reduced or withdrawn, thus promoting the need for greater digital awareness. The challenge has not only been to meet that demand but to embed new ways of working that meet both the current needs of the business as well as future needs.
What’s a valuable lesson you’ve learnt during the pandemic?
LS: There are two valuable lessons that I've learned. The first is to focus on what's important. In Dec 2020, I was involved in a serious road traffic accident with a drunk-driver and unfortunately, I was on the OUTSIDE of my vehicle at the time and suffered serious leg injuries. I hold no anger or ill-thoughts towards the driver but instead, my focus is entirely upon my return to fitness and my family. There's nothing more important. In focusing on what's important, I now find it easier to identify and remove the noise of life & work, and that's helped me both in and out of work, physically and mentally. The second lesson is having a full and rounded appreciation of my time. With our staff members working almost completely from home during the pandemic, there's never been a more important period within which to exercise a sharp distinction between home life and work life, and to this end, I quickly learned to separate the two. I now appreciate the time that I have for work tasks and the time that I have for home life.
If you had to choose one meal to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
LS: Anything with fish and rice, preferably a whole baked fish with rice and veg.
Who would be your perfect celebrity dinner guest and why?
LS: I'd have to say, Leonardo Da Vinci. What a guy! I loved him in The Beach and Inception! No seriously, Leonardo was a master at everything he did, a true polymath. He was an expert at painting, draughtsmanship, engineering, science, theology, sculpting, architecture, anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography and palaeontology, and amazingly, he still holds the Guinness World Record for speed text messaging (he doesn't!).
Favourite band or artist?
LS: A MUCH harder question than 'favourite dinner guest'! I might touch upon The Beatles, REM, Crowded House, early U2, Radiohead, Mozart, AC-DC, Miles Davis, Dua Lipa or Jean-Michel Jarre. It's a seriously difficult question to answer for me.