A day in the life of James Wood

We shine the spotlight on members of Team ai to learn more about their roles, what it’s like being part of the team, and what training and development opportunities ai offers. This month, we spoke to James Wood, aiEazyFuel’s Support Manager.

How long have you been with ai and what made you choose this area of work?

I have been with ai for 4 years. My background in applied mathematics provided me with a solid introduction to the world of coding. I started my working career at FNB in South Africa, and my subsequent move to the UK prompted my search for a career that built on that foundation.

What does a typical day look like for you?

As the aiEazyFuel Support Manager, my ultimate role is to provide my team with the necessary guidance and support to deliver on all our clients’ needs. My team’s job includes the delivery of system upgrades and resolving any issues that may arise, to ensure that processes are running smoothly at all times. We also are responsible for transmitting key information to our development team and 3rd-level support team so that we resolve tickets as quickly as possible.

What is your team like?

Our team uses the ‘EazyFuel dream team’ chat to communicate with each other and provide real-time support. It’s a proactive way of working, and it has helped us all get closer and work very well together. I work with a strong, dynamic, and collaborative team and we are always helping each other out and updating the knowledge base. This ensures that the team functions efficiently and effectively throughout the year, regardless of well-deserved annual leave/holidays taken.

Also, being South African, rugby is in my roots and I introduced “SuperBru” to the whole ai organisation. This got everyone, even those who weren’t all that fond of the game, highly invested in the World Cup, and sparked great informal conversations within the office. Go Bokke!

How do you ensure you keep your training and knowledge up-to-date?

Knowledge sharing is an important aspect of the job. We constantly update the knowledge-sharing hub with how-to guides. New starters will quickly get up to speed and understand their roles and responsibilities much faster with the aid of these documents, and it also helps me and the team with recalling how a previous issue was resolved.

When new starters start joining the ‘on call rota’, these documents link to proactive alerts that they may receive, which will, in turn, give the alerts greater context and meaning and further assist those who are on a support call at 2 am.

At ai, we have PluralSight courses and our Learning360 application. I am currently working on completing the Life Skills for Leaders course.

What’s the best part about your job?

Being able to help our clients continuously improve their systems and processes is something that really drives me and my team. I am also so fortunate to work with a myriad of great, solution-driven minds which keeps me on a path of endless learning and development.

What’s your proudest moment at ai so far?

The internal recognition of having received 3 promotions within 4 years, as well as the many client commendations over the years. It really makes all the hard work worthwhile.

How would you describe ai in 3 words?

• Innovative
• Collaborative
• Agile

What do you enjoy most about working for ai?

• Professional development
• Working with talented and supportive colleagues daily
• Continuous learning