PureNet - Working with the University, University of York

PureNet has been delivering world-class enterprise ecommerce solutions to B2C and B2B businesses for over a decade for leading names in Retail, Manufacturing and Finance.

They pride themselves on their ability to design, build, manage and integrate business-led solutions which add significant competitive value and return on investment to their client’s day-to-day activities.

As a Development Manager at PureNet (www.purenet.co.uk), Daniel wanted to develop his leadership skills, particularly those relating to strategic thinking, coaching and mentoring. For a number of years prior to joining PureNet he was interested in attending one of the University’s executive development courses, the York Strategic Leadership Programme (YSLP), and enrolled on the course in 2016. He is now Head of Development and Test at PureNet responsible for leading a team of 20 and managing the Coding team (Magento and Microsoft C#) and the Functional Test team. Ensuring that the PureNet team is up to date in their skills and able to take full advantage of technical advances for the benefit of clients is the main focus of his role.

One important aspect to Daniel, in his professional and personal endeavours, is that he strives to lead and develop others around him. By attending the programme Daniel accomplished a number of his coaching and mentoring goals, with the YSLP providing the training necessary to further excel in these areas. A key aspect of this was learning to better adapt to encourage team members, allowing them to work cohesively and to the best of their abilities, effectively adding value to tasks.

“The YSLP brought together the experience of the last 15 years of my technical leadership career in one stream, allowing me to reflect on why I make decisions and how I can further leverage these to allow the team to develop and reach goals.”

The course also provided the knowledge and confidence required to change the way that he goes about everyday conversations and mentoring, further enabling him to motivate and lead teams. The Creative Entrepreneurship module was especially useful in building an understanding of creativity and its place in a strategic context.

“The realisation that – in order to do your best and set yourself apart – you need to be yourself and do things differently to other people, was ground-breaking for me.”

Since being promoted to Head of Development and Test at PureNet, Daniel has had further opportunity to utilise his leadership skills and the techniques learnt on the course. His time on the course helped enable him to be proactive, provided new innovations and increased his effectiveness in his professional role at PureNet.

Moreover, he cites his time on the YSLP as having inspired him to set up a volunteer led networking community, York Developers (www.yorkdevelopers.org), a charity which aims to educate and encourage Software Developers in the City of York. Daniel stated that York Developers couldn’t exist in the way that it does without the lessons drawn from the YSLP and the ILM qualification.

Daniel noted the exceptional quality of the course, remarking on the fact that the trainers were inspiring and engaging, changing the way that he approaches presentations, teaching and his coaching. Daniel recommends the course to anyone who is moving into a leadership, management or a strategic role, especially those looking to improve their capabilities, equipping themselves with the skills necessary to raise their performance, fully harnessing their innate abilities.

Back to Case Studies home.

PureNet has been delivering world-class enterprise ecommerce solutions to B2C and B2B businesses for over a decade for leading names in Retail, Manufacturing and Finance.

Who to contact

Related links