Women in Tech: Introducing Laura

Introduction

Introducing Laura, Head of CRM, Systems Integrations at Universal Production Music. Laura has been lucky enough to experience some great opportunities in her career so far with her first role in technology being at the Home Office as a Business Analyst working on the Asylum, Nationality & Passport scanning systems. From there, Laura moved to the BBC where she worked at the Television Centre as a Business Analyst. She then moved to Universal Music Publishing Group as a Business Analyst/Product Owner working to implement a CRM system for Universal Production Music. Laura’s role today is Head of CRM & Systems Integrations, and she helps to look after a global CRM for Universal Production Music and the integrations with the website and finance systems. When she’s not at work, Laura thoroughly enjoys listening to music and going to gigs and appreciates being surrounded by all things music in the job.

 

1. How would you describe your experience as a woman working in tech? 

"Over the years I've had the privilege to work with some wonderfully talented teams including many women working in a range of different roles and projects. You are constantly learning and exposed to innovation. I particularly enjoy working with and helping end users of the applications we develop. It is also, at times, very challenging. If something goes wrong with technology, the impact of that can be huge, so there is a big responsibility and you need to be completely committed. But my experience as a woman working in tech overall has been very positive."

 

2. What inspired you to pursue a career in tech, particularly within the music industry?

"When I first started working in technology over 20 years ago, it all seemed very new and exciting. I liked the idea of working with business teams to review and improve their working processes and using technology to do that. I enjoy learning about, and understanding, the different roles people have within an organisation and then working with developers to hopefully transform those roles into being more efficient. When the opportunity came up to pursue a tech role in the Music industry, I didn’t think twice about saying yes - this is Universal Music Group! The positive power and emotion in music is something almost everyone can relate to. To be involved in helping make all that creativity available to end consumers is very inspiring."

 

3. What advice would you give to someone looking to break into the tech industry?

"I think today I see the worlds of Business & Tech as one. Business is technology and technology is business. So, I think my advice to anyone trying to break into the tech industry would be to gain an understanding of what businesses need to be, and stay successful. Learn as much as you can about constantly evolving technologies and how they might benefit business, it’s a forever changing and adapting world. Develop practical skills such as project methodology, coding, quality assurance testing, but also communication skills. It’s important to work together as a team and to be able to effectively communicate in both a technical and non-technical way. Try and teach yourself to be versatile and to have the ability to context switch, because trust me, you will need to."

 

4. How have you found launching the new websites globally and what do you think are the most exciting improvements?

"Developing and launching new global websites has been an amazing project. We now have a development team that has built, tested and fully understands every aspect of the Universal Production Music site - all built using new technology and helping to deliver future site enhancements more quickly. There are many exciting enhancements with the new site, in particular the speed is much faster which helps users perform the required actions quickly, such as changes to Playlists, Pitches & Favourites. Additionally, the UX design is so much cleaner and intuitive."

 

5. What would you like to see more or less of in the future for women working in tech?

"It's important that we continue to see a diverse range of roles in technology made available to women. We need to ensure that women always have opportunities to take on leadership roles and feel mentored and empowered in those roles. For a young woman starting out in tech, it can be very inspiring to see and work with a woman in a leadership role. Women should always feel that they can contribute, that they are listened to and that they feel part of a wider team of innovators."