Ascertus hires three new professionals to support business growth
Professional services firm Ascertus has committed itself to a hiring spree in recent months, as it looks to meet strategic business growth objectives. Zak Ali joins the firm as Project Manager, Warren Matthews as Solutions Architect and Maggie Lai as Business Development Executive.
As the financial services ecosystem in London prepares for another year of digitalisation, in order to gear up for an uncertain post-Brexit economy after 2019, consultancies are looking to bolster their offerings, amid an expected boom in demand. Earlier in the year, this saw Ascertus, a professional services firm based in Central London, expand its team of consultants with the hiring of Ashley Allen as a technical consultant.
Ascertus provides document and information lifecycle management solutions to law firms and corporate legal departments in the UK and across Europe. Hot on the heels of its most recent recruitment, the firm has hired another three professionals to its team, as it looks to meet heightened demand and ensure that its growing customer base is well supported.
Zak Ali has arrived at the firm as a Project Manager, bringing with him 16 years of IT and strategy project management. As part of the project management team he will be responsible for ensuring that projects for customers in his portfolio are delivered on-time, on-budget and smoothly, and Ali will specifically be undertaking consultancy, project management, business analysis and business processes.
Before taking his latest role, Ali was most recently employed as a Senior Consultant and Project Management Specialist with Yerra Solutions, where he spent four years. Prior to this, Ali worked as Assistant Director in Global ITO (Legal) for Credit Agricole, arriving in 2010 following a brief spell as an IT Project Manager for infrastructure group Balfour Beatty. He commenced his career with a six year stint with Magic Circle law firm Linklaters, where he was engaged in Information Systems & Strategy work.
Warren Matthews has also joined Ascertus with a solid background in the document management space, and will work as a Solutions Architect. This will see Matthews involved in projects that require iManage Work integration with practice management and a variety of other legal business systems, alongside the undertaking of bespoke software development, where required, to meet specific customer needs.
Most recently, Matthews was an Analyst Programmer at Bird & Bird, the third of three seven-year spells in his career. He previously spent the same amount of time working at One Degree Consulting and Ilcon. Over his 21 years in the industry, he has worked on a number of big scale projects for corporate legal departments in financial institutions and banks, and telecommunications companies.
Maggie Lai is the final member of the trio arriving at Ascertus. She will work as a Business Development Executive, supporting the lead generation activity in the company. In this capacity, she will engage with prospective clients to understand their business requirements and advise them on solutions that they can explore to meet their needs. Prior to this role, Lai held a similar position at Nikec Solutions, following another at the Priory Group. Previously, Lai spent nine months as a Research Assistant with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and she holds a Master’s degree in Behavioural Economics, which she obtained at the University of Warwick.
Roy Russell, CEO of Ascertus Limited, said of the incoming staff, “Zak, Warren and Maggie have the expertise we need, but also gel well in the overall organisation; they have the vital interpersonal skills alongside the technical expertise. This kind of cohesion is important for smooth and efficient delivery of service. Additionally, they have the necessary understanding of corporate legal departments in the finance industry, a sector where we are gaining good traction for our services.”
