Manchester-based, CarFinance 247 has bolstered its Executive team with the appointment of Ryan Bryers as CTO/CIO.
Ryan, who is a digital transformation expert, and ranked as one of the UK’s top 100 CIOs, joins CarFinance 247 from Worldline, a business that connects and secures transactions covering the entire payment chain and has a leading UK presence in the rail industry.
The CTO/CIO role is new CarFinance 247 and is the latest move from the business, which has been shoring up its IT capabilities over the last 12 months to capitalise on a market that is rapidly moving online.
At Worldline, Ryan was UK & Ireland CTO, an Executive position leading IT strategy, assurance of solutions and the introduction of new digital methods. The role at CarFinance 247 will see him take the company’s 2025 vision and create the tech to underpin it, evolving it into digital-first business. Ryan brings board level expertise, a blue chip mentality and 27 years of technology experience to the post.
CarFinance 247 has a world-class IT environment that supports a truly agile and DevOps way of working following a £2.5m investment in its state-of-the-art head office and IT infrastructure. Ryan is now charged with taking this world-class environment and enabling business agility. He will focus on evolving the company’s digital status from part DevOps to full DevOps, developing a high-performing team, introducing AI and automation, as well as establishing ways of working that will ensure that the business’ IT offer is future-proofed for growth. All with a view to creating a best-in-class customer experience.
Asked about the move from a big corporate to an SME set-up, Ryan commented: “I couldn’t be joining CarFinance 247 at a better stage in its lifecycle. After four years of high-growth, the business is at a place where its IT systems need to evolve to facilitate a constant expansion in both clients and staff. Digital evolution is constant and I will be focusing on transforming the ways of working across IT from part DevOps to a full DevOps in People, Process & Technology to support the Strategy/Vision & Culture.
“The opportunity to take a business’ IT proposition at this stage in its growth and have full ownership of it, as well as the freedom to shape it without the constraints that are often intrinsic in a corporate environment, is hugely appealing and exciting. CarFinance 247’s top-down investment in getting the infrastructure done right, also means that I am walking into an IT setting that is truly world-class and betters that of many corporates.”
Says CarFinance 247 CEO and co-founder Reg Rix, added: “With Ryan at the helm of our IT, we will be creating a best-in-class customer experience and world-class tech team that takes our business to the next level. We’re truly excited to be adding a CTO of his stature and experience to our band of bold, passionate and proud 247People.”
