Newly appointed director of digital transformation, Alvin Singelee, shares his professional journey with Excelcare, his reaction to his recent promotion and his strategic plans to revolutionise our digital infrastructure across the organisation

What was your role before you joined Excelcare?

I worked part-time at the Rainforest Café in London, supporting the chefs with mealtime preparations. I balanced this role whilst studying for a BA Hons in Digital Media.

Tell us about what roles you have had during your career with Excelcare?

My first role with Excelcare was at Limetree Care Home. I was a laundry assistant and worked on the weekends as a receptionist. As part of the administration team, I would also support the home with day-to-day operations. I then worked at Queens Oak Care Home as the home administrator.

In 2011, I started my role with the London Maintenance Team as the maintenance administrator. During my seven years as part of this team, I worked my way up to become maintenance supervisor, and then the maintenance manager for the region. This was a very intense role, and I began to think more about the degree I had gained in Digital Media and how I hadn’t put the knowledge and skills I had gained during my studies into practice, so I went to have a conversation with our chief operating officer, Sam Manning, expressing how I wanted to change career paths and asking if there were any opportunities available within the family.

I will always be grateful to Sam for offering me a role within what was the Lifestyle and Innovation team. I was a project lead and had the opportunity to embed myself into the digital systems we used across the group, as well as the opportunity to work on partnerships that would benefit the people living in our care homes. Working on projects such as Radar and Ablyss got me excited about the work I was doing, and I found the skills I gained from my Digital Media Degree being put to good use. Bouncing off my colleagues, coming up with ideas and introducing new initiatives filled me with purpose, and I thoroughly enjoyed coming to work every day.

Then came COVID-19 and with that, limitations with what we could do inside our care homes. Some partnerships we had worked hard to set up had to be put on hold, and we had to completely change the way we operated. This brought a new focus on the digital systems that we had in place across the group and to ensuring each of these systems were performing to our requirements.

In 2020, the Digital Transformation Team was formed, which gave us the opportunity to analyse what we already had in place, as well as focus on the implementation of new systems across the group. The knowledge I had gained during my Digital Media degree became very useful, and I was excited that I could finally apply this to the work I was doing. In 2021, we started the Implementation of Radar, our Compliance and Auditing software across the homes and successfully completed the roll-out by the end of the year. In 2022, we then embarked on the implementation of Atlas eMar, and successfully completed the project by late 2022.

There had been some team changes along the way but with a desire to keep our systems running and performing to their best ability, I was promoted to head of digital transformation. The title wasn’t what I was working for though, I had a deep desire to push the boundaries, explore the capabilities of our digital systems and ensure we were getting the best out of the technology we had substantially invested in.

Then in March 2024, I was offered the director of digital transformation position, to lead a team that will be pivotal in strengthening our digital transformation even further. I am excited and very much look forward to continuing to work closely with our care services grasping new technologies and enhancing current approaches to bring care to the next level by working towards more innovative ways in the advancement of technology, which in turn will deliver better quality outcomes in line with the Excelcare vision.

What has helped you in your career progression with Excelcare?

The amazing people I have worked with and the opportunities I have been offered. I wouldn’t be here without the ongoing support of Osa (director of people & resources), Sam and Ozzie (chief executive officer), but also the people along the way who have helped me to challenge myself.

What do you like most about working for Excelcare?

The people I work with mainly, but also feeling valued as part of the family.

How do you feel after your most recent promotion to director?

In two words, excitement and accomplishment. When I was a laundry assistant at 19, I never thought that 15 years later I would be the director of digital transformation. I enjoyed a moment of reflection and looking back on my journey so far, but there is still so much more to come!