Tuesday 7th July

It is both 4 years ago since London won the bid for the Olympics and, more tragically, 4 years since the 7/7 bombings. I recall both of these days very clearly. On the Olympics day I was at a leading accountants, who were a senior sponsor of the bid. There was a genuine cheer across the building when London was announced as the host - and just as we left their offices the Red Arrows came flying past with the famous red white and blue vapour trials.

The excitement of that day was seriously marred by the events less than 24 hours later that brought London to a standstill. I was in Stoke Newington with the design team that created the final design for ICC's current platform of services. It was a very odd day. We had, after months of work, built a design we knew was future proof for the content and functionality our clients needed. But what should have been a day of celebration soon turned melancholic and contemplative as the full horror of the morning unfolded and we realised how easily we could have been caught up in the carnage. Like everyone else in London, we had to be accounted for by the office, try to contact our families although the mobile network had gone down, and begin to calculate how we would get home. The rolling news coverage was harrowing, leaving us feeling both distraught and fortunate at the same time. However the spirit of Londoners made the unpleasantness bearable and I had more light hearted conversations with commuters in that one week than I can ever recall.

It does not seem like four years ago to me. Things have moved forward and stayed the same in equal measure.

As Product Manager at ICC I am very proud of the work many people have done over the years to make our products right for our customers. I know many of the same people who were with me in Stoke Newington – and all of my current ICC colleagues – are working hard to ensure that, come October, the Companies Act and the transfer over to fully compliant services will be as smooth as possible. But as we head into the final and perhaps most intense phases of the project, it is right to have a bit of perspective and remember that we never know what is around the corner. It is often the small things that remind us about significant moments in time. And things you think are important now may not seem so in a few years time.