Nicola Frost, Senior Director and EMEA Controller, is not only a finalist in this year’s Women in Tech Excellence Awards but, alongside her team, the recent winners of the Tech & Telco Finance Team of the Year Award at the Robert Walters 2023 London & South East Finance Awards. To learn more about her career, 8x8’s supportive community, the gender pay gap, and her Enterprise Hero of the Year nomination, catch up with her interview below.

8x8: What's it like working at 8x8?

Nicola Frost (NF): I work with a great team, here in the UK and in the US. That makes things very rewarding and fun at times. We all want to get the job done, do our best and be challenged. There are always challenges cropping up and that’s what I enjoy. Because of my nine years of experience at 8x8, I’m often helping to do things outside of my role as a controller too—which I enjoy.

8x8: Do you have the career you envisioned for yourself?

NF: Kind of. I decided when I was 16 that I wanted to be an accountant because I liked the logic involved (for me, accountancy is logic, not maths), but I didn’t know where I’d end up. I worked for several years in a practice, then I moved into industry focusing on private equity. After that, I joined 8x8 as a financial controller. There was a lot of work to do, and we were a small team doing it. I’ve learned a lot on my journey, come across things I never thought I would, and now I manage people and strategies.

8x8: What’s been the biggest surprise and achievement for you in the last 12 months?

NF: A little over 12 months ago I pushed hard for a new ESG role to be created. Before that, many of us were doing it as an extra part of our job. It wasn’t our focus. I got the role established and then we appointed Liz Harris to the position. She’s done amazing things in her role, she’s created committees and processes that we didn’t have before. I’m proud of securing that role and proud of Liz for excelling in it—it helped us to win a Trust Radius ESG award too. I recently did a similar thing with someone in my team too. I recommended her to take on a global role, which meant I lost a great person but she’s doing brilliantly so I’m proud of that.

8x8: Are there barriers for women wanting to work in tech/SaaS?

NF: From a finance perspective, I don’t think there are any barriers for women wanting to work in tech or SaaS. More often than not, finance in different sectors is similar. So, if you’re in finance and you want to move to tech, I think you’ll be fine. From a tech-focused perspective, I think there are barriers to getting young people, girls in particular, interested. When they’re in the roles, I think there’s a progression issue too. My daughter has a Roblox account and there’s a coding club at her school. She’s not interested in signing up to learn how to make tech stuff, she just wants to use it. I think lots of grassroots work needs to be done to change that. Put coding on the curriculum, for example.

"I think there are barriers to getting young people, girls in particular, interested in wanting to work in tech. When they’re in the roles, I think there’s a progression issue too."

8x8: What more could/should men be doing to ensure it's a level workplace?

NF: One of the positives to come out of Covid was people’s increased tolerance for flexibility and a more realistic work-life balance. It’s totally normal for people to work several days from home and be given the flexibility to manage caregiving priorities at the same time too. It will be interesting to see how this area continues to evolve.

8x8: In terms of equality, have things progressed in the last 12 months, gone backwards or mostly stayed the same?

NF: We’ve certainly gone backwards on flexible working. A lot of organisations are sliding back to where they were before. At 8x8, we’ve improved on things like our gender pay gap reporting. That was important to me. We needed to do a better job, and myself, Liz, and the marketing team have produced something much better. Across the industry, I think we’re seeing slow progress with these things. But the fact that they’re being taken seriously, with people talking about them, is a strong move in the right direction.

8x8: The four pillars of the Women in Tech Festival are diversity, innovation, community, and empowerment. In your experience, which has resonated with you the most during your career?

NF: I’m really lucky because I work with a brilliant group of women at 8x8. We’ve got a strong community and we’ve got each other’s backs. We’re always promoting one another and cheering each other on. So, for me, community is certainly the most important. It’s been like that at many places I’ve worked too. I still regularly see four colleagues from when I was in private equity. Strong communities have been a part of the whole of my career.

8x8: If you could click your fingers and tomorrow it’d be different, what one thing would you change in the tech sector?

NF: I want kids to think tech is cool. My husband and I are both accountants. My daughter doesn’t think that’s very cool. I’d like her to think tech was cool though. That would help address gender balance and get more women into tech. It’d also help young people with the skills that they’ll need in the future.

8x8: How do you feel about being a finalist for the Women in Tech Excellence Awards for 2023?

NF: It made me laugh out loud to be honest, mainly from the shock of our success and because the tables have been turned on me. I’ve been nominating people for a couple of years, so when I found out that I’d been nominated that was a pleasant surprise. And for so many of us at 8x8 to become finalists too—that was great. It was also positive for me because I found out through a women in tech WhatsApp group I’m a part of that several of us started after attending a conference in Amsterdam. I received some bad news that day, but then this positive news from our group.

8x8: Your nomination is very prestigious. What advice would you give to women starting their careers who want to make a similar impact?

NF: Stay true to yourself. I’ve never bent myself towards how I think other people would want me to be. Say your opinions, back them up with support, and be prepared to admit your mistakes when you make them. It’s always important to fix issues and analyse and talk about them after, too. On top of that, I’d say find yourself a good band of honest cheerleaders. People to talk you up when you need it, and people to talk you down when you’re at risk of doing something stupid.

8x8: What do you think women (and men) should be doing to upskill to advance their careers in 2024 and beyond?

NF: I think that soft skills are what will help people to advance their careers. To be able to support a team you need to have empathy for people and be able to listen to them. Also, now that ESG is so important because of statutory reporting, people need to be more familiar with concepts like carbon accounting too. That’ll future-proof your knowledge and help make positive progress on sustainability issues too.