IFGlobal in focus – Jay Morris, Head of Technology

Welcome to IFGlobal In Focus, our series spotlighting the people driving our business forward. In each edition, we chat with key team members about their careers, industry insights, and what’s next for IFGlobal.

In this edition, we hear from Jay Morris, our Head of Technology. With nearly two decades at IFGlobal, Jay has been at the heart of the company’s technological evolution as the first engineer of BladePRO, our proprietary fulfilment operating system. Jay reflects on the journey so far, the challenges of building scalable technology, and what’s next for BladePRO and IFGlobal. 

Jay Morris, Head of Technology

You’ve been part of IFGlobal since the very beginning. What inspired you to join at such an early stage, and what excited you most about the opportunity back then? 

It was a very long time ago – it’s 17 years this year. IFGlobal was a completely different business back then. There were only four of us in a small office, and fulfilment as we know it now wasn’t really a thing yet. 

I’d just come back from living and working in Spain and was looking for a new opportunity to progress my engineering career. James Bartlett, CEO at IFGlobal, has an infectious enthusiasm and really sold me the vision of what the company could become.  

At the time, he was running a couple of ecommerce brands and I could see a huge opportunity to make my mark as the sole engineer, working across both technology and the websites that supported sales. There was a lot of potential, and that’s what made it exciting. 

As Head of Technology, what are your core focus areas day-to-day, and how has your role evolved as IFGlobal has grown from a start-up into a scaling global business? 

My role has evolved in every which way. At the beginning, I was the only developer, engineering BladePRO from the ground up and managing all the systems that supported the business. 

Today, my focus is much broader. I oversee the long-term software strategy, the technical infrastructure across our operational fulfilment centres, and data security across the organisation. As IFGlobal has scaled, my role has shifted from hands-on engineering to shaping the technological foundations that enable sustainable growth. 

BladePRO has become central to how we operate. Can you talk us through the journey of developing our proprietary fulfilment operating system? 

BladePRO began with a simple idea. Rebuilding an existing system from scratch to support the future of fulfilment at IFGlobal. 

When we first started speaking to customers, BladePRO was one of the only systems that offered live visibility of orders and stock through a web portal. At the time, the industry was largely paper-based, so customers were genuinely amazed by the level of transparency and control they had. 

As IFGlobal grew, BladePRO evolved with it. We focused heavily on automation to reduce human error, streamline processes and increase efficiency. Without BladePRO, it would have been impossible to scale at the pace we did without dramatically increasing operational headcount. 

What were some of the biggest technical or operational challenges you faced while building BladePRO, and how did overcoming them shape the platform and the business? 

One of the biggest challenges was ambition versus reality. We wanted BladePRO to run the entire business, but we were building it within the constraints of a rapidly growing company. 

In the early years, cloud-based technologies weren’t widely available or mature enough, and running software at this scale was extremely expensive. We had to find creative, cost-effective ways to achieve what we wanted, often building our own modules and infrastructure from scratch. 

I often describe BladePRO as an iceberg... what you see is only a small part of it. Around 90% of the system is hidden beneath the surface, and it’s something we’re incredibly proud of. If we were building it today, we’d probably use many off-the-shelf cloud services, but we didn’t have that luxury back then, so we engineered our own solutions. 

From a technology perspective, what do you believe differentiates IFGlobal in the ecommerce fulfilment space? 

Our biggest differentiator is the combination of experience and bespoke technology. 

We’ve grown within the fulfilment industry, so BladePRO has been built alongside real operational challenges. Because we’ve experienced every stage of growth that a brand goes through firsthand, we understand what businesses need at different points in their journey. 

Unlike companies using off-the-shelf software, we can adapt our processes and technology in tandem with customer requirements. That flexibility gives us a significant edge. 

Looking ahead, where do you see the biggest opportunities for BladePRO and IFGlobal’s growth over the next 2–3 years? 

A major opportunity lies in refining and aligning our operations and technology even more closely. 

We’re doubling down on operational excellence, fine-tuning processes, ensuring compliance at every step, and making sure we operate as efficiently and fairly as possible for our customers. By continuing to evolve both BladePRO and our business model, we’re positioning IFGlobal to become a true market leader. 

How do you balance the need to deliver reliable, scalable solutions today while still innovating and future-proofing our technology? 

It’s one of the biggest challenges in technology. You can always throw money at problems, but the real challenge is finding the right balance between cost, speed and scalability.  

We focus on delivering minimum viable solutions that meet today’s needs while engineering them in a way that allows us to scale and evolve them over time. Modern cloud technologies from providers like Google and Microsoft give us flexibility, allowing us to innovate without spending months building solutions from scratch. 

Can you give us an insight into what’s coming next for BladePRO? 

We are currently looking at precision processes and structure in how we improve the business. 

Instead of tackling large, complex problems in one go, this project, known within IFGlobal as ‘Project Polaris’, breaks them down into smaller components. It allows us to analyse processes in detail, compare like-for-like elements, and improve them step by step in a lean, structured way. 

Ultimately, it’s our way of creating consistent, repeatable processes that deliver the highest quality of service without increasing our cost base. 

Reflecting on your career so far, what achievement are you most proud of? 

BladePRO in general, to be honest.  

It represents years of hard work from many people, and being part of its development and evolution from the beginning has been a defining part of my career. Seeing how central it has become to IFGlobal’s success is something I’m incredibly proud of. 

If you weren’t working in technology or fulfilment, what alternative path do you think you might have taken? 

I trained as a mechanic when I left school and was initially set on that career path.  

I then moved to Spain instead, where I worked in a variety of roles, from running a restaurant to owning an internet café and computer repair business. It was a very different journey, but one that shaped how I think about problem-solving and business today at IFGlobal. 

Quick facts 

• A skill you’re proud of that helps you excel in your role: 
  Problem-solving, especially under pressure. I enjoy analysing challenges from different perspectives to find practical, effective solutions.

• If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
  Jony Ive, Apple’s former lead designer. He transformed complex problems into a beautifully intuitive user experience, which is something we constantly strive for with BladePRO.

• One thing your colleagues might be surprised to learn about you:
  I enjoy leatherwork. I make handcrafted leather items like journal covers and wallets. I really appreciate the craftsmanship involved in creating something tangible and well-made.