Declan Walsh Email & Phone Number

Ijmuiden & Copenhagen

In September 2017 DFDS undertook a major re-organisation of its Passenger business and as a result Business Development and Strategy were added to my portfolio of responsibilities, and my role as Digital Officer was expanded to being Digital and IT Officer (formally this means I also have Chief Product Owner responsibility).In this role I became responsible for delivery of Strategy, Innovation, Intelligence, Technology Development and Project/Program Management, underpinned by a constant focus on Customer Experience with the expressed purpose of identifying, developing and implementing growth opportunities for the DFDS Passenger business.In 2020 a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and a re-organisation of how Technology is managed at DFDS radically changed my team and our responsibilities to have a much tighter focus on strategy and navigating DFDS through the stormy waters of Covid-19.

Amsterdam & Copenhagen

As Digital Officer (PAX) I was responsible for software & technologies used to run the DFDS passenger business, leading a team committed to ensuring that the DFDS passenger business has the best possible tools to drive its success.The team were responsible for the technology platform and customer related processes that enable the DFDS customer Digital experience, and the value streams these generate. This included development and commercial exploitation of new software & technologies for Product Management, Pricing & Revenue management, Call Centre & Check-In, Terminal Operations, Onboard systems, Digital sales channels & eCommerce, and CRM.The role included a dotted line responsibility to our Group Digital Officer, supporting DFDS in taking advantage of business opportunities provided by Digital ways of working and catalysed by Digital Customer Engagement, being responsible for Digital Strategy in the passenger business and contributing to the wider DFDS Digital Strategy.

Scheveningen & Copenhagen

Following the acquisition of Norfolkline by DFDS I took a position at DFDS Seaways' Passenger Competence Centre where I had responsibility for Digital distribution of the passenger product, and falling out of that responsibility for Web Design and Information Architecture on group level.As had been the case with Norfolkline, at DFDS Digital as a means of doing business is of most importance for the passenger part of the company. As such it was fitting that my role sat in the passenger part of the organisation even though my responsibilities extend beyond that.A major part of the role was a major reorganisation of the DFDS/Noroflkline/Lisco web assets in line with the DFDS two-brand strategy and the implications of the acquisition for both organisations. This was a challenging piece of work, with some quite aggressive timelines for delivery, but exactly the sort of work I love!

In 2009 my responsibilities at Norfolkline were extended to comprise both those described in the web manager position and product management of Norfolkline’s eBusiness suite.This responsibility included the opening up of Digital distribution channels for our Logistics and Freight Shipping portfolio with a lot of my focus on Business Development.

Scheveningen (The Netherlands)

In 2007 I joined Norfolkline to define and implement their Digital Strategy. My initial focus was on reorganising and rethinking how Norfolkline presented itself digitally so that it could do its business better. Optimising the use of the legacy technology framework, I transformed Norfolkline’s Digital presence to have a consistent brand expression and an optimised user experience that delivered year on year growth of 30-70% in a stagnant market.In this role I was responsible for all aspects of Norfolkline’s Digital portfolio including strategic direction, design, interaction design, user experience, solution architecture, domain management, HTML/CSS, editorial content standards, and development of the supporting software.Achievements include:- Architected and implemented a complete overhaul of Norfolkline’s public websites and in so doing radically improving all relevant KPIs- Overhauled Norfolkline’s web publishing capabilities so that their websites were easier to manage and search engine optimised such that key search phrases appeared on the first page of Google search results- Designed and developed content/websites for Norfolkline’s freight ferry and logistics businesses that are successful showcases of their capabilities - Optimised key elements of the passenger booking process flow that significantly reduced drop-off rates and improved site conversion by in excess of 20% and payment conversion to 95%- Implemented a range of improvements to Norfolkline’s payment systems including the introduction of iDEAL, GiroPay and PayPal as payment mechanisms.- Designed, architected, piloted and rolled-out a new generation of business applications for Norfolkline’s B2B customers- Defining a KPI framework for Norfolkline’s Digital assets so that these could be measured and managed against

In 2008 I worked on a temporary part-time assignment with Maersk Line (www.maerskline.com) supporting them in their efforts to to transfrom their Digital offerings.

In this role I was responsible for design, definition and prototyping of web assets delivered by chellomedia and related web-based applications/client software. The role of my team was to turn ideas into reality by transforming business requirements into fully fleshed out solutions that are then developed by internal or external technology providers, and thereafter managed by producers using publishing systems that we are also responsible for.The team included a designer/art director, an interaction designer, a technical producer, and three developers and were responsible for a variety of Digital assets in multiple brands and locales published from the same CMS (www.alleenopeen.tv, www.chello.at/be/fr/hu/nl/no/pl/se/sk/, www.film1.nl, www.hispeed.ch, ww.ntlworld.ie, www.sport1.nl, www.upclive.cz/pl, and www.weerkanaal.nl)Example achievements:- Architected and implemented a new generation of chello consumer portals that doubled all relevant KPIs- Overhauled, enhanced and productised chellomedia web publishing capabilities- Architected and delivered web assets for emerging chellomedia TV brands- Architected and implemented the first deployment of UPC’s integrated web asset model- Built and managed a highly skilled team of web professionals (designers/developers/producers)- Played a key role in architecture/development of all aspects of chello’s interactive product portfolio (consumer portals, webmail, search, VOD, toolbars, customer installation solutions etc.) and the implementation of business support systems enabling their on-going management

Product Manager for chello's PC based interactive products - websites/web-based applications/client software. The role's scope was pretty much to take the mess that existed when I started in the position and to raise the quality threshold and introduce consistency of brand expression accross the product suite.

In my first two years at chello I moved from initially project managing the development of the CMS that publishes chello's websites through to running a knowledge management competency as part of a central program mangement office, finishing up as a program manager. As program manager I was responsible for projects relating to chello's interactive products and as a result I developed expertise in this area that has allowed me to develop further along a product/development manager path

My first IT role was as consultant for AMS - a big billing systems consultancy that had approx. 2000 employees in Europe at the time. In my year at AMS I was a technical author for a complex software project and then later spent some time on an internal web-based HR/recruitment project - this project was essentially a hot-house so that AMS could develop some web competency. My experience on this project led me to being posted to chello (as a project manager for their CMS development).

On graduating as a Chemical Engineer in 1992 I embarked on a career in academia that saw me publish 20+ papers in the field of aerosol science - my expertise was in fibrous filtration. I enjoyed the research... but the last three years (while lecturing at Heriot-Watt) were proof this wasn't me so I did an MBA and got out.

Mba, Strategic Information Systems & Production Management

Phd, The Effect Of Aerosol Load On Elecrtically Active Fibrous Filter Materials

Beng(Hons), Chemical Engineering