James Howes Email & Phone Number

• Engaged by Norwich City Council to improve the performance of a recently in-sourced IT Service Desk team and provide support and guidance to an inexperienced team and team lead.
• Delivered insight and analysis of current processes & performance, identified areas requiring improvement.
• Developed and embedded improved processes which increased the efficiency of the service desk function leading to a reduction in open tickets and improved response & resolution times.
• Developed the IT service desk system in-line with revised processes, which allowed improved insight of performance, better management of workload, reduced time for ticket logging and improved reporting.
• Engaged with and developed the team through mentoring and coaching, overcoming their resistance to change.
• Produced a report detailing findings and improvements I’d delivered, recommendations to enable further service improvement and team development, and an action plan to deliver the recommendations.

Norfolk, England, United Kingdom

• As Director of ICT & Change, led the organisation through a period of significant transformation, overseeing IT strategy, cyber security, service delivery, and business-wide change initiatives.
• Developed an IT strategy that aligned to the business plan. Built a roadmap to support delivery of the strategy, provide visibility to stakeholders and allow effective planning of resources.
• Managed a team of project managers, analysts, and technical experts to deliver projects on time and within budget.
• Coordinated with internal teams and external vendors to ensure project milestones were met and deliverables were completed on time.
• Provided leadership and guidance to team members, fostering a collaborative and high-performing team environment.
• Monitored project progress and provided regular updates to senior management and stakeholders, including programme board and audit and risk committee.

• Overall responsibility for IT strategy, cyber security, service delivery, infrastructure, and architecture.
• Restructured the IT team to support the cloud-based infrastructure strategy and improved security through policy implementation.
• Responsible for IT procurement, software licensing review, and cost optimization, resulting in significant cost savings.
• Managed the implementation of a large-scale IT infrastructure upgrade project, including network upgrades, server migrations, and software deployments.
• Active member of the senior management team, contributing to strategic planning and decision-making.

• Responsible for IT service delivery & IT infrastructure management. This was a hybrid management/hands-on technical role, managing & developing a team of 4. Reporting to the IT director, my role was to deliver all.
• Managed IT service delivery and infrastructure management, including support, maintenance, and DR/BC planning.
• Contributed to IT strategy, technical requirements definition, and project delivery as part of the Business Transformation team.
• Built and maintained relationships with vendors and third parties, and managed IT procurement and operational budgets.
• Responsibility for management of the operational IT budget.

• Joining the company shortly after it was formed, initially as part of a 2 person IT team, I built entire IT infrastructure from the ground up, evolving systems to support company growth and emerging technologies.
• Implemented and maintained cyber security measures and provided technical support across all aspects of IT operations.
• Collaborated with third-party consultants and vendors to leverage expertise and resources as needed.

Supported a data mapping project with the analysis of business rules and a review of both source and target data points. Outputs included documentation of legacy extraction processes.

Bsc Information Systems, Information Technology

Education record

Btec National Diploma In Computing, Computer Technology/Computer Systems Technology