Michael Ward Email & Phone Number

Newcastle Upon Tyne, Gb

Strategically direct the business to meet statutory obligations by making informed decisions, forecasting annual budget and achieving solution sign-off at executive level. Focus on IT infrastructure management and service delivery, combined with software and product development to drive business change and meet stakeholder objectives. Lead the IT department and technical project management involving first line of support, security, BI and MI analysts, data and business transformation teams, adapting management methodologies for each project.

Shaped, developed and led a team of change professionals and IT specialists to support the delivery of key strategic projects and administer a change portfolio. Engaged with senior operational peers and business leaders to identify opportunities to implement high-quality solutions to support the business and enhance the customer experience. Focused on maximising operational efficiencies, generating cost savings and increasing revenue benefits.

Planned and governed multiple projects from requirements capture to completion, taking on additional team leadership and management of the development team.

Captured business requirements via workshops and stakeholder engagement to translate into process flow diagrams and documentation, reporting to the Head of Business Change. Utilised swim diagrams for as-is and to-be business process mapping to recommend new solutions. Played an integral role in the UAT phase, engaging with business end users to test solutions and systems with fully documented test scripts. Interacted with various third parties to leverage expertise in project management and delivery, prioritising high-profile programmes and solution implementation. Acted as an escalation point for system, process and operational queries to share knowledge and best practices.