Developing the service architecture design practice within the presale’s function to support the growth of Colt with a core focus on large scale and complex managed service opportunities.

Role: Leading a Team of 7 Service Designers developing new Vodafone Business Unified Communications ProductsResponsibilities;- Coordination of my teams activities, mentoring and coaching team members to improve quality & standards, and taking full accountability for the integrity and quality of designs across the portfolio.- Elicit requirements from the Product Owner and Business Analyst.- Engage impacted teams including: Sales, Ordering, Provisioning, Service Operations, Billing, Finance, Networks, and IT.- Host Stakeholder Design Workshops to develop design concepts for org-structure, systems, and business processes.- Produce the Service Design Package containing the agreed designs.

Role: Managing a team of Business Change Specialists driving Benefits Realisation for Features developed by the Agile Release-TrainResponsibilities•Understand the Features from information in JIRA, Confluence, and with the Product Owner.•Stakeholder liaison to raise awareness & understanding of the Feature, and the Benefits & Impacts.•Reach a consensus for the expected impact on the Stakeholders and Business Processes.•Create, agree, and execute a Business Change Plan for each Feature based on tools including; Stakeholder Engagement, explanatory slideware, Training, Communications, Knowledge Base, System Demo’s, and User Acceptance Testing.•Host regular Stakeholder sessions for “frequent fliers” such as the Customer Service Desk.•Lead the weekly “Programme Leadership Team” Meeting, updating the SLT on the Progress/Benefits-Realisation DashboardNotable Achievements•Seconded into this role because of my reputation for excellent Stakeholder Management Skills, the situation on my arrival was adversarial, with some very hostile Business Stakeholders.•My team and I improved this within a few weeks with a Stakeholder Engagement Plan including; a standard transparent process, commitment to weekly stakeholder touchpoints for awareness, a TEAMS space where Stakeholders can see feature collateral including System Demo recordings, and a firmly embedded principle of “Stakeholder Advocacy”.

Defining and building the Vodafone Business Operating Model. My main activities include;•Defining the Future Ops Model – a “productised” set of service components based on ITIL Processes.•Building the capability to deliver: engage Operations to level-up and standardise service delivery across all Service Centres.•Implement Channel & CX Strategy: encourage Digital Channel uptake, whilst maintaining service levels on other channels•Analyse Business Processes to identify “Shift-Left”, Self-Serve, and Digital Automation opportunities•Create & Lead virtual teams to drive initiatives to achieve the improvements needed.•Work with New Product Development Programme Teams to ensure all designs align to the Ops Model and Service Strategy.•Provide Subject Matter Expertise and Best Practice Guidance in Operational ProcessesSome examples of my achievements;•ServiceBox: Delivered the standard “out of the box” service components for Problem Management, Change Management, and Access Management. Customer Solution Designers now use these to speed-up and simplify their design process.•IOT Support Evolution: “Step Left” and Automation deliveries. For example - automated SIM reset operations based on criteria (including T&D results) reducing the Time to Resolve and eliminating Engineer involvement in mundane Incidents.•SDN Support: As Product Owner for Service Strategy, I developed Vendor B2B Integration Features (including Business Case, Acceptance Criteria, and User Stories) delivering SDN alignment to the Ops Model and Channel Digital Strategy.

The Data Retrieval Service (DRS) manages a process for data retrieval, and services a number of client groups including Litigation, HR, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs. DRS supports cases where the bank is involved in litigation, regulatory investigations, HR grievance procedures, fraud, and criminal cases.My responsibilities are; Ownership & management of Service Design, and Managing the interface to change programmes within the bank.

My role at Vodafone was to take a proposed new product or service change, and work with all stakeholders and affected functions to create the Service Design Package. This document set included; Business Requirements, Solution Architecture, IT changes, Business Processes, and outline transition plans. This involved engagement with many business areas including; Sales, Ordering, Provisioning, Service Assurance, Billing, Finance, Networks, and IT.I hosted design workshops, getting stakeholders and management together to walk through the proposed design and to facilitate; requirements elicitation, validation of the requirements, understanding of the design implications, and flushing out the impacts on the organisation, systems & IT, business processes, and regulatory compliance. Also important were; ensuring design alignment with established Enterprise Architecture, Steering Group updates, and ensuring compliance for project gates and regulatory.

I work with students at a local school to help them run their Young Enterprise Company Program, helping the students to set up and run a small business for the duration of a school year.I believe strongly in the enterprise culture here in the UK, and so I'm trying to do my bit to get youngsters fired up about the possibilities life holds when you take responsibility for your own destiny.

Investigating new business interests, carrying out voluntary work for Young Enterprise, and helping relatives in the development of their businesses.

Consultancy across many Bluefish clients, a few examples of which are;Leicester City Council – a Passenger Transport review, seeking improvements in quality, value, and efficiency. The key areas addressed were; streamlining request & route planning systems, and changing team structures to fit.RNLI (Lifeboats) - I conducted an RFI/RFP process to select a new WAN provider for 234 lifeboat stations, HQ in Poole, and 9 regional centres.Vodafone – Femtocell development to provide 3G indoor coverage with broadband backhaul. I fulfilled the solution architecture for the business version of this product.

An interesting, high profile engagement with outputs shaping IP Voice Recording & IP handset usage within Credit Suisse, producing blueprints and standards for implementation teams to use in live projects. My role - technical lead on two concurrent projects; FIRST a Proof of Concept (POC) to ascertain the suitability of NICE IP Voice Recording Software for use within CS, SECOND the testing and certification of next generation IP handsets from Avaya. In both instances I was responsible for the test plan & co-ordination of resources to set up the test lab, the conduct & documentation of tests, subsequent production of blueprints for implementation teams, & seeking approval for the products use in the CS environment. A complex & challenging engagement successfully completed in the face of aggressive timelines, having to manage multiple stakeholders within the organisation, and cope with the change control & security strictures associated with working in a large financial organisation.

I undertook a strategic review of telephony, call centre, LAN/WAN, mobility and remote access. The business was changing through M&A and growth, so flexibility, scalability, and agility were needed. The review was formed of 4 major segments:1, Baseline review – I delivered to the stakeholders an early comprehensive review of the state of corporate IT provision. Is the business getting the service it needs, or are IT systems an inhibitor?2. Future needs - I interviewed stakeholders (staff, department managers, CxO level) to build a picture of what the business needed. A consensus emerged on what the business expected from its IT systems, plus clarity on current frustrations.3. I engaged suppliers to get costed proposals for offerings in the managed MPLS WAN and VoIP industry segment.4. Roadmap - I presented a costed road-map, with business benefits carefully weighed against the costs of doing nothing.This was a great role requiring lots of political skill to remain sensitive to the many different stakeholder agendas within the business, and yet maintain momentum towards a consensus. I did this through persuasion, the discussion of alternatives, and displaying adaptability.

My project involved a Feasibility Study & Technical Options Report outlining Vodafone options in the enterprise convergence space.Vodafones offering within the enterprise market was the “Wireless Office” suite of products, based on Mobex (Mobile Extension) and preferential tariff agreements. My task was the investigation of enhancement options possible for the next generation Wireless Office product, including a wider feature set based on CTI and advances in Unified Communications & Presence-Based-Applications expected to make mainstream in enterprise communications in 2008.This was a very interesting international role with the twin challenges of technical complexity & multiple stakeholders (Global Marketing, Global Technology, European Vodafone Operating Companies). The solutions suggested were designed in Next Generation Intelligent Network (NGIN) and IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), giving me exposure to these architectural frameworks, along with knowledge of GSM mobile networks.

Agilisys is a business process & IT outsourcer working within the public and private sector. My role encompassed pre-sales design and implementation of voice systems, converged data networks, and Contact Centre solutions. Working and presenting successfully up-to board level on multiple tender processes and implementations, I have developed a keen commercial awareness, and gained valuable experience on the particular nuances associated with doing business within Local Government.

I conducted a review of the corporate telecommunications system covering all aspects of telephony. My project consisted of a system audit and investigation, and the documentation of my recommendations for future development along with some “quick-win” cost savings of over £100k per annum by decommissioning unused extensions, and the implementation of user groups for mobiles (mobex).

Ericsson and Siemens Realitis PABX network management and implementation projects on multi-site voice networks. The role involved support, major projects and change programmes on voice systems at BT Ignites major local client, Scottish Equitable. This gave me valuable experience in the financial industry including insights into high-availability voice system design, and the use of dealerboards, and private wires.

I carried out new installations and upgrades of voice network hardware based on Ericsson PABX’s and CTI applications,I was responsible for project progress, plus the configuration, testing and commissioning process through to customer hand-over. I gained great experience in voice/data convergence technologies including VoIP and WAN protocols, and remote access using TIGRIS multi-service access platform. A “hands-on” technical role, but good communication skills were critical to facilitate a good match between customer expectations and the solution. I became adept at communicating complex technical concepts to non-technical people both in informal settings, and in project meetings or presentations. The role required project management skills to bring together equipment vendors, network service providers, and also the management of contractors.

Same role as for Ericsson. Damovo was the Enterprise Solutions arm of Ericsson that was de-merged in Q2 2001.

A technical project management role – surveying sites to be brought onto the council IP WAN. Requirements specification, subsequent tendering, and then management of contractors and suppliers to a successful project close.

PABX & call centre ACD system management involving the Ericsson MD110, Lucent Definity & associated CTI applications. Excellent experience of live support of a large PABX system and call centre systems.

I provided PABX, AIX UNIX, Desktop PC, Novell LAN, 3COM hardware support functions for managed services installed by RACAL / BULL at HM Prison sites.