Neil Baker Email & Phone Number

providing programme governance across a number of Projects

Melbourne, Australia

Project manage the implementation of Sage Intacct for Expression Australia.

Short term assignment to:- Provide the Board with recommendations regarding the replacement of their aging Salesforce system with Salesforce or Dynamics.- Undertake a review of the current ICT Managed Service Provider (MSP) and make recommendations to replace them.- Provide recommendations on an ICT Strategy.

Melbourne, Australia

Initially a short-term contract role for the Project Management of replacement Payroll, HR & Rostering systems (Sage People, Sage MicroPay & Carelink). This was extended to include additional Projects including the demerger of a subsidiary business and the implementation of an IT Governance forum. Due to an unplanned vacancy, I was asked to perform an interim Systems Management role with responsibility across the ICT Systems Team for 6 months.

Project Management of the requirement gathering, configuration and customisation of the Fred Pharmacy solution inclusive of Retail, Hospital and Finance into the Ramsay Pharmacy Group

Project Management of a contemporary Rostering, Time & Attendance system for the MFB.

Fixed term contract to manage the ICT operation of Wesley Mission while completing the Project Management of the Finance system.

Project Management of the implementation of the Technology One Finance System (OneCommunity).

Undertaking various operational reviews for the Mission on a part time pro bono basis with a focus around the Mission's ICT environment.Project Management of the implementation of a new Finance System (Technology One). This is a part time, hands-on role ensuring that the system is able to be implemented in the required time frame.

ICT consisted of 23 team members and operated with a budget approaching $6 million. The ICT function was seen to be under performing and the required synergies across the group had not been achieved.Key achievements:- Undertook a redesign and tendering process to replace 5 under-performing data centres. The tendering process resulted in a proposal to outsource these under an Opex model, avoiding a large Capex investment. - Implemented a Governance model to ensure that ICT were… Show more ICT consisted of 23 team members and operated with a budget approaching $6 million. The ICT function was seen to be under performing and the required synergies across the group had not been achieved.Key achievements:- Undertook a redesign and tendering process to replace 5 under-performing data centres. The tendering process resulted in a proposal to outsource these under an Opex model, avoiding a large Capex investment. - Implemented a Governance model to ensure that ICT were working on the correct business priorities.- Implemented process improvements to the Service Desk function which resulted in better relationships with the Business as well as a reduction in the previous backlog of requests.- Improved delivery and support of the SAP environment.- Undertook an in-depth risk analysis across the ICT footprint and made recommendations to address the most pressing of these. Show less

IT consisted of 130 team members with an operating budget of $20million and a capital budget of $4.5 million. There was also a Project portfolio budget approaching $20 million operating under a Project Management Office (PMO) to which Technology provided services.Key achievements:- Improved the relationship between Technology and the PMO which had become problematic.- Complete rebuild of the Infrastructure including all Servers, Network and communication components to allow the… Show more IT consisted of 130 team members with an operating budget of $20million and a capital budget of $4.5 million. There was also a Project portfolio budget approaching $20 million operating under a Project Management Office (PMO) to which Technology provided services.Key achievements:- Improved the relationship between Technology and the PMO which had become problematic.- Complete rebuild of the Infrastructure including all Servers, Network and communication components to allow the business to meet its obligations.- Implemented a Mobile Device Strategy, Policy and capability including BYOD support.- Support for the implementation of a very large portfolio of work relating to legislative changes which the Australian Government collectively refer to as Stronger Super.- Developed an e-Commerce strategy and roadmap to further improve on-line engagement of Members.- Analysis of the as-is state and delivery of a plan to improve this, largely by restructuring the Management layer within IT and focusing on ITIL as a framework.- Implementation of an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) to support improved integration between disparate systems and allowing a Service Oriented Architecture path for future development.- Improved governance over the Technology function through the creation of an IT Governance Forum. Show less

Key achievements:- Developed and gained agreement for an IT Strategy which addressed the Firms needs for the next 3 years.- Developed a Business Continuity Plan and an aligned IT Disaster Recovery Plan including a substantial investment in IT Infrastructure in order to support the Firms recovery objectives.- Reduced operational risk through the improving the security of corporate data.-Reduced the technical debt by replacing all Lotus Notes applications with SharePoint and .net… Show more Key achievements:- Developed and gained agreement for an IT Strategy which addressed the Firms needs for the next 3 years.- Developed a Business Continuity Plan and an aligned IT Disaster Recovery Plan including a substantial investment in IT Infrastructure in order to support the Firms recovery objectives.- Reduced operational risk through the improving the security of corporate data.-Reduced the technical debt by replacing all Lotus Notes applications with SharePoint and .net alternatives.- Delivered substantial savings across hardware purchases through the introduction of competitive bidding and cooperative Association purchasing.- Developed a strategy to improve services to clients through the development of Portal (eComm) based access to Firms systems.- Developed a strategy to update the Pitcher website, changing it to be Client focussed instead of Firm centric and ensure its alignment with Social Media opportunities.- Introduced ITIL principles into the IT Helpdesk. Show less

Mandate was to review the IT operation and to facilitate the improvement to a level that would be considered benchmark. The team roles, responsibilities and processes had grown organically over time rather than in a planned way. This resulted in a general lack of process, little or no knowledge of standard IT practices, no measurement or performance management and little focus on outcomes. The steps to improvement were not significant, difficult, nor complex and benefits were realised quite… Show more Mandate was to review the IT operation and to facilitate the improvement to a level that would be considered benchmark. The team roles, responsibilities and processes had grown organically over time rather than in a planned way. This resulted in a general lack of process, little or no knowledge of standard IT practices, no measurement or performance management and little focus on outcomes. The steps to improvement were not significant, difficult, nor complex and benefits were realised quite quickly. IT consisted of 10 team members and a budget of around $2.5 million. Show less

The role required me to participate as an active member of the Regional IT function, with specific responsibility to deliver IT capabilities to the Australian and New Zealand businesses. The focus was to allow the businesses to operate flexibly and uniquely within their markets. This was to be achieved while ensuring alignment to global IT standards and implementing global, regional and local solutions as required.

Bsc, It

Mba