Peter Baker Email & Phone Number

Taking time out to care for my parents. After this I plan to spend time pursuing my +35 year motorcycling passion and later in 2018 look for my next business challenge. Ideally an International role where I can apply my proven people and management skills, along with my passion for technology, to impact client satisfaction and financial results.

Reading, United Kingdom

Having been part of nearly all Enterprise and Partner ecosystems in support I wanted to experience a new business area and moved to Bing/MSN as Group Program Manager leading 30-40 Program Managers across Europe. Main achievements in this role have been:-Supporting MSN’s Strategy through driving adoption of products and features in International markets.Providing a clear and consistent interface to Product Groups from the many International Media teams.Integral part of… Show more Having been part of nearly all Enterprise and Partner ecosystems in support I wanted to experience a new business area and moved to Bing/MSN as Group Program Manager leading 30-40 Program Managers across Europe. Main achievements in this role have been:-Supporting MSN’s Strategy through driving adoption of products and features in International markets.Providing a clear and consistent interface to Product Groups from the many International Media teams.Integral part of the team who deployed MSN for Windows 8 to International markets while maintaining classic web sites.I played a pivotal role in recovering a significant staff moral issue for one region improving employee satisfaction by 20-30% points.During the period I took a 12 month secondment undertaking my managers role in addition to my role. The additional role, reporting directly to the Engineering Partner, was responsible for Asia, Americas and Europe as well as Leadership Team management, all International operations and staff management. Show less

Reading, United Kingdom

Promoted to Senior Director leading ~200 Engineers/Account Managers in 22 sites across Europe (plus vendors) supporting Microsoft Business Systems Partners and Customers. In addition I was the Global AX Support lead with responsibility to product Group for North/Latin America, Greater Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Main achievements in this role have been:-Achieving Customer and Partner Experience improvements in a technology and customer/partner segment I was unfamiliar… Show more Promoted to Senior Director leading ~200 Engineers/Account Managers in 22 sites across Europe (plus vendors) supporting Microsoft Business Systems Partners and Customers. In addition I was the Global AX Support lead with responsibility to product Group for North/Latin America, Greater Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Main achievements in this role have been:-Achieving Customer and Partner Experience improvements in a technology and customer/partner segment I was unfamiliar with. On joining, CPE was in the 50s with a target of 60%, in 2009 we exceeded plan. In 2011 we were running at 69% a growth of ~15 points.Building Product Group relationships. I was able to plan an effective turnaround in the group relationship. Even though I “owned” responsibility for the World Wide AX teams, I took a partnering approach with the other regions. By listening to and understanding needs/concerns I have been able to hold highly successful Quarterly Business Reviews with the CVP, rebuilding their trust in the support team.Working closely with the field focusing on proactive services, such as assisting customers/partners to upgrade from obsolete versions, redeploying staff from reactive to proactive work and driving a higher engagement for our proactive services driving adoption and hence market share.During this period my manager was promoted and I took a 4 month secondment doing their job reporting directly to the European Support General Manager. Show less

Reading, United Kingdom

Promoted to Director leading 400+ people in 15 sites worldwide (including Europe, North America and India) supporting mainly Enterprise Customers. As the first organisation of this type and an initial group of less than 100 people, we consolidated country support teams and grew to 400+ employees plus vendors. The main achievements in this role were:-Creating a truly European people focused team ensuring all aspects were considered from small to large sites. Balancing the personal needs… Show more Promoted to Director leading 400+ people in 15 sites worldwide (including Europe, North America and India) supporting mainly Enterprise Customers. As the first organisation of this type and an initial group of less than 100 people, we consolidated country support teams and grew to 400+ employees plus vendors. The main achievements in this role were:-Creating a truly European people focused team ensuring all aspects were considered from small to large sites. Balancing the personal needs and legal requirements of many countries, covering the different types of role was complex. Employee Satisfaction improving from “not so good” to “best in class”.Customer Focused Culture Executive Sponsor. CFC was about putting the customer at the centre of everything we did and the Engineer at the centre of manager’s attention. Through involvement in the project and CFC events at every support site this became a passion and my commitment to CFC was still visible by staff long after the initial kick off with natural tendencies to increase Customer and Partner Satisfaction!Europe’s Platforms Server customer satisfaction started as the lowest in our department, improving each of the 5 years ending as the highest ever! This was achieved through many changing business environments of consolidation and offshoring. Show less

Reading, United Kingdom

Promoted to Group Manager leading ~30-80 Engineers/Managers in 3 sites supporting Enterprise Customers. This role started as a regional lead for Northern Europe covering UK, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Netherlands and then migrated into a cross European product focus on Windows Server and Desktop. The main achievements in this role were:-Turnaround - Initially the unit had poor morale, in addition two managers were in the process of applying for new roles. I supported theirs… Show more Promoted to Group Manager leading ~30-80 Engineers/Managers in 3 sites supporting Enterprise Customers. This role started as a regional lead for Northern Europe covering UK, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Netherlands and then migrated into a cross European product focus on Windows Server and Desktop. The main achievements in this role were:-Turnaround - Initially the unit had poor morale, in addition two managers were in the process of applying for new roles. I supported theirs application and created contingency plans. Within 6 months a completely new management team had been hired that went on to be cohesive and successful. Achieving high levels of employee satisfaction through being open to critical feedback, honest with staff about what we could fix and critically leading a more direct approach with front line managers.Growing the engineering organization, distributed across Europe from ~30 to ~80 staff and at the same time maintaining a good engagement model with all stakeholders. Managing critical escalations from Enterprise customer in the banking, petro chemical and manufacturing industry including year 2000! Show less

Reading, United Kingdom

I joined Microsoft to lead a team of 10-20 Engineers supporting the Back Office products such as Windows, Exchange and SQL Server for Enterprise customers and Windows 95 for Consumers. The main achievements in this role were:- Improving operational excellence; Technical Readiness; Implementing a customer facing survey for escalated cases; managing performance of one of my peers through coaching and feedback; Changing the Contract of Employment for the department from 9-5 to a 24x7 callout… Show more I joined Microsoft to lead a team of 10-20 Engineers supporting the Back Office products such as Windows, Exchange and SQL Server for Enterprise customers and Windows 95 for Consumers. The main achievements in this role were:- Improving operational excellence; Technical Readiness; Implementing a customer facing survey for escalated cases; managing performance of one of my peers through coaching and feedback; Changing the Contract of Employment for the department from 9-5 to a 24x7 callout service. Show less

Dover, United Kingdom

Having spent 9 years in a Software Development house I wanted to gain real world commercial experience and joined P&O European Ferries. At the time it was Britain's number one ferry company, achieving ISO9000 approval, operating the majority of short sea routes to France/Spain/Netherlands and Ireland. In 1993 P&O European Ferries carried record volumes of freight, cars and passengers, enabled by advances in computer systems.I was responsible for staff covering Technical Support, 24hr… Show more Having spent 9 years in a Software Development house I wanted to gain real world commercial experience and joined P&O European Ferries. At the time it was Britain's number one ferry company, achieving ISO9000 approval, operating the majority of short sea routes to France/Spain/Netherlands and Ireland. In 1993 P&O European Ferries carried record volumes of freight, cars and passengers, enabled by advances in computer systems.I was responsible for staff covering Technical Support, 24hr Data Center Operations and Help Desk. The main objectives were increasing system availability, staffing efficiency improvements and cost reduction. In this role I re-designed working practise, enabling transfer of vital systems and software skills; proposed a major disaster recovery installation for businesses critical Data Center systems; Installed new computer systems in Dover, Felixstowe, Zeebrugge and Portsmouth to support reduced tourist and freight traffic check-in and ship loading times. Show less

New Malden

My team of 36 staff supported 3000+ users over 14 UK sites using a variety of platforms. NamelyVAX/VMS, UNIX systems, Novel file servers, Macintosh and IBM PC workstations connected by Ethernet LANs and WANs. I implemented a central UK Help Desk superseding the variety of separate manual systems in use at each location. I created a team from people with widely varying skills and career experience, harmonised staff grades. In a major Company exercise I reviewed staffing, maintenance and… Show more My team of 36 staff supported 3000+ users over 14 UK sites using a variety of platforms. NamelyVAX/VMS, UNIX systems, Novel file servers, Macintosh and IBM PC workstations connected by Ethernet LANs and WANs. I implemented a central UK Help Desk superseding the variety of separate manual systems in use at each location. I created a team from people with widely varying skills and career experience, harmonised staff grades. In a major Company exercise I reviewed staffing, maintenance and running costs of all Computer Services. In 1991 we saved 25% on our £1.6M computer operating costs while Service levels and staff moral where maintained. Show less

Dorchester, United Kingdom

Software implementation of DeMarco analysis on a UNIX system, Development of office automation systems, "Front End" ICL 2976 interface to a Workshop Analysis and Scheduling Package and consultancy for the Meteorological Office. In Apr-86 I took responsibility for all company computer facilities. By 1989 I managed a team of 9 with facilities in two London Offices and had commissioned two further new site offices. I headed the migration from a point-to-point network to Ethernet and implemented a… Show more Software implementation of DeMarco analysis on a UNIX system, Development of office automation systems, "Front End" ICL 2976 interface to a Workshop Analysis and Scheduling Package and consultancy for the Meteorological Office. In Apr-86 I took responsibility for all company computer facilities. By 1989 I managed a team of 9 with facilities in two London Offices and had commissioned two further new site offices. I headed the migration from a point-to-point network to Ethernet and implemented a quality system to comply with AQAP 1 & 13 NATO standards. Show less