Work with clients to understand their core business to create strategies that enable them to make the most of existing and evolving technologies. Use my understanding of business strategy and knowledge of technology to help businesses formulate strategies, roadmaps and individual projects that make IT work for the client.

Richards IT provide world class tech advisory and management services. Focussed on understanding clients core business and technology needs to find the best solution to every unique and ever changing situation. Delivering ideal solutions by taking ownership over the project and managing the delivery to ensure it exceeds client expectations.Key AchievementsExchange Online Migration. Tasked by the client to upgrade their existing on-premise Exchange environment it was deemed the ideal solution was to migrate to an Office365 hosted environment. Managed the project and successfully migrated all on-premise resources to Exchange Online. The solution afforded the client redundancy that was previously unobtainable, greater accessibility and significantly freed up internal resources for other projects.Designed a solution that enabled a client to implement a business continuity process that had previously been unavailable to them due to being cost prohibitive. The client had wanted to implement redundancy for their SQL databases, which would enable them to continue to operate if their data centre failed. Consultation with the client and an understanding of existing technologies revealed that their needs could be satisfied with a much simpler solution than quoted by other providers that could be implemented for 5% of the quoted cost.

Responsible for the management, strategy and design of the IT environment. Adopted a cloud first approach to minimise initial capital expenditure, maximise access to available technology and have clear road map for future expansion.AchievementsHigh level liaison with management allowed for the development of mid-term strategy for next five years. This strategy facilitated the choice of vendors and products and led to the implementation of infrastructure based around Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft SharePoint and Salesforce technologies in a subscription model. These choices allowed for access to modern, secure, scalable, enterprise grade solutions with capital outlay that matched financial strategy.Led the design of a platform to facilitate the implementation of a pre-paid card program. The platform comprised of a web-facing front end and back-end processing application that integrates with several third party, cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) providers

MI Manager (Secondment Feb 2016 – Sep 2016)Manager of the Management Information/Business Intelligence team. Responsible for delivering all management decision making information and delivering regular reporting packs. Key AchievementsResolved ongoing issues between the MI and Accounting divisions caused by a lack of confidence in data being produced. Drawing on my background in both accounting and IT, I was able to bridge the gap between the departments and open a dialogue identifying concerns and how they could be alleviated. As a result of improved communication, output was either altered to match expectations or annotated to identify methodologies used. This meant consumers of the information were able to interpret it confidently and make decisions accordingly. Senior Technical Analyst (May 2010 – Feb 2016)Primarily responsible to identify areas of business which could be improved through investigation and consultation and act as Project Manager to implement the changes necessary to achieve a solution. Once an area for improvement has been identified I guided the business through the change process by identifying objectives, designing and implementing a solution and ensuring the solution is correctly applied to fix the original need.Key AchievementsIdentified, researched, designed and managed implementation of innovative desktop deployment system. The solution included a web-based software distribution system allowing end-users to install software on demand without intervention from IT personnel. Resulted in better and faster end-user experience and a reduction in man hours, maintenance and, ultimately, costs.

Managed new projects to ensure successful implementation. Responsible for ensuring existing infrastructure was maintained and redesigned to meet the needs of a workforce that demanded high availability every hour of every day.

Provided project management, consulting and technical services to clients. Worked with pre-sales as a technical resource as well as preparing client bids. Led a wide range of client engagements as lead consultant as well as being SME for Virtualisation, Storage and Microsoft Infrastructure components.

Joining BOYCE in February 2002 as a cadet, I was able to work full time while completing the final three years of university. When leaving BOYCE I was responsible for all IT systems for three regional offices (including three reporting staff), providing consulting services to a growing IT base as well as Management Accounting services to clients.