Following a short break over the Christmas period, now self-employed offering management consultancy for a range of issues, including setting up processes and procedures for local businesses, reviewing software and hardware requirements, supplier management.

e-Learning software development, training & project management company
Support Manager
Main role: managing the North European Cluster Support Team (UK, Ireland & Scandinavian countries) of 5-7 people within a Service Delivery framework, ensuring clients and consultant staff receive training and support for the products and that any problems were succesfully managed to a rapid conclusion. Additional responsibilities included:-
• Maintenance of live product documentation and help files.
• Project Manager for selected projects involving the team.
• Project Resource when required.
• Facilities Manager role in relation to the contract with Regus and other suppliers, including Service Management.
• Liaison with IT to ensure system availability. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery planning discussions.
• Office Manager role covering day-to-day running and supplier management.
Significant achievements:
• Creation and documentation of ITIL compliant Support Centre processes including Problem Management, Major Incident Escalation and Change Control processes.
• Major overhaul of the User Guides for the Company products, including the specification of software to manage the production and maintenance in several languages.
• HR initiative: - key in creating & implementingd many HR and Administrative processes for sections of this young company and covered the HR Manager during a years maternity leave.

Tesco for the Metro HR Business Manager - developing a KPI & budgetary reporting system for use by Metro HR managers (@38 stores) to track and report on a monthly basis salaries, vacancies & promotions (“Next Steps” in Tesco speak).
Hertfordshire Constabulary - working on a major time-critical project for their HR department to implement the UK directive for a standard P&DR system for Police Officers.
Additionally, I spent some time pursuing personal interests which included working as a chef at a residential nursing home.

Brokers/Financiers

Responsible for managing all aspects of the outsourced operational services, including creation and management of SLA’s & KPI’s; Problem Management; Service Improvement Reviews; Service Improvement projects; budget management for Market Data services; 3rd party reviews; monthly user management meetings, and report management. Member of senior IT management team.

Responsible for management of the newly established customer service team of 16 people including delivery of an effective & reliable help desk, 1st and 2nd line support and the successful resolution of all IT problems & issues. Budget manager. Negotiation team member for the outsourced with IBM.

Responsible for managing all aspects of 1st & 2nd line support and installation, including day-to-day network management. Appointed to manage all help desk functions to ensure reliability and efficiency. Key in the implementation of a quality control procedure for project implementations into the live environment and appropriate Change Control procedures.

Contractor – PC Support

PC Contractor - gaining extensive technical skills and different industry experience at various companies:

Oct 93 – Sept 94 British Library PC Support
Apr 93 – Sept 93 Readers Digest Help Desk Manager
Feb – Apr 93 British Gas Programmer
Nov 92 – Jan 93 Reuters PC Support/Engineer