SMART421 LTD: PROGRAMME AND TRANSITION MANAGER
Nov 2005 – Oct 2015
Smart421 Ltd, part of the KCOM group, delivers high-end consultancy, integration and management of business-critical solutions for large enterprises across a wide variety of industry sectors. During my time with Smart421, I have undertaken many roles utilising my extensive business and management expertise.
CUSTOMER DELIVERY MANAGER
Accountable for all delivery and service transition aspects for a portfolio of key customer accounts, each requiring a programme of project, service and/or consultancy deliveries.
A key point of contact and escalation for all delivery matters relating to the account, whether from the customer or internally.
Providing senior-level input and hands-on involvement in key pre-sales activities as needed.
Working closely with the customer and internal project and service managers and teams to facilitate excellence in project and service delivery through:
Appropriate definition, estimation, commercial agreement and scheduling of work.
Planning, controlling and influencing delivery costs, quality, timescale and resources to meet the customer and internal needs.
Project and Service assurance.
Appropriate communication and reporting.
Management of issues, risks, exceptions and change.
Management of key delivery Stakeholder relationships.
Supporting the Account Manager to continue and extend the successful commercial relationship with the customer. Undertaking and managing presales activities as required.
Controlling Programme level plans, issues and dependencies and participating in or chairing Programme Management forums and Steering Groups as needed.
Day-to-day staff management (up to 30 people), including technical, non-technical and management people.
Financial modelling, planning and monitoring in complex fixed price and T&M commercial engagements. Management of engagements more than £4M, invoicing, cash flow, expenditure and margin.
Membership to the Smart421 Senior Leadership Team – influencing and driving the Smart421 business.
Management for AWS presales engagements.
PROJECT MANAGER
Project Management of approximately 50 software development and infrastructure projects ranging from £10K to £800K and involving directly managed teams from 2 to 15.
Full project life cycle – from idea and initiation to post-implementation and transition into production service.
A mix of Prince 2 and Scrum methods, controls and techniques.
Supporting Customer PMs in planning, co-ordinating and controlling activities outside of Smart421’s circle of responsibility.
Providing PM cover for unfamiliar projects at short notice when needed.
SERVICE MANAGER
Figure head and point of escalation for all Smart421 Service Management activities.
Management of Services throughout their full life cycle, from acquisition and transition to exit.
Building and maintaining trusted business relationships.
Defining and maintaining SLAs and underpinning contracts in line with customer expectations.
Ensure that ITIL processes are used effectively and efficiently to deliver great service in line with the SLA whilst remaining profitable.
Development of ITIL and ISO20000 compliant processes for Service Management, contributing to ISO20000 accreditation for Smart421.
MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT
Providing Prince2 Project Management, Service Management and ITIL expertise in a variety of assessments and engagements.
Each engagement is bespoke, but requires a rapid understanding of the customer challenges, domains and operating procedures to deliver benefit to their business.
Comparing customer operation processes, systems organisation and development approaches against best practice and where appropriate helping to facilitate change.