Greater Sheffield Area
From running my own business to looking after other people’s, my roles and responsibilities have been varied since I started as an IT professional 21 years ago. I have built and managed several teams, helped develop many companies’ IT strategies and trained people from warehouse workers to company CEOs. I find that the challenge of providing a solution, in any situation, extremely satisfying. Specialties: business communications, citrix metaframe, computer hardware, contact management, contract management, customer relations, customer support, design, document management, e - commerce, engineering, leadership, management, mentoring, networking, newspaper, php presentation skills, prince 2, process engineering, programming, project management, proposal writing, recruiting, retail, sales, scheme, servers, software architecture, specification, writing,
I created Book My Class in 2010 and we've been helping people take bookings online regardless of the type or size of the business. I've helped Book My Class evolve from a niche product to something that will work for anyone.
Owning and running a business for a second time is a fantastic challenge in these current times. Learning from running a business before and from all my experience in the industry, I intend to make Zebranet a successful (if small) business. Offering bespoke web application development, training & consultancy, I now have developed a partner network so that from one point of contact you, the client, can access anything IT related. Along with the BookMyClass, BookMyEvent & Erudite Project products, Zebranet's portfolio continues to grow. Embracing the new technologies to make our products the best that they can be. Using my skills as a project manager and the wealth of experience I have in the IT industry, I work closely with my clients to work out exactly what their needs are. From this I see the project through with the client to ensure that all aspects of the technology integrate seamlessly.
I spent 3 years working as lead developer for a software company specialising in Microsoft SharePoint-based solutions. The role was very much customer facing as being the lead on most of the projects we undertook, I tended to be one of the first and last points of contact with the customer I was involved with a wide variety of projects from basic document management solutions for accountancy practices and construction companies, through to complete client management systems for bereavement and addiction charities. I also worked on larger projects for larger national, and multi-national companies with varied solutions. I was responsible from providing mentoring and training to Link Software's junior developers. The role involved not only developing software, but designing and delivering training for end users and administrators, and liaising with clients at all levels to make sure the projects are developed to scope. Promoted to Technical Director in December 2008, I took on the responsibility for leading the technical focus for the future. Looking to see how the company can use new technologies to help improve their products and services. Having been given charge of the technical team; I was also responsible for the recruitment, training, and review of all the developers. I used my Prince2 training when taking on the project management role. This meant scoping, tracking and managing the delivery of all of our live projects. My other responsibilities included managing our clients on contracted contracts and the ongoing control of clients on our hosted servers in the UK and US.
I was head-hunted for this role as UK Medical were a client who wanted to move their IT and systems forward. The company wanted to modernise their whole system. I was responsible for looking at all internal systems and processes that involved or were helped by IT systems, and looking at the ways they could be improved. In less than 3 years, I managed to implement electronic stock management & bar-coding, redesigned the whole network, project managed the installation and setup of a new telephone and VoIP system. Alongside this, I addressed all IT training needs within the company and designed training courses around several packages for both staff and clients. This role was very varied, with having to identify and specify new projects, manage budgets, and deal with suppliers and customers. It also involved presenting proposals at board level in order to move new projects forward. Responsibilities included selecting and recruiting an assistant, then training them towards the more every day IT tasks, so that I could focus on the future IT direction for the company.
This was a contract role. It consisted of travelling round the country to various branches of Lloyds TSB where staff needed to be trained in the new processes involved around a change in systems. I was responsible for training groups of branch staff in the new methods and processes after the merging of the two banks. Whilst the main criteria was to deliver the ‘programme’, there was always scope to play around with formats and tailor the material dependant on the people involved on the day. It was a fun and fulfilling role, however I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse …