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Lastminute Plc: Head of Production then Head of Systems
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Internet industry)
May 2004 – July 2005 (1 year 3 months)
8 recommendations for these positions
Head of Systems
Improved and automated the service provided across the Lastminute.com group including its 8 subsidiaries (AllHotels, HolidayAutos, TravelSelect, TravelStore, HolidaysandMore, First Options, MedHotels and OTC).. Synergies had been gained with my previous role as Head of Production and the objective was to transfer these benefits to the rest of the business.
Responsible for 4 departments – Server Support, Systems Engineering, Data Centre and Network & Security. – 50 staff in total, 15 in the UK and remainder offshore.
This assignment was more infrastructure focused, so while the Java/J2EE, Jboss and Dynamo software exposure in the previous assignment was useful, this assignment focused on operating systems (Windows, Linux and Solaris mostly) and databases (Informix, Oracle, Microsoft SQL server, MySQL and PostGres). In order to gain the necessary system efficiencies and productivity gains, significant system integration, server and data centre consolidation was necessary. This consolidation also provided Disaster Recovery.
Used remit as a troubleshooter to move freely across the whole of IT and the business, resolving problems, instituting pragmatic processes where necessary and using influencing & communication skills to bring about change in areas where I had no direct authority.
Head of Production
Head hunted by the Lastminute CTO, ex MD of Credit Suisse First Boston, who needed an experienced troubleshooter to improve IT efficiency whilst remaining within budget targets.
Responsible for the restructuring of the Technical Operations and Database Administration teams, this consisted of 30 staff within the UK with a further 45 outsourced offshore. The reorganisation and restructure enabled the teams to work more efficiently and effectively. Noticeable improvements were made within a 5 month period rather than the 2 years originally predicted.
Established strong customer relations both internally and externally by setting up regular service reviews and SLAs.
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