Common recurring themes: large enterprises, complexity, multiple suppliers, demanding customers, simplification and transformation, clarity, process and cost control, performance, cost reduction, implementing new systems, digitising and automating workflows
Successful Customer Assignments: New Zealand Parliament (Elections 2020, ServiceNow, Operating Model, Cost to Serve Model, Technology Partner Procurement), Spark (Z Energy, GCSB, Corrections, Statistics, Police NGCC, ANZ, Conservation, Justice, Contact Energy), Ministry of Education, NZ Transport Agency, Vodafone (IRD & MBIE), Fronde, Gen-i (CBA Australia), ANZ Bank, Transpower, NZ Racing Board, ACC and others
Examples of some real customer pain points I have helped with...
Working jointly with you to help you run an effective and successful service delivery & support organisation.
0. The Why - Business Philosophy, strategy & drivers
Business case, business plan, overall strategy & model
Consulting, Project Management, Business Analysis
Covering:
Business Outcomes:
Typical Artifacts:
1. Parliamentary Service - RFI for Technology Partner; link
Built on the work done previously with the "Cost to Serve" model, provided specialist consulting expertise to the RFI. Extract from the document:
"PS currently outsources a number of technology services to third party service partners. PS is on a journey to reduce the amount of its resources devoted to managing commodity platforms to focus on technology services that support and transforms the business. We require technology partner(s) who can assist in this transformation and help us deliver operational excellence."
Result: internal responsibilities agreed and allocated, new technology partner(s) selected, scene set for new operating model to be implemented.
2. Parliamentary Service - ServiceNow ITSM Implementation
Result: Successful implementation within 3 months, replacement of legacy systems for cost savings, digitisation of workflows, optimisation of subscription costs. In addition, led the upgrade to Quebec, acted as the defacto keeper of ServiceNow, kicked off ServiceNow HR Service Delivery implementation.
3. Parliamentary Service - Cost to Serve Model
Prepared the framework required to gain granularity of services and associated costs to deliver to internal and external customers.Prepared the framework required to gain granularity of services and associated costs to deliver to internal and external customers. Result: definitive visibility of costs previously not available for management control.
4. Parliamentary Service - Elections 2020; link
Project Managed multiple streams of work for IST program of work including working with complex and demanding stakeholders, embedding processes, upgrading tool-sets, managing partners for a series of high visibility events that comprise a typical election. Result: very successful program of work delivered, extreme credibility and confidence in IST.
5. ServiceNow Partner Red Moki - VP Customer Success
Led the efforts to ensure Red Moki delivered a super high quality ServiceNow initiatives consistent across customers regardless of type, size or geography. Led a team of talented Customer Success professionals for this rapidly growing organisation in startup mode.
6. Spark - Enterprise Service Architect
Reviewed service delivery & performance, mapped current state, created options, defined future state operating models, defined transition strategy, responded to RFIs & RFPs, project managed transitions & deployments, conducted workshops, created, reviewed, accepted & implemented new models, processes, plans, documentation & artefacts. Results: Generating customer confidence, successful implementations, and closing significant new business.
List of Spark Assignments:
a. Z Energy Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP)
b. GCSB Service Management Design & Consulting
c. Department of Corrections Cloud Digital Enablement Platform (CDEP)
d. Department of Statistics Security Management Implementation
e. Police Next Generation Critical Communication (NGCC) Response to RFI
f. ANZ Response to Service Management RFP
g. Department of Conservation Mobile Devices as a Service (MDaaS) &
h. Ministry of Justice Service Mapping Network Services
i. Contact Energy; link
7. Ministry of Education - Service Management Specialist; link
Service Strategy & Design - developed Service Catalog and the Service Management model to successfully on-board EPL (Novopay) infrastructure. On the success of this, translated the overall Digital Strategy into the Service Management Strategy, created a wider sector-wide Service Management Model, the Service Management Road-map, the Work Breakdown Structure and template cookie-cutter Project Plan. Result: successful onboarding of new customer.
List of Education Assignments:
a. Digital Service Strategy (Education Sector-wide) Service Architecture & Strategy
b. Education Payroll Limited (Novopay) - Service Design & Transition
8. Voco – eTOM Consultant, Requirements Analysis
Analysed over 1,200 requirements against the eTOM framework (privileged & confidential).
9. NZ Transport Agency – Service Designer
Created Minimum Viable Service Design in a very compressed time-frames to support a new road toll solution.
10. Vodafone NZ (Inland Revenue & MBIE) – Enterprise Service Designer
Service Design & Transition - crafted over 17 Service Catalogs to successfully transition solutions into Vodafone’s largest and commercially critical customers. Scope included: Contact Centres, Communications, Connectivity, Wi-Fi, Security, Mobility.
11. Telecom NZ – Project Manager
Successfully managed complex migrations in the mobile & broadband space. Scope included pre-paid, post-paid, 4G LTE call plans, hardware infrastructure & broadband throttle policy. Result: 6 successful migrations.
12. Fronde – ITIL Consultant, Service Operations, Road-map for Continual Service
Service Strategy, Operations & Continual Service Improvement - commenced with CMMI Process Maturity Assessment and culminated with a pragmatic road-map to future state. Result: 7 actionable deliverables to improve service delivery.
13. Gen-i (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Sydney) - Lead Business Analyst, Service Transition; link
Service Transition - established rock solid Service Management credentials with CBA for Gen-i on the “Nortel to Genesys Contact Centre migration” (Direct Banking STEP project); developed High Level Service Management Plan. Business Services in scope: Channels, Retail, Contact Centres, Telephony, Connectivity.
14. ANZ National - Service Management Work Stream Lead, Service Strategy, Design & Transition; link
Service Strategy, Design, Transition - increased first call resolution to 75% from 30%), transitioned 4 Service Desks (no service degradation), harmonised 2 disparate service models. Result: maintained the #1 customer satisfaction ranking of the ANZ Technical Service Desk within the ANZ Financial Group globally, at a time of significant transformation.
15. Meridian Energy - Service Management Consultant
Created Future State IT Service Operating Model
16. Beca - Service Management Consultant
Requirements, Procurement and Future State IT Service Model. Result: new suppliers selected
17. Contact Energy - Service Management Consultant
Service Improvement and Service Improvement
18. Flute Network (Dunedin) - Service Management Consultant Flute Network (Dunedin) - Service Management Consultant
Created Future State IT Service Management Model
19. NZ Racing Board - Service Management Consultant; link
Requirements, Procurement, Service Operations. Performed CMMI Process Maturity Assessment, addressed audit shortcomings, developed requirements, assisted in RFI response evaluation, SME for contract negotiations, reviewed proposed new processes. Resuts: Audit findings addressed, transitioned services to new network provider.
20. Opus - Service Management Consultant
Requirements, Procurement and Future State IT Service Model
21. Transpower - Service Management Consultant, Service Design, Operating Model
Service Design, Future State Operating Model, Requirements, Risk Analysis - created 18 Service Catalogs for voice, data & telecommunication services. Developed Future State Model, documented requirements, assisted in commercial options & risk analysis (ISO 31000).
22. Accident Compensation Corporation - Service Management Consultant, Service Transition
Service Transition - 33 internal & external resolver groups coordinated to migrate seamlessly from Unisys to Gen-i.
SERVICE 2: LeanIT Operations
If you are already using Agile & Scrum, you may want to improve your BAU IT Processes using Lean Principles
Training & Coaching for organisations interested in applying Lean Principles to improve their operations
Lean – LeanIT – LeanITSM – ISO 20000 – ISO/IEC20000 – ITIL – ITSM – Training – Lean Training – Quality – Improvement – Customer Satisfaction – Continual Service Improvement
Improve your Customer Satisfaction.
Apply Lean Principles & Techniques to your IT Processes and bring the ITIL Framework, the ISO/IEC 20000 Standard & Continual Service Improvement together.
These courses are easily translated to meet your requirements particularly if you are providing services in sectors such as banking & finance, utilities, telecommunications, healthcare or government
Courses can be modified to suit your particular industry or requirements. Course 3 is best run as a workshop. Course durations indicative.
Many organisations well down the path of having “done” ITIL are still wondering why the benefits they sought are still not delivered.
ITIL provides a framework of processes and functions that need to be in place. These need to be applied pragmatically depending on the maturity of the organisation.
This series of courses will introduce you to the origins of Lean Thinking, introduce you to Lean Principles and Concepts, will go into Lean Techniques, will show you how to use them in real life, will outline the steps you and your organisation need to take to undertake the Lean Journey, and show you how to bring the ITIL Framework, the ISO 20000 Standard and Continual Service Improvement together – to improve your processes, to improve your customer satisfaction, and improve your staff engagement.
The course will provide you time to think about who your customers are, what are the touch points, identify problem areas and take away enough knowledge, tools & techniques to go back to your work place to start on your journey.
In the Press
Selection of published articles and guest blogs including CIO NZ, Institute of IT Professionals Techblog, NZ Institute of Director's BoardRoom, ComputerWorld, Reseller News & the Dominion IT Weekly
New: The Story of Indian IT Professionals in New Zealand
From Yesterday to Tomorrow: 60 Years of Tech in New Zealand
Co-authored with Lalita Kasanji
India is a global IT powerhouse, and we know its tech professionals have contributed to developed nations since at least the 1970s. New Zealand too has been a beneficiary of this immense talent, and from the development of its earliest systems and infrastructure, through to the current fibre rollout, Indian IT professionals have played a significant role.
Letters from India
IT Professionals Tech Blog, Sunit Prakash, Guest Post. 09 March 2020, 5:00 am
Originally published in CIO NZ
On my sometimes annual sojourn to Mumbai, I am always struck by the changes and adaptation of technology and its impact on life and human behaviour.
CIO NZ 09 January, 2018 07:00
“We need to know as much as we can about the size, scale and nature of the digital skills shortage in the digital technology sector, and across New Zealand” - Communications Minister Clare Curran
Click here to open the pdf for the full article.
Summary of the 7 steps to measuring the digital skills inventory
1. Demand - form a view of employers’ HR related trends
2. Supply - get a perspective from a resource perspective
3. Data, information, reports & systems
4. Add imports - validate from the larger ecosystem
5. Subtract exports - the brain drain
6. Diversity - under utilisation & under employment in the workforce
7. Learn - from countries who are exporters (and successful importers of talent)
Not very different from the kiwifruit industry and its inventory management systems I suspect !
I recently ran a couple of sessions to help skilled migrants find jobs in Wellington.
The experience highlighted key challenges the ICT sector needs to tackle as it prepares the workforce for unceasing change
CIO NZ: 09 January, 2018 07:00
I have been mentoring ICT professionals - new graduates, migrants - for years.
And, with apologies to the original Kiwi Landing Pad based in San Francisco which helps New Zealand companies gain a toehold in the US market, I raised the idea of transposing this concept for skilled migrants.
I called it the Wellington-based Kiwi Landing Pad for skilled migrants.
“We are setting out to challenge and be challenged – we encourage all interested parties to be involved in strategy development.” - 9 Recommendations; October 2016
Submission to NZX on its Consultation Paper to do with Ethnic Diversity on Boards; September 2016
Guest Blog: Astute Solutions, July 2014
Social media and brands: for big companies this can often cause panic, fear, and stress because they worry about a negative post going viral, or having no social customer strategy at all. We’ve posted about the negative effects of social media too, but how about turning it on its head and focussing on positive customer engagement instead?
Guestblog, Institute of IT Professionals Techblog, Dec 2011
Laurence Millar kicked off a whole chain of thoughts when I attended his NZCS session "Agenda for the Digital Economy". He inspired me to write this article, about Indian students coming to study in New Zealand, Indian organisations servicing New Zealand, New Zealand organisations exploring India - and the challenges and opportunities this presents to New Zealand.
Click here: IITP Techblog
ComputerWorld, October 2007
Many IT companies have learnt that to succeed in business you can not save your way to success - you need to add value to prosper and grow
Click here: ComputerWorld
The Independent, Aug 2008
India may well prove to be a more accessible and rewarding market than China for New Zealand's export driven businesses.
NZ Institute of Director's BoardRoom Magazine, July 2008
Can the lessons from New Zealand's FTA with China be applied to India ?
Click here: Free Trade Agreement with India
Guest Editorial in the New Zealand Reseller News, October 2007
The business model of Nasdaq listed ERP vendors, and the business of support.
Click here: Value Proposition of Support
Guest article on changes in India; The Dominion IT Weekly; September 1994
Click here: Satellite TV Revolution in India
Guest article on e-enabling and connecting corner dairies with a common infrastructure and network; The Dominion IT Weekly; October 1994
Click here: PatelNet: The Future of IT enabled dairies
IT Service Management - Strategy, Design, Architecture, Requirements, Procurement, Transition, Implementation & Measurement
Who did Spark Digital, Ministry of Education, Vodafone, Gen-i, ANZ, ACC, Transpower & Racing Board turn to when they needed a hard-hitter to assist in their IT Service Management initiatives !
Large enterprises, complexity, multiple suppliers, demanding customers, simplification, transformation, clarity, control, performance, cost service, new systems
Common themes:
SERVICE 3: Growth Hacking, Disruption, Innovation & Lean Startup
Using Lean Startup Principles, the Lean Startup Canvas, and some real life business experience to drive business growth
Here are some of the accelerators & start-ups I work with;
Question: is your enterprise ready for growth hacking ?
Business Innovation Strategies, business startup advice, entrepreneur, ideas for business growth strategies, lean innovation thinking, lean startup business model, Lean startup methodologies, Lean Startup Methodology, lean thinking, lean training nz, minimal viable product, Minimum viable product, new business innovation, New Zealand startup, startups
R9 Accelerator is a govtech accelerator. Teams of innovators develop products and services that make it easier for people to interact with New Zealand government.
Problem: Simplify the final affair(Department of Internal Affairs) - Help reduce the administrative burden and stress placed on others when a loved one dies.
A three-month business growth programme powered by New Zealand’s premier startup accelerator brand, Lightning Lab.
This programme is designed to help FinTech companies compete on a global scale.
Eight teams have been accepted, gaining access to NZ’s largest network of financial services experts and a high-quality pool of startup mentors.
Teams will work directly with Kiwibank, Xero and other financial industry partners.
R9 Accelerator v2.0
Problem: People new to the country often don’t have access to networks. MiBiz is a platform to help New Zealanders overcome common hurdles when starting a business by assessing where they’re at and linking them with appropriate local industry experts and service providers.
Startup Weekend is where startup enthusiasts get together to form new businesses in a 54-hour marathon of inspiration, perspiration, collaboration, and fun
What can you do in 54 hours? Share ideas, meet a team, and be mentored by the industry's finest at Startup Weekend Wellington; where you’ll find the tools to design and build a new product, service or business in the space of a single, fast-paced weekend.
Tap into Wellington’s startup community for a high-energy weekend you won’t forget.
Course 1: Introduction to Lean
Duration: 1 Day
Course Contents:
Course 2: Hands-On Application of Lean Techniques to IT Service Management Processes
Duration: 1 Day
Course Contents:
Course 3: Leading & Implementing Lean to Improve Customer Satisfaction
Lean Techniques to bring together the ITIL Framework, ISO 20000 and Continual Service Improvement to Improve Customer Satisfaction
Duration: 1 Day
Course Contents:
Courses can be modified to suit your particular industry or requirements. Course 3 is best run as a workshop. Course durations are indicative.
ITIL | ITSM | ISO 20000 | TOGAF | COBIT | Strategy | Architecture | Design | Transition | Implementation | Lean | India | New Zealand | Australia
Sunit Prakash
Someone gave me a leg up when I first arrived in New Zealand, many were kind and generous to a fault.
Now in a position to pay if forward, I find myself coaching, guiding & mentoring skilled new immigrants to New Zealand - with very "deep-down-inside" satisfying results.
Currently documenting their stories and successes as case studies; and finding & connecting with like-minded people and organisations.
As a family we decided to pull our son out of school for a term and see some of Australia before we headed home to Wellington.
The result was an epic 80 day, 21,000 km 4WD trip through the centre of Australia from Sydney to Broome, and then back again the long way.
We have seen more of Australia than most Australians and are so much the richer for it.
Here is a link to a clip if you are interested !
... and for quality thinking and to find my peace of mind, I ride my Royal Enfield Bullet motorbike.
Link to article in KiwiRider.
I believe people like myself who are local in Australia, New Zealand & India have a role to play in building bridges between the countries... I play my small part by informally guiding businesses interested in these markets.
Clarity of Thought, Speed of Execution
© 2015