Tony Watkins

Forty plus years of Service Management experience within Operations; Support, and Delivery organisations, in both infrastructure, and application solutions, specialising in recovering under performing/failing teams, on a local/global basis. Defining, and implementing standards-based processes and procedures, enabling improved delivery of IT services to business communities across a wide range of industries Strong character, professional, and dynamic, with a can-do attitude. Proven ability to hit the ground running, and deliver assignments to challenging timescales, and budgets. Highly organised, efficient, and skilled in a variety of management disciplines, Able to liaise, communicate, and negotiate, with senior management, and technical teams Summary of Experience • ITIL V1/V2/V3 – inclusive all disciplines, focused on design, transition, and operations • Application Management – defect, incident, problem, release, change, service monitoring - across banking (retail, commercial, investment), software manufacturing, pharmaceutical, travel, and other industries. Enforcing agile cultures, and lean practices across delivery platforms • Infrastructure Management – on premises (physical and virtual), and cloud operations • Line Management – onshore, offshore, matrix management, coaching direct reports • Business/Client/Customer Engagement – stakeholder management, service reviews, communications, negotiations, presentations • Supplier Management – liaising with internal, external vendor, third party operational organisations, negotiating contracts (SLAs/OLAs/Underpinning Contracts) • Contract Management – negotiation, review, cost recovery • Budget Holder – OPEX management £25m+, CAPEX approval • Communications strategy – definition, implementation, continuous improvement • Service Improvement – Assessment, definition, agreement, implementation planning and delivery, instilling culture of continuation • Project Management – requirements gathering, planning, budget management, RAID management and reporting • Business/Service Continuity – business requirements gathering, plan definition, execution testing • Outsource Service Provision – as customer, and supplier (requirements gathering, service design, bid support, transition management) • 30 years+ data centre related experience (tier 1/2/3)