I have had a several roles over the years that were of an IT consultancy nature however the most recent was an assignment to review the implications of the Fed (Interagency) White Paper produced by the US regulatory bodies post 9/11.

With the new recommendations it was evident that as the largest US dollar global clearer my employer would have many systems considered in scope. One in particular for EMEA was a Money Markets system that ran on the UK based mainframes.

The business had little time and due to the pressing nature and number of acquisitions little investment to entertain a re-write of their application. My role was to review the options available and assess the most viable and cost effective strategy for the given timeframe. The options were wide and varied but ultimately came down to providing a third copy with greater geographical separation. The locations distilled down to two alternatives, (one UK and one US based) and I produced a decision paper that weighed up the relative pros and cons (including estimated budgets) of each solution culminating in a recommendation. This recommendation was sufficiently compelling to be accepted unanimously and the objectives were successfully implemented, with the company achieving compliance before the US regulatory deadline.

Segued by a Technology Leader role I had previously worked within an internal IT consultancy group seconded into a line of business and assigned to a client Fund Accounting "in-sourcing" project. This involved me working closely with both new colleagues and the external clients to absorb their requirements and assess the capabilities of our infrastructure to meet them. Although not on the "payroll" of the internal clients, they were more than comfortable with me representing their interests and responding on infrastructure matters to external parties.

An assignment prior to my secondment required assessment of the readiness of the core technology group to provide support for the emerging Windows NT platform. Prior to this date, the breadth and quality of NT support was variable by line of business with no common alignment or standardisation. I produced a white paper that addressed the current capabilities of the core group and the deltas that would need to be addressed, should they choose to step up and offer a bank wide service. My paper outlined the bare minimum start-up investment, the investment required for projected growth and the ongoing investment for maintenance.