Helping you increase resilience and avoid IT meltdown

We were commissioned to assess the IT Disaster Recovery plans for a Financial Services company in Leeds. Our approach involved running workshops with technical support, operations, security, and application teams to evaluate each team’s readiness to invoke the recovery and continuity plan. Having done this with each team separately, we then brought everyone together in another workshop meeting to identify inter-dependencies between tasks and teams. This helped build a much more robust sequence of recovery activities and exposed several false assumptions that would have impaired the effectiveness of the recovery plan. We gave the client a cohesive set of actions that would mature their DR readiness and provide a basis for estimating the recovery time required for their most critical business services.

BLMS provided an interim manager to run the Help Desk and a second line technical support team. As well as leading these teams, the role also involved overseeing three significant technical infrastructure upgrade projects. Liaison with the Risk Management function was an important part of the role, ensuring that any serious project delays were clearly documented and risk accepted. During the contract period, BLMS also provided valuable guidance to the Service Management team.

We had identified a Head of Risk for the IT, Property and Procurement departments and wanted to demonstrate progress embedding the Society’s Risk Framework before that person was able to join us. BLMS Consulting were the ideal choice to fill this gap. Their experience is clear, but it was their flexibility which was important. In a short period of time they were able to deliver real benefit which will have lasting impact.

BLMS ran a Personal Skills Development workshop for us. The course exceeded my expectations. Everybody enjoyed the 2 days, and the practical experiences that Brian and Kevin could draw upon made the course truly valuable. The course made us reflect and helped everybody learn more about their own personality characteristics. Not only has it helped our team members deal with internal work situations, it has also improved their confidence and capabilities for when they’re dealing with Razorblue’s clients.

Having developed a strategic IT plan for the charity and produced the business case for investment, BLMS took on the role of project manager to coordinate the implementation activities. This involved coordinating the work of three suppliers, a specialist consultant, and the local NHS Trust ICT team who provide onsite technical support for the charity. This was not a full-time role, the project management tasks equated to about a day per week on average, spread almost randomly over the week. Our flexibility was key to providing this part-time project management service. At one point, the testing of the applications became a significant and resource-hungry task and we stepped up our involvement to help manage and execute the test plan.

Our charity commissioned BLMS to review our IT infrastructure to make recommendations about how to systematise our processes to upscale our capabilities. They were also asked to create the infrastructure for a new e-filing system. Importantly, we requested that a business case be prepared to present the benefits of investing in our infrastructure, which was accepted by our Trustees. We enjoyed working with Brian (our main contact), who was clear, punctual to deadlines and commitments, helpful and professional at all times.

BLMS partnered with ex-colleague and consultant Phil Tottie to evaluate the Disaster Recovery readiness and plans for a clothing manufacturer and retailer. The initial phase involved understanding the client’s systems and the way in which the infrastructure was implemented across their main IT sites. This topology presented some interesting options and opportunities, but also brought with it some issues that needed careful consideration. A comprehensive action plan was produced along with estimates for additional investment in infrastructure to ensure recovery capacity would not be an inhibitor.

When BLMS Consulting were engaged to help establish the Risk Management framework in the IT department they bought an injection of energy and focus. As a result of their involvement we are working much more effectively with our colleagues in the Risk department. This is critical as we evolve the approach which we are taking in the Society to manage Risk and there is now a much better understanding inside IT of what Risk Management is all about.