My skills as a Business Consultant

A quick bulleted list to give readers an idea of what I have to offer:

Consultancy skills

• Business Change: deep understanding of how to combine people, process, and technology to achieve business outcomes—with the emphasis on people
• Business consultancy: Strategic and technical IT consultancy from a programme viewpoint; business / process analysis and design; report writing and presentation delivery
• Benefits management: Experience of Fujitsu’s Benefits Realisation methodology, which focuses on business outcomes, and creates network of activities to assure delivery of business benefits
• Business networking: active business school Alumnus and business networker (online and face-to-face).
• Project delivery: architecture and design; technology selection; team-worker and leader
• Project management: project planning and basic financials; awareness of PRINCE 2 methodology

Business Understanding

• IT Strategy and Governance; Peer collaboration, Financial Services regulation; Corporate Performance Management.; Virtualisation; Enterprise Application Integration & Web Services, Business Process Management, Virtual Worlds; IT Architecture; J2EE and Application Servers

Technical

• Internet protocols and infrastructure; Collaboration platforms and online communities; Windows Operating Systems (MCSE 1999); Database Systems; Gadgets of all kinds

Grasp of Business and Technology Marketspace

• Through reading The Economist; McKinsey Quarterly, Harvard Business Review; subscription to various Industry Sector and Technology newsletters and blogs

Props to Hugh Macleod

Technorati Tags: business,technology,consulting,skills,benefits,return on investment

Business Consultant for hire

I leave Fujitsu today, i.e. at the end of September. I am striking out on my own, and plan to do contracting work in the North East of England. Hopefully this will be a springboard to more varied projects – reflecting my interests in cutting-edge collaborative tools and virtual worlds etc.

In putting together my leaving note to Fujitsu colleagues (and the associated mailing list), I was able to reflect on all the fantastic people I have worked with, in nearly 10 years with Fujitsu. Also, that I genuinely believe Fujitsu has been an excellent employer and good place to work.

Those ten years have given me a great foundation to help Customers maximise their return on their Technology investments. In practical terms, this means helping them:

• Exploit existing collaboration tools and infrastructure
• Understand impact of consumerization and Web 2.0 on Customers and other stakeholders
• Create a successful blend of infrastructure, using established collaboration / information management tools and leading edge ones
• Understand technology’s impact on People, and create programme of change to manage this impact and maximise Return on Investment
• Make informed decisions about which tools / trends match needs of organisation - don't just go with the flow

I’ve worked for Fujitsu with a number of large Government Departments, and a mixture of Private and Public Sector bodies.

More details at http://www.linkedin.com/in/justinguysouter.


Props to Laughing Squid / Scott Beale, Ariel Waldman and, of course, to Hugh Macleod

Technorati Tags: work,business,success,technology,consultancy,advice,web 2.0,NE England

Podcasts to Listen to on the Beach?

Folks

Rather than a Tweet, a quick post to request some suggestions re interesting things to listen to on the beach.

I usually read books like The Tipping Point, Emergence, Synthetic Worlds; I've lined up The Big Switch, The Black Swan and even Mycelium Running for this year (not that I'll have time for them all / more than one...).

I was looking for suggestions for what I could listen to on my MP3 player. Thoughts I've had include:

• Harvard Business Review IdeaCast
• Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective people
• David Maister on Professional Services Firms etc.

Not exactly racy, perhaps plain dull - but I have to be myself! I'm not a big fan of novels, unless it's something like Snow Crash or Neuromancer. Can't recommend two these highly enough.

So maybe something self-improving, or of interesting from work / business arena perhaps?

I did a quick Google search, and came up with a similar post, and potential link. Unfortunately, this latter site seems to be defunct.

UPDATE: Still trying to get Disqus comments right! I need to sort out the Blogger template to allow the Disqus system to work properly. :-s

Technorati Tags: podcast,suggestions,holiday,boring

Please check my list of Web & Enterprise 2.0 tools / concepts

I'm helping a colleague put together a presentation called 'The Future of Innovation'. He's looking into lots of different areas, e.g. Commercial, People, etc.

My chosen specialist subject is Web & Enterprise 2.0. I'd like you to check my list below and give me your thoughts, amendments, omissions.

I'm thinking of how to change the idea capture spreadsheet into something web-friendly, but will probably only do so if there is a stampede of comments. List so far is:

• Blogs
• Social Networks
• Micro-blogging - twitter, pownce, jaiku, plurk
• Wikis, Google docs, Acrobat.com etc etc.
• Virtual Worlds
• Crowd-sourcing - digg etc.
• Bookmarking
• Ideas Markets
• Instant Messaging
• Mashups
• SaaS
• PaaS
• Rich Internet Applications - Air, Silverlight, Android
• Folksonomies
• RSS
• SOA
• Cloud computing
• OpenID
• The Long tail
• Remix
• Geotagging

I've been checking material from Gartner and Dion Hinchcliffe to help compile the list.

All constructive suggestions very gratefully received. Let me know if you have problems with the Disqus comments etc.

Big up Gourmet Spot! :-)

Allow me to say a big "Thank You!" to Dr. Raj Naik, proprietor of the Gourment spot and surgeon Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Newcastle, UK (amongst other things).

An amazing gastronomical evening last night, with "Post-Modern Food" on the menu - cooked with Liquid Nitrogen, Dry Ice, and all sorts of confections. Raj and Sean the chef prefer Post-Modern Food to another term, molecular gastronomy - which you may be more familiar with.

We were privileged to be part of chef Sean Wilkinson's experimental evening, and to be joined by Sam and Dominic from Animmersion, Janice and Graeme Webster, and also Caroline Theobald (aka my lass)

Those of you following me on Twitter will know I'm interested in Virtual Worlds. Recently I was lucky enough to attend an RSA organised demo of a 3d appendectomy simulator. Very clever technology, delivered via web browser.

Raj has partnered with Sam and Dominic, and via NHS Innovations North (and connected together by Janice) they have put together the simulator. It could turn out to be the future of vocational training / tuition. :-D

The Diving Bell and the Butterly - IRL #3

Final post on this: I recently came across a headset from a company called Emotiv. It sells something called the "EPOC Neuroheadset". Apparently it reads your brainwaves and you can control video games and virtual worlds. It can represent emotions in a robot-like interface, presented via a computer screen: see where I'm going here?

I haven't heard back from them yet - I dropped them a line about how appropriate this kind of tool might be for someone with major brain damage, but another potential way to unlock The Groom's world?

Blurb from their website follows. I realise it's a bit long-winded, but explains things infinitely better than I could!:

• "Emotiv EPOC™
• The Emotiv EPOC now makes it possible for games to be controlled and influenced by the player's mind. Engaging, immersive, and nuanced, Emotiv-inspired game-play will be like nothing ever seen before. Based on the latest developments in neuro-technology, Emotiv has developed a new personal interface for human computer interaction.
• The Emotiv EPOC uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals naturally produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expression. It connects wirelessly with all game platforms from consoles to PCs. The Emotiv neuroheadset now makes it possible for games to be controlled and influenced by the player's mind.

[...]

• Technology
• Emotiv's core technology was developed based on our research into the human brain - the central control center for all our interactions and experiences.
• The brain is made up of approximately 100 billion nerve cells, which are called neurons. With the billions of active neurons, the brain tissue contains a myriad of active current sources that cause the local electrical potential to endlessly fluctuate with a great deal of variability.
• Each human brain is unique, both physically and functionally. The folding of the cortex of the human brain is also highly individual, meaning the way in which the external surface of the brain is folded individualizes the potentials, regardless of how functionality is mapped in each brain. Using non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG), it is possible to observe each person's individual electrical brain activity.
• At Emotiv, we've created a robust system and methodology for detecting and classifying both human conscious thoughts and non-conscious emotions. This revolutionary patent pending neural processing technology makes it possible for computers to interact directly with the human brain. By the detection of thoughts and feelings, our technology now makes it possible for applications to be controlled and influenced by the user's mind.

[...]

• Detection Suites

  The Emotiv Game Developer SDK comprises of our development neuroheadset and proprietary toolkit, which incorporates our unique set of detection suites. Detection suites can be used alone or combined for an even more spectacular game play experience.
  
  

  Affectiv™ Suite
  The Affectiv suite monitors player emotional states in real-time. It provides an extra dimension in game interaction by allowing the game to respond to a player's emotions. Characters can transform in response to the player's feeling. Music, scene lighting and effects can be tailored to heighten the experience for the player in real-time. The Affectiv suite can be used to monitor player state of mind and allow developers to adjust difficulty to suit each situation.
  
  

  Cognitiv™ Suite
  The Cognitiv suite reads and interprets a player's conscious thoughts and intent. Gamers can manipulate virtual objects using only the power of their thought! For the first time, the fantasy of magic and supernatural power can be experienced.
  
  

  Expressiv™ Suite
  The Expressiv suite uses the signals measured by the neuroheadset to interpret player facial expressions in real-time. It provides a natural enhancement to game interaction by allowing game characters to come to life. When a player smiles, their avatar can mimic the expression even before they are aware of their own feelings. Artificial intelligence can now respond to players naturally, in ways only humans have been able to until now."

So, I was thinking that someone afflicted by Locked In syndrome (and others like it) could communicate with others using a tool, by being present together in a Virtual World environment. Probably expensive, but a really positive way to use this technology. :-D

See also my earlier posts - here and here.