Mike Burns

Currently responsible for Service Delivery across the Information and Digital Group (IDG) at the University of Warwick. This group of over 420 FTE comprises IT Services, Library, Strategic Planning and Analytics, Strategic Change and Administration. I work as part of the Senior Leadership team to help design our future offering through use of automation process, service redesign, adoption of sector and industry collaboration and partnerships as well as enhancing Warwick presence within the sector through areas such as UCISA, Russell Group of Universities (RUGIT) and ITSMF.

Whilst directly responsible for managing the Service Management (ITIL) Process team (including Incident, Change, Transition, Problem), Service Delivery Managers for Academic and Professional Services and wider HE Sector Engagement, I am currently on a secondment on a CITO led project, to lead a service re-design across the IDG Group within 'Project Re-Wire' as part of a wider 'Warwick Transformation' of Professional Services.

I am creating a new Target Operating Model (TOM) within 20 weeks as part of a small project team of 4 plus working in conjunction with management consultants from Deloitte, I have

- Identified Shadow IT and Functions across the University external to IDG

- Budget Modelling including outsourcing options and strategic partnership approaches

- Developed 3 potential new staff structures to simplify and realign the services offered to out students and staff

- Created a base line of services, products and technology maturity models to inform the new TOM proposals.

- End User Engagement workshops to identify over 240 problem statements for IDG within 4 weeks to validate thinking and future proposals.

Prior to this project, I was heavily involved in the 5 yearly Academic focused 'Institutional Teaching and Learning Review' (ITLR) for Professional Services (IT Services, Library, Estates, Space Management and Timetabling, Flexible Online Learning Division). In this review process, I was the cluster lead to work with the professional services departments over 4 months to create a submission for review on

- Progress on recommendations since last ITLR in 2017

- Service adequacy and current fitness for purpose

- Alignment of services to future strategy of 'Seamless Physical and Digital Learning'

- Institutional challenges which currently prevent Professional Services working more effectively

- Governance of professional services and how they are directed by wider University Strategy (Warwick 2030)

- Student Engagement and KPI's

This report is currently going through secondary external panel review but I am pleased the feedback from the Review panel has highlighted the quality of the report submitted, its honesty in identifying challenges and blockers, setting a clear focus for the future on user led service design which is an area I believe very strongly in and an acceptance to engage more with the sector to promote 'Thought Leadership'

Other areas of notable achievements within this role have been -

- University of Warwick Service Delivery lead for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and the International Children Games.

- Rapid launch in 3 weeks of an Out of Hours Service Desk in conjunction with Norman (University of Northumbria) involving Early Market Engagement exercises, procurement and technical project delivery.

- Redefinition of Service Delivery Managers to enhance portfolio of operations and remit.

- Led project to redesign, consolidate and launch Self Service Portal in Service Now ITSM system and developed a new Service Catalogue process for IDG.

- Membership of Russell University Group IT Service Management Group

As Customer Services Manager for Learning and Information Services (LIS) I worked across the entire institution, comprising 86 Campus Sites in the partnership of 13 FE, HE and Research businesses. MY areas covered IT Services, Library, Management and Information Systems and Projects. I worked closely with other professional service departments including Finance, Alumni, Student Support and Human Resources.

I was ultimately responsible for the core UHI Servicedesk, Desktop Support Team, Business Relationship Management, Vendor management and setting KPI and Service Level Agreements. The role did vary over the years including management of LIS Administration, Project Management, Procurement and Governance and dual IT Management roles for both North Highland College and West Highland College as part of a share service initiative.

I was responsible for setting Service Management processes including Incident, Problem, Change and Transition. I developed a good depth of technical knowledge of both sector specific and wider technology. I became a committee member of the UCISA Support Services Group, a position which I hold to this day. I worked with external groups including APUC, UCSS, SCIL, Scottish Servicedesk Managers Forum and Scottish Government Digital Strategy. I was also the lead representative on course approval events with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and General Ophthalmic Council.

Within UHI, I sat on several committees including Inclusivity Group, Student Learners Council, Nursing and Midwifery Committee, Health and Safety and Student Digital Support Group.

I was the strategic lead on the launch of the Shared Service UniDesk platform across the university, taking on board over 80 processional support departments into a single service management platform. This included procurement with APUC to satisfy procurement of the service from University of Edinburgh. I led the service design, roll out, transition, communications and training plan for over 100 staff. The system led to the launch of a live chat service and also a new self service portal, with a modal shift of support from email to Self Service of 2% to 60% within 10 weeks of launch. I also sat on the UniDesk Governing Board with 10 other HE institutions.

I was the strategic and project lead on the Single Print Service project over 5 years to deliver a single print service across the institution. Valued at £2.5 million over 5 years, I led the design principles to rationalize the fleet, simply the service offering and procure through competitive tender with APU. This led to cost savings of over 30% during the lifetime of the contract.

I was a project lead on the transfer of University of Stirling Nursing and Midwifery Provision to UHI. This included resource planning, technical planning and staff engagement on TUPE, Redundancy, Pensions and Student Engagement. This was a complex project involving dual running of students for 3 years on multiple systems between Stirling and UHI.

Other notable achievements -

- Key Major Incident Manager within significant Cyber Incident during 2021 (Cobalt Strike) and work with Cyber Essentials Certification.

- Procurement framework designs and stakeholder representative with APUC including Assistive Technology in conjunction with 5 other HE institutions in Scotland

- Launch of Live Chat services and Out of Hours Services.

- Software consolidation for North Highland College offering circa £40K per annum

- Launch of MyDay Student / Staff Access Portal

- Initial launch of SharePoint to the university

- Vendor Management with Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)

Freeland Auditor for 15 Automotive clients, involving site visits, both announced and unannounced, across Scotland and Northern England.

On Site review of operational standards, franchise standards, financial and legal compliance and inspections of work areas. Verification of implementation of action plans and working with senior staff on development of continual improvement processes to strengthen both internal controls and customer satisfaction.

Preparation and quality control of client reports on tight schedules, for corporate use to assist with trend analysis and adjustment of project scopes to ensure relevance of ongoing audit work.

Employed by BBC Scotland Technology and subsequently outsourced to Siemens IT Solutions and Services, which in turn became part of ATOS, my role was based in BBC Inverness working within the News section for both English and Gaelic.

I took the lead Project management role for the technical installation and upgrades of the site to launch BBC ALBA - including 8 simultaneous Sub Projects of TV Studio Installation, IT Infrastructure, VOIP roll out, Audio IP, Video IP, TV Editing System, VJ Roll out and Transmission Systems Upgrades.

Extensive and well developed working relationships with customers at all levels and 3rd Party Suppliers.