
Owner at The Aha! Agency
New Zealand

Owner at The Aha! Agency
New Zealand
"Ever get that flash of inspiration when you get the gist of an idea and it becomes reality."
I'm a maven for new technologies. I seek first to understand, then test its capabilities and finally impart that knowledge. That's why I'm proud to announce The Aha! Agency, when it comes to Social Media and the Google Tool set we know how to wire it all together... Drop me a line today so that I can enthuse you in our capabilities.
In my career I've been a Developer / Systems Analyst / Project Manager and have combined these skills to show that these tools can be amalgamated into a cohesive presence. We know how to wire this stuff together... a one stop shop!
LION 2683 connections (I'm 1 of 16 NZ LIONS). Experience in: Social Media Application Development, Financial Sector, Charity Sector, 360 Leadership, GTD, Strategic Thinking, Quadrant 2 Organising, Conflict Resolution, Team Building.
Being a LION enables me to assist others and being a LION Maven I relish spreading tips & techniques to take LI Open Networking (LION) to the next level! (hence my TopLinked.com membership)
(Information Technology and Services industry)
August 2009 — Present (4 months)
The Aha! Agency is a small consulting company with the sole intention of enabling businesses to get into Google Apps & the Social Media Scene.
Aha!, as in seeing the light, when a thought is grasped and the realisation sinks in.. a great place to be and one that I'm proud to be able to impart.
We utilise a whole raft of mostly free technologies to enable organisations to get the word out to their client base. The only costs relate to consulting time to make this a reality.
(Non-Profit; Hospital & Health Care industry)
May 2007 — August 2009 (2 years 4 months)
In the Information Communications & Technology (ICT) area of St John I oversaw a number of projects relating to Infrastructure & Application Development.
Achievements:
• Worked in conjunction with AGILE NZ (ref www.agile.co.nz) to handle the deployment of a new AVAYA VOIP phone system at the Northern Region HQ of 200 seats along with Office Communicator 2007r2 enabling PC click to dial functionality and a new voice mail system. Went live 070809
• Worked in conjunction with AGILE NZ to oversee the Implementation of an Avaya 35 seat call centre using the award winning Contact Centre Express (ref www.agile.co.nz/default.aspx?MenuId=67) & Call recording via "Nice" application
• Oversaw the implementation of "Snap" push tools to 1300 workstations nationally and via citrix at st John (ref www.snapcomms.com)
• Implemented a national share point intranet, in conjunction with IGA Solutions (www.igasystems.co.nz) known as "THEHUB" on vmware and utilizing a NZ first for using Certeon web acceleration technology (*won the best collaborative tools project in the MS NZ Partners Awards 2009)
• Set up basic PM Methodologies that laid the groundwork for the development of a maturing P.M.O. Initially one PM & 1 BA to three PM's and Three BA's with structures that are now being adopted by the whole Enterprise.
(Information Technology and Services industry)
January 2005 — May 2007 (2 years 5 months)
Responsibilities:
• 2005 – Project Managed ASB Workstation releases (x3) deploying phased software releases to 3000+ workstations and 800+ servers. Liaised with Project PM's who had their applications teed up in the respective releases. Escalated problems to respective Solution Managers and improved process through the 3 iterations.
• March 2006 to Oct 2006: Oversaw the rewrite of the Banks' Online Registration System.
• October 2005 to present: looking after three ASB Investment infrastructure projects, liaising across group businesses.
(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
October 1999 — July 2005 (5 years 10 months)
Oversee the deployment of Internal Web Solution Projects.
Provide Architectural advice in relation to the Bank’s internal web servers.
Webmaster for Bank’s Intranets & subsidiary applications
Liaise with third party vendors in relation to Web application deployment on Intranet Servers; front end design, Infrastructure & component utilisation, bundling / release process.
Develop exhilarating Websites, utilising; ASP, HTML, XML, VBScript, JavaScript.
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Defense & Space industry)
June 1998 — December 1999 (1 year 7 months)
• One of a team of two personnel trained in Allaires‘ COLD FUSION and tasked to administer and develop new business processes on the Navy’s Intranet
• Assisted in the development and maintenance of the PERSEUS database (a system devised in house, from an initial design from the RAN, this database stores Personnel data and uses complex VBA routines to slice and dice data. This was then used to extrapolate data into the future and therefore assess what would happen up to 10/15yrs in the future as a result of certain decisions)
(Government Agency; 5001-10,000 employees; Defense & Space industry)
October 1995 — June 1998 (2 years 9 months)
• Answer inquiries on RNZN recruiting matters.
• Oversee the processing of Direct Entry Officer applications.
• Prepare all accounts for the Recruiting HQ and budget preparation for the next financial year.
• Act as Naval liaison between the Navy and their respective Advertising Agency at campaign times.
• Provide training on recruiting systems for all recruiting personnel.
(Self-Employed; 1-10 employees; Philanthropy industry)
July 1995 — July 1995 (1 month)
Moved down under for a better lifestyle
(Retail industry)
June 1989 — September 1992 (3 years 4 months)
• Part of a team of four accountants that produced Monthly Management Accounts for the Group (The Group comprised of 89 Grocery stores / 6 Funeral parlours and 8 Garage franchises)
• Studied for the Association of Accounting Technicians exams
(precursor to sitting the Chartered Accountants exams)
Higher National Diploma , Business & Finance , 1992 — 1994
Went back to college to study for a Higher National Diploma in Business & Finance to broaden my business acumen.
Achieved 13 Distinctions, 3 Merits
1980 — 1984
Mountain Biking, Akl MTB club member, Change Management, Project Management: (PMI / AGILE / Prince2), Listening to PODCASTS, My Favourite Social Media Tools: I've taken the mashup approach.... I'm using Twitter / Plaxo / Facebook / Flikr / Utube / digg / Google reader / spock / Shozu and linking them together with hellotxt.com (via my mobile and/or Web) to centralise latest activity posting to... plaxo / twitter / linkedin / facebook. I'm also using friendfeed to create a "lifestream" to amalgamate my delicious / digg / blog / flikr / google reader favourites / twitter & utube postings. I'm using shozu.com on the mobile to post images to flikr and video to UTube & my blog whilst out and about I'm also utilising Spock & Linqia to get my profile out there....
LinkedIn Open Networker (LION), MPUG Member (NZ Chapter), TopLinked.com, member of Auckland Mountain Bike Club
Microsoft Sharepoint Implementation "Hub Phase 1" won the collaborative tools award in the 2009 Microsoft NZ Partners Awards