About ITspire
ITspire was created by Drew Keavey.
Drew has spent 25 years in various IT management roles, primarily within the further education sector, having started out writing and developing software for children with special needs.
Key Experience
Projects and Procurement
Drew has 25 years worth of experience managing projects of all shapes and sizes. From annual ICT replacements through to new builds, mergers and major ICT transformation agendas.
The project management experience also brings with it lots of examples of dealing with stakeholders across an organisation from senior teams and boards through to service users and customers. The communication skills and ability to translate often complex technical matters into meaningful information for lay people has been a huge part of the success of many of the projects.
On top of the wider project management there has been a huge amount of complex procurement undertaken. This has included everything from competitive quotes, tenders, framework mini-competitions through to full OJEU processes.
A major part of any project or procurement exercise is managing the budget and Drew has a wealth of experience in this area. Project budgets (most recently a £2.2 million ICT budget for a new build) through to annual capital and revenue budgets have all been a regular part of the package as has reviewing spend to achieve the best value and find savings where possible to meet wider organisational requirements.
Drew has also spent time working in both the NHS and Academy sectors in roles including managing the IT transition from outsourced providers and managing the procurement of managed IT services solutions from design through to contract development and implementation.
One of the key strengths brought to all of the projects and procurement exercises is the ability to select an appropriate process and create the right governance arrangements for the scale of the undertaking.
New Builds
While at Derby College, Drew designed, procured and managed the implementation of the IT infrastructure and end-user devices for two new builds, including the £1.7 million IT element of the £50 million Roundhouse campus. Both new builds required infrastructure design from the ground up that would both innovate and allow for new ways of flexible working while being able to support the changing needs of the organisation for at least 5 years. Both projects were also delivered on time and within the budget.
More recently Drew led the IT design, procurement and implementation for Nottingham College’s new flagship City Hub campus – a £2.2 million IT programme that once again was designed to deliver new ways of working, new technologies and innovation across the building. Once again the project was delivered on time and within budget, quite a feat as the project ran through the Covid-19 period.
On all of the new builds the input has been from the design stage onward and included stakeholder requirement gathering and translating those into an ICT Strategy for the building. Working closely with the major contractors, M&E experts and wider project teams has been the route to success and each new build has delivered an excellent environment for the organisation.
Management
Drew was been a senior leader within the FE sector for many years with involvement for not only the IT, MIS, Libraries and ILT functions but also as a key part of cross-organisation projects.
As part of these roles Drew managed the transitional arrangements to ensure IT and business systems integration for three separate mergers including the first-ever three-way merger between FE colleges.
These projects included both the infrastructure/systems elements and also the staffing and budget aspects to ensure that the newly merged entities were operating as a coherent organisation as quickly as possible.
Drew has also worked with organisations post-merger where things hadn’t gone quite to plan and helped them to get back on track working to a common set of aims with technology solutions fit for the new, bigger organisation.
General
Drew has also developed policies and procedures for several organisations including overall IT Strategies with associated action plans, acceptable use policies, social networking policies, security policies and disaster management policies and procedures.
Alongside these activities, a number of reviews have been undertaken to give organisations an independent view on everything from staffing structures and numbers, current infrastructure suitability, cyber security positioning, through to full analysis of the current ICT function with recommendations for improvements.
Further Information
To find out more detail about Drew’s past experience please check out LinkedIn which is updated regularly. To learn more about recent help that ITSpire has been involved in delivering please check out our Assignments page and if there is anything that you think we can help with please get in touch.