About us

Peter helps business make their processes more efficient and their IT aligned to their business goals for cost effective operation.

BIOGRAPHY
Peter Birley is the principal consultant.
Prior to setting up his own business Peter was the Director of Information Technology and Head of Business Operations for a top 100 law firm where he was responsible for the introduction of a three-year rolling IT strategy aligned with the business and a Business Process Improvement methodology to assist in the drive for efficiency.
Peter is an experienced IT Management professional and has held senior IT positions in the legal, high technology, London insurance market and manufacturing sectors. One of Peter’s specialities is Business Process Improvement and Business Process Management (BPM). In these areas Peter has carried out a number of studies and subsequent projects. Peter holds a Six Sigma Black belt qualification.  
Another area of speciality is Programme and Project Management and he holds the highly acclaimed PMP (Project Manager Professional) accreditation as well as being a certified practitioner in the Prince2 project methodology, the MSP (managing successful programmes) methodology.
Peter is recognised as a thought leader in the Legal IT space and has written a number of articles on IT Management as well as being a regular speaker at IT events. In 2009 Peter’s blog (www.cioblog.co.uk) on IT Management came second in the Computer Weekly 2009 Blog Awards for the CIO/IT Director category. Also in 2009 Peter was placed in Silicon.com CIO50 which celebrates the most influential and innovative tech chiefs in the UK across all industries and organizations, large and small, public and private and is compiled from the votes of UK CIO’s plus input from a panel of experts. In 2010 Peter was voted onto the Knowlist30 for the legal IT professionals and vendor personalities top 30 'people to know' as voted for by his peer group. In 2011 Peter was voted 'Person of the year' at the Legal IT awards held by the Knowlist
Peter is also a Fellow and Chartered IT Professional with the British Computer Society.

Our Services - Business Technology Aligned It's all about the Management of IT, Projects and Business Process

Examples of projects completed

Peter has vast experience of managing and delivering IT and business programmes and projects and could do so for you. Here are some examples of the types of projects completed recently to demonstrate his breadth of knowledge:-

• The creation of a 3 year rolling IT Strategy aligned to the business goals
• Department reviews and restructure
• Selection and implementation of software packages (Case Management/Document Management/Remote working etc)
• Selection and replacment of telecomms/ wide area networks (MPLS/VPLS)
• Project management of application development projects including client facing products
• Business continuity and disaster recovery (DR)plan projects both in UK and Europe
• Led a new ways of working programme encompassing MFD's, smart phones, electronic file, post scanning, voice recognition, digital signatures, Wi-Fi, portals etc.
• Outsourcing Projects (IT Support and Application development)
• Managed a number of security initiatives including email encryption, endpoint security and ISO 27001 gap analysis
• Business Intelligence projects (Data warehouse, Analysis, KPI's, Dashboards)
• A number of business process improvement, business transformation and change projects
• Workflow BPM projects using a variety of systems (Staffware/ Metastorm/ Agilepoint) to improve process and reduce costs (from client inception/money laundering to purchase orders)
• Successful project rescues (Oracle financials upgrade project/major desktop roll out (4,000 plus) of XP operating system)
• Project managed complete office moves including data centre
• Insourced IT operation from USA to UK/ Project managed demerger of Management services company to trading company
• Project managed infrastructure projects (SAN, Virtualisation, Desktop refresh, Exchange upgrades)
• Project managed web development (internet with CMS, Extranet portal, Intranet using Sharepoint technology)

Peter Birley - Presentations and published articles It's all about the Management of IT, Projects and Business Process

Peter shares his knowledge through articles and presentations. He also has a highly respected blog at www.cioblog.co.uk and he is a contributor to the Enterprise CIO Forum http://www.enterprisecioforum.com/en/blogs/peterbirley
Articles
• Making a connection – A look at the future for communicating with clients (Knowlist Magazine Dec 2010)
• The IT Road map – Creating a long term IT strategy (Managing Partner Magazine Sept 2010)
• Future of Digital Dictation (Managing Partner Magazine Sept 2010)
• Pooling Power – investing in IT to make a competitive difference (Managing Partner Magazine Feb 2010)
• Marketing your Law firm using social networking technology (Legal IT Professionals.com, July 2010)
• How Technology can help your company win business (Silicon.com Aug 2009)
• How to come up with Big ideas (Silicon.com Apr 2009)
• Ten steps to successful IT (Silicon.com Jan 2009)
• Selling the IT vision (Silicon.com Oct 2008)
Speaking Events/ Webinars
• Cost effective use of IT (Butterworths Legal Practice Management Webinar, Dec 2010)
• CIO – The Evolution of the Species (360IT Earls Court, Sept 2010)
• New ways of working- Preparing for the next generation of users (Alternate Legal IT Forum, Sept 2010)
• The Dynamic relationship – creating new models of partnership between the firm and technology suppliers (Alternate Legal IT Forum, Sept 2010)
• Unified Communications- How to define the level of integration (Ark Group Conference, May 2010)
• The Future of Social Networking in the workplace (IBDG IT Director strategy meeting, May 2010)
• Marketing your Law firm using social networking (LEX2010, March)
• Investing in IT that makes a competitive difference (Legal IT Show, Feb 2010)
• Will the CIO role still be relevant to the business in 2015 (CIO Dialogue, Dec 2009)
• Helping the firm win business (Legal Week strategic Technology forum, Spain, June 2009)
• Creating process efficiencies in your firm (LEX2009, March)
• Mitigating risk in document workflow (Legal IT Forum, Oct 2008)
• The challenges of mobile working (LEX2007, Feb)

Recommendations

A selection of Recommendations on Peters work

"Firstly very well done. Congratulations to you and the team on a very good job well done." COO, International Insurance Company

"Working to the strategy and ensuring this is fully aligned to the business has enabled IT achieve a great deal in 12 months and to provide a level of transparency that helps the whole business to see themselves as part of the same team." Managing Partner Top 100 Law firm

“Highly knowledgeable on the latest technological developments and recognised as an expert on the use and impact of social media. Offers expert insight and advice and is a great sounding board. A pleasure to work with.” IS Director Top 50 law Firm

“Peter combines a wonderful balance of strategic thinking, attention to detail and a good sense of humour to make working for him a pleasure. This combination draws the best out of his suppliers and ensures that they genuinely want to give him and his employer their very best.
That said, Peter is no soft touch and you are always aware that he has high standards and the skills to get rough if required!” Sales Manager Major UK Supplier

“Peter is forward thinking and is very eager to embrace best of breed technologies that will enhance the business and IT. Peter keeps up to date with developments within the IT area generally with a view to how these might be best utilised within the environment in which he is working.
Peter likes to keep in touch with all the people within his overall team and takes the time to get to know people as individuals and tries to encourage them to utilise their skills to the best advantage.” Interim Senior Legal Business Analyst

“Peter has been insightful and informative in his approach to the project we have been doing together. His knowledge of the sector and the business needs has enabled us to adapt and work as partners in delivering an IT solution to the firm through challenging times in the business marketplace.” Development Director, Software Company

 “I worked with Peter on the separation of two companies. This was a very complex and politically loaded endeavour. His leadership and commercial skills were essential in making the transition a success. His diplomatic skills were to the fore throughout as was his ability to manage the senior executive. I would recommend Peter as an asset at executive level.” IT Director, Insurance Company

Further recommendations available