Brian Robertson
Brian Robertson is an experienced consultant with a wide range of skills, based in Bridge of Earn, near Perth, Scotland.
Since forming his own company in September 2004, Brian has undertaken a number of assignments, working either directly for clients or as an Associate for other consulting companies. These assignments include:
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Managing a successful project to design and implement a web based Training Portal and associated tools for a public sector client (5 months)q Reviewing the implementation of a UK Police Force's IS Strategy and writing a case study on benefits delivered and lessons learned (3 weeks)
q Providing data gathering and analysis support to a Public sector client's study into future data management requirements (1 month)
q As part of a 4 man team, advising a Public Sector client on how to structure and manage a large programme of IS enabled business change projects (2 months)
q Advising a charitable company involved in education on how to design there is Strategy.
Brian's previous career was as an Infantry officer in the Army, having joined on graduating from St Andrews University. He held a range of diverse appointments in three distinct phases of his 27 year career.
In the first phase leading up to his attendance at the Army's technical university, he held appointments with his regiment, including service with the Territorial Army, and in staff positions in headquarters. The key skills learned during this phase were leadership, man management, written and oral communication, the design and execution of detailed plans, and the ability to think and react quickly.
Having attended the technical university at Shrivenham for a year, he went on to hold a range of appointments on the technical staff. This included operational analysis, writing requirements and the technical assessment of equipment performance in the hands of the user. He also served further tours with his regiment, again serving with the Territorial Army. He acquired further skills in complex project management, and the formation and development of teams to achieve a specific goal. Crucially, he developed an interest in computing, starting to build his own PCs and acting as IT Manager for units he was serving with as a secondary role. This led directly to his decision to take a second degree, an MSc in Design of Information Systems at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham.
Having graduated in 2000, Brian held a number of appointments in the Army Information Systems specialisation, acquiring further skills and qualifications in Project and Programme Management, and Change Management, before deciding to retire from the Army in 2004. .
His key achievements have been:
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The development and implementation of a Business Strategy and supporting Change Programme for a Business Unit of 440 people spread over 15 sites, with the objective of reducing staff to 120 based on a maximum of 2 sites through outsourcing of non-core functions. This led to the restructuring of the unit around key processes and an initial reduction from 440 to 336 staff based on 12 sites, saving £1.15 million per annum from the operating budgetq As a team member of a joint McKinsey Consulting/MOD team, he identified benefits to be delivered through rationalisation of the organisation and processes of the Defence Logistics Organisation. Total benefits of £1.6 billion against an operating budget of £8 billion were identified. He was personally involved in investigating the benefits of the introduction of lean manufacturing and reliability centred maintenance techniques for the overhaul of armoured vehicles
q The management and delivery of a complex programme of user and technical trials for a multi-national ground based missile system, involving 55 personnel from 5 nations, including setting up trials infrastructure at 2 sites in Australia. He analysed, reported and extensively briefed the results, leading to the eventual cancellation of the project at a saving of £165 million
q The planning and execution of the annual training programme for a unit of 45 full time and 600 part time personnel with an operating budget of £1M. Including all aspects of planning the annual 2 week training exercise in the UK or abroad, involving the movement of 350 personnel and 75 vehicles to a location, the design and detailed planning of a training programme, and all aspects of logistic support
q He reorganised and retrained an infantry company of 100 personnel, including absorbing 40 personnel from another organisation, into a single team, and trained them to meet exacting operational standards for deployment to Northern Ireland. The company was selected as best out of four at the final test, and successfully completed 2 years of varied operations without casualties.
Brian's qualifications include:
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MA in History - St Andrews Universityq MSc Design of Information Systems – Royal Military College of Science
q Association for Project Management Professional (APMP)
q PRINCE 2 Practitioner
q Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner
q EFQM Open Licence Assessor
He is a full Member of both the British Computer Society and the Association for Project Management.
Updated: 17March 2006