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Elisabeth Else

Elisabeth is a pragmatic, solutions-oriented consultant specialising in helping clients to use data and statistics to support their business objectives. Key markets include Tourism Technology, CRM and Financial Services.

She is able to work at a strategic level, rapidly understanding and communicating the key business issues. Her wide experience and attention to detail means that she can also adopt a very hands-on approach when required.

With a strong background in Statistics and Project Management, Elisabeth has demonstrated particular expertise in ensuring that projects are business focused, well documented and effectively communicated, thereby delivering results.


...BUT IS IT RELEVANT? CONSULTANCY PROJECTS:

Elisabeth has just completed a substantial assignment at Emma Bridgewater Limited, a UK-based manufacturer, retailer and wholesaler of pottery. Her role was firstly to perform a detailed assessment and documentation of agreed business requirements and conduct a professonal procurement process to select a supplier of their third generation transactional website. She then project managed the chosen supplier, Venda, to implementation of the new website to successful launch on time and on budget, which was generating substantially increased conversion rates within its first few weeks.

When the RDAs gained government responsibility for Tourism, the EnglandNet project was already underway, but had not yet delivered and had received a poor OGC Gateway Review. The South West of England Regional Development Agency (as lead RDA for Tourism) asked Elisabeth to co-ordinate a joint VisitBritain/RDA Working Group and drive the process of re-visiting the project governance and financing.

As a result of these changes, a new Programme Board was set up and Elisabeth was asked to work jointly for VisitBritain and for the RDAs on delivering work arising from deliberations of this board.   Such work has included incorporation of a regional perspective into new legal agreements and designing a business reporting process.

During the period of this engagement, delivery milestones have been achieved and enormous progress made in developing productive working relationships.

" Elisabeth joined a complex project when it was already advanced, and already losing direction. She quickly re-established order doing so in one of those rare manners that included clear communication and appreciation of the different agendas of the project's many stakeholders." Robin Barker, Marketing Director & Deputy CEO, SWT

South West Tourism (SWT) wished to procure a Destination Management System (DMS) to manage tourism product data and enable effective promotion of the region.

After an initial review of systems and running a Request for Information (RFI) process, it was decided to conduct an OJEU Framework procurement in order that the Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) in the region could adopt the same system as SWT without undergoing their own procurement.

Elisabeth worked for both SWT and the regional development agency, in conjunction with another consultant employed by SWT, to manage the entire provider selection process from specifying detailed requirements to developing legal contracts and supplier assessment.

"What is different about Elisabeth is that she is always aware of the business context and implications of her work. She not only has project management skills and enthusiasm, but also the maturity to deal with the setbacks that inevitably occur along the way." Nick Lewis, Director of Corporate Services, South West of England RDA.

Elisabeth supported the implementation of a Siebel solution for Contact Management. She was approached when the project was part-way through to review work to date and recommend a way forward.   Subsequently the role was extended to placing the project into a strategic context, including assessment of business objectives and processes. After a successful pilot, Elisabeth led the business workstream which re-specified the system for Siebel v7 and supported the roll-out to all users.

"Elisabeth was involved in a comprehensive review of our customer systems. She assimilated complex data from across the organisation and distilled it into clear and actionable information. She added real value to the project through her commercial insights and broad strategic perspective." Philip Hanson, General Manager - Group Marketing, The Halifax.

Elisabeth was engaged as part of a two-person team to review the Halifax's progress towards CRM, and recommend a way forward. The approach involved one-to-one meetings with some 40 people, including General Managers and Board Members, and several workshops. The final deliverable elaborated an end vision with achievable steps, including specifications and a project plan for the first phase of work.

“Elisabeth consistently worked to high standards and this had a positive impact on those around her. She combines both incisive and succinct drafting skills with statistical analysis and would be an asset to any project.” Sue Baxter, Director - Broadband Aggregation Programme, DTI.

The initial role involved supporting the project through the OGC Gateway Review process. The project had previously scored unsatisfactory ratings, but with the new procedures introduced, achieved a “green” assessment. Further roles with this client included design and implementation of a new knowledge management process and running a formal supplier procurement exercise.

PREVIOUS CONSULTANCY PROJECT:

Worked on “Project Caribou” for Lloyds TSB from initial workshop with client executives, which led to the project being commissioned, right through to delivery of live pilot as project manager. Elisabeth became involved in all aspects of the client’s marketing process including business analysis, treatment design, telephony and campaign management, guiding staff and ensuring maintenance of technical quality throughout.

This pilot project served as the learning environment for the next phase of the bank’s effort to become more customer centric, and has been credited with generating enthusiasm for CRM as well as demonstrating tangible benefits.

Project Caribou has been published as a case study by both Tower Group and Gartner.

PREVIOUS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

• Principal and CRM Subject Matter Expert - AMS UK Ltd (later CGI)
• Head of Credit Strategy - Lombard Bank
• Risk Policy Manager - Lombard North Central
• Manager (UK Risk Management) - Barclays Bank
• Credit Scoring Manager - Mercantile Credit

BUSINESS/TECHNICAL SKILLS:

PRINCE2 Practitioner (government standard in project management) -   Passed 2006.
Regular user of Microsoft Office Products, MS Project and Visio.
Understanding of Tourism Technology Solutions, including EnglandNet, New Mind, New Vision, Tiscover and World.Net.
Knowledge of decision engine and campaign management functionality, such as Oracle - Siebel, Epiphany and various internally developed client systems.

Elisabeth has significant experience in delivery of training. She was one of the European Trainers for AMS’s Customer Value Management Seminar and gained particular praise from delegates for a workshop exercise, which she devised to simulate design of a customer focused marketing strategy.

EDUCATION:

B.Sc. Hons Statistics, University of Bath, 1986

OTHER INFORMATION

Counter Terrorism Check (CTC) Security Clearance

CONTACT DETAILS:

... but is it relevant?
Bishop's House
3 Park Row
Farnham
Surrey
GU9 7JH

Telephone: +44 (0)1252 727070
Mobile:       +44 (0)7785 538750
Email:        elisabeth.else@butisitrelevant.com