ALAN DIPPER

Contact number: 01206 30 50 28

27 Colne Road Brightlingsea, Essex CO70DL

PROFILE

I have worked within the customer service industry for the last twenty years. I have adapted to allow career
progression within the ever changing environment. This has allowed me to progress from a junior position to
one of leading teams. I have led various teams within the Customer Service arena for 15 of the said 20 years.
I use my skills to ensure every aspect of the Service Desk and Problem Management function are performed.
I ensure that my teams gain a first fix rate of a minimum of eighty five percent. I ensure that a Central
Monitoring Database (CMDB ) is always present, thus allowing the building of a central knowledge base. I liaise
with customers on a continual basis. I ensure Service Level Agreements are obtainable and that an associated
Operator Level Agreement (OLA ) is present. I give concise feedback with regards to problem management in a
timely manner. I have worked with various systems throughout my career allowing for a broad understanding of
issues. I use my Service Management skills to ensure that all items are concluded satisfactorily. I can deal with
multiple issues and prioritise ensuring no loss to the customer. I am seeking a fresh challenge.
ACHIEVEMENTS

o Successfully implemented a HOT/HOT Distributed Service Desk function within the Warsaw
office.

All London Citi Command Centre functionality was replicated in the Warsaw office.
This allowed for a Continuation Of Business (COB).

My completed tasks included -

Confirmed the project stakeholders.

Confirmed the required resource.
Established the appropriate training plans.
Confirmed the project stakeholders.
Visited the Warsaw office on a numerous occasions to complete first generation training.
Agreed future proof training plans for new joiners with stakeholders.
Ensured feedback provided to appropriate staff within effective time scales.

o Integral part of a team who successfully completed a Service Centre building move from
Victoria to Canary Wharf.

Completed x2 site visits to confirm the best location within the new Canary Wharf building.
Confirmed stakeholders from various departments inc. Networks, Site Management.
Confirmed a method of reporting updates with stakeholders.
Compiled a listing of current apps and required hardware.
Confirmed a staggered shift pattern to ensure a presence as individual apps came online.
Monitored the environment to ensure no loss of hardware.

o Successfully completed a systems overview project allowing the business and support staff to
overview the Operations team. This included aspects of Futures, Arbitrage Marks & Market Feed
processing

Identified critical applications and the associated departments where training was required.
Confirmed a stakeholder within each of the said departments.
Reviewed all overviews and gave constructive feedback prior to the conclusion.
Confirmed a presentation schedule and location for overviews to be concluded. This ensured the down
stream of information to all team members.
 SKILLS

• Major Incident Management – coordinating major incidents through to resolution.

• Customer Focus - Managing and enhancing customer relationships.
• Service Delivery - Managing all aspects of service delivery including all SLA criteria.
• ITIL -knowledge and experience working in an ITIL focused environment.
• COB – Ensuring all aspects of the service desk are present during Continuation Of Business
• Documentation – Ensure all documentation is created/reviewed within an agreed time frame.
• UAT – Implement new products and ensure all User Acceptance Testing is complied with.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Citigroup, London May 1988 – April 2008

EMEA Service Desk Team Leader Aug 2000 - April 2008

• Responsible for the monitoring of Service Deliverables throughout the Citibank customer Network.
• Responsible for all customer desktop and application outages within the EMEA region.
• Ensured adequate staff levels present.
• Ensured all customer queries were logged in a professional and timely manner.
• Compiled daily Service Statistics for global senior management.
• Identified continuing errors and ensured an appropriate action was taken to see the said outages removed.
• Performed User Acceptance Testing of any new software prior to implementation.
• Performed staff quarterly appraisals.
• Ensured feedback from a 360 perspective was included in all activities.
• Ensured that the Customer Service team were always the Central Point of Contact.
• Service Level breaches for EMEA reported and tracked.
• Identified and agreed stakeholders prior to all project work.
• Identified vendor issues and established face to face meetings.
• Completed staff interview processes.
• Ensured adequate documentation present for all objectives.
• Agreed and tracked Goals with both the client and service team.
• Ensured that all Requests For Change (RFC) would be dealt with adequately.
• Gained knowledge of all customer systems ( Investment Banking ).
• Ensured an OLA was agreed prior to the introduction of an SLA.

Salomon Smith Barney, London May 1988 – Aug 2000

Service Centre Team Leader Dec Aug.2000

• Responsible for the monitoring of customer platforms for European systems.

• Ensured staff coverage present at all times.
• Attended monthly shift management meetings and provided downstream information to team members.
• Performed documentation reviews on a quarterly basis to ensure that our audit was not breached.
• Monitored Euro Clear (Clearing House) Batch processing and reported statistics to the customer.
• Monitored Legato backup processing via the front end Graphical User Interface.
• Completed Interview processes.
• Reviewed proposed Customer and support changes on a daily basis.
• Performed Reuters feed downloads and ensured correct number of instruments available.
Analyst Dec.1990 - Dec.1991

• Operated numerous system End of Days on Stratus, DEC Vax, Prime, Wang platforms.
• Documented all outages in Lotus notes and escalated to the Shift Manager.
• Monitored the HP-OPENVIEW front end for system errors.
• Performed quarterly audit of Paper Based procedure documents.
• Performed real time ftp downloads from the LIFFE and IPE exchanges for the Customer Futures Desk
• Concluded all customer telephone queries.
• Logged all customer requests and issues.
• Monitored all outstanding customer requests.

Junior analyst May.1988 - Dec.1990

• Concluded all customer telephone queries.

• Logged all customer requests and issues.
• Completed full and incremental backups of all platforms.
• Documented all outages in Suntracker and escalated to the Senior Analyst.
• Completed report processing duties using TSO, SDSF Input/Output queues.

Goodcity Ultimate, London Aug 1986 – May 1988

Messenger/Post Room Operative

• Responsible for the transfer of critical data between central London offices. .
• I made myself aware of the company structure and personnel within the departments.

Career Break Apr 2008 – present

I have taken this opportunity to spend some quality time with my family.
This has also allowed me to renovate my Victorian Cottage.
My wife has resumed temp work during this period.
I am now seeking a fresh challenge.

SYSTEM KNOWLEDGE

GPMS, Lotus Notes, Suntracker, Autosys, Legato, HP Reflection, Unix/Solaris, Legato, FTP, HTML
Information Technology Infrastructure library - certification gained. MS Office Proficient

EDUCATION

Culverhouse Comprehensive school Ockendon, Essex

Sept.1980 - Jul.1986
General Certificate of Secondary Education (O-Level)
Chemistry, Biology

COURSES ATTENDED

ITIL Foundation - Xpertise – Certification gained

Autosys – Computer Associates
Building Great Web Pages Hands On – Learning Tree
Unix Fundamentals – First Alternative
Legato Introduction – Legato Inc
People Management for New Supervisors Part1/2 – Helmsley Fraser
Leading Projects for new supervisors – In House
Taurus – London Stock Exchange
 INTERESTS

Sea fishing from my own Dinghy

Beach walks with my family – Members of Essex Wildlife Trust