NMS Communications January 2002 – To Date

NMS Communications is a $100M solution supplier to the Telecoms Industry that provides systems and equipment to both Network Operators and to major Equipment suppliers. In a senior, pre-sales role, Hugh has worked with client marketing and product management groups, Business Development and Engineering groups to define solutions focussed around speech-based services such as Voice-controlled email and messaging.

In this capacity, Hugh has taken an active role in supporting sales activities, developing client opportunities, managing proposals through to successfully completing customer trials, and supported the definition and launch of a new product line for NMS.


Most recently, Hugh has taken a very active role in defining and promoting NMS’s MyCaller solution, which is an innovative service that replaces the standard ringtone with music selected by mobile subscribers. Hugh has been instrumental in shaping the technical solution at both network and application levels, and in ensuring that it 'fits' into the European Mobile Market-place.


Tanning Technology November 1999 - June 2001

Tanning Technology is an $80M technology consultancy focusing on large-scale systems integration projects. As a Lead Consultant, Hugh has engaged with client and project teams with contact from Director to ‘shop-floor’ levels. A recent project with an ISP would be a good example of this, where he advised the European VP and his Management Executive on Customer Care and Billing strategy, while at the same time working alongside the managers and technicians selecting and implementing the business processes and systems.

Hugh has successfully led bids and won projects in the face of stiff competition, such as the eBPP project for BT, where Tanning competed against IBM, CGE&Y, HP and others. Examples of other engagements include,

European Hosting provider May 2001 - June 2001

Role: Billing & customer management domain expertise

Requirements & Solution definition for CC&B projectManagement of RFP process through to selection of supplier

Joint Venture – UK Retail Bank & Supermarket October 2000 - March 2001

Role: Client Manager

Architecture and Programme assessmentSupplier review Project recovery including Requirements baseline, technology consulting and solution definition


BT February 2000 - September 2000

Role: Client Manager

Led the bid team from initial client contact, through RPF to initial engagement on eBPP application including contract negotiations, solution definition, etc.Project assessment, architecture definition & design, Programme definition

Various Clients November 1999 - January 2000


Role: Business Development


Development and initial launch of Tanning’s Solutions practice for Europe, based on established US practice, including recruitment of team members and Solution Lead for EuropeLed and supported the development of responses to client RFPs for integration and architecture assessment Review of Client Bid proposals for Consultancy Pre-sales support to Sales teams and internal consultancy as required

In June 2001 Tanning made a decision to focus purely on the Financial Services sector, resulting in the Telecommunications group, which Hugh was a member, being made redundant.

American Management Systems April 1996 - September 1999

American Management Systems is a $1.2B consultancy. Hugh’s position was as Senior Principal Consultant and his responsibility spanned full client responsibility from initial contact, through the bid stage, and ultimately project management and architecture responsibility during the delivery phase. Hugh worked primarily with Telecommunications clients.

A good example of this end-to-end responsibility would be Hugh’s works with ICO Global Communications. Hugh was responsible for winning a small project with this new client, which Hugh subsequently developed successfully into a two-year engagement. The work at ICO included developing high-level business models and managing various RFPs for application software. Working directly with the Operations Director Hugh and his team was instrumental in bringing ICO’s first commercial service to market. This was a Global Mobile Roaming service and was recognised by its customers as significantly better than competitor and previous offerings. It was amongst the earliest web-based provisioning systems allowing customers to securely and directly access ICO’s telephony network to manage their own service. As a direct result of the technology and business processes developed by Hugh’s team, provision of service from initial order to fully working was reduced from 7 working days to under 15 minutes (24 x 7).

Examples of other engagements include:
European Broadband Carrier July 1999 - Sept 1999

Role: Implementation Manager


Review of Operational readiness and co-ordination for customer support and European rollout of the infrastructure project Management of operational readiness preparation and acceptance testing

Global Mobile Satellite Operator April 1997


Role: Senior Consultant

Variety of tasks from process definition, through to consultancy on new product definition, development and commercial launchManagement of RFP and supplier on award of contract for turnkey web-based provisioning and switch management platform


Various Clients January 1997 - May 1997

Role: Business Development


Led and supported the development of AMS responses to client RFPs for Customer Care and Billing developments Review of Client Bid proposals for Consultancy Support to Sales and Business Development teams in responding to AMS client requests


Major UK-based Cellular Operator April 1996 - December 1996


Role: Senior Business Analyst


Test and Training strategy for Wholesale Billing and Customer Care system Advice & guidance on development strategy for other aspects of Billing releaseResponsible for publication of all project documentation to Client Senior Management, Directors and key Client Subject Matter Experts


British Telecommunications 1981 - March 1996

Hugh worked for BT for a number of years before joining AMS, and his experience at BT encompassed:

Managing technically challenging and innovative projects such as one of the early, large-scale, n-Tier client-server applications designed using OOA techniques; Developing large volume management reporting systems; Acting as mentor and watchdog on significant projects including in one case achieving a project cost reduction from $15M to £2.8M;Managing teams from 6 to 60, across geographic boundaries.

As Hugh progressed at BT, he worked in numerous locations and in a variety of positions outlined below:

Design and Build February 1995 - March 1996

Role: Technical Support Manager


Review of project and programme technical architecture against established and approved company-wide architecture and strategyAdvice & guidance on technical design and architectural issuesIdentification and management of resolution to key design and strategic issues

Software and Systems Integration January 1993 - January 1995
Role: Project Manager and Technical Manager

Established the use of new OO design Method based on Jacobsen’s OOSE (Use Case)Designed & developed one of BT’s first major systems based on a three-layer architectureCreated and led system architecture and design, based on Booch OOA/OODDelivery of prototype OO service provision system into operational environmentPlanned and led design and build of 1st and 2nd release of production versionControlled design and development teams and managed project finances

Information Systems Development 1992 - 1993

Role: Project Manager

Built prototype system to provide front-end integration over a variety of legacy systems for BT's European operationsDesign, build and delivery of Help Desk Knowledge based systems for the support of Video conferencing and Voice Messaging services outside of the UKResponsible for all aspects of the projects, including staff management and finances


Information Systems Development 1989 - 1992
Role: Project Manager, MIS applications development

Design of Information Warehouse, underpinning BT’s major MIS applications, including the establishment of a single, logical data model of BT’s management informationDeveloped architecture, outline designs and standards for MIS developmentsPlanning, management and delivery of MIS applications, both prototype and long termSupport to user departments in developing reporting and monitoring systems

Information Systems Development 1985 - 1988

Role: Project Manager
Management of the technical aspects for a development contract between BT & Hoskyns plc. on a logistics packageManagement of a team of design and technical analysts specialising in Stores applicationsAnalysis and design of Job Management sub-system within a larger Customer facing systemEstablishing and delivering a key management financial reporting system for BT CorporateSoftware evaluation and recommendations across a number of developments


Information Systems Development 1981 - 1988

Role: Programmer, Systems Analyst, Senior DBA
Database design, logical & physical, technical assurance and design to designers and programmers

Logical and physical design modelling on marketing support, accounts and personnel systems

Test case development & execution for accounting systems, and production of User and operations guides, followed by on-site support for pilot implementations

Catering accounts ledger suite physical design and construction

Prior to joining BT, Hugh initially pursued a career in Farm Management before switching to IT.