Iain Croll email: iaincroll@gmail.com | mobile: +44 (0) 780 150 1000 | aim: eightlettersuk Product Management | Digital Media | User Experience | Social Media | Strategy Over 10 years experience in Digital Media developing consumer service propositions from concept through to launch using a customer-centred process. Professional Skills Business | Understanding technical complexities of Internet products and websites. Comfortable working across countries within virtual teams. Introducing and teaching new products and technologies. Working on own initiative with ability to schedule and prioritise own and other peoples workloads. Budgeting and stock assessment and replenishment. Process and product definition. Providing professional digital media consultancy to the telecommunications industry with creative solutions and innovative thinking. Customer Experience | Responsible for ensuring usability is at the heart of product development. Working with focus groups and conducting online research to ensure products met and exceeded customer expectation. Translating user needs into prioritised requirements. Working to enhance the user experience through analysis, feedback and usability testing. Project Management | CareerTrack¨ Project Management trained, with experience of new product launches and ongoing support. Responsible for advising ACC resellers on their development in the areas of customer service and support activities required for a cellular project. Devised and delivered a bespoke Project Management course for AOL UK. Working with the US and EU teams to implement many UK strategies including reporting and publishing strategies. Relationship Management | Good negotiation and influencing skills. Ability to identify end user needs to plan differentiated market strategies. Accomplished communicator with a positive approach to staff organisation. Motivating and encouraging staff to meet deadlines and achieve targets. Good listening and excellent questioning skills. Making decisions to maintain high standards of customer quality and experience. Relationship building, corresponding with clients and prospective resources. Technical Writing | Composing requirements that support both the business strategy and the needs of the market. Translating requirements into prioritised roadmaps. Create requirements from which technical teams can deliver product features. Used to working in an agile environment with skills in writing User Stories Technical & Internet Ą Operating Systems | Windows Vista, XP, 2000, Mac OS X Ą Programming Languages | HTML, Rainman, SHARK, CSS (basic) Ą Desktop Applications | MS Visio, Omnigraffle, Photoshop(basic), Dreamweaver, MS Office Ą Web Applications | Wordpress CMS, Movable Type CMS, MS SharePoint Ą SEO | Good understanding of how to get the best results from Search Engines Ą DDA | Understanding of how the Disability and Discrimination Act influences design and build Ą Social Media | Good understanding of user generated content and emerging social networking Summary of Qualifications University of North London, UK | 1989-1993 | Universiteit van Tilburg, NL | 1992-1993 | BA (hons) Business Studies (Leisure & Tourism), Lower Second. 4 GCE A Levels and 7 GCE O Levels. Professional History Seren | http://www.seren.com Consultant Đ January 2010 Đ Date Ą Identifying business development opportunities, usability review and strategy report for eldorado.ru Ą Lead user experience designer for Vodafone Mobile Broadband Wi-fi device interface Ą Single-sign-on analysis and localisation strategy report for Vodafone 360 consumer application Ą Requirement matching analysis for Vodafone User Experience Intranet Ą Process design lead for Telef—nica O2 Home phone order processes online, retail and call centre Ą Tasks include prototyping, user testing, card sorting, wire-framing, requirements matching, resource mapping, strategic positioning and team management Self Employed | http://www.8letters.co.uk Technology, Media & Telecommunications Consultant Đ April 2009 Đ December 2009 Ą Worked with weeworld.com on their music download and integration strategy. Also worked with some smaller companies to define and implement SEO and social media strategies. Discovery Networks International | http://www.discoverychannel.co.uk Product Director, Digital Media Đ October 2008 Đ March 2009 Ą Prioritising product roadmap, implementation and programming strategy Ą Analysing performance of products and communicating results to business owners and stakeholders Ą Lead for web platform modernisation program and responsible for single-sign-on across Discovery International sites and integration with Facebook Connect Ą Monitoring customer satisfaction through feedback and focus testing Ą SEO strategy, working to increase traffic across all the Discovery Channel EMEA websites Ą Sourcing, negotiating and maintaining key vendor relationships Ą Identifying the scope of qualitative and quantitative consumer research needs for online products Self Employed | http://www.8letters.co.uk Technology, Media & Telecommunications Consultant Đ March 2007 Đ October 2008 Ą Pricing strategy, contract and supplier negotiations for Post Office Broadband Ą Leading UE work on concept validation and design phases of self care portal platform for Royal Mail Group and Post Office Ą Stakeholder interviews with marketing, technology and third party web team leads across RMG brand companies, competitive analysis, experience modelling and process flow development. Ą Worked with Carphone Warehouse/AOL Broadband to launch new Desktop software to the UK market AOL (Time Warner) | http://www.aol.co.uk AOL Europe | http://www.aol.eu Product Manager Đ May 1999 Đ March 2007 Ą Product lead for European portal project delivering unified user experience, social networking, user generated content (ratings, reviews and comments, tagging & blogging), customisable design and features, and a shared delivery platform Ą Product lead for AOL Software, AOL Instant Messenger and other communications products Ą Working across countries to define product implementation and training strategies Ą Provisioning training and technical support in London, Dulles , Dublin and Waterford ACC Long Distance | Team Leader Đ May 1997 Đ April 1999 Best of Both Worlds (Travel) Ltd | Founder and Director Đ February 1996 Đ March 1997 May 1999 Đ March 2007 AOL UK and Europe Product Manager (Homepage and Portals, EU) Product Manager (Communications, UK) Senior Technical Trainer (Publishing Operations, UK and Ireland) AOL operates AOL Portals, AOL Instant Messenger and many other leading web products and services. Product Management of web 2.0 AOL EU Homepage / Portal / Start Page. Working closely with colleagues in AOL LLC to deliver a truly global Portal welcome experience. Including a unified user experience, social networking, user generated content (ratings, reviews and comments, tagging & blogging), customisable design and features, and a shared delivery platform. Development with an agile team using SCRUM methodologies as Product Owner, working directly with developers. Plan, build, launch and monitor the product lifecycles, including Business Justification/Business Case, Product and Localisation Specification, Technical Commissioning and Release. Ą A good knowledge of AOLŐs core business and the internet as a whole built over eight years service Ą Understanding the technical complexities of the different AOL products and their competitors to develop new advancements in product differentiation Ą Technical build of differentiated content for the publishing tool offering targeted programming Ą Provisioning training and technical support in London, Dulles , Dublin and Waterford Ą Providing technical expertise liaising regularly with other departments and countries Ą Problem solving and solution facilitation for business critical projects Ą Working across multiple departments in a virtual team on a variety of projects including launching new product differentiated home pages, implementing tracking on AOL websites, and defining process and strategy for new publishing tools Ą Working across countries to define training strategies and product implementation strategies Ą Part of a team meeting customers in their homes and interpreting their feedback to create better customer experience Iain Croll | Curriculum Vitae and Profile