Session: Digital Inclusion in Solihull
Chris Deery will talk about Solihull's commitment to spreading good practice and encouraging other organisations to engage in the digital inclusion agenda. Solihull has worked and continues to do so on a significant number of projects in housing, training and service delivery, each delivering significant benefits. As a result of these innovations Solihull Community Housing in partnership with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council was awarded Beacon status for its work on digital inclusion at a ceremony in London on the 3rd March 2009. On the 19 March 2009 Solihull Community Housing won a Government Business Award in the category 'Social Housing'.
Biography
Chris spent the first 25 years of is working live in the gas industry. Chris left school at 16 with very few formal qualifications and started work with British Gas North Eastern as an apprentice main layer. In 1990 Chris gain a B.A. (Honours) degree with the Open University and in 1997 he gain a Masters in Business Administration.
In 1998 Chris began working for the Computing for Commerce & Industry Faculty of the Open University as a tutor. He has been teaching Information Technology and Project Management on a part-time basis for over 10 years and has been involved in academic research into the effects of national culture of IT projects for the last 5 years.
In 2002 Chris worked as a Project Manager for a company called RS Components in Corby. He managed a small team based in the UK and an external development team based in Denmark. Together they developed an electronic catalogue for the UK, German, Austrian, France and Italian markets. The role involved a great deal of overseas travel and working closely with staff in 6 different countries.
In 2004 moved into the public sector as the Change Programme Manager at Bridgnorth District Council. He was responsible for replacing the existing Environmental Heath system, the Housing System and the Finance system.
In 2006 Chris began working as the Head of Information Technology and Communication at Solihull Community Housing. During the last 3 Chris has made a valuable contributed as part of the management team of the organisation. Chris played a key role in the implementation of a number of leading edge IT projects in Solihull and helped Solihull Community Housing to gain the highest possible rating from the Audit Commission. In 2007 Chris began exploring how Information Technology could improve the live chances of tenants in social housing and was one of the people who received a Beacon Award for digital inclusion in March 2009.
