The Northampton branch membership has grown steadily from our start in 2004 and we now have over 900 members, mainly from Northampton, Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas. Our aim is to hold 5 committee meetings a year, with 4 or 5 events covering a variety of areas to provide interest for as many of our members as we can. Look at our forthcoming events page to obtain the details of our events planned for the 2009/10 season. Our AGM is held in June where we announce the winners of the Student Prizes and where you as a member are able to both stand as a committee member and vote for your choice of representative.

This years Students Prize winners are:
Best Student
Business - Ms. Larissa Mann
Technical - Mr Dinesh Ramoo
Most Promising Student
Business - Mr Ben Humpage
Technical - Ms. Aine Poole

The committee is a relaxed group, made up of Business, Technical and Academic interests. We welcome new faces, both members and none members at our meetings & events. We see these not just as valuable opportunities to impart knowledge and understanding but as a valuable networking opportunity for likeminded individuals that have a career in our industry.

Next Events

NOTE: All our events are open to members and none members, no registration is required unless otherwise stated.

15th February 2010 - Why transitioning from a reactive helpdesk and culture to a proactive service desk approach is critical to success whether you're a Borg or not.

For many organisations and customers the Service Desk is their window on the level of service and professionalism provided by ICT. It is a critical function to ensuring business; stakeholder and customer confidence in ICT is maintained. Many organisations running a traditional re-active helpdesk function are now ready, and need, to move to the next level of service maturity; transitioning from that of simply providing a reactive function, to a proactive Service Desk that will genuinely allow you to do more with the same or less; do things faster, more efficiently and cheaper. Don's session will address:

- How to transition from helpdesk to Service Desk
- How to demonstrate to the business and customers what a great job your team does
- What your updated Service Desk skill profile needs to be
- How you can - do more with the same or less
- How your new Service Desk can get more value out your 2nd and 3rd line teams

Don Page is CEO of the Marval Group based in Kettering. His innovative thought leadership and pragmatic approach, has made him a world-renowned and respected industry figure in the field of IT Service Management. He has been responsible for co-authoring several of the most important IT service management publications in the world including the worldwide standard ISO/IEC 20000 & the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). His customer projects have won an un-precedented eleven IT service improvement project awards both in Public & Private sector environments, because he believes well managed IT and Service Structure are Critical to Success. Don has also taken time out to help the University of Northampton roll out the world's first MSc in IT Service Management which won the (IT Service Management Forum) itSMF award for innovation last October. Don continues to push back the boundaries and help organisations across the world deliver excellence in this critical and often underrated field.

Arrive approx 7 pm for drinks and networking, event commences at 7:30 prompt.

Members/Guests arriving by car can either park in the main visitors car park (access via the Staff Entrance) turn into the large Car park on the right and walk through to Grendon via Holdenby and the Main Reception. Or enter via the Student and Visitor entrance and go through the barrier (right at the Mini Island to the car park in front of Cottesbrooke car park. Request entry through telecom at the barrier stating they are there for the BCS event at Grendon.

Grendon Lecture Theatre
University College Northampton
Park Campus
Boughton Green Rd
Northampton
NN2 7AL

• The University of Northampton - How to find Park Campus

Mar 2010 - Skills for the Economic Recovery

It has been a lean year or so for many in IT. With the UK in the grip of a deep recession that started with the banking crisis, we have since seen many jobs lost in the financial sector and beyond as companies tightened their belts and bunkered down.

As the UK economy emerges from recession, and with the jobs market typically lagging six months to a year behind, we will ask what skills are most in demand in the post credit crunch IT landscape.

We will be inviting a panel of guest speakers to give their views in a series of short presentations with a joint question and answer session at the end. Our speakers will be drawn from the worlds of recruitment, business, training and education, so there should be no shortage of expertise on hand to offer advice.

May 2010 - Visit The Collossus Computer and then a tour around the Museum & Bletchley Park

Following last seasons hugely successful visit, we are going to hold this event again for those that missed out the last time.

A presentation to be given by Tony Sales followed by a glass of wine and a visit to the Collossus Computer. If time permits a short tour around the National Museum of Computing may follow. This will all take place in May 2010, date and time to be confirmed.

Owing to the size of the meeting room available there has to be a limit of 40 guests only for this event. We will be taking registrations from approximately the start of 2010 for this event, please keep checking this website for the link to register.

Contact the Branch

Email: malcolm.collins@bcs.org

Fax: 08707062488

Letter PO Box 6416, Daventry, Northants. NN11 4XL

Northampton @ BCS HQ

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