Ben Collins

is an IT professional with over 25 years of experience in the industry, having worked in both the retail and financial sectors throughout his career. Focussed on the area of ebusiness, Ben is an expert in the development of content management systems and the websites they support.

Graduating from Reading University with a First in Computer Science, Ben spent his formative years as a mainframe developer (COBOL, DB2) then switched to working with groupware and other knowledge sharing solutions (Lotus Domino and intranet technologies) before moving onto ebusiness, particularly focusing on the development of content management systems (Liferay, Autonomy TeamSite, Joomla and WordPress) where he continues to work today. Ben also has great experience and knowledge of web analytics, search engine optimisation, cyber security and regulatory controls (such as GDPR), key skills for any web technologist.

Alongside these technical skills Ben has in-depth experience of project management, Agile and scrum, business analysis and architectural design, all of which are essential to any serious IT developer and have been built up from many years in the industry.

Ben has the temperament and foresight required to build solutions that satisfy the best practices of IT – solutions that satisfy the user requirements, are stable, are maintainable and can be enhanced with the minimum of fuss. His early years of mainframe development and having to look after his systems overnight taught him that simplicity and stability were key at all times.

Most importantly Ben understands the importance of being able to communicate with others. In his opinion, building relationships is almost as important as the end solution, and certainly just as rewarding for him. He knows the value of explaining technical matters to those who are not experienced in such matters, avoiding jargon and other techno babble. He also knows the value of a friendly smile or a sociable conversation.

What’s in a name?

So why the name bc1203? You may already have guessed that the bc part stands for Ben Collins. 1203 is his birthday (the 12th March). It is as simple as that.

resume

Resume

BNY Mellon

eBusiness Development Manager

Apr 2010 – Present

Ben joined BNY Mellon Asset Management as the technical lead for content management systems within the eBusiness Development team, initially developing solutions using Autonomy Teamsite and latterly with the Liferay portal solution, with deployment into multiple cloud environments. This role involves developing both brochureware and client access portal solutions for multiple boutiques across the globe. Again, Ben is responsible for enhancing their web capabilities leading their use of analytics, search engine optimisation, cyber security and regulatory controls.

Ben now leads the eBusiness Development team with responsibilities including team management, setting strategy, budgeting and planning.

Man Investments

CMS Developer

Aug 2008 – Apr 2010 (1 year 9 mos)

Ben joined Man Investments as a CMS developer within the eCommerce team, developing their ecommerce solutions based on Autonomy TeamSite. Again, Ben was responsible for enhancing their web capabilities leading their use of analytics and understanding of SEO.

HSBC

Senior Analyst Programmer

Jul 2001 – Aug 2008 (7 years 2 mos)

Ben joined the Intranet Development team for HSBC Investments with an initial responsiblity to lead the development and deployment of the global Intranet. After two years the team merged with the Web Development team and Ben took on additional responsibilities for the development of their content managent tools and web applications using both Lotus Notes and Interwoven teamsite and for architecting their Internet and Intranet environments. In addition Ben was responsible for enhancing their web capabilities leading their use of analytics and understanding of SEO.

John Lewis Partnership

Principal Programmer

Aug 1992 – Jul 2001 (8 years 11 months)

Ben joined John Lewis straight from university joining the graduate training programme. Starting as a mainframe developer he was responsible for the development and support of the warehouse accounting systems for Waitrose. He later moved into Lotus Notes development and was the lead developer in the nascent Waitrose Branch Comminucations team. This was followed by a move into being part of the intranet development team across John Lewis before Ben returned to Branch Communications to head up the Waitrose Office and Branch Communications Team, responsible for PC-based developments of personnel, communication and workflow solutions.

host1203

is a service set up by Ben to provide development and hosting platform for small websites.

Ben has been building his own sites since 2001 and since 2007 he has been building and hosting websites for friends and family. As the requests for assistance increased there was a desire to build a more professional side to developing and hosting other people's websites and maintain the independence of Ben's own web presence. So in 2009 the decision was taken to start the host1203 service in order to achieve this separation.

Ben is able to help you build your website from scratch. In doing so he takes a pragmatic approach and will always look to utilise some current software to run your site as this will usually mean that with the minimum of effort the maximum return can be achieved. If there is no proper fit he will then look into the options for developing a bespoke solution for you.

Hosting

As well as building your site, Ben can offer you hosting space with tsohost who he uses as his service provider. This is a wonderfully scalable service both from the perspective of the underlying environment for host1203 and also in turn for any service Ben looks provide. This has proven a most reliable service to date.