Our People : Richard Blasdale

IT Systems Selection & Implementation, Business Process Development
B.Sc.(Hons), Mathematics

Tel : +44 (0)161 929 8355
Mobile : +44 (0)7976 416999
Email : rblasdale@inpractice.co.uk

Richard is one of the most experienced IT professionals in the legal and accountancy sectors in the UK, having advised lawyers and Accountants on IT solutions throughout the past 20 years; also with extensive recent experience on IT projects in Local Government. His understanding of your operations and unrivalled knowledge of suppliers and products in both these sectors ensures that he can quickly get to grips with your requirements, to introduce solutions appropriate for your particular needs. Specialist areas include:

IS Strategy Development
Business Process and Organisation Reviews
Business Process Improvement
Systems Specification and Procurement (PMS,CMS,CRM,DMS)
I nfrastructure & Communications Solutions
Implementation Project Management
Change Management

In the Legal Sector, Richard has a detailed knowledge of legal practice management and case management/workflow systems, having advised more than 60 large and medium sized legal practices and a variety of legal departments in central and local government, on strategic, procurement and implementation related Information Systems improvement projects. Richard has also advised a number of legal software suppliers on market requirements and the Law Society on IT methodologies for legal firms. He is a member of the Society for Computers & Law.

He started out working on IT with blue chip corporates for the first 15 years of his career and has advised professional services organisations since 1985 as a Business Systems Professional, extensively involved in project management, systems design & implementation, business analysis, systems management and business/IT consultancy projects. His experience of leading multidisciplinary teams across all stages of projects in a mixture of Strategic, Infrastructure and Applications related projects, has enabled clients to realise business benefits through the effective use of IT.

Within local government, Richard has been involved in a number of change management assignments, helping clients to document existing business processes and identify potential process improvements, creating the business case for change and managing the change process to realise the benefits. Current and recent local government projects include: project managing the Council-wide implementation of an Electronic Document and Records Management system (allowing all incoming correspondence to be scanned and passed to workflow systems), specification/procurement of performance management software, implementation project management of e-procurement and corporate property systems, implementation project management of a legal case management and time recording system and a systems, organisation, pay and benefits review for the Legal Services Department of a Metropolitan Council.

Richard lives in the West Midlands, is married to Celia and has two grown up daughters. An ex cricketer and hockey player, and currently a keen golfer trying to get a single figure handicap, Richard is interested in all ball sports.