crighton nichols

I was the technical lead and consultant for a next generation billing and real-time commerce solutions deployments focused on multi-national companies in the content and media space (including Yahoo! and eBay). I established Commerce Solutions Services Centre of Excellence for North America driven by customer demand, and initiated a number of global programs to facilitate the communication of solutions to reduce the total cost of ownership for customer deployments and improve the quality of solutions. I also supported a range of project management activities (e.g. schedules, resource plans, budgets).

In this role I initiated and developed relationships with many potential customers and partners to help secure new strategic accounts in the EMEA region, primarily through leading the definition of the overall solution in the real-time commerce space (including Virgin Mobile, Lufthansa, “3”, HP, Cisco, IBM/PWC, Accenture). I also authored multiple white papers and presentations on architecture, performance and scalability to boost market presence and combat competitor’s claims, and initiated a number of activities to help consolidate the overall marketing and positioning of the underlying product suite at both a local and global level. This role also involved the design, project management, and development of many prototype solutions, both internally and on behalf of partners, and the provision of much needed training and on going mentoring to other team members.

My position was as architect and project manager of prototype solutions to help secure regional sales. This required developing and delivering presentations that were used by global sales teams to help secure regional sales. These presentations formed the basis of a program of foundational technical knowledge required by all sales team members. I also provided key input to the design of the overall prototype support infrastructure, presented the technical and business architecture of underlying product suite to many potential customers and partners to help secure regional sales, and provided much needed architecture and configuration training and on going mentoring to other team members.

I was the lead Solution Architect with overall end-to-end responsibility of the BigPond solution for the second release of the ‘Transformation’ project within Telstra – one of the largest IT projects in the world at the time – spanning all aspects of the business. I also initiated a number of activities to promote the visibility and transparency of various groups and processes within the organisation, and helped coordinate key project management activities (e.g. schedules, resource plans, budgets).

Honorary Associate Professor at the 3A Institute in the College of Engineering and Computer Science

Provided as-needed strategic and technical advice to EducarUno on a voluntary basis while I completed my PhD.

I returned to full-time PhD studies in 2011 but continued working part-time at OLPC Australia to establish the Community Engagement & Localisation program to ensure the XO laptops were being used in communities, as well as in schools, through partnerships with organisations like NT Libraries.

I joined OLPC Australia in August 2009 to help ensure the deployment model respectfully considers the diversity of Indigenous Australian cultures and knowledge systems. I began by founding the Education and Research program, where I assumed overall responsibility for ensuring that appropriate training is available to educators, be they in the school or community, so they are capable and confident of using the XOs in creative ways that will engage their students and help them learn more effectively.

I was responsible for the definition of the requirements and specification for the Project Australia website, as well as managing the website development team, consisting of a number of different volunteer software developers.

I was the technical lead for a next generation billing and real-time commerce solutions deployment.

As a technical analyst, I specified the system requirements for two major product releases. I also provided detailed technical and business support to several potential customers and partners to help secure sales in Asia-Pacific region, and created web based sales-focused FAQ with dynamically generated content to optimise knowledge transfer to the sales force and help optimise expert utilisation. Another responsibility was to deliver internal presentations on various topics to help facilitate knowledge transfer within the organisation.

As a software engineer, I designed, developed, maintained and tested many C++/Unix based server-side modules, including rating, billing, invoicing and the Tuxedo based transaction engine. I also designed and built a generic transaction engine test harness as part of the performance team to exhaustively test response times, and assisted in performance tuning of the Oracle database and many other server processes, and developed a TAP interface for a GSM roaming solution module.

As the technical lead and senior consultant for a next generation billing and real-time commerce solutions deployment, I was responsible for the design and delivery of the initial phase of the project, which was successfully achieved 40% under budget. I also initiated a number of projects to help improve the efficiency of solution development within the organisation, supported key project management activities (e.g. schedules, resource plans, budgets), and provided critical architecture and configuration guidance, training and on-going mentoring to other team members and partners (including IBM/PwC, Accenture, Capgemini).

Founder and leader of the team that champions innovation and technology disruption within the core technology group, and across the global network of firms. We focused on demonstrating the business value of emerging technologies, such as advanced analytics & machine learning, blockchain, and augmented & virtual reality. Our primary means of doing so was via workshops, prototypes and MVPs (we also offered consulting and training services), which have lead to a number of new commercial partnerships with start-ups and research institutions, resulting in major cost savings and new revenue opportunities across the firm. Responsible hiring the team and cultivating a culture of innovation and enthusiasm (and resolving blockages), which was shared through our vision, purpose and strategy. Our team was widely regarded as one of the most positive and productive in the group.

Coursework Average: 92% Master's Thesis - "Power Games: A Complexity Approach to Sharing Power in Development Projects"

Other Publications (since 2010): Nichols, C., Dong, A., Maclurcan, D., and Tomitsch, M. (2010) "The role of design and technology in enhancing freedoms: a roundtable discussion." Human Rights Defender, Vol 19, Issue 1, March 2010. Wheatley, D., Nichols, C., & Sailer, K. (2010). ‘Practicing’ design research skills while undertaking a PhD. Paper presented at the ConnectEd 2010 - 2nd International Conference on Design Education, UNSW, Sydney, Australia. http://connected2010.eproceedings.com.au/papers/p404.pdf Vozzo, L., Nanlohy, P., Webb, C., Whitton, D., & Nichols, C. (2010, 6 - 9 September). From Bankstown to Jigalong and Yirrkala: Supporting pre-service teachers in the deployment of XO laptops. Paper presented at the 8th Action Learning, Action Research and 12th Participatory Action Research World Congress 2010. From Theory to Practice; Context in Praxis, Melbourne, Australia. http://wc2010.alara.net.au/Formatted%20Papers/3.2.2.EDU.4.pdf

Member of victorious Sunshark solar car racing team in 1996 World Solar Challenge