Cathy Ford is Management and ICT professional who has worked in the sector for more than 25 years.  During this time she has held many senior leadership positions specializing in business transformation, portfolio management, professional service delivery, and the creation of business value from the application of technology.

Her recent roles include General Manager of Information, Productivity and Technology for a large IT Infrastructure firm and Chief Operating Officer for a specialist consulting firm. In these capacities Cathy’s focus is to work with senior executives to transform their business through the application of sound management advice and technology innovation. Aside from the provision of strategic advice, Cathy has been intimately involved in all stages of strategy execution, from portfolio and program planning, to solution planning and implementation and people management.

Prior to this Cathy was Regional Director for the Queensland division of SMS Management & Technology; a position she fulfilled from 2000 until 2008.  In this capacity she was responsible for managing all aspects of SMS's consulting business throughout Queensland including strategic direction, business development, financial planning and human resource management.

Cathy’s role was also one of people leadership, responsible for the recruitment, development, motivation and retention of the Queensland consulting base which had grown from 24 Consultants to a team of over 80 under her leadership.  Cathy is also experienced in strategic sales and the ability to identify market trends and areas of need.

Before taking on the role of Regional Director with SMS, Cathy held a number of senior consulting roles with major clients. Her professional achievements include Program Director for a multi-million dollar process improvement program and strategic planning for a major redevelopment project.

Cathy has a Graduate Diploma in Computing Science from Queensland University of Technology, and was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree with first class honors from the University of Queensland. She is past Chair of the Australian Institute of Company Director’s.  Her expertise and experience in the ICT sector is recognized by her inclusion on multiple boards and focus groups advising on various aspects of business management & technology.

Thomas is an experienced IT and performance improvement professional with over 15 years in agile and traditional project and program delivery. He has worked in consulting roles with senior executives in large public and private sector organizations both nationally and internationally and has a solid operations background having managed multicultural teams of up to 40 staff and assets of up to AU$ 10 million.

These foundations paired with his results-oriented approach, excellent stakeholder management skills and a broad understanding of core IT and business concepts have enabled Thomas to successfully deliver large-scale business change in the Business Intelligence, Information Management, Business Productivity, e-Commerce and Supply Chain arenas.

Thomas holds a PhD in Information Management, a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from Queensland University of Technology as well as Agile and traditional Project and Program Management certificates.

Engagement

Avaelis can take a leading role in delivery or we can work with existing teams and help ensure their success in delivery. Either way, we can make training and knowledge transfer part of the scope of the engagement, so that our clients receive an on-going benefit from the engagement.

Our engagement models are flexible depending on our clients need at the time. Typically they fall under four categories:

Uplift

Implementing new frameworks to uplift capabilities and maturity levels whilst establishing the required structures, processes and controls.

Extend

Complimenting existing internal resources by mobilizing, augmenting or governing program and project leadership teams to deliver capability, governance or business transformation outcomes.

Ownership

There are occasions where are clients are looking for Avaelis to take responsibility for an overall outcome or a component of the overall program.  In these circumstances we deliver specified outcomes at an agreed cost.

Commercial Models

Typically we provide consulting services on a time and material basis however there are occasions where our clients are looking for an agreed outcome at a known cost.  Avaelis offers fixed price outcomes after a time and material scoping phase. 

Capabilities