Working mainly as a fine artist photographer, including private commissions, Jan Szafrański has also worked as a fashion photographer (both commercial and editorial) for magazines, advertising, and promotional work.
Examples of his work can be found via the links on the right, and if you wish to commission some work, or wish to buy copies of his photographic fine art, please send an email
landscapes
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arthouse
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Office of Government Commerce
The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) was a UK government agency providing computer and telecomms support to Government departments which was subsumed into the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). The OGC is part of the Efficiency and Reform Group of the Cabinet Office, a department of the Government of the United Kingdom whose purpose is to support the procurement and acquisition process of public sector organisations in the UK through policy and process guidance and the negotiation of overarching service and provision frameworks. I was responsible for all aspects of the government's communications at all levels, and across all departments. This included areas covered by the Official Secrets Act (of which I am a signatory and I hold SC clearance). As well as managing service of these areas, I was also tasked with the telecommunications, networks and comms design and installation in various government buildings and institutions including CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) where I was responsible for the merging of 3 bodies: The Family Court Welfare Service (a subdivision of the probation service); The 57 panels of the Guardian ad Litem and Reporting Service (for local authority disputes); and the children’s branch of the office of the children’s Official Solicitor. During this time, I was also the Service Delivery Manager for several other major contracts for Global Crossing, including BAe amongst others.
Office of Government Commerce
Aviva (formerly Norwich Union) outsourced the management of its voice and data networks to Cable & Wireless and Global Crossing (formerly Racal) respectively. Both Norwich Union and CGU, who used both BT and IBM as its outsource suppliers, had merged to form CGNU. Global Crossing was awarded the new CGNU outsource based on successful tendering and delivery of the full integration of both companies. As outsource delivery manager, I reported directly to the Global Crossing Networks director, and was responsible for all aspects of the £45m data outsource contract with Norwich Union (and subsequently CGNU). As well as liaising with the customer, CGNU, and our partner and competitor, Cable and Wireless, my responsibilities included contract renewal negotiations, dispute resolutions, commercials, operational and maintenance management, complex and 'business as usual' deliveries and projects management, design and circuit provisioning, as well as bid tendering. This also included the day-to-day management of the contract and people, as well as third party suppliers and engineers. Several major initiatives include provision of voice-over-IP, SDH provision, as well as full data integration of two major companies including provisioning of several new call centres throughout the UK, all within tight timescales. This included close working with both existing BT and IBM outsources. Exceptional quality of standard ensured that Global Crossing consequently won the merged company data outsource contract.
Reported to CEO, directors, auditors & shareholders, I was employed by Ameritech to assess the scope of preparing for Y2K and ensuring Belgacom, subsidiaries & shareholders be prepared technically & legally with a SAP infrastructure to manage corporate finances. Working within the Special Products Group all business areas were scrutinised using a structured project development lifecycle. Where necessary, testing, development and implementation teams were employed and managed. Areas of responsibility included: Representing directors and company to internal auditors • Employing & managing teams from around Europe & the US • Negotiating contracts with 3rd-party providers regarding liability • Developing standard processes & procedures for all personnel • Creating business continuity plans & coordinating a control-centre network with international telecomm providers - BT (UK), Singtel (Singapore), Ameritech (US) & various mobile telephone networkproviders • Managing the replacement of PDQ/creditcard/Credito card-swipe machines and their associated network across Belgium, & negotiating communication protocols with 3rd party partners & clearing houses • Upgrading communications & developing contingency plans for Emergency Services to ensure uninterrupted emergency cover over the New Millennium • Working with police to upgrade government required security technology (such as phone tapping) • Working with banking services & clearing houses to upgrade smart card/money card/Proton technologies • Replacing non-compliant prisoner tagging systems • Upgrading and preparing continuity plans for bank, embassy & large corporate security monitoring systems • Re-engineering Pre & Post-paid telephone card technology • Upgrading 14,000 non-compliant payphones across Belgium together with a new compliant voice network & remote managing software • Installing new SAP financial management system to allow US partners visibility & permit projections of costs to the projects.
Responsible for ensuring Xerox business not fail in 1999 through a radical business re-engineering SAP replacement programme. Developed and implemented detailed methodology, process & programme across CEE. This included working in Eastern Europe managing local business & technical teams and consultants, and liaising with senior management teams in the US. Project office responsibilities included managing project budgets and personnel, as well as coordinating inter-country dependencies & impacts, including: Responsibility for implementing the Euro and SAP • Designing and testing the Business Continuity process • Designing and building an interactive company intranet site. As Business Continuity (Y2K) Coordinator I had full responsibility for the preparation, management and documenting of all processes related to resolving all Y2K problems within the CEE geography with full future-proofing against similar catastophes. This required designing and implementing an East Europe-wide methodology to facilitate and control a thorough yet rapid and cost-effective programme. The scope of the project covered 11 countries in the following areas: Infrastructure (replacing networks, upgrading hardware and training personnel within each location) • Telecomms (managing teams of EDS employees upgrading the LANs, ISDN, VSAT and Leased line comms, and routers) • Software (installing a corporate wide NT network and backup process with NT/Win95 clients, internet server) • Legacy/Mini/Mainframe systems - Upgrading Vale and Sun Systems, and re-engineering business with SAP.Project managed a 12 month full life-cycle implementation of SAP (release 3.1H) within the whole of the Polish business, working locally, managing teams both in the UK and Poland. This model was then replicated across the remaining 12 countries with my acting as programme manager. Controlled all aspects of the project/programme including budgets, auditors and consultants from PWC, Plaut, ION and BASIS.
CentreWrite was a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyd's of London responsible for solving the company's highly publicised Open Year problem. Headhunted to provide technical and business aspects of the company's take-over of the broker: Holman Wade. This included all staff recruitment, training, administration, costs and business strategies, working alongside Directors from Lloyd's of London. I also evaluated the logistics of integrating both the absorbed business and CentreWrite's own with those of Lloyd's, as part of the general Lloyd's IT strategy and OA initiative. As a member of the Lloyd's IT Steering Group, I represented the interests of CentreWrite in an internal group of IT specialists within the market, tasked with developing an overall business objective (incorporating the EPS project) for Lloyd's of London. Other projects for which I was responsible during my time at CentreWrite (and later at Equitas) included: Reorganising some of the major information in Lloyd's as part of its very first business plan. Departments had to be networked and then connected as a WAN, replacing all previous methods of working with a systems-oriented approach • Specifying, recommending and implementing client-server technology within the corporation, working with several teams across several sites integrating Windows/Novell/OS2 LANs with DB2 on the mainframe, using Oracle as a temporary gateway with VisualBASIC and ACCESS clients • Dealing not only with project managers, auditors and the DTI, but also with the Lloyd's Committee and the media. These projects include: Lloyd's E&O Settlement Initiative, Old and Open Years, Estate Protection Plan and Personal Stop Loss.
In November 1994 National Re Corp. decided to expand into Europe and I was invited to bring my expertise at designing & implementing European presences, reporting directly to the UK CEO. Responsible for determining IT strategy, including all implementation decisions, within Europe. I initiated and implemented several major LAN and WAN projects in both Europe and the US, and have managed internal & outsourced departments and project teams of various sizes and technical abilities. I have coordinated mission-critical multi-user systems in C, VisualBASIC, SQL, ACCESS, Easel, Focus, and Powerhouse on both PC LAN and Enterprise (Mainframe) platforms using Structured Methods and CASE.Together with the newly appointed General Manager, I was solely responsible for planning, designing and building the branch's technical infrastructure which included telecoms (data and voice), LAN, WAN and Enterprise connections through IBM to the US & the London Market, working closely with the US Directors & Head Office IT personnel, contributing to the company's worldwide IT strategy. Also responsible for managing all the branch's telecoms and technical matters, including maintaining and implementing ISDN and leased line technology. As well as managing TP contracts, I also liaised with various external professional bodies such as the ABI and the DTI. As the person responsible for data protection at the branch, I have represented the company's interests in recent discussions on the government's implementation of the EU Directive which then replaced the 1984 Data Protection Act.
With over 30 years experience in design across a vast spectrum including illustration, photography, poster design, branding, magazine advertising, marketing materials, brochures, videos and adverts, we are able to provide you with a solution that suits your needs, knows your market, is cutting edge yet also affordable and with you in control.
Even more important in today’s age and climate, you need to be visible. We have been helping business small and large, corporate and charitable, to create a presence on the Internet though websites, social networks, and newsletters.
For IT & network design pull-down Consulting
features
Mobile User Friendly - Mobile users on the go need different information. They should be able to find it quickly, and easily.
Fast to Load - A website designed for mobile will load in about 4 seconds, while a desktop site can take up to 40 seconds or more to load on a mobile device.
A Great Brand Experience - You control the brand experience - you are not at the mercy of the various mobile browsers to decide how your site will look.
Build it Once - You can buy one mobile version of your site that is optimised for all of the 5,000+ devices that can access the mobile web. You don't have to choose what phone... Make it work for
● eCommerce (shopping baskets, web ads, Paypal, ebay, etc.) - from £30
● Social Networking setup and training - from £50
● Photography and/or graphics - call or email for quotation
* includes 5 webpages, web address, name, unlimited emails, design and photos, analytics and Google integration. There is an annual fee of £35 to maintain the web address.
** this includes everything needed for a mobile app such as cross-platform design and registration. The fee is renewable annually.
security
Why is Information Security important?
In a survey of Information Security, 90% of respondents reported at least one security breach at an average cost of £16,000 - the maximum impact was estimated at £2M or more. It is not paranoia to believe that this will, or has already, happened to your company.
Information is an essential resource for all businesses today. It is the key to business growth and success. The impacts of weak security may be far greater than expected, not only may the loss of critical information directly affect your competitiveness and cash flow, but could damage your company's reputation and may have a long term detrimental effect.
If you share information with other organisations, this too will need to be protected. Traditionally, most businesses exchanged paper documents - usually by post. Email has enabled information to be sent and received more quickly and is now the preferred method of exchanging information. Together with increased use of the internet, every company is ever more dependant upon its members protecting company information - not only for its inherent value to the company, but also because of its value to a competitor
Preventing 'down time' ...more
Preparing for new challenges ...more
Protecting your company's data ...more
legacy
Renewing Legacy Systems
Legacy renewal extends the use of existing systems and adds to the business value. A healthy business is one where current systems are fully understood both from a technical and a business point of view with systems identified as critical to business and key to developing further business opportunities.
Leveraging Investments For Legacy Renewal Efforts
Skill sets developed during various projects will enable your legacy systems to be leveraged for the new millennium. An example of this would be to expand existing systems onto the Internet or intranet, but it is important to look at your business and figure out what it is you want to do, rather than accept a "solution" from a vendor just because they have the technology.
Avoid technology driven solutions. First figure out what your business driver is, and what is your reason for going to the web. The usual drivers are improving customer service, technological overhaul, improving customer relationship management, cost initiatives such as remote users and customer self-service, and creating new business to business services. Other drivers can be to leverage resources and investments, and mergers and acquisitions.
business
Is your current system at risk?
It should be accepted that computer related problems will affect your company in one form or another at some time. Being prepared for this would minimise the impact to the business.
A typical IT system with a million lines of code can be assumed to have a failure rate of .05% per bug. Using three methods of remediation, with both high (your own IT staff) and low (outsourced) levels of system knowledge, the impact would be as follows:
For a manual fix with high knowledge, 80% estimated accuracy with 20% date routines the MTBF (mean time between failure) is 0.60 hours and the system is down for a long time. For the same fix using low system knowledge, the MTBF is 0.34 hours and the system is crashed.
Using automated tools with high knowledge, the MTBF gets down to one every 2+ hours. Now it might take two hours to fix that bug and it might take all day, but after it is up and running again, another bug will show up two hours later, and that one will also take time to fix. At this level, the system is working but just barely. At any level below this the system is crashed.
The normal failure rate for large transactional processing is less than 1/10 of 1%. For distributed processing systems it is 1%. Even if it is assumed 99% remediation and 95% testing, the failure rates will be over 5% which is 5 to 50 times higher than a modern purpose-designed system. Also, if the mean time for the fix is two hours, the company can manage, but if it takes three days, it can bring a business to a halt. Embedded systems are extremely reliable with a MTBF so low as to be almost off the scale. Because of this, even a very low number of failures would be significant.
coffee-table art
I have also written, or been involved in writing, a number of books which can be found by using the links on the right.
All these books are available to purchase by visiting my bookstore website hosted by lulu.com or by clicking the 'Buy Now' button beside each description. They will be dispatched to you direct from the publisher.
educational
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fiction & non-fiction
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paintings & drawings
Primarily a fine artist, Jan works mainly in digitalpaint. Unlike commonplace computer art, this technique uses a virtual palette, a virtual brush, virtual paints and canvas to produce a traditional painting with traditional techniques. These paintings are popular as limited edition glicée prints, as well as commissions
mixed media
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viewings
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Design & Websites
Published
Consulting
Photography
Jan Szafrański (On-line CV available) is an artist and designer, and is the man behind the company: Idea Technology specialising in website design, marketing, graphics, photography and art, and IT and Comms. Please use the tabs above for particular details
We understand that your business has little time and little money to spend on promoting yourself with posters and ads, let alone on the internet. We also know that there is a huge and confusing array of options from internet choices such as social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as blogs, websites and mobile phone apps. Our aim is to help you build on this potentially lucrative market with no headache nor confusion, and at a price you can afford.
What do we offer and how much is it going to cost?
Whatever your budget, whatever your experience, whatever your needs, Jan Szafrański can work with you to realise all your creative ideas… be they IT, marketing, copy, pictures or advice
Creativity and experience to help you shine above the rest
You’re only as good as your last success, right? But how do you keep ahead of the crowd and on trend? Take a look at some of our popular original artwork, and check out recognitions, to show how we can help you to continually build upon success
Art
This all sounds great but how can this help you?
OFSTED Exemplar
Chosen by OFSTED as the Exemplar for secondary Heads of Year
The time is now to take that next step for your company, we’re confident we can get your online presence to new heights, and at a price that will please your purchasing department
If you want to contact me but you don't have access to your email you can still contact me by using this page. Please remember to include your email address to receive a response (or include your phone number in the message text if you do not have an email account).
eMail:
Jan Szafrański, aka the Sadistic Scribbler, has been an artist for over 30 years, both as an illustrator, comic book artist, and fine artist. His work can be found on many art websites, and is available to buy as originals or prints.
As well as content available on line on various sites, I have also written, or been involved in writing, a number of books which can be found by using these links:
Art
Fiction
Non-Fiction
Educational
These books are available to purchase by visiting my bookstore website hosted by lulu.com or by clicking the 'Buy Now' button beside each description. They will be dispatched to you direct from the publisher.
Taxi or only a minute or two walk from the station
Located in the penthouse atop the medieval town hall penthouse
Not only will you benefit from over 15 years experience with managing major IT and Telecoms projects around the UK, Europe and the US, you will be building upon successes already enjoyed by previous clients including the UK government, the EU and embassies, as well as several major organisations, including:
With over 15 years experience in the fields of IT and Comms with major companies and governments, we have a keen insight into how to make your business succeed in today’s uncertain times.
To be successful in the twenty-first century, your company must address the 3Ps today. Idea Technology has the skills and experience to help your business prepare for the challenges ahead, and freely provides here some information on how to identify and tackle these areas:
Preventing 'down time'
Preparing for new challenges
Protecting your data
Important in today’s age and climate, you need to be visible. We have been helping business small and large, corporate and charitable, to create a presence on the Internet though websites, social networks, and newsletters.
With over 20 years experience in web, branding, illustration, photography, poster design, magazine advertising, marketing materials, brochures, videos and adverts, we are able to provide you with a solution that suits your needs, knows your market, is cutting edge yet also affordable and with you in control.
IT and Network Design
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