Interview with Stephen Baker

Stephen Baker was born in Tipton, West Midlands in 1948. He says: “Tipton is in the Black Country.  There’s often confusion as to what the Black Country means.  A lot of people think that because it was very industrialised there was soot everywhere and everything was black. Well, to a large degree that was true but the real meaning of the Black Country referred to a large seam of coal that was about four metres thick, very close to the surface, and in the 16^th, 17^th, 18^th  and 19^th centuries, people were able to easily extract this coal. When the Industrial Revolution came along with iron ore and limestone, which was also local Tipton, the area took off and it became a centre of steel making, engineering, metal bashing and heavy labour and heavy work.”

Stephen’s parents were clerks for the local authority and the family lived on a council estate, sharing a house with his grandparents.

Stephen went to Tipton Green Primary School where he took, but failed, the eleven-plus examination. He was expected to go to the local Secondary Modern school called Park Lane which was a rough school at the time. However, his mother spoke to the headmaster of Willingsworth County Secondary school, five miles away, and Stephen went there. He says he was not particularly enthused by school, mainly because they didn’t have high expectations for their pupils as boys tended to work in manual jobs on the factory floor and girls went into shop or administration jobs. So, he preferred ‘doing things rather than learning things’. He says: “I used to do a lot of model aircraft and things like that, doing things with my hands. I also enjoyed being in the Scouts.” Stephen believes that his experience in the Scouts helped him develop some of the skills he needed for his future.

He says:  “I found the Scouts gave you a sense of teamwork, a sense of trying to achieve things and a sense of responsibility.  Teamwork is essential, particularly in the sort of work that I went on to eventually do.  You’re working with people and because I went to different companies to do my work, either as an independent contractor or a consultant, you had to become a member of that organisation very quickly.  You had to understand the culture, what they wanted the project to achieve. Then you had to come up with solutions quickly because people paid you to do the job, they didn’t want you hanging around for a month trying to understand how it all worked and then you had to identify and develop the resources you required.  You had to get in there and hit the deck running, usually because the project was in trouble and I was engaged to get it back on track. I do genuinely believe that the time that I spent in the Scouts helped me to develop useful work skills.”

Stephen completed his education but left school without nationally recognised qualifications, which was typical of the system at the time. He adds: “A Secondary Modern school in the Black Country really wasn’t about producing academic people.  If you were academic you went to the local grammar school and you learnt Latin. The headmaster of Willingsworth summed it up by pointing out at the first school assembly that ‘……you didn’t need O levels to work on the factory floor.’ So, the school didn’t put you in for nationally recognised examinations. That gives you an idea as to where most people were expected to probably end up…….on the factory floor or in an office.”

Having left school with no nationally recognised qualifications, Stephen got a job as a clerk in the cashier’s department at the West Bromwich Corporation where his dad worked. He says: “My dad told me that there was a clerk’s job coming up in the cashier’s department, he put a word in for me and I managed to get that job. … In those days, late 1960s, that was how many youngsters got on to the ladder and, in many ways, that’s probably where you would remain.”

It was while he was working as a clerk that Stephen saw computers being set up. He explains: “I was sitting one day doing my work and I noticed that they were starting to rebuild some of the offices that were adjacent to where I was. Somebody said that a computer was going to be brought in.  I didn’t know what they were talking about. …but it was interesting to see false floors being constructed, air conditioning going in and entry doors that could only be accessed by entering a code and walking into an air-lock. I saw some vans turn up and on the side of the van were the initials ‘ICT’.  I found out that that was International Computers and Tabulators.  Out of the boxes came an ICL 1901 computer, 6 feet long and 4 feet high, with 4k of memory and big 300 line a minute printer, card readers and some cassette decks.”

As the computer began working, Stephen says that “For the higher management of West Bromwich Corporation, this was rocket science – going to the moon stuff. They were very, very proud of this computer and the fact that it was one of the first going into a local authority.  Every day I’d see batch programs being run and boxes of paper being produced and payroll stuff and all sorts of things. But I also noticed other things like the Comptometer Department was closed and some of the clerking jobs were no longer being done by people”

Having realised that his clerk’s role could be computerised in the future, Stephen decided that he wanted to be involved in working with computers. With no roles open to him at West Bromwich Corporation, he found and applied for a role as a trainee computer operator.

Apparently, just over 200 people applied for the job and it was with great pride and trepidation  that Stephen started work at a company in Tipton called the London Works Steel Company, which was part of the much larger Duport Group.  He started working there in April 1968, learning on the job working on an ICL 1901 with 4K of memory, a line printer, punched card reader and an Olivetti teletype control console complete with a roll of paper. In the early days it was used mainly for payroll and, as the programmers developed new programs, all coded in Basic, the scope of usage gradually rolled out to do more accounting functions.

Stephen says: “As a Computer Operator, you’d have a crib sheet with what you had to type in and what the messages were that were going to come back, etc, etc. You’d put the cards into the reader and put the correct paper into the printer and change cassettes in the cassette reader, which stored the data……. it was all very basic.  This was before operating systems came along like George 2, or anything like that, everything was done manually.”

 Within just a few months from starting as a trainee, Stephen became a shift manager and then the temporary Operations Manager when the role became open after the previous Ops Manager suddenly left. He says: “I was in charge of the computer room, all the staff that were doing the punch cards and also the staff that were preparing data for the computer.” After 3 months in the role, they hadn’t found a new Ops. Manager so, I took a risk and asked if they would make me permanent in the role. So, at the age of 21 I was now in charge of the department I’d come into as a trainee, 18 months earlier. “That was the philosophy that I took on for the rest of my life.  I would look for opportunities to put myself at the sharp end of whatever was going on and I would take risks within what I thought was my capability. I wouldn’t be stupid about it, but I would work outside my comfort zone.  In a sense it’s what I did for the rest of my working life and that’s really the first part of the taking responsibility for people and in a sense, pushing myself.”

After four years with the London Works Steel Company, Duport consolidated its computing within the Group and Stephen moved to Duport Computer Services to take up position as operations manager, a role he stayed in for four years. Duport Computers had been set up as a company in it’s own right, so, I’d been learning about how a business runs as well as how bigger computer operations needed to be managed. Itching to move onto new things, Stephen started looking for new opportunities.

He then took on a role of the Computer Operations Manager at the National Bus Company, based in Birmingham at the Midland Red Bus Company, which processed a variety of applications from accounting, payroll through to spare parts management. Stephen spent four years with NBC. Initially they had an ICL computer but then NBC consolidated the group’s computing power into three UNIVAC 1100 series mainframes and thirty two UNIVAC mini-computers dotted around each of the 32 local bus organisations that made up the group. Each mini-computer undertook local applications but they were connected to the centralised systems and facilities to take advantage of cross-company and centralised applications. Stephen says: “The spare part systems that Midland Red had developed became the centralised spare parts system for the whole of National Bus. This enabled National Bus to undertake centralised buying and stock management and distribution, which could be accessed by each of the companies themselves, thus turning batch processing into online processing. This was my introduction to distributed systems processing, telecomms being the driver and centralised management of facilities.”

In 1980, after four years with the National Bus Company, Stephen decided that he needed experience in a more challenging environment that would expose him to ‘big ideas’ and greater scope for the use of technology and its application in the workplace. So, Stephen joined Massey Ferguson Perkins as their European Network Development Manager for voice and data communications through Europe and to their central bases in Canada and the USA.

Stephen says of the move: “My involvement in the design and implementation of a ‘distributed’ system based on Sperry Univac mainframes and V77 mini computers at the National Bus Company opened my eyes to the future of ‘telecomms’ being the driver for future applications. IBM were all about big companies, doing big things, and Massey Ferguson was a big company at the sharp end of the automotive industry and they did big things.

“I was taken on as their Network Development Manager for voice and data communications throughout Europe and to their central base, which was in Canada.  Massey Ferguson were a Canadian company that had a big presence in America, Europe, South America and all over the world.  Their Euro Centre was in Birmingham and this looked after all the computing requirements in Europe.  So now I was starting to get involved with projects that were European-wide, and also I had responsibility for telecommunications to the main Massey computers in Canada and also the States. Also, the users of these systems were very tech savvy and they had high expectations in terms of solutions and innovation. My boss was equally demanding and I learnt a lot about detailed project planning, risk assessment and ‘getting it right first time.’

Stephen explains what was involved in the pre-internet connectivity, saying: “The environment in those days means that we’re not talking about the internet, we’re talking about the implementation of private circuits from one place to another.  So Massey Ferguson, for instance, from their Euro Centre had nodes in France, Germany, Italy, etc, and you would have circuits from BT and from European telcos to connect those up.  You had to have actual end-to-end connectivity. There was much more to it in those days, you were actually developing a private network, as it were, and all companies had to do that, it wasn’t just Massey Ferguson who did that, banks did it and all the rest.”

With Massey Ferguson using IBM 3033 series mainframes, Stephen says he learned a lot about the politics of big business and in particular IT companies such as IBM. A company that was renowned for its hard sales approach and strong customer service and support. In developing the network for Massey Ferguson, he and the team found a limitation in the IBM method of distributed systems management. IBM’s solution was SNA but it’s networking methodology was restrictive, particularly if you wanted to utilise non-IBM equipment. He says: “We came across a piece of kit called ITT Comten 3800 which was revolutionary because you didn’t have to go up to the IBM mainframe in order to traverse the network.  The Comten was a distributed networking device that replaced the IBM 3700 FEPs and enabled you to go anywhere on the Massey network. The big advantage was that you didn’t have to interact with host IBM mainframe first, and you could attach a whole variety of devices that weren’t recognised by IBM on their FEPs but were on to the Comten.

“IBM were livid because it enabled Massey Ferguson to start introducing all sorts of different types of terminals that weren’t IBM, also, the Mainframe was no longer the beating heart of the network; it was reduced to being just another device attached to it. In those days that was an anathema to IBM’s philosophy for mainframes; the Comten worked on the principle that you could just go straight through, it was transparent whereas with IBM, you have to go through the IBM mainframe and FEPs first, using their MSNF protocol, to connect to other devices. Massey decided that because of that they could start looking at other areas where they could replace IBM equipment with offerings from competitors and reduce costs. This resulted in them taking out all the disks and mainframes from IBM and replacing them with CDC disks and Amdahl Corporation mainframes. IBM got so upset about it that my boss’s boss, who was responsible for the whole computer set-up, was basically pushed out and replaced by someone who had previously been a vice president in IBM.  Within six months everything that wasn’t IBM was replaced by IBM kit regressing, in my opinion, because networking was now was the centre, not the mainframe. There was a saying in those days that you never got sacked for buying ‘Big Blue’ (IBM). My boss found out the hard way that the opposite was also true”

Stephen’s time at Massey was, he says, pivotal to his later decision to set up on his own. But, the West Midlands was going through major upheavals in the early 1980s as recession bit and manufacturing was in decline, including farm machinery. There were rumours that the Euro Centre might close so, Stephen and his wife decided that they needed to move to a more progressive part of the country. So, they headed for the South East……

In 1982, Stephen became manager of European Management Information Systems operations at Milton Bradley Hasbro, a toy and games manufacturer, based in Richmond. He was recruited to help the company modernise their computers and consolidate their European operation. He says: “I was responsible for Europe and radically reshaped their computer strategy putting in a distributed system based on HP 3000 mini-computer systems and Europe wide telecommunications systems, Racal-Milgo Planet local area networks, voice-over-data connections up to the States so they could use spare circuitry for voice communication.”

Stephen had already decided that he would like to start his own company and use his skills and experience to advise companies and manage implementations of network systems. So, he spent 2 years with Systems Designers learning how to apply himself in the role of a ‘Consultant.’ Having undertaken a number of large assignments and being inspired by Margaret Thatcher to ‘have a go’ he and his wife decided they were in a position to form their own company. So, in 1987 Baker Communications Ltd. was born and continued until his retirement in 2010.

Having already worked for six companies as an employee, the next and final phase of Stephen’s career would see him act as a consultant to forty-nine companies, working on fifty four assignments. Working for himself lasted from 1987 to his retirement in 2010 and, like all companies, was a mixture of good times and, not so good times. Clients came from banks, manufacturing, local authorities, central government, pharma, outsourcing companies and more. In all fourteen different sectors. Assignments would last anywhere between three months and nearly four years and covered major events such as Y2K and the Royal Bank of Scotland takeover of the NatWest Bank. He was also part of a team, when working for Racal Milgo, that made a presentation to Margaret Thatcher on the implementation of the Government Data Network. One of the first Government outsourcing contracts for telecomms.

The ambition to start his own company was formed while at Massey Ferguson, Stephen says: “What I learnt there formed the bedrock of my outlook and gave me the confidence to create my own company.  This included the importance of  customer engagement. Massey was very much customer centric and that drove the philosophy of the Eurocentre. Governance is at the heart of successful implementation, whether it be planning, risk assessment, benefit realisation, effective communication, awareness of the effects of change. But it’s done in a way that is supportive of the project not judgemental. Also, I learned the importance of having the confidence to be politically astute, challenging, assertive and willing to accept and learn from mistakes.”

 He adds: “I always felt that I had to basically take charge of the direction of what I wanted to try and do. I tried to weave a little pathway to say well, these are the things I need to be involved with in order to try and achieve something that I felt I could offer.” In addition to the lessons he learned at Massey Ferguson, Stephen says that one of the most important aspects that helped him achieve his success was the support he had from his family, because, without them he couldn’t have got through the lean times.

On the difference between the private and public sector attitudes to IT, Stephen says: “The private sector tends to employ people who are focussed on what has to be done and puts in systems to ensure that they are done. In the public sector, I’ve found that public sector management were only too pleased to have the responsibility of IT and all the rest of it taken away from them and given to somebody else (e.g. outsourcing). The private sector would say, these are the terms and conditions under which you will do this work for us and these are the qualities and criteria by which we’re going to judge you. It tended to be the other way round in the public sector; the big consultancies and outsourcing companies say, ‘Don’t worry about it, we know what we’re doing, we’ll just do it and when we’ve done it we’ll tell you about it and we’ll show you what we’ve done and off we go’ and that was a big relief to most of these people.” OK, pretty simplistic and a bit cynical. But not too far from the truth.

From 1997, Stephen worked as a Y2K project manager for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) focussing on networking and voice systems. RBS had decided it would not take any chances and all its systems had to be compliant and proved compliant by the beginning of 1999. Stephen says of the period: “It was not as bad as it could have been, but certainly in some areas it would have caused problems.  When people talked initially about Y2K, it was about the date change and people were saying, well, okay, if we can get the date to change from 31^st December 1999 to 1^st January 2000, then that’s all that matters.  …The approach by RBS to its Suppliers (i.e. my approach) was that not only would a Supplier be held commercially responsible for Y2K compliance, through a legally binding agreement, RBS would be undertaking the testing of key systems to ensure compliance. If a Supplier didn’t agree to this they were told their equipment would be removed.  I devised an extra set of tests addressing one of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s key technologies, call centres, where customers calls were managed by ACD, automatic call distribution systems. My job was to get a confirmation from every one of the Royal Bank’s ACD Suppliers and telecommunications systems that their equipment/service was compliant with year 2000 requirements.” As a an example, Stephen contacted Aspect Telecommunications, one of the biggest suppliers in the world of ACD systems, who quickly confirmed that their product would be compliant to year 2000 obligations. Having received the response very quickly, Stephen set out to test the claim when the opportunity came to install a test rig.

Stephen was particularly interested in testing not only the date change but also whether the functions that were dependent on the date change still worked. He says: “We created a test script that not only ensured the date rolled over but that all the functions that were date reliant still worked. That’s where the problems started. We set up a test rig and undertook the rollover and, sure enough, the date changed, however, none of the functions that were associated with the new 2000 dates worked. And the systems went haywire when we tried the ‘leap year’ date.”

Stephen called in engineers from Aspect to double check the test. Two days after the engineer had visited, Stephen received a call from Aspect explaining that they thought he had identified a problem. He continues: “They told me the problem was that they used UNIX computers and although UNIX computers did the date change, the functions that were associated with what I’d set up didn’t work. The Royal Bank also had ACDs from Phillips and from Ericssons, and we tested each of these and sure enough, they didn’t work either. The reason; they were using UNIX processors as the core of their ACD system.” It took seven weeks for Aspect to rectify the problem and roll it out as a software upgrade to all of its customers including RBS. Stephen adds; “If during year 2000 that had happened, you could have been without a functioning system and that meant that the bank would have great difficulty communicating with its customers. However, imagine an emergency service suddenly finding that it can no longer process 999 calls. These problems were found, rectified and new software updates released in late 1998/early 1999. By taking these actions, as far as the rest of the world of Aspect users were concerned, it’s all working.  What they didn’t know was that a company, RBS, had found initially that it didn’t work and things had changed.  So for the vast majority of users of ACD, it was ‘What’s the big deal, what’s the fuss about Y2K, it’s working?’ Well, it’s working because we established that it didn’t work in the first place and it was corrected.” The approach RBS had taken was recognised by a wider audience and this resulted in Stephen being invited to make presentations and run workshops at Conferences in Washington DC and Boston. One of the by-products of the Y2K work was that, for the first time, RBS had a complete inventory of all its ACD systems. In subsequent months, RBS consolidated its wide range of Suppliers and negotiated better purchasing deals and maintenance contracts.

Stephen went onto provide Y2K consultancy to First Direct, Scottish Nuclear, Prudential Insurance, The Student Loan Company, British Energy and THUS

When you’re in business for yourself, no one owes you anything and there is no guarantee of work. I had times when work was difficult to get and finances were precarious. One of the problems is that when you’re working you don’t have the time to build up other opportunities,  so, I used a mix of my own marketing and using Contract Agencies.  I decided fairly early on that I wasn’t going to build a company of consultants because I was too interested in actually just doing the work myself. So, of course, you’re either a hundred per cent fee earning or you’re zero per cent fee earning, nobody pays you when it’s zero percent. You’ve got to be able to take the downtimes as much as the good times and if you’ve got a family then you’ve got to have everybody on board with you. But, when the good times are there, enjoy them. As Stephen says: “I was fortunate to earn fees every year. My best years brought in just over £160,000 a year and the worst years around £60,000 and, on a couple of occasions, less than that. So, you had to be mindful of keeping some money for the bad times, even though HMRC, through IR35, was and still is, a killer.

For those considering working in IT as an independent consultant or contractor, Stephen says: “You’ve got to be able to accept the fact that your skills may not always be needed at a point in time. So, you need to manoeuvre your skills to anticipate future needs. I made sure I either got into projects that were leading edge, or I was getting into companies who were introducing projects at the leading edge.  I didn’t coast, I took risks.  If you’re not prepared to take risks, then I wouldn’t do it.  If you’re looking for a comfortable lifestyle and you think the money just comes pouring in all the time, that isn’t how it happens.”

“I think these days it’s more difficult to be on your own unless you come up with an idea or a product that basically enables you to attack the market.  I was very lucky, I was able to get in at the very beginnings of computing, and all the work I got was built on my experience and ability and having references from clients that people could check out.  So, at the end of the day it’s up to the individual and their family as to what they feel they can do and the risks they are prepared to take. But, if you have a vision don’t waste it. Have a go…..after all, what could possibly go wrong?!”

Interviewed by: Richard Sharpe

Transcribed by: Susan Nicholls

Abstracted by: Lynda Feeley