The Coach

Ronan Keane, BSc. (eng).

I qualified as a mechanical engineer in 1995, and worked in that field at the start of my career.

After a project in 1999 where I designed a spare parts database for some mining machinery, I decided to turn full-time to IT, and especially internet technology interested me.

I intitially made my entry into the field by delivering training to corporate clients in a variety of Autodesk software and project management software.

I became a start-up entrepreneur, showcasing a construction software business at the Docklands Innovation Park Enterprise Awards.

I contributed to the professional journal and conferences of Engineers Ireland. E.g. “Adapting to increasing rate of change in the business environment” for the Local Government Division of Engineers Ireland, and a series of articles on "The Politics of Innovation" and spin-off presentations for the Cork Region of Engineers Ireland.

I worked as an analyst, designer, developer, implementer and trainer of CRM and operations management software, where I became involved in the problem of "change" that such software entailed.

I was involved in a number of new technology adoption initiatives. For example, working with a business partner, I designed and implemented a research and training development programme to promote e-collaboration in Irish construction industry, under the auspices of the C.I.F.

I chaired a very early national industry group investigating Building Information Modelling (B.I.M.).

I authored an article in Public Sector Magasine, titled “Going to the Cloud” about a standards framework that could help ease changeover to the "cloud" model of enterprise application delivery.

During my career I have worked to try and better understand what might be termed the "core principles" of information and communication. Open Channel Communications is a project to share what I have learned, and to advance the discussion of these core principles.