Richard Kerr is a senior director in the Data Insights and Forensics practice, based in the London office. He is an expert independent advisor specializing in the rectification and avoidance of problematic technology, outsourcing and transformational-change implementations. Richard has over 30 years of experience in areas spanning local and central government, police, healthcare, hospitality, charities and third sector, telecommunications, manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, financial services, private finance initiative, education, joint ventures and strategic partnerships.
Prior to joining Kroll, Richard was a director at IT Group, which was acquired by Kroll in 2020.
Richard is an experienced turnaround consultant, with a particular specialism in IT software projects, outsourcing and technology–enabled business change. He has been involved in more than 200 cases, including many high-profile private- and public-sector commercial matters where technology-enabled projects have either been delayed, have failed or are no longer viable.
Richard’s experience and expert advisory includes reports and testimony for all stages of the technology and project life cycle including litigation, exit and transition, dispute resolution and avoidance, mediation, evidence gathering, project recoveries, relationship resets, negotiations, “health checks,” contractual and commercial reviews, robust sourcing and procurement (both Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and non-OJEU), and a wide array of due-diligence and forensic exercises.
Richard is regularly instructed to advise before situations become litigious to give independent insight on the strengths and weaknesses of a matter in distress, and advise on the best options to overcome technical, delivery and contract issues. For non-litigious projects, Richard advises on both creating and resetting business and delivery relationships to enable high trust and high performance, while also ensuring that the grey areas that trigger litigation are clarified during these processes. In problematic situations, this often means a “win-win” with no need for litigation on those occasions where things cannot be turned around.
For projects earlier in the life cycle, Richard applies lessons learned, frameworks and advisory in an integrated way so that the usual causes of project failure and dispute are avoided. This is effective at all stages of the sourcing, implementation and relationship life cycle including procurement, contracting, design, testing, project management, contracts management, relationship management, dispute avoidance, dispute resolution, business change and transformation.
Richard is also an advisor to the Standish Group, a global thought leader and research body that specializes in identifying and resolving root causes of major IT project failure.
Investigations and Disputes
World-wide expert services and tech-enabled advisory through all stages of diligence, forensic investigation, litigation, disputes and testimony.