Information Technology Consultant
ARAFAT Group
مجموع سنوات الخبرة :12 years, 8 أشهر
Successfully built a centralized IT department to supervise and manage all IT departments within the subcompanies of the ARAFAT Group, including Arafat Business Centers, Al-Felaya Real States, and Al-Felaya Trading.
- Designed and implemented a full IT infrastructure for the Arafat Business Centers 1, 2, and 3 with high availability and security standards (Switches, firewalls, centralized WIFI, CCTV) that met industry best practices and standards.
- Managed and configured a unified communication system based on AVAYA solutions to serve up to 360 rented offices and up to 25 employees with IVR system and voicemail, resulting in improved communication and productivity for the organization.
- Developed and implemented IT policy and best practice guides for the organization, which led to a significant reduction in IT-related issues and improved compliance with industry regulations.
- Overseen and determined timeframes for major IT projects including system updates, upgrades, migrations, and outages.
- Achieved a 20% reduction in IT-related expenses by implementing cost-saving measures.
- Successfully planned and migrated on-prem Exchange 2016 & SharePoint to Microsoft 365 for over 1, 200 users, leading to improved productivity and collaboration.
- Led a digital transformation process for users to become active on Microsoft o365 products, including providing training for users.
- Implemented a new communication system for Skype for business to AVAYA Aura VOIP Solution, resulting in better communication and collaboration across the organization.
- Successfully managed and completed the Call Center Project, which included installation and integration with CRM365, resulting in improved customer service and sales.
- Successfully managed and completed the Kiosk Systems Project, which included installation and integration with CRM365, resulting in improved customer service and sales.
- Built 2 new data centers to meet global requirements in HA, electricity failover, with full maintenance for network active & passive parts, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Implemented and maintained a Backup and DR solution using Veeam, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Implemented and maintained Hyper-V clusters with active 62 VMs to meet HA, DR and failover standards, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Implemented and maintained new firewalls for (data centers, WEB APPs and email gateway) based on SOPHOS, Barracuda, and TrendMicro products, resulting in improved data security.
- Implemented and maintained a centralized secure wifi using SOPHOS solution, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Implemented and maintained CCTV, door access control and E-Gates using Hikvision| ZKTeco Products, resulting in improved security and safety.
- Implemented and maintained storage for multi-tier levels (active data, backup, and archiving) using SAN storage and tape libraries, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Created a Hybrid Cloud and linked it to the QRCS data centers using MS Azure solutions, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Built a stable MPLS network between HQ and all QRCS branches worldwide and end external end-users, resulting in
Install, configure, and maintain hardware and software for the organization's computer systems and networks.
- Monitor and optimize system performance to ensure that the organization's computer systems and networks are running at optimal levels.
- Manage and troubleshoot the cloud infrastructure, including virtual machines, storage, and networks.
- Assessed the company's current IT systems and infrastructure to identify gaps in compliance with the PCI DSS standards.
- Developed and implemented security controls and procedures to meet the requirements of the PCI DSS standards.
- Conducted regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to ensure that the company's systems and networks remained compliant.
- Provided training and education to company employees on best practices for protecting credit card information.
- Managed the process of submitting the company's compliance documentation to a PCI DSS assessor for certification.
- Achieved PCI DSS certification for the company, demonstrating their commitment to protecting credit card information.
- Reduced the company's compliance-related costs by 20% through the implementation of cost-saving measures.
- Experience in cloud platforms like AWS, Azure
- Successfully built a centralized IT department to supervise and manage all IT departments in all sub-companies belonging to Al-HITMI group, including Global Business Centers, AL-MANAR international schools (4 branches), The Royal Riviera Hotel, Fraser Suites Hotel Doha, AL_HITMI Main HQ, YOKOHAMA Tires distributors (2 branches), and AL-HITMI Block factory, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Conducted regular checks on network and data security for all sections to ensure compliance with standards, resulting in improved data security.
- Identified and acted on opportunities to improve and update software and systems, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Developed and implemented IT policy and best practice guides for the organization, resulting in improved data security and compliance.
- Designed training programs and workshops for all IT staff members, resulting in improved skills and knowledge.
- Conducted regular system audits and shared regular operation system reports with senior staff, resulting in improved data security and compliance.
- Oversaw and determined timeframes for major IT projects including system updates, upgrades, migrations, and outages, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Managed and reported on allocation of IT budget, resulting in improved budgeting and cost management.
- Provided direction for IT team members, resulting in improved team performance and productivity.
Successfully converted all data centers from physical to private cloud using virtualization technology, with over 20 HA clusters servers based on Hyper-V and VMware, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- implemented different business and technical requirements, including IT operations policies, business continuity plans, and cyber security protection, and moved to the next level to have PCI and ISO 27001 certification, resulting in improved data security and compliance.
- Developed and led the IT support team for network, servers, and end-users support, resulting in improved customer service and support.
- Implemented and maintained new HA fiber SAN storage (HP 3PAR) and migrated all data from old EMC clarion, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Implemented high availability and disaster recovery plan achieving 99% SLA across all production systems, resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Provided support for production resources SW|HW systems (MS systems, ERP, News Editing, Servers, Storage, etc.), resulting in improved data security and reliability.
- Successfully prepared a training lab inside Microsoft Innovation Center, with separate setup for Dynamics CRM, SharePoint Farm & Exchange Server, resulting in improved training and education for clients.
- Configured and implemented NEC HW products for NEC clients (servers, storages, tape libraries, blades enclosures, etc) and provided technical support for them, resulting in improved performance and reliability of clients' IT systems.
- Configured and implemented NEC SW solutions for NEC clients (VMware, Citrix, VPPC), resulting in improved performance and reliability of clients' IT systems.
- Provided IT technical support to upgrade and fix current client environments to achieve best practice high availability, resulting in improved performance and reliability of clients' IT systems.