Arshad Raza

Responsible for smooth transition of the entire Project life cycle of new SAP clients. I define project goals & schedules, objectives, clarify the scope of the project and establish the project organization and its relevant stakeholders and assign resources. I use all these mythologies as per our company policies and procedures. I set strict service level agreements for all project schedules and currently I am managing 12 key projects.

The current key projects I am managing are Glaxo Smith Klein, Canon Europe, GRT Gaz, Yell/Hibu, Goss International, Amdocs, Smart Focus and Tecnisa S.A.

 Rimini Street has more than 900 clients from 10 different applications to date, including nearly 100 Fortune 500 and 16 Fortune Global 100 organizations
 I have proven SAP Project Management experience, across multiple full lifecycle
 I have broad knowledge across core SAP Modules SD, MM, HR and FICO
 Managing sizeable budget for the concurrent delivery of multimillion pounds projects
 I am leading, motivating, coaching and managing a team of Consultants, Analyst and Admin
 The stakeholders of my project are Senior Management, IT Directors and CIO’s
 I have project deadlines which cannot be changed due to technical reasons
 My Project team spread across Australia, Asia, EU and USA dealing with multiple projects and my other responsibilities are to resolve third level incidents for all the clients

My job is to run the SAP/IT operations successfully and in this current challenging environment I have to do cost saving without compromising on the quality.

Recently I had a burdensome task of having to create IT operations planning for the enterprise. This include such as an introduction to my annual plan, a detailed outline of the company's infrastructure, and what the IT tactical objectives will be. Also included a budget and funding initiatives for the fiscal year and I did it with great success.

• Led successful large global teams through complex program and project tasks. As a Project Management my focus areas include project planning, financial management, staffing, communication and scope management. Delivery-focused and able to motivate teams

• Performed extensive work with project proposals, oral presentations, timeline determination, budget estimation and staffing plans. Multiple engagement experience with global delivery model including offshore functional and development support

Suncor Enegy pioneered in commercial development of Canada's Athabasca oil sands — one of the world's largest petroleum resource basins. Since then, Suncor has grown to become a globally competitive, Canadian-based integrated energy company with a balanced portfolio of high-quality assets, a strong balance sheet and significant growth prospects.
Suncor Energy have refineries in Edmonton, Alberta; Sarnia, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; and Commerce City, Colorado. Our Lubricants business is the largest producer of quality lubricant base stocks in Canada.

I am an IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. My responsibility is to improve the structure, efficiency of my organization’s IT systems.

I also involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management, systems development and responsible for user training and feedback. I am part of IT and Training project team and technical duties like change management and escalation issues.

Daily Typical work activities

Meeting with clients to determine requirements
Working with clients to define the scope of a project
Planning timescales and the resources needed
Clarifying client's system specifications
Travelling to customer sites
Liaising with staff at all levels in clients organization
Defining software, hardware and network requirements
Analyzing IT requirements within companies and giving independent and objective advice on the use of IT in particular SAP
Developing agreed solutions and change requests
Presenting solutions in written and producing reports
Helping clients with change-management activities
Project managing the design and implementation of preferred solutions
Designing, testing, installing and monitoring new systems
Preparing documentation and presenting progress reports to customers
Organizing training for users and other consultants
Being involved in sales and support and, where appropriate, maintaining contact with client organizations

Manage day-to-day global IT operations to achieve ambitious, realistic commercial objectives
Set and monitor performance targets (KPI’s) for technical and customer care teams
Establish staff training, development and coaching programmes and capabilities in motivating and inspiring others
Set the vision & goals and made recommendations how we will get there
I improved the SAP 1st and 2nd line resolution rate (SLA’s) from 17% to 53% in 3 months just by implementing ITIL mythologies like incident and problem management
Manage product merchandising and display processes in the system
Managing a high specification and reliable LAN/WAN, CRM and Management of MS Exchange Server
Providing technical support, ensure legal and contractual obligations relating to IT resources are met and evaluating the latest technology and systems and strategic development and maintenance of systems
Made suggestions on compatibility of hardware applications and operating systems and perform diagnosis procedures
Establish, maintain, refine and communicated the IT Management Models
Experience in roll out of a risk management process, & giving risk awareness training
Knowledge of how systems interrelate & interconnect
Also provide analysis & inputs of potential changes to programmes submitted as part of the configuration control procedure
Travelled globally to attend meetings to align and centralized the IT system and sharing the best practice
Externally I was managing consulting partners and interact with software suppliers and user groups
Managed career development discussions with each Employee and Managers, agreed a Personal Development Plan (PDP) and reviewed PDP and provided support to achieve them
Responsible for weekly, monthly and quartly individual and company sales reports
Benchmark, analyse, report on, and make recommendations for the improvement and growth of the IT infrastructure and IT systems

My project was to improve the overall IT process, support and manage huge back log of outstanding tickets and presenting business cases for any changes in the system
I was managing 3 different sites within UK for a large IT department (nearly 50 consultants, developers and support staff) and was part of the project worth £27 million
Prepare the business and support teams for the release/change implementation through effective and timely communication
An impressive track record in change/release management particularly in SAP
Have solid commercial experience of SAP Production systems SD, MM, FICO and CRM as well as excellent client facing skills
I satisfy customer needs and accomplish goals by gaining and using deep understanding of customer/client requirements as well as the operating principles of working within and outside the department.
Made recommends of enhancement to current environment (including products, processes and procedures), and implemented after approval
Managed technical support, project budgeting, scheduling and cost reports
Consistently link I/T services, practices, roles and responsibilities through a broad understanding of how business operates
Maintain relationship with Application provider/vendor
Ensures proper governance is in place for Change Requests, projects and application lifecycle for all applications responsible for
Ensure effective, timely, transparent communication
Managed all projects/change requests and scope changes to them are registered, analyzed, planned, cost estimated, documented & authorized prior to any execution in order to be able to measure progress
I managed to clear a huge back log of outstanding ERP and none ERP tickets within the company’s SLA and as per customer satisfaction
The whole project was a big success, managed to complete before dead line and assisted in the realisation phase as well

My main target was to enhance the team performance and increase resolution rate of 1st, 2nd and 3rd line support and liaise with other project teams for improvement
My EU team was part of a global setup follow the sun process 24/7 support and in majority of cases only deals with most critical issues like over $50000 immediate financial impact on the business
Overseeing the handling of more then 30000 emails a month and monitor over 400 calls a day and change request as well
Carrying out career development discussion with each employee and analysts every quarter and provided support and coaching where necessary
Making sure each employee has an individual development plan, provided frequent and valuable performance coaching to achieve their individual goals
Sustained strong teamwork/cooperation amongst staff within organization and with other organizations across EU, Asia and US
Reporting fortnightly on resolved and unresolved tickets to see how we could improve the service and discuss particular incidents
Updating the knowledge centre with new documentation and maintain the existing as per any changes in the business
Attending meetings locally, nationally and globally with project teams to highlight any critical issues from Service, Problem, Change, and Incident management point of view
Proven ability to work creatively and analytically in a problem-solving environment and have experience of communicating at all levels
I was working with the offshore functional support and development teams to co-ordinate and resolve support issues within service levels, ensuring that support issues are tested and resolved
Identifying options for potential solutions and assessing them for both technical/business
Knowledge of ITIL Service Management and have attended ITIL Foundation from IBM UK

I was managing 3 different sites in India for complex business process. My responsibilities were planning & assessment of training of over 4000 staff, system availability, day to day issue like staff management & development, including assignment/performance reviews, overall staff morale, motivation, and staff well-being
Plans activities thoroughly for self and others, build milestones in plans, monitor progress and adjust them as necessary in response to any changes. I provides clear direction and makes sure that staff knows what is expected from them
I ensured that personnel receive sufficient training so as to maintain their flexibility at the workplace
Directly supervise the whole call centre in the absence of senior call centre manager
Responsible for the definition of Standard Operators Procedures (SOPs) and ensure that these and Company procedures are available at their latest revision at the place of their intended use
Liaise with the directors and management to ensure that adequate production support functions are in place to reduce down time to a minimum. This includes agreeing a definition of a planned and scheduled maintenance programme and tooling maintenance programme
I did the training need analysis in India before the project was started and made recommendations for the training team
Participating in strategic planning, setting best practices, leading by example and giving technical presentations to team members, peers and customers
Managed immediate reporting staff, including completion of annual appraisals, identification of welfare and training needs and to participate in recruitment process
I have acted in an advisory capacity for internal staff in relations to best practice for call centre management and have attended and represented the department to advise on policy issues at any relevant internal management meeting
Successful introduction of a new shift patterns to accommodate part time workers and to reduce overtime

Pakistan Tobacco Company is part of the British American Tobacco Group, one of the world's most international tobacco business groups, with brands sold in 180 markets around the world.
Area Sales & Merchandising Manager - Increased sales from 45 millions to 53 million rupees from better planning, coordination, incentive schemes and capturing new markets. Successfully installed one of the Pakistan’s biggest billboard on a very key site next to the presidency.
Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited was incorporated in 1947 immediately after partition, when it took over the business of the Imperial Tobacco Company of India which had been operational in the subcontinent since 1905.
Pakistan Tobacco Company is part of the British American Tobacco Group, one of the world's most international tobacco business groups, with brands sold in 180 markets around the world.
Area Sales & Merchandising Manager - Increased sales from 45 millions to 53 million rupees from better planning, coordination, incentive schemes and capturing new markets. Successfully installed one of the Pakistan’s biggest billboard on a very key site next to the presidency.
I achieved new business sales targets on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis
Explore new markets and clients to maximize the company sales
Gain insight through dynamic sales flow models and fully grasp customer behavior by using the “Road to purchase” tools and “Customer Functionality” concept
Use the Market Influence Grid of my brand’s market to identify key stakeholders and extract a limited number of key business drivers
I reduced the impact of competition by delivering true, innovative customer value and design marketing mix strategies that truly generate value innovation for key clients
I used to do 22 days traveling a month to meet my distributors and help and trained them so they can achieve their sales targets