Carasel Dsouza, Senior Consultant

Carasel Dsouza

Senior Consultant

Vatchi Technical Services

Location
United Arab Emirates - Dubai
Education
Diploma, Digital Marketing
Experience
29 years, 11 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :29 years, 11 Months

Senior Consultant at Vatchi Technical Services
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • My current job since August 2014

Recruited to help different organisation deploy best IT practices and ensure that the organisational growth is achieved with the help of IT. Directing IT Heads to deploy technology which will enhance employee productivity, increase output and reduce OPEX and Capital cost.

EX - Director - Information Technology at Al Jazirah Ford Agencies Co (KSA)
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • June 2010 to June 2014

Recruited to lead change management and revitalise the company's entire IT infrastructure. Prepared annual business plans in coordination with other departments and 47 team members. Managed annual IT budget of USD 6.5 million, up from USD 250, 000 in 2010.

• Streamlined and formalised the IT department in addition to setting up a state-of-the-art tier-4 data centre, delivering a radical transformation in operational costs and efficiency
• Convinced senior management of the substantial ROI and other benefits of increasing investment in IT
o Scaled up the department from 850 to 2, 700 workstations, increased vendor base and provided proactive solutions to keep pace with the company's growth from 35 to 85 offices
o Employed tactics that enabled Al-Jazirah to be the first private company in the kingdom to purchase and set up the APC brand Data Centre at a highly discounted price
o Transformed the cost centre into a productive unit contributing to the bottom line
• Assessed capabilities of individual employees and enabled cross-functional training on the job and career development opportunities, increasing efficiency without incurring costs
Strategic Initiatives
• Gained systemic control and integration across the organisation, with network uptime improved from 94.4% to 99.6% over 9 months; ramped up productivity without increasing headcount
• Reduced 60% in cost of communication (landline and mobile) across widespread geographical locations by installing Cisco's IP telephony system, Call Manager
o Instituted measures and deployed a dedicated resource to ensure use of extensions by all employees
• Set up an IT helpdesk and served as SPOC for all issues, ensuring close monitoring of the escalation matrix
• Established a digital marketing office to track social media activity and CSAT levels

General Manager Information Technology / SAP at Arshiya International Limited
  • India - Mumbai
  • August 2009 to June 2010

• Established the whole IT infrastructure system for implementing ERP for the company foraying into the logistics domain, encompassing a head office and 4 units across west India, 2 of which were operational
• Prepared business plans and ROI projections and persuaded senior management of the benefits of SAP ERP; subsequently managed all aspects of the implementation, including the IT strategy
• Built and led a team of 24 members and administered budget of USD 2 million to implement the Project System, MM, HR, BI, FICO and Sales Distribution modules

Deputy General Manager - Information Technology & SAP at Kalpataru Limited
  • India - Mumbai
  • November 2007 to August 2009

• Headed a team of 146 techno-functional specialists for comprehensive management, risk control and upgrade of IT infrastructure across group companies and units
o Scope of operations encompassed 2 data centres as well as 23 sites and 5 offices in the real estate division in Mumbai and 2 offices and 3 manufacturing units in Ahmedabad
o Oversaw the entire infrastructure including LAN and WAN networks and data centre operations, ensuring optimum uptime; deployed blade servers to enhance capacity utilisation
o Managed operational and CAPEX budget of USD 2.2 million
• Introduced several automation solutions which lowered printing costs, reduced processing time on long lead items by 7 days and brought down the report generation cycle by 75%
Project Management - SAP
• Led implementation of SAP at Kalpataru Limited, the real estate company, across 23 sites and 100 business entities, and delivered the project within budget and schedule
• Replicated success at Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited in Ahmedabad, a listed company with annual turnover of USD 375 million, and sustained both systems
• Built and reinforced awareness of the changes across all departments, ensuring full adoption and use of SAP modules such as MM, RE-FX, PS, SD, DMS, FICO, PP, QM, PM & BI
o The team received an award from senior management and the company was honoured with the 'Best Overall Systems in Real Estate' award in 2008 by CNBC Awaaz-Crisil

Asst Chief Manager Information Technology at Flat Products Equipement (I) Limited
  • India - Mumbai
  • November 2004 to October 2007

• Managed change initiatives and brought the organisation to a new level through implementation and adoption of SAP ERP modules across 3 production units and the head office
o Companies growth grew by 628% over 2 years post SAP implementation in 2005
o Controlled project management operations efficiently in coordination with the implementation partner, resulting in 30% reduction in CAPEX of USD 250, 000
o Optimised inventory management by eliminating waste, minimising damage and instituting JIT processes; achieved 26% benefit in interest costs
o SAP India ranked the project as the largest in the Industrial Machinery & Components sector (CXO magazine) and PCQuest magazine gave it the 'Best IT Implementation' award in 2007
• Headed a 35-member team and brought in and stabilised cutting-edge technology for the only company in India, at the time, engaged in both manufacturing and sub-contracting operations
• Executed up to 4 projects every year, including hardware upgrades, with CAPEX of USD 750, 000
IT Infrastructure Management
• Developed and executed IT security policies, documentation, guidelines and procedures within the framework of a flexible infrastructure
• Identified issues and created a solution for naming conventions to enable conversion into a new format and upload into SAP of similar drawings (1 million to 1.5 million documents per project)

Honours
• Chosen by CIO magazine (Jan 2007) as one among 20 IT heads to watch in the future
• Selected among the 'Innovative Hundred CIOs of 2007' for efforts to manage manpower effectively, reduce costs and retain talent

Information Technology Manager at Photoquip India Limited
  • India - Mumbai
  • January 2000 to October 2004

• Managing the Entire IT infrastructure
• Smooth functioning of IT to meet the business SLAs
• Planning IT capacity and security
• Exercise staff oversight to ensure new operation plans, policies, procedures and transition plans with the overall company goals and objectives

EDP In-Charge at K. Thakorlal & Co
  • India - Mumbai
  • June 1997 to December 1999

EDP In Charge

EDP In-Charge at Three star Electricals
  • India
  • June 1994 to May 1997

M/s Three Star Electricals ( Partnership Firm - Electrical Consultant )
Joined as Accounts Executive ( 1 year ) Promoted to EDP In charge solely responsible for maintenance of Novel Netware 3.12. ( 2 years) & Company Software.

Job Responsibilities
Account Receivables & Payable follow up, accounting package Tally 4.5.
Bank Reconciliation Statement

Education

Diploma, Digital Marketing
  • at Govt of India
  • October 2014

Planning, executing & managing digital marketing for all social media

Diploma, Project Management
  • at Astowick India
  • August 2006

Planning, executing, risk mitigation, People mgmt, cost & time mgmt

High school or equivalent, Developer 2000 & Oracle 8i
  • at Oracle Corporation
  • November 2002

Certification course in Oracle & Developer 2000 from Oracle Corporation

High school or equivalent, Computer Application
  • at NIIT
  • August 1995

Certification course in Computer Application and software development from NIIT

Bachelor's degree, Bachelors of Commerce
  • at Mumbai University
  • March 1993

Bachelor of Commerce

Specialties & Skills

Operation
Data Center Architecture
Digital Marketing
Project Execution
Large Scale ERP ( SAP / Oracle ) / IT Project implementation
Infrastructure Capacity Planning and Budgeting
Large Scale Management of Critical IT Infrastructure
Reducing Opex Cost
Project Management

Languages

English
Expert

Training and Certifications

Oracle Database & Developer (Training)
Training Institute:
Oracle
Date Attended:
January 1998

Hobbies

  • Reading Books & IT related topics