Digital Strategy Consultant
AND Digital
Total years of experience :10 years, 6 Months
AND Digital are one of the fasting growing technology brands in the UK, employing over 250 Software Developers, Product Analysts and Strategy Consultants and specialising in Product Management, Digital Delivery and Digital Marketing.
Strategy Consultant, COVEA
Oct 2016 - Aug 2017
• Covea is a large French Insurance brand with ambitious plans to heavily expand their consumer facing insurance product range and significantly enhance their digital capability.
• The first stage of this project required Neel to design a scalable organisation structure and functional model for the IT Organisation; this was based on specific knowledge of the ways of working for Covea and in-depth research into new technologies shaping the insurance industry.
• Neel subsequently reviewed the current organisation including reporting lines, ways of working and capabilities of the Covea IT Organisation (300 people) across three office locations. Neel completed this by interviewing various managers and developers within the organisation as well as vested stakeholders and presented weekly findings and updates to COVEA’s COO and senior management.
• During the organisation design, Neel worked with the COO to redefine the strategy for the future organisation and build a detailed structure of the Interim State (end of year) and Final State (end of 2018) organisations. This involved building role profiles for all new roles and facilitating discussions regarding mapping existing employees into the new structure. Neel also produced detailed ways of working models to complement the new structure which assisted the change management required internally.
Digital Strategy Consultant, Wartsila
Jan 2017 - Feb 2017
• Wartsila is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources in the marine and energy markets.
• Neel was responsible for the organisational and functional review of the Digital Delivery function (45 employees) within Wartsila; the digital team building the navigational software for Warstila’s Marine Services.
• Having completed the assessment of the team (based in four countries), Neel provided recommendations for improving the digital maturity with the areas of People, Process and Technology. These recommendations were provided in the form of a 2-year roadmap to reach a desired level of maturity.
• Neel provided the incoming CDO with an in-depth assessment of the Digital Delivery Management team as well as many areas of improvement and potential training opportunities.
North Highland is a global management consultancy, employing 2, 000 consultants specialising in Project, Programme and Change Management, Customer Experience and Technology Consulting.
Senior Business Analyst, SAB Miller
Nov 2015 - Aug 2016
• SABMiller were the second largest beverage company in the world with global operations until they were acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
• Neel introduced an internal communication strategy to distribute AB InBev Merger news to global employees.
• Neel worked with various Product and Project Managers on a variety of projects including upgrading the Internal Communications Portal to support the merger process and implementation of Varonis and CyberArk (Internal Security applications). To ensure on-going support and completion for these initiatives, Neel worked directly with Solution Architects, Service Transition Managers and business experts.
Technology Consultant, National Express
Sep 2015 - Nov 2015
• National Express is one of the largest transport organisations in the UK with extensive rail and bus operations and were looking to expand their train services in the UK with a bid for the East Anglia Franchise. The aim was to produce a winning IT strategy to complement the goals of the franchise, ensuring the franchise team understood their roles and responsibilities and were enabled with the right technologies.
• Neel was accountable for the assessment of the current IT Infrastructure which included all systems both at station and on-train, relating to both industry data feeds and internal data sources. Neel was also responsible for the technology innovation strategy, liaising with both internal stakeholders and external suppliers to define the innovation process and funding approach.
• He was able to use his problem-solving and data analysis skills to advise on the strategy for ticket retailing, in particular, modelling the number of ticket office windows and Ticket Vending Machines required at stations in order to sell the expected volume of tickets and how this changed over time (linked to the internal digital / channel shift strategy).
• Neel’s activities resulted in a high-scoring IT bid document and a number of commendations from the National Express team. Neel received the North Highland Client Service Delivery nomination for Delivery Excellence, cited as ' an invaluable member' of National Express's Strategy Team.
Digital Programme Manager, Virgin Trains West Coast Franchise
Jun 2015 - Sep 2015
• Virgin Trains is considered an essential part of the innovative Virgin Brand and has the aim of becoming the most-disruptive and forward-looking Train Operating Franchise in the UK. The InterCity West Coast service connects six of the UK's largest cities; which have a combined metropolitan population of over 18 million people.
• Neel was responsible for ideation and business case submission of the customer entertainment initiative. He was accountable for the project management and the technical solution of the platform crowding reduction programme.
• Neel delivered a successful trials for the content media technology on-train and the technology to reduce crowding with two 3rd party suppliers, achieving sign-off and executive board investment to start a full roll-out for both initiatives.
Business Analyst, Sainsbury’s
Mar 2015 - Jun 2015
• Sainsbury’s is one of the largest food retailer in the UK. The Space Project was looking to improve Sainsbury’s use of store space, by actively managing shelf space allocation (planograms) at a product level per store.
• Neel was responsible for leading PMO for a complex software development project of great benefit to the client and with strict deadlines. He was accountable for scope management of further deliveries, facilitating an agile planning workshop and introducing a simple, effective feedback culture into the programme.
First Class Honours, BSc Economics Key Modules - Econometrics, Statistical Theory, Accounting and Finance, Further Mathematics