رافي Rao

Overall responsibility for management of MEEZA’s Service Architecture, IT Governance, Business Continuity Management and Service Design functions of Business Architecture, Solution Management, Network Design, Security Architecture, Service Continuity, Service Availability, ICT Governance and Information Systems Design. Leading a team of 30+ resources and responsible for an IT Capex/Opex Budget of 192 million. Acting as a thought-leader for decisions related to technology standards/managed services and drive the re-use and repeatability of technology and processes through MEEZA.
Accomplishments and responsibilities include:

• Responsible for providing the architecture and governance frameworks to ensure alignment of technology with MEEZA’s business strategies.
• Responsible for producing quality, secure, resilient designs and solutions for new or improved services based on MEEZA architecture and governance frameworks. This includes producing and maintaining all design documentation and processes.
• Responsible for developing and maintaining service architecture and design processes, information/data, application and technology architectures, business cases, business proposals and solutions to help manage the complexity of MEEZA’s operational environment and facilitate rapid change to stay abreast with business developments.
• Driving the implementation of processes, frameworks, standards and methodologies (technical and business) for efficiency, effectiveness, and continuous build, integration, audits and automation initiatives. (ITIL, TOGAF, ISO and Business Continuity Management)
• Working with the business units in MEEZA to discuss, agree, implement and promote the strategy for applications, tools and technologies used by all MEEZA staff and our clients.
• Responsible for ensuring that the IT Strategy is aligned with the organization strategic objectives. monitoring and evaluating the IT standards and compliance being used in ITS and by recommending and implementing any required enhancements or any required IT controls that would contribute in enhancing the IT Services, reduce issues and mitigate risks.
• Responsible for driving initiatives in ICT Governance, Service Continuity, Service Availability, compliance and internal control quality assurance design and effectiveness testing to support the adequacy, effectiveness and sustainability of the risk, control and governance frameworks.
• Responsible for initiating and developing the strategic approach for development of the IT Operations, IT infrastructure, Service and Services transition programs between Qatar Foundation, Clients and MEEZA
• Development of managed services and technology product portfolio’s and associated roadmaps aligned to MEEZA’s strategic direction and market requirements. Launched 42+ new IT Managed Services.
• Instrumental in designing and launching the first commercial Security Operations Center and Managed Security Services in Qatar.
• Developed processes and cost modeling tools that reduced lead to cash cycle times by 60%, dramatically improving time to respond to sales pursuits and doing things right first time.
• Instrumental in achieving 100% compliance for all ISO, Cisco, and SDI audits every year and delivering 100% agreed Service Availability targets to clients.
• Instrumental in managing the MPLS network infrastructure refresh of three data centers for managed network capacity growth that resulted in 40% cost savings for managed network services.
• Instrumental in designing and developing the managed services for Smart and Connected cities projects (Qatar Foundation and Mshereib Properties Doha).
• Accountable for the smooth transition and implementing a co-source model between MEEZA and QF resulting in an annual saving of 5 Million.
• Chair the ICT Governance and Architecture Review Board.

Overall responsibility for providing the vision, leadership, planning and management for the development, acquisition, implementation and support of technology and services for MEEZA. Partnering with management, strategic partners and stakeholders to align information technology with strategic direction and build the technology processes and procedures to support business needs. Contributing significantly to the support and success of MEEZA by ensuring the right availability, scalability and reliability of MEEZA Internal and Enterprise Systems, and providing technical expertise and ability to assess what technologies and platforms are necessary to achieve MEEZA and Client growth plans.

Accomplishments and responsibilities include:

• Ownership of MEEZA Internal and Enterprise Systems, ensuring they are fit for purpose and aligned with technology & services strategy.
• Overall responsibility and accountability for provision of high quality IT services to Business Groups (CEO, HR, Finance, Operations, and Sales & Marketing) from project inception through service transition and into live service. Continued ownership through the full lifecycle of the use of applications, tools or technology.
• Responsible for delivering enterprise management systems strategy to deliver operational efficiency gains of 50% reducing cost and time to deliver services to clients whilst delivering increased business value.
• Managing partner/supplier relationships for delivery of technical capability where required, assess go to market strategies and negotiated contracts to reduce operations costs by USD $ 1 Million.
• Managing MEEZA’s Enterprise Business Continuity Management Program (DR, BR and Crisis Management)
• Instrumental in Virtualization of MEEZA IT Infrastructure (Core Systems, Network, Storage and Data Centre platforms).
• Instrumental in implementing Cloud based ERP/CRM platforms for MEEZA.
• Instrumental in implementing Enterprise Project Management, Enterprise Content Management, Self Service portals for MEEZA and Clients to reduce operational costs by 40%, enable customer self service and improve customer experience.
• Managing continual improvement for ITIL processes supporting standardisation and service enhancements(Incident, Problem, Change etc).
• Maintaining proactive, regular and strategic relationships with key suppliers and strategic alliance partners.
• Support Service Portfolio Management to develop solution strategies for complex client solutions (Infrastructure  ITO/BPO).
• Managing the Software Development life cycle for MEEZA using Agile methodology.
• Managing the IT budget for MEEZA and hiring activities.

Overall accountability to establish the strategic direction and leadership for the development (build, buy, align) and support of technology solutions, services and platforms for MEEZA and Clients. Delivered a lot of firsts to the region those include Tier-3 Data Centers, Command and Control Centers, Cloud Services and Managed services. Instrumental in establishing MEEZA as a start-up-technology company in the region.

Accomplishments and responsibilities include:

• Implemented in record time scales the first Tier-3 Data Centre, Command Control Centre and 14 market leading managed services in Qatar.
• Implemented MEEZA Core Systems (MPLS Networks, ERP/CRM, Mail, BES, AD, AV, Unified Communications, DNS, DHCP, NTP, Storage, Backup, Portals and HP BTO Software).
• Instrumental in obtaining the design certification for MEEZA Tier-4 Data Centre.
• Instrumental in working with Cisco to deliver The Qatar Foundation Research & Education Network (QFREN) that is being connected to the cutting-edge Internet2 network in the US.
• Responsible for providing the technical framework to ensure alignment of technology with MEEZA business strategies.
• Accountable for technology standards for MEEZA IT and MEEZA services/products.
• Developed and maintained business processes, information/data, application and technology architectures to help manage the complexity of MEEZA’s operational environment and facilitate rapid change to stay abreast with business developments.
• Managed the entire life cycle of all technologies from strategic planning to tactical activities.
• Conceptualize, develop, design, measure, assess and implement improvement controls for entire technology platform (Data Centers  Network  Security  Systems  Applications  Business Process)
• Responsible for Capacity, Availability and Reliability of all technology platforms both internal and external to deliver services/products to clients.
• Created and implemented Product Development Lifecycle designed to deliver an integrated collaborative approach to effectively manage, plan, design, build, and deploy market facing products that position MEEZA to achieve and sustain market leadership.
• Provide technical and operational guidance to Service Portfolio team in the development and delivery of new services and products.
• Support Solutions and Sales teams in solution and bid development activities to create new revenue opportunities.
• Work closely with Service Portfolio Management to ensure both commercial viability and technical compliance of solutions and service/products.
• Oversee the design, creation and improvement of all managed services products with special focus on delivering superior quality managed services.
• Ensure technical compliance with all business directions and standards through cross organization consulting and direct involvement in development efforts.
• Managed technology budget for MEEZA and hiring activities.

Managing RIM’s Global IT Infrastructure, IT Security/Business Continuity and BCM project management office. Work closely with the CIO, business leaders, and other technology leaders to formulate appropriate enterprise-wide technology strategies that support business plans, develop and manage budgets, ITIL policies and procedures, maximize enterprise technology capabilities, and increase ROI. Accountable for ensuring that RIM has viable, actionable, and effective business continuity plans to carry out business operations under emergency conditions at global DR sites and the high availability of BlackBerry service.

Accomplishments and responsibilities include:

• Manage the deployment, monitoring, maintenance, development, upgrade, and support of all Infrastructure systems, including servers, operating systems, hardware, software, storage area networks and backup systems. Constantly achieving an uptime of 99.99% .(Three global Active/Active, Tier III and Tier IV data centers with a combined DC space of 80, 000 sq feet and 7000+ servers that support 14 million external and 9000 internal users).
• Benchmark, analyze, report on and make recommendations for the improvement and growth of the IT infrastructure and IT systems. (Successfully implemented the ultra high density rack and IBM blade server projects - savings of 2 Million in annual operating costs and ability for capacity on demand).
• Provide strategic and tactical leadership and management to direct staff efforts, and guide decision-makers throughout RIM to ensure confidentiality, privacy, integrity and availability of the organization’s information assets and systems.
• Reduced costs 25% by negotiating vendor contracts and initiated performance standards.
• Lead IT and BlackBerry operational planning, including fostering innovation, planning projects, and organizing and negotiating the allocation of resources.
• Approve and oversee projects and project portfolio, provide direction for annual goals/objectives and ensure projects are delivered on time and under budget.
• Develop and implement all IT policies and procedures, including those for architecture, security, disaster recovery, standards, purchasing, and service provision.
• Continuously re-evaluating the ITIL processes and plans to adjust for new information and the processes are aligned with the security initiatives. (Champion for all the ITIL processes).
• Create, establish and update RIM’s security strategy, 3- year roadmap and information security framework by considering world wide business strategies and drivers, regulatory issues, and technological and industry trends, developments and best practices.
• Lead the review, implementation, and execution of Business Unit Security, Business Resumption, Disaster Recovery, and Audit. (Key player in achieving BS17799, ISO 9001:2000 for IT and BlackBerry operations).
• Prepare RFPs, SLA’s and other documentation for Infrastructure/Security projects and associated efforts.
• Establish Business and Disaster Recovery testing methodologies; plan and coordinate the testing of recovery support procedures in different functional areas. Assure that recovery procedures are effective for the restoration of technology solutions and for the resumption of critical business processes.
• Facilitate technical solution sessions, and promoting, communicating, and overseeing the testing and implementation of Business Resumption and Disaster Recovery solutions.
• Develop and maintain appropriate relationships with vendors and liaise with IT purchasing/receiving to ensure timely delivery of Infrastructure equipment and services.
• Responsible for employee HR functions including work direction, coaching, planning and mentoring.

Managed the long-term Data Center/IT operations standards, policies, procedures, strategy and planning along with the day-to-day management of the IT operations staff (24x7 NOC). Responsible for planning, development, and support of enterprise computing operations in a 24x7 environment, managing a highly technical and diverse workforce consisting of 18 Systems Administrators, LAN Administrators, SAN Administrators, Shift operators and Support Analysts. Evaluate, recommend and implement infrastructure architecture, tools and best practice solutions. Initiate performance improvement projects and provide project oversight. Work closely with customer departments to ensure high quality service delivery, and ensure that quality and productivity metrics are reported to senior management.

Accomplishments and responsibilities include:

• Operational management of all technical support processes, including ITIL processes, communication with internal/external clients, resolution of resourcing issues, collaboration with the Operations Management leadership team in monitoring operations procedures and policies, identification of communication and process breakdowns, and continuous quality improvement of user support services.
• Responsible for completing and reviewing proposals, project scope documents, functional requirements, and cost-benefit analyses for operations group projects.
• Manage the estimation, initiation, scheduling, and execution of applicable IT project and support activities, develop and direct projects to improve the infrastructure, functionality and IT support capability.
• Manage the infrastructure and technology change control process ensuring that change is effectively transitioned to the production environment via the agreed Operations acceptance criteria.
• Deliver assigned projects and tasks on time and within budget, and compliant to applicable regulatory and corporate/division/site/departmental policies, guidelines, and methodology.
• Responsible for Disaster Recovery planning, implementation, testing, and maintaining of all aspects of the Company Disaster Recovery/Business Continuance and IT infrastructure restoration.(Managed the failover of services between data centers during the 2001 black out).
• Ensure that all services meet and / or better the performance requirements detailed in the service level agreement (SLA) description through the deployment of sanctioned and authorized services.
• Authorize changes that are within the risk, impact criteria defined by Change Management Process.
• Establish standards to evaluate vendor performance and manage vendor relationships and services to meet or better objectives.
• Develop and implement plans to out source activities and services when necessary to augment existing staff, write RFPs and evaluate proposals.
• Provide leadership in creating and monitoring capital and expense budget (actual and projections).
• Responsible for employee HR functions including work direction, coaching, developing, pay & performance.

Reporting to the Vice-president (MIS), responsible for planning and managing comprehensive 24/7/365 IT computer operations including systems, networks, security, data and change management operations.

Accomplishments and responsibilities include:

• Managed MIS operations teams of over 40 application developers and technical staff working on several concurrent development projects, including task allocation, regular performance reviews, recruiting, training, mentoring and succession planning.
• Budget planning, reporting and overall management of an IT division and provide technical leadership in the operations and planning of two data centers.
• Conducted strategic reviews and developed new Information Technology strategic plans.
• Designing, specifying and implementing a standard corporate computing infrastructure as the primary technical lead of the MIS team.
• Managed the 24x7 NOC
• Managing and integrating NT, UNIX, Novell, Digital Alpha, PC systems and networks to support client/server and network-centric computing in a heterogeneous network consisting of 40 LAN’s, 2 WAN’s, 1400 nodes, 3000 real-time users across a 760 acre petrochemical plant.
• Managed client and subcontractor relationships in complex systems integration projects.
• Introducing and enforcing formally controlled standard MIS operating procedures and measuring performance with standard MIS metrics as part of corporate quality program and ISO 9000 certification goal.

• Installed and maintained 20LAN/WAN Novell and NT networks including cabling and routing equipment.
• Installing, implementing and supporting client-server systems and applications.
• Specifying, procuring and installing project hardware, software and networks.
• Day to day maintenance of Dot matrix and laser printers.

• Assembling, Installation and Maintenance of PC range of systems and printers.