HEAD OF IT OPERATIONS
Emirates Flight Catering
Total years of experience :29 years, 2 Months
Lead IT operations of group with 11K+ employees managing Cloud Strategy, IT Outsourcing, Automation (Industry 4.0, Human machine interface), Hybrid IT Infrastructure, Multiple ERP’s Oracle JDEdwards NetSuite, Salesforce, On premise & Cloud platform (Azure, Google, AWS), Analytics (Power Bi, Oracle Analytics Cloud), Robotics Process Automation (BluePrism, MS Power Automate), DevOps and AGILE, Governance Risk & Compliance (GRC) and driving the Cloud Transformation of world leader in Aviation & Catering
Ensure business continuity, manage global vendor relationship, IT Operations Strategy, deliver 97% SLA on support & Customer satisfaction. Drive IT Governance Risk & Compliance portfolio by introducing best practices of ITIL, COBIT, NESA, and ISO. Establish platform for future iOT platform.
• Lead Digitization initiatives with two of world’s leading airlines - Emirates and FlyDubai and also with joint venture to build world’s largest vertical farm - an iOT based process
• Drive Cloud Transformation with aim to move our compute to Cloud, with robust security
• Saved 12% of OPEX spend by redrawing contracts & effective mix of onsite/Outsource
• Build proactive retail IT strategy to align closer to customers & Ecommerce enabled
• Manage multi cloud IT across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google & Oracle cloud
• Deliver IT support for world leader in Aviation catering to 130+ airlines across the globe
• Improved Service delivery by Outsourcing, helping team to focus on projects ahead
• Ensure Business continuity, with Disaster recovery drills and IT governance, risk/compliance framework across 23 IT processes with KPI’s for business growth
• Transition from Waterfall to Agile practices with best practices from PMI, ITIL, and COBIT
• Lead in-house development using DevOps - Ecommerce, Payment gateway, VIP Flight solutions
• Built our Analytics platform which uses a mix of Oracle Analytics Cloud and leaning more towards MS Power BI on Azure, building up ML based forecasting
Part of Operational Board of Directors and Head of Global IT for KOJ Group LLC - Private label retailer with 9 brands, 800+ stores, 4000+ Staff’s in 7 countries. Brands Nayomi & Mikyajy rated in Forbes Top 40 Middle East brands.
Lead implementation of State of Art IT infrastructure (Oracle ERP, 3 Data Centers with Disaster Recovery) covering 3 Distribution Centers, 3000 peripherals, 50 servers, 3 Data Centre’s, 20 plus ERP and Software Modules in a Hybrid Cloud and On Premise model.
The strategic IT investments, I lead - help align Technology closer to business and IT projects powered business to Growth, Savings, Efficiency, Won awards & are Global Case Studies.
Few highlights are
Rolled out Oracle E-Business, Oracle Retail, Oracle Fusion & Oracle Cloud SaaS modules on Solaris servers - stabilizing them & building few modules in Open Source
Lead Digital Transformation, to make Store & Back office Operations efficient and reach our customers across various Channels
Built OmniChannel platform providing seamless Customer experience integrated with ERP. In-house developed modules are CRM, Content & Order Management, Customer Connect, with Analytics powering metrics
Strategic Tie Ups with world’s leading Technology partners that proved beneficial driving down Costs, help User adoption, Network and learn from global organizations
Helped Organization through reaching my contacts, not just on IT but various business needs like Listing in Stock Market, E-commerce Transition, New Market penetration etc.
Cost focus - ran IT last 4 years at less than 0.5% budget growth, as business grew 20%
Over 8 years - reduced IT staff from 48 to 28, while business doubled - by stabilizing systems, Automating manual tasks, Root Cause Analysis to identify errors & fix it. Released team mentored to senior roles & some moved to business
Outsourced certain IT roles, helping reduce costs & focus internal team’s attention to key business areas. Savings achieved, were invested into Innovations & Digital
Efficient use of Open Source - helps in maximizing value on investments done and also position IT closer to business
Digitized our business from Manual paper driven enterprise, to an automated one. Productivity growth has grown beyond expectations
Efficient use of Best practices. PMI, ITIL, COBIT - focus on value, than just certifications
ISATCORP is a Joint venture between two successful multinationals - Rajab & Silsilah, KSA and Zerowait Computers, USA. Based in Jeddah, it offered solutions in areas of I. T. recruitment, Software Training, Software Development and Consultancy services.
My responsibilities started with Studying the Saudi market and suggest steps to establish an independent IT startup venture. After that I had to co-ordinate Setting up, Supervising and establishing the IT venture. I conducted presentations to Board of Directors and leading clients, Prepared Marketing plans and supervise the execution of the same. I acted as IT technology consultant for the JV and was also the Project Manager.
My tenure there, had many Successes, starting with report on Saudi IT market. setting up the IT Venture etc. I started 3 divisions in Training, Recruiting and Software Development.
As a Project manager I successfully lead various projects notable among them was the software migration project from Windows to Linux, that lead to huge savings and increase in efficiency. I led a team of Software, hardware and Networking professionals, aimed to migrate a mixed architecture of computers working under IBM AS 400, MS Windows NT, Windows 98 to IBM AS 400, RedHat Linux Professional Server, RedHat Linux Workstation, Windows 98.
I was also the Project Manager for website development with additional responsibility of content creation.
I bagged an order from a Manufacturing company for an application that automates servicing of vehicles in their workshop, for more than 500 heavy-duty vehicles like Tankers, Trailers, Road Rollers, etc.,
In Training, we started a program on E commerce with focus on Projects and Career to trainees. The training is such, on completion each student is proficient to develop a Portal himself.
I had initiated a good relationship with one of the Kingdoms leading bank and top organizations in the Kingdom.
Zerowait Computers (P) Ltd, with offices in US, UK, Singapore and India was a IT group - offering services in Consulting, Recruiting and Training. In software it worked on diverse platforms as Mainframes, AS 400, Client Server, Internet, Intranet and E-commerce.
As a Business Development Manager, I was Responsible for Training, Recruiting and Consulting services for clients in India. I had to also Co-ordinate with our overseas operations in identifying new clients, their needs and source candidates matching client’s needs. I had to also draft the long-term strategy for the high technology programs in corporate training.
While I was in Zerowait, I built up a good client base including leading software houses in India and overseas and Placed many candidates on a contract and permanent basis too. I was Instrumental in designing training programs for corporate & institutional clients and through innovative methods identified new clients overseas, whom I serviced while being in India itself, significantly adding to the profits of my employer.
Computer Point (I) Ltd. is one of India's leading Software Training and Consultancy organizations and is also a leading IT solution provider. Its methodology of imparting training directly on computers has been its successful concept.
I joined one of the branches of Computer Point's countrywide chain of branches all over India. I joined in its Marketing department and very soon was promoted due to my Success and Dedication to Effectively take charge of the whole affairs of the center. From hiring and training staffs to Developing marketing strategies and Client Interactions, I played varied roles which helped me in later stages of my career.
One of my significant successes while at Computer Point was Interacting with our National offices in evolving long term strategies, which lead to Consolidation of our client base and further strengthen our existing client relationships. I Upgraded our training programs, based on inputs from Software companies and also Initiated Campus interviews, which was very useful for both clients and our students.
I evolved course standards, which was highly appreciated by our student fraternity and brought in Part time consultants for Seminars, Discussions etc., in relevant topics.
My Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science, covered most of the areas of Information Technology, Electronics, Electrical etc. The subjects covered are Digital Design, Electrical and Electronic Circuits, System Programming, Computer Organization, Instrumentation and Transducers, Operations Research, Communication Systems, Programing Languages, Data Processing and Database Management etc. The degree had ample coverage for practicals and I completed 2 projects during my final year.