GAURAV THAKKAR

Ph: 314-***-**** ac0uov@r.postjobfree.com

Executive Summary

** ***** ** ********** ********** Business Architect, Analyst, and Project Management IT, Banking, Insurance and Telecom Domains

Strategic, innovative, dynamic and business-focused Techno-Functional consultant with expertise in Business Architecture, Analysis and Project Management with 12 years of global experience in US, Europe, Australia and Asia in Information Technology, Telecom, Banking and Insurance industries. Strong business acumen with a track record of driving operational efficiency and business process development while building relationships with customers to improve business effectiveness and bridging the gap between fast changing business models & disruptive technologies. Visionary leader, a critical thinker and a consummate team player with passion to improve business. Areas of Expertise

• Customer Delight and Team Management: Built excellent relations with client that resulted in Client Appreciation in all my projects. Managed, Mentored and Motivated Team members not only for work but also to get best out of them.

• Business Analysis, Consulting and Solution Designing: Analyzed business requirements against AS-IS architecture, evaluated alternatives, defined TO-BE architecture, identified Gaps and strategized transformation roadmap.

• Executive Level Organization and Management: Established strong relations with CxOs and Directors during ideation of simple, transparent, customer centric business solutions that resulted in bringing additional business.

• Business Transformation: Adapted to the changing Business Models and Bridged the gap between IT strategy and execution by aligning people, processes, practices and technology to corporate goals to address business drivers like globalization, digitization, shift in economic growth regions, changes in energy costs and disruptive technologies.

• Developing Strategic Partnerships: Built strategic partnerships and alliances with product suppliers, vendors and equipment manufacturers to jointly deliver projects to customers that resulted in winning multi-million dollar deals.

• Financial Estimation and Resource Planning: Performed Estimation and Pricing by collaborating with cross-functional teams for time & material and fixed price projects based on expected duration of project, number of resources, hardware/server/software license needs and complexity of the project.

• Training and Development: Trained and Mentored teams across organization by building a virtual cross-project teams that shared standards, best practices and processes across projects.

• Creativity, Technology and Innovation: Conducted POCs, Due-Diligence, Market Study & Research and build COTS Evaluation Tool to keep customers competitive in their business and in turn growing revenues for Tech Mahindra.

• Global Experience: Performed Business Consulting, Business Analysis, Architecture and Solution Designing for clients across geographies US-Europe-Australia-Asia with diverse cultures, process and expectations and got appreciations. Technical and Functional Skills

Functional Expertise Desktop and Mobile Apps – iOS, Android, Chatbot, Insurance (Auto, Life, Health, Fire – Home and Renters), Banking and Claims, eCommerce, Oracle ATG, Hybris, Big Data Analytics, 4G LTE, Digital, OSS-BSS, Salesforce, Peoplesoft & Siebel CRM, Comptel Provisioning and Activation, Comptel Mediation, Kenan Arbor & Amdocs Billing & Invoicing and Web-Portals, HP SDP/SDF Service Delivery Framework, VOIP, H323, SIP Protocols, GSM Mobile Technology (2G/3G), VPN, VLAN, SOA, Web Services, Service Orchestration. Architectural Tools MEGA, Visio, Lotus Notes

Methodologies Agile, Waterfall, RAD

Languages C, C++, Java, Dot Net, Perl, TCL-TK

Web Designing JSP, JavaScript, HTML

Test Management Tools HP Quality Center, Rational Test Manager, Clear Case, Requisite Pro, Rational Clear Quest, Remedy AOTS, USH, Rally, JIRA Ticketing System, VersionOne, Backlog Automation Tools HPST, SOAP-UI, Selenium, Quick Test Professional (Mercury Certified Specialist), Winrunner, Silk Test, ATE-PTI Avaya Proprietary Tool Operating Systems Linux, UNIX, Mac, MS-DOS and Windows 98/2000/XP/VISTA/7/8/10 Databases SQL, Oracle, DB2, MS-Access, SQL Developer tool Networking Call Manager, Router, Layer-2 switch, Ethereal, Packetizer, VLAN, Putty, GVIM, WinSCP, Wireshark, and DHCP, TFTP, HTTP, TLS and FTP

Educational Qualification

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI, Mumbai, India 2005

Bachelor of Engineering, Information Technology GPA: 3.6

Led End-to-End project implementation at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai from Requirement Gathering, Designing, Coding to Testing and Deployment on “GENERIC DIAGRAMMING FRAMEWORK” - built in Java, platform independent, modular, flexible diagramming framework to have One Stop Shop customized with various Diagramming tools to meet dynamic business needs. This resulted in savings of License and Maintenance costs of different diagramming tools.

Experience

12 Years of Consulting Experience

HTC Global Services Inc. Business Architect

(1) Sr. Business Analyst / Business Architect - Digital, Statefarm, US Dec’16 – Till Date Summary: Handled Business Analysis and Architecture in Digital Business Area - desktop and mobile apps across Statefarm Business Bank and Insurance (Auto/Fire/Life/Home/Health) for Agency B2A, Customer B2C and Enterprise B2E streams. Responsibilities:

Facilitated identification, elicitation, review and documentation of business requirements and architecture throughout the business case life-cycle to meet enterprise needs, including strategic architecture activities and coordinating and executing the transition and ongoing management of business architecture

Gathered & Analyzed Requirements and modeled Use-cases and designed the detailed process-flow.

Formulated and Transformed Business needs into Business Requirements between Business Partners and IT stakeholders.

Took ownership/stewardship of enterprise architecture vision, mission, strategy, processes and direction and aligned it to IT Strategy.

Built multiple architectural models or views that show how the current and future needs of an organization will be met in an efficient, sustainable, agile, and adaptable manner.

Developed Business architecture diagrams for Current, Strategic, Aspirational and Transitional Architectures

Designed Organizational & System Processes, Business Capabilities, Process Maps, Business Data Element, Context Diagram and BCM Model.

Defined the Roadmap for Aspirational Architecture by formulating and decomposing the Business Requirements along with Business Partners and Solution Architects.

Derived the Functional Specifications, Wire-frames, Content Management and Site maps for B2C, B2A and B2E Mobile Apps and Desktop Portals – iOS, Android, Java, Chatbot, Pocket Agent, Pocket Office, ABS Mobile, Agency Navigator, Life Claim Kit, Prospect Scan, Territory Contact Manager, Drive Safe n Save, and Driver's Feedback.

Communicated business needs to develop integrated solutions and define scope for business areas and Systems

Ensured Omni Channel, Web-responsive, Single Sign On features are implemented to provide Consistent User Experience.

Demonstrated business acumen and Effectively utilized business architecture tools like MEGA, Visio.

Understood and complied with business architecture standards and practices Tech Mahindra Americas Business Consultant

(1) Sr. Business Analyst – JP Morgan Chase, US Mar’15 – Dec'16 Summary: This project involved Business Analysis of JP Morgan Stack and ongoing implementation for their Digital Stack including Mobile Apps, Web Portals and CRM Systems. Responsibilities:

Liaison between the business and technical teams, analyzed and documented functional and non-functional requirements as per defined business requirements of the client.

Conducted requirement elicitation sessions with the stakeholders to understand and interpret the diverse issues and design solutions that meet stakeholder needs.

Performed Business Process Modeling, Requirement Elicitation, Data Mining, Data Analytics, Gap Analysis, Predictive Analytics, UML Modeling, Prototype design.

Analyzed Current State, Define Future State, Identify Gaps and Define Roadmap for transformation of business process flows using Microsoft Visio. Identified the gaps and made recommendations to fill in the gaps.

Expertise in creating Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams such as Use Case diagrams, Class diagrams, Activity diagrams, Sequence diagrams, Context diagrams and State diagrams using MEGA, Rational Rose and MS Visio.

Worked extensively in generating use-cases, mock up screens and workflow rules for all facets of the new application including implementation of Salesforce CRM.

Designed UI and Content Management System to provide Omni Channel, Web-responsive, Single Sign On and Consistent User Experience.

Worked closely with the development team to identify and define the data elements to be included in the application.

Made use of basic SQL queries and MS Excel to perform a detailed analysis on the existing data, identified issues and worked with the technical team to find issue resolution.

Facilitated time-boxed Agile Scrum Ceremonies: Daily Scrum Call, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective Meeting.

Managed and organized requirement coverage, UAT test cases and defects using HP Quality Center.

(2) Business Analyst / Business Consultant Jun’13 – Mar'15 Summary: This role involved Presales and Delivery of projects for large accounts up to $50M. Key responsibilities involved helping customer achieve their Business Goals by understanding key business drivers, market trends, and defining roadmap and strategies for future investments.

Clients: North American Customers

Responsibilities:

Led seamless Post-Merger Business Transformation by integrating and consolidating IT departments, systems and processes resulting in $20M savings.

Launched new enhanced features and services to the end customers resulting in Decrease total cost of ownership, Increase productivity, access and flexibility.

Evaluated COTS products to meet business goals by analyzing current architecture, defining target architecture, discovering gaps and recommending Roadmap for transformation resulted in process optimization and faster go to market.

Reduced Order abandonment in carts by migrating to Hybris platform and making the UI Web-Responsive, Omni Channel, Single Sign On and Consistent User Experience across channels, reducing clicks to Order Submission and improving content management and customer experience throughout Order Journey.

Created reservation of pre-launch mobile devices for customers and helped business to measure demand and thereby manage inventory for the company.

Helped business conform to Regulatory Changes for paper bill saving $2.5M per year.

Ideated a simple, transparent and easy to understand mobile bill explainer with automated video of individual bill resulting in improved user experience and lower operation cost of customer support.

Conducted workshops, trainings for the clients, SME and Developers.

Led Client Conf Calls, Meetings, Daily and Weekly Reports, Issue Resolution and Escalations.

(3) Solution Designer Jun’11 – Jun’13

Summary: This involved working closely with Presales and Delivery Team and building E2E Solutions. Key to success in this role was to understand different applications, technologies, clients, their cultures, business needs & expectations and recommending solutions best suitable for them.

Clients: North American Customers

Responsibilities:

• Built social media predictive business analytics and insights from customer online activity to help business cross-sell and up-sell allied and complementing products.

• Constructed single consistent view dashboard for customers to ease quick access to information across multiple applications, services and platforms.

• Designed individualized payment arrangement model for collections from defaulters resulting in assisting customers by predicting their behavior and standardizing response options for agents.

• Performed Proof of Concept for Service Virtualization to make “Go/No-Go” decision thereby mitigating risk before making a large investment.

• Analyzed client strategic priorities & financial YoY targets to help customer drive focus on cutting edge technologies. Wipro Technologies Design Analyst

(1) Technical Architect, Telefonica O2, Germany - OSS-BSS Feb’09 – Jun’11 Summary: This project was based in Germany that involved various Operational Support Systems and Business Support Systems. This involved System Integration of OSS/BSS systems involving CRM, provisioning, activation, network elements, CDR handling, Mediation, Billing, Customer facing portals and the middleware. Responsibilities:

Drove proposal preparation and played a key role in winning the O2 Project of 20M Euros.

Bagged two additional deals by networking with clients, without any competition based on smooth delivery of projects.

Gained E2E knowledge of applications, performed feasibility study of any changes going into the applications and single- handedly driving the project in an onsite-offshore model.

Led Requirements Analysis, Planning, & Strategy, Designing, Execution, Deployment and Reporting for the project.

Idealized and implemented the process of preemptive power performance testing that resulted in a win-win solution by reducing production defects resulting in savings for client.

(2) Project Manager, Telstra, Australia – Core SDF - SOA Apr’08 - Jan’09 Summary: Project was based in Australia. It involved System Integration Testing of Telstra’s Service Delivery Platform

(SDP/SDF) which was based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Responsibilities:

Managed a team of six people which involved planning, allocating task, finding issues and tracking them to resolution and generating reports on daily as well as weekly basis.

Prepared test plan, test strategy and requirements traceability matrix, identified risks, managed defect reports and designed the Test Execution Guidelines for faster and efficient execution.

Handled client meetings, reported execution status and resolved issues.

Collaboratively worked with Competitor Consulting firm in a politically sensitive environment to achieve a mutually beneficial result in Stubbing.

Ensured end-to-end connectivity for Business Critical Scenario for WDMS Enablers which was beyond scope of work and thus exceeded client’s expectations.

(3) Tech Lead, Telstra, Australia – Mobile Handset Jul’07 – Mar’08 Summary: Projects included Australian Idol Show, Damages Show and 3-Tab Portal and were based in Australia. It involved User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Product Verification Testing (PVT) and Field Testing of the WAP portals, features and functionalities on 3G Smartphones and Location Based System. Responsibilities:

Despite being first project with Telstra, received client appreciation for our quality-work delivered within budget and ahead of timelines which was highly appreciated by Wipro Management.

Prepared the Master Test Plan and prepared the Requirement Traceability Matrix to ensure Coverage of all Requirements.

Analyzed the Requirement Specification, Solution Architecture Definition and Story Board and prepared the test cases.

Conducted testing at locations across Australia to check functionality of newly implemented ‘Location Based System’.

Generated the Test Summary Report at the end of execution and Test Status Report on a daily basis.

(4) Program Analyst, Avaya, US – VOIP Telephony Sept’05 – Jun’07 Summary: Projects consisted of R2.8, R2.7 and Plus phones which involved System, Integration, Regression, User Acceptance Testing of all the features of the Avaya VOIP phones using VOIP, H323 and SIP protocols. Responsibilities:

Successfully performed the feasibility study of Automation and achieved more automation work for the entire team.

Setup the lab by configuring switches, routers, VLANs and various servers like DHCP, TFTP, HTTP, TLS, FTP and DNS.

Identified the hardware/software requirements for the test execution.

Conducted System testing of SNMP, FTP Restore/Backup and Inter-networking modules.

Discovered new strategies to identify bugs which resulted in 40% increase in defect capturing. Awards and Special Achievements

Awards:

Received “Bravo” Award for the PVT Projects Delivered successfully

Appreciated for bringing $20M Post-Merger Business Transformation project at TechM

Felicitated with the “GALAXY TEAM” Award for successfully handling business critical applications that ensured customer had timely broadcasting of critical TV shows such as Australian Idol.

Appreciated by Telstra Management “This team can take up any work thrown on them” for taking the new task of PORTAL and handing it over to Sydney Team within a short span of 20 days.

Received Client Appreciation Card – “Thank You – You are Simply the Best award for excellent performance twice from Avaya management and got appreciated by her during her visit to Wipro for my dedicated and efficient work.

Received Peacock award from Avaya client for timely delivery with quality of Plus-phones project

Chief Event Co-ordinator for Computer Society of India (CSI-RAIT)

Class Representative for all 4 years of Engineering Special Achievements:

Won the multi-million deal for 4 years from Telefonica O2 Germany

Certified Enterprise Architect professional

Certified Function Point Analysis professional

Trained on ITIL v3 and PMP

Certified Mercury Quick Test Professional Specialist

Certified Mediation Comptel EventLink 6 professional

Certified IBM DB2 Specialist

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