Rahul Basandra

As a Service Delivery Director, I am responsible for ensuring the delivery of high-quality services to a leading one of largest Canadian Retail and Financial services company, which offers a diverse range of products in automotive, hardware, home goods, and sports, as well as banking services and loyalty programs.

• Developed high-performing teams by providing mentorship, guidance, and opportunities for professional growth.
• Lead a team of 140+ resources, both onshore and offshore, and manage a $45+ million cost center, overseeing the successful delivery of application and infrastructure support projects.
• Manage the end-to-end service delivery of a diverse portfolio, including client relationship management, governance, P&L oversight, pre-sales activities (RFI, RFP, SOW), business transformation, change management, and project management.
• Administer key operations such as KPIs, SLA management, team utilization, forecasting, customer satisfaction (CSAT), resolve & closure rate, and headcount management to ensure operational excellence.
• Oversee Datacenter Platform Operations, including compute, network, database, backup & storage, Citrix, NOC, ITCC, mainframe, and cloud operations.
• Develop and implement IT strategy and roadmap, ensuring technology initiatives align with business goals and drive transformation.
• Monitor project progress and resolve issues, ensuring quality and timeliness of deliverables while providing progress reports and escalating critical concerns.
• Achieved significant cost reduction through the implementation of industrialization and automation initiatives, enhancing operational efficiency.
• Drive continuous improvement to deliver measurable, sustained value to customers and ensure high-quality service delivery.
• Lead cross-functional IT and business teams in the planning and integration of on-prem and cloud infrastructure solutions, ensuring seamless deployment and alignment with business needs.
• Spearhead process development, ensuring data integrity, quality reporting, and proactive risk management across all infrastructure and support operations.
• Identify skills gaps and develop targeted learning plans to enhance team member capabilities and ensure continuous professional development.
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders and customers to ensure alignment with business objectives, establish governance, and maintain compliance with industry standards.
• Ensure strict compliance with relevant regulations and standards, including GDPR, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001.
• Work alongside senior leadership to guide and refine the organization’s operational strategy, driving alignment with business goals and fostering cross-departmental collaboration.

• Led RFP solution discussions with CxOs and Infrastructure heads, driving decision-making and aligning solutions with business needs.
• Developed go-to-market strategies and collaborated with business development teams, alliances, and partners to deliver integrated solutions.
• Specialized in designing end-to-end transformation and managed service solutions, providing RFx responses with strong commercial expertise.
• Proactively mitigated risks through thorough analysis and the development of effective contingency plans

As Service Delivery Leader for the 2nd largest Canadian Communication and Media Company, I oversee the delivery of infrastructure support services across multiple technologies, including Hybrid Compute, Security Operations (SIEM), Citrix, and ServiceNow ITSM. My role ensures service meets contractual SLAs, with continuous service improvements identified in collaboration with clients.

• Accountable for 24/7 operations support across a hybrid environment consisting of 7000+ servers, 500+ applications, and 1.5 petabytes of storage, ensuring compliance with security, data privacy, and audit requirements.
• Led a team of 80+ members across multiple towers, managing service quality and enforcing change control, resulting in high system availability and efficient IT service delivery.
• Spearheaded an alert optimization initiative that reduced alert volumes from 40K to 8K, improving efficiency and reducing the need for 22 FTEs in support roles.
• Drove continuous service reviews, defining and implementing KPIs, SLAs, and service improvement strategies, leading to an 18% annual savings and a 30% increase in productivity.
• Collaborated with business owners to implement security controls, ensuring proactive detection and mitigation of security threats, and communicated risks to senior leadership.
• Introduced and managed the implementation of an auto-discovery Configuration Management solution (uCMDB), enhancing efficiencies across multiple IT teams.
• Motivated delivery teams by fostering a culture of excellence, clear communication, mentorship, and collaborative leadership.
• Championed automation across service towers, driving process improvements and cost reduction initiatives.
• Developed an online Business Service Catalog, aligning business-facing services with SLAs and improving service delivery transparency.
• Prepared and reported project metrics needed for various risk groups.
• Streamlined communication across departments, facilitating information exchange for improved decision-making related to delivery operations.

• Ensure the technical delivery of all services and projects meets quality, scope, and service level requirements, while overseeing problem resolution, SIPs, and post-incident reviews across DC and EUC domains.
• Lead high-severity incidents, ensuring proactive customer communication, timely updates, and the availability of appropriate resources for prompt resolution.
• Oversee the submission of operational reports on service performance, incidents, SLA adherence, and improvement opportunities, while proactively communicating risks and challenges with tower leads to ensure continuous service delivery success.

• As Program Manager, oversee the end-to-end delivery of IT programs, ensuring alignment with business goals, financial targets, timelines, and budgets, while coordinating cross-functional teams and managing resources.
• Drive program strategy, risk management, and stakeholder communication, ensuring milestones are met, financial objectives are achieved, and potential issues are proactively addressed.
• Ensure continuous program improvement by identifying opportunities for process optimization, managing resource allocation, and maintaining financial accountability, while ensuring adherence to quality standards and SLAs across multiple projects.