Olivier Helal

IT Director, EMEA

Sector: Real Estate

IT Operations Director, EMEA

Following the acquisition of Crystal Decisions by Business Objects was made responsible for IT Services and Operations in EMEA, India and China.

Managed the worldwide ERP systems infrastructure.

Responsible for the development and management of annual multi-million budget.

Accomplishments included:

• Completed the IT systems integration of 2 companies (authentication, messaging, and ERP for 3 data centres - 1000 servers);
• Project Manager for the “Business Objects Excellence Initiatives” in order to reduce the costs of IT infrastructures (Data centres and servers consolidation, network improvements);
• Project managed the Windows 2003 and Exchange 2003 migration;
• Led a project to update financial and IT systems in 5 months to match Sarbanes-Oxley compliancy rules;
• Conducted infrastructure audits including external security tests. Implemented changes as required
• Member of the steering committee in charge of the outsourcing of the user support function;
• Directed a global project to implement Wireless network solution for mobile users
• Specification and implementation of the new hardware platform to support the new ERP and the growth of the Company;
• Installed an anti-spam and anti-virus (secure messaging) solution for email.

Sector: Software publishers

Global IT Operations Director

Directed teams in charge of NT, UNIX, web, and network infrastructures : specified system architecture, ensured reliability and monitoring, and negotiated contracts.

Responsible for the development and management of annual multi-million budget.

Accomplishments included:

• Negotiated supplier contracts for data centre space, network infrastructures, vendor licenses, maintenance and support;
• Saved $500K in 3 years and improved system performance by migrating the global network infrastructure (from Frame Relay to IP-MPLS);
• Rationalization of data storage and archiving (SAN, NAS, Backup), obtained a positive ROI for the project in the 1st year;
• Assisted with the specification and installation of PeopleSoft ERP: progressive deployment over 1? years;
• Established a Disaster Recovery Plan to face the risk of flood (Paris Office)

Sector: Software publishers

IT Operations Manager

Managed multi-cultural teams in charge of internal user support and Microsoft environment administration.

Accomplishments included:

• Implemented a regional Service Desk based on best practices for service support using Remedy. The same tool and processes were eventually adopted company wide;
• Lowered annual OPEX expenses by 15% through the centralization of IT purchasing and the implementation of stricter standards;
• Led the migration to Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000

Sector: Software publishers

IS Manager, technical trainer, consultant

supervised instructors, and taught technical courses in additon to consulting activities.

• Trained administrators for the Youth and Sports Minister after designing and installing an MS Exchange 5.5 system;
• Set up an automatic installation routine for 130 classroom PCs to correspond to course schedules;
• Translation of the Microsoft demo CD for Windows 2000 automatic setup;
• Presentations to large groups (up to 300 people);
• Wrote student workbooks for customized technical courses.

Sector: Computer services

Consultant & Instructor

Led projects and training sessions and provided engineering expertise in email systems.

• Deployed an email system for Heidrick & Struggles across 13 European countries;
• Collaborated on the migration to MS Exchange for Shell France;
• Helped standardize NT workstations for Aérospatiale;
• Installed Exchange 4.0 for a business unit of the Essilor Group

Sector: Computer services