Strategic Technology Transformation Leader / VP Candidate
SARAVANAN MURUGAN
Stellar, highly driven, and accomplished Technology leader with over 20 years of experience delivering strategic transformation initiatives that enhance IT service delivery, efficiency, profitability, and customer experience. Proven track record in building and leading large high-performing global teams, directing multi-million-dollar transformations, turning around underperforming organizations, managing large-scale IT operations, optimizing costs, and promoting operational efficiencies.
ACHIEVING BUSINESS GOALS THROUGH STELLAR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION LEADERSHIP
DEMONSTRATED KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
HEAD IT OPERATIONS
​Spearheaded IT Service Delivery transformation, achieving 30% efficiency gains and 50% cost reduction for a $20B Annual Revenue Retail enterprise.
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Achieved key operational metrics: 30% reduction in recurring incidents, 10% reduction in service desk calls, 30% reduction in MTTR, 98.5% change success rate, 98% help desk CSAT.
DIRECTED
Enterprise-wide strategic initiative at eBay Enterprise, consolidating 10+ legacy ITSM systems into cloud based ServiceNow platform, resulting in a 60% improvement in MTTR, increased productivity, enhanced customer satisfaction, and $1M cost saving/year.
BUILT & LED
Cross functional global teams of 200 staff from ground up with $14M portfolio, established multiple Center of Excellence (COEs) - DEVOPS teams and have delivered 100+ projects on schedule and ~10% under budget.
MANAGED
24/7 global support for the entire suite of applications for 80+ eCommerce clients with process improvements, cutting edge IT support system resulted in significant improvement in CSAT.
TURNED AROUND
Under-performing multi-million-dollar transformation programs for two retailers through comprehensive evaluation, re-planning, and stellar execution, resulting in a successful migration of Legacy to Modern Systems.
CORE SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
LEADERSHIP
Strategic Planning
Digital Transformation
IT Service Management Expertise
Building High-Performing Teams
Authentic Leadership
EXECUTION
IT Operations Excellence
Large-scale Project Execution
Customer-centric IT Service Delivery
Automation & Process Improvements
KPIs & Service-level Improvements
INFLUENCE
Talent & Leadership Development
Partnership & Vendor Negotiation
C-Suite Engagement
Communication & Collaboration
Organizational Change Management
A HISTORY OF LEADING TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS
2021 - CURRENT
Head of IT Operations
BJ's WHOLESALE CLUB
Executive leader and a member of the IT Leadership team reporting to the CIO - responsible for the design, transformation, and growth of all aspects of the 24/7 technology operations. Chartered to define and implement operations strategy, structure, and processes. Manage a team of 150+ global team members responsible for the Service Delivery, Service Desk, Fuel Desk, Command Center, Enterprise Monitoring, Major Incident Management, Problem Management, Event Management, NOC, ITSM functions, Application Services, ServiceNow, Change Control and Corp Systems.
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Spearheaded the transformation of the IT Service Delivery model leading to a 30% increase in efficiency and a 50% reduction in costs by building 100% offshore teams and a lean onsite management team.
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Streamlined ITIL-based service management that improved incident response time by 40% and increased customer satisfaction by 35% with less disruption to service delivery.
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Saved $1M+ annually by successfully negotiating advantageous contracts with IT service providers.
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Set strategic vision for a top-tier IT Operations by applying ITIL practices, enhancing operations, reducing technical debt, improving change control, eliminating recurring issues, and excellent customer experience.
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Achieved key IT Operational metrics: reduction of recurring Incidents by 30%, Service Desk call volume by 10%, reduced change failure rate down to 1.5%, drastically improved Help Desk CSAT to 98%.
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Reduced MTTR by 30%, significantly improving incident response and service delivery efficiency.
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Manage quarterly and annual budgeting process and P&L responsibilities.
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Chair Quarterly Business review (QBR) meetings, a strategic touchpoint between IT and Business streams to align on objectives, ensure collaboration, and improve transparency.
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Practice Shift-Left as a continuous improvement process as part of transformations to create capacity for engineering organization to focus on strategic projects and store expansions.
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Serving as Executive Sponsor for Strategic Offshore vendor TCS (300+ consultants), ensuring cost-effectiveness, high quality of IT deliverables, operations excellence through strong partnership.
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Successfully established a robust communication framework for disseminating updates on major and critical incidents to stakeholders, ensuring timely and transparent information flow and enhancing stakeholder engagement and incident response efficiency.
2020-2021
Director of Product/Program Management
RUBY HAS FULFILLMENT
Develop product vision and roadmap partnering with business, marketing, and customers. Responsible for establishing offshore team from ground-up. Manage a team of business analysis, user experience, development, and testing to deliver flagship products in the organization. Establish IT support system from the ground up. Build high-performance global teams.
2016-2020
Director of Technology
RADIAL, INC.
Hand-picked by the CIO to head enterprise wide ITSM Digital Transformation program. Directed multiple development and support teams globally, including 6 direct reports (Senior Managers) and 50 staffs. Chaired change control board, performance management, drove process optimization and Organizational Change Management.
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Service Management transformation replaced 20-year disparate legacy and enabled 80+ clients and 8000+ employees with cutting-edge IT support systems in record time. Systems consolidated included: Incident, Problem, Change, Service Request, Asset, CMDB and Knowledge Management systems.
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Recognized by vendor: “The smoothest ServiceNow transformation”. Executed strategy: Boot camp, clearly defined scope and vision, detailed plan; assembled “A” team; collaboration, training and clear communication.
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Built/headed global technical teams across 10+ applications ensuring stellar customer service. Established cadence to review inflow, backlog, closure trends, SLAs, ensured rapid delivery through DevOps.
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Played a strategic role in building Captive Center and oversaw comprehensive global IT support outsourcing due diligence, contracts negotiation, and transition that led to 40% reduction in annual IT spend within 12 months.
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Partner and collaborate with leadership in technology, business, procurement, sales, vendors, client services & customers.
2014-2016
Sr. Manager of Technology
EBAY ENTERPRISE
Led multiple cross functional teams focused on the eCommerce applications and IT operations in various technology stacks with 50+ direct and indirect reports.
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Delivered 24/7 global support model and achieved 96% service level adherence.
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Established model Business Integration Center of Excellence (COE). Delivered optimized results through agile, Kanban, SDLC, improved productivity, cut costs, defined clear roles, high morale, seamless 24/7 support.
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Supported 1.5K integrations that runs 9K times/day with processing time of 500 hours/day, achieved 10% performance improvements. Delivered high-quality projects on-time and under budget. Increased CSAT and team morale.
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Recognized by leadership and organization-wide adoption of COE models to other areas.
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Achieved $5M/year cost savings by successfully migrating Data Center for eBay with zero outage.
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Resource management including hiring, onboarding, performance review, retention and termination.
2013-2014
Sr. Management Consultant
PERFICIENT, INC.
Recruited to lead cross-functional technical teams of 20-30 staff to turn around suffering $4M Order Management digital programs for two leading retail clients. Successfully turned around and created a positive impact on business.
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Achieved highest online sale in eCommerce history for Carter’s resulting in significant milestone sale on Labor Day.
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Due to Carter’s success, hand-picked to lead and transform complex eCommerce project for Genesco. Performed comprehensive project evaluation, renegotiated budget/timeline; risk management; PM best practices.
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Delivered Order Management program on-time and with zero defects through major process improvements.
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Vastly improved team accountability, morale, and confidence resulting in further increasing team productivity.
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Established robust IT Governance, change management, QA process, and realigned resources based on expertise.
2005-2013
Associate General Manager
HCL AMERICA, INC.
Assigned to flagship client, eBay, a leading provider of eCommerce services for top retailers. Successfully led 100+ projects for eBay and their clients. Accountable for operational, delivery, customer, and financial excellence.
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Won “Delivery Excellence” Award; Seeded pathway for eBay to acquire GSI by integrating PayPal for 60+ retailers.
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Built a global cross-functional teams of 170 staff from ground up. Managed $14M P&L with 8-10 senior managers.
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Successfully led/delivered over 100 projects on schedule, budget, and scope in alignment with client goals.
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Execute strategic large digital programs from architecture, design, development, testing to final implementation.
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Effective communication, project management, escalations, risk management in all aspects of program delivery.
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Built high-performance teams through mentoring, coaching, motivation, collaboration, effective processes, commitment, foster innovation and continuous improvement to exceed performance standards.
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Drafted proposals; responded to RFPs/SOWs; drove engagement’s MSA, QBR, SLA, and metrics.
EDUCATION
1994-1998
Bachelor's Degree
BHARATHIDASAN UNIVERSITY
Major: Computer Science & Engineering
CERTIFICATIONS
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL
Globally recognized Project Management Professional (PMP) have demonstrated their extensive knowledge and mastery of PM concepts, tasks, and techniques and have demonstrated the knowledge and skills needed to initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control, and close a project.
SERVICE MANAGEMENT
ITIL® 4 Foundation CPD demonstrates this individual has maintained and improved their skills and abilities in relation to their ITIL® 4 Foundation qualification.
AWS
Earners of this certification have a fundamental understanding of IT services and their uses in the AWS Cloud. They demonstrated cloud fluency and foundational AWS knowledge.
SCALED AGILE
A Certified SAFe® 5 Agilist (SA) is a SAFe enterprise leadership professional who is part of a Lean-Agile transformation.
CLIENTS
TESTIMONIALS
WHAT LEADERS SAY
SCOTT KESSLER
SCOTT KESSLER
GIANNI D'APRILE
VP/CISO, BJ's
Exceptional leadership in implementing the IT operations organization for BJ's Wholesale Club and driving operational excellence within our company. His expertise in retail and his experience with managing blended onshore and offshore teams was a huge benefit for our organization.
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One of Saravanan's greatest strengths is his commitment to operational excellence.
CHRIS WATKINS
VP, CASEY's
Throughout his time leading IT Operations, Saravanan consistently demonstrated a rare blend of strategic vision, tactical execution, and an innate ability to drive transformative change.
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Notable Achievements includes:
Service Desk Call Volume Decrease
Major Incident Process Establishment
Operational Cost Savings through automation
SCOTT KESSLER
EVP CIO, Northeast Grocery
Sarav is top notch at program managing large, diverse offshore development teams and coordinating onshore activities. He is an expert communicator and builds positive, lasting relationships throughout the organization. He has had an excellent delivery track record of on time, on budget, and of high quality software.
BHASKAR RAO
VP Infrastructure, BJ's
Saravanan is an exceptional leader with technical proficiency, strategic vision, and a collaborative approach. implemented IT operations driving operational excellence. His commitment to operational excellence led to cost savings and increased productivity.
KEVIN MILLIKEN
EVP CIO, RADIAL
Sarav is a pleasure to work with. He is exceptionally diligent in his project planning and execution. I saw this first hand for an enterprise rollout of ServiceNow. He has a positive attitude and he finds ways to solve any unanticipated issues. I hope that our professional paths meet again!
ANKUR KASHYAP
Chief Revenue Officer, Onix
Sarav is one of the best technology and program delivery leaders I have had the pleasure of working with. He is a trusted advisor to the CIO/CTO office. He has a strong track record of delivering complex programs
GET INTO MY BRAIN
MY MOST RECENT ARTICLES
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Why is the world after Digital Transformation and what the heck it’s all about?
Is it time to redefine ITSM?
Digital Transformation for ITSM.
How important is it to build a High-Performance team in the digital Age?
SPEAKING PERSONALLY - Q&A with SARAV
What are your unique strengths?
Specialized in building Vision and multi-year strategic roadmap for IT Operations focusing on Operational Excellence.
Results focused collaborative team leader with strong work ethics, I have global multi-cultural working experience in 5 countries. Blend of experience in technology development, management, and support. Worked on both sides of the table: consulting and on the client side. Proven track record in solving complex problems with a smile. Led multiple digital transformation programs and have turned around critical programs.
What is your leadership style?
In this digital age, we are on a mission to solve complex problems. Bringing people with varied & diverse skillset to solve problems together, provide direction & remove barriers, make quick & data-based decisions, encourage experimentation & foster innovation, open communication, being highly flexible to handle uncertain circumstances and finally engage, empower and trust my team.
Specialized in building High Performing Teams
What are the top challenges for IT leaders?
IT leaders are now being asked to take more strategic roles in the organization to help drive digital transformation throughout the business. Transformation requires fundamental cultural changes throughout the organization. Dealing with disruptions and resisting staff for the changes. Finding and retaining good talents, fostering innovation while keeping the lights on and reducing technical debts are on-going challenges.