Ramy Saad - Project Lead Rollout AI Tools

Recommended expert

Langerwehe, Germany

Experience

Oct 2024 - Present

1 year 4 months

Project Lead Rollout AI Tools

Chemical industry client

Project lead for rollout of AI tools.
Rollout of M365 Copilot, available for individual users on demand.
Rollout of an internally developed AI chatbot company-wide for all employees.
Project lead for two additional internal AI-based bots for use cases such as translation of quarterly, half-year and annual financial reports and a chatbot for answering investor relations questions.
Project lead for evaluation of automated AI-based meeting transcription using Microsoft Teams Live Transcript in combination with M365 Copilot or an internal AI chatbot and the tool Bliro.
Providing technical advisory on AI platform selection and integration (Copilot, OpenAI, Microsoft Translator).
Coordination of cross-functional project team (workplace, communications, identity, network, architecture, training, data protection team and development).
Capturing and prioritising business use cases for internal chatbot development.
Creating user stories in Jira and maintaining the product backlog in coordination with developers and business teams.
Switching all Windows devices to M365 Monthly Channel as prerequisite for M365 Copilot.
Planning and coordinating migrations.
Ordering external support.

Jul 2023 - Sep 2024

1 year 3 months

Project Coordinator / Cutover Manager Environment Renewal (Telecommunication)

Project coordinator and cutover manager for environment renewal.
Overall project: move of current on-prem Teradata data warehouse into an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
Project coordination of two involved application environments.
Defining and coordinating setup and architecture of new infrastructure for DEV, TST and PRD environments for two application landscapes.
Upgrading server operating systems from AIX and Sun Solaris to Oracle Linux.
Discussing architecture, required licences and consulting work for the new SAS environment with vendor.
Coordinating development teams and vendors to adapt software from AIX/Sun Solaris to Oracle Linux.
Planning acceptance test strategy with financial business departments and technical users.
Planning go-live and cutover.
Preparing and maintaining project plans and management presentations.

Jan 2022 - Jun 2023

1 year 6 months

Technical Sub-Project Lead M&A Workplace Stream / PMO

Chemical industry client

Technical sub-project lead for the workplace sub-stream of an international M&A project, including cutover of mailing system (MS Exchange), file/directory switch from one tenant to another and preparation for use of the new company-wide telephone system (50% workload).
PMO of the IT operational workstream (50% workload).
Scope: 6 new sites, several warehouses and 550 people.
Analysing the need for new hardware and software.
Ordering workplace hardware and software.
Aligning technical migration architecture and processes.
Aligning final technical architecture (e.g. for software distribution and network type).
Organising migration of personal files from old to new environment.
Organising field support for BAU phase.
Organising password distribution and reset procedures during the project phase.
Preparing starter pack documentation to use virtual workplace as a temporary solution.
Preparing and maintaining project plan and status reports for the workplace stream.
Planning decommissioning of old hardware.

Nov 2021 - Feb 2023

1 year 4 months

Technical Project Lead New Office (Germany)

Chemical industry client

Technical project lead for setting up a new office in Germany.
Alignment with supplier, landlord and contract partners.
Ordering external support.
Organising contract changes with supplier.
Preparing fallback plans and alternatives.
Ordering hardware and preparing new VDIs and laptops, including all accounts and phone solutions for new employees.
Planning and tracking technical implementation.

Oct 2021 - Jan 2022

4 months

Project Lead Technical Office Move (Poland)

Chemical industry client

Project lead for technical office move in Poland.
Alignment with supplier, landlord and contract partners.
Ordering external support.
Organising contract changes with supplier.
Organising switchover and cutover day from technical point of view.
Preparing fallback plans and alternatives.
Ordering hardware.

Feb 2021 - Aug 2022

1 year 7 months

Project Lead Chromeleon Serverfarm Renewal

Chemical industry client

Project lead for Chromeleon serverfarm renewal.
Project initiation, including requirements, high-level plan and budget approval.
Project setup.
Ordering external support.
Ordering hardware.
Aligning technical architecture with technical operations teams and business.
Planning and coordinating migrations.
Managing highlight project installations with Thermo Fisher Chromeleon in a lab in Germany.
Decommissioning old hardware.

Mar 2020 - Oct 2021

1 year 8 months

Hybrid

Project Lead IPANEMA Rollout (Hybrid WAN)

Chemical industry client

Project lead for IPANEMA rollout to over 80 sites worldwide (more than 90 global sites in scope).
Main goal: implement new routing devices for intelligent routing rules between different sites and clients (hybrid WAN).
Implementing internet routing to zScaler proxy services.
Implementing routing to Microsoft Azure backup services.
Managing hardware rollout.
Vendor and supplier coordination.
Managing dependencies to other complex network projects.
Aligning technical architecture with vendor and technical operations teams.
Planning migration steps and cutover.
Planning and coordinating migrations.
Decommissioning old and unused hardware and software.

Feb 2020 - Jul 2020

6 months

Project Lead Entrust Identity Guard Upgrade

Chemical industry client

Project lead for Entrust Identity Guard upgrade.
Project initiation, including requirements, high-level plan and budget approval.
Project setup.
Ordering external support.
Ordering hardware.
Planning and coordinating migrations.
Decommissioning old hardware.

Jun 2019 - Jan 2020

8 months

Technical Coordinator Data Centre Consolidation (non-SAP Applications)

Chemical industry client

Technical coordination for moving non-SAP applications to a new central data centre.
Managing more than 350 applications across global decentral data centres and users.
Main goal: migrate all applications to new infrastructure in a central data centre.
Renewal of operating system and database system to MS Windows 2016 and MS SQL Server 2016.
Evaluating switch from Oracle databases to MS SQL database systems.
Organising project kickoff.
Analysing all applications and aligning architecture for new setup.
Planning migration steps and cutover.
Ordering hardware.
Preparing firewall communications.
Planning and coordinating migrations and cutovers.
Decommissioning old hardware.

Dec 2018 - May 2019

6 months

Coordinator Business Unit Migration Windows 7 to Windows 10 (Telecommunication)

Coordination of business unit migration from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
Requirements analysis for BI business unit.
Implementation of temporary workarounds.
Clarifications with technical departments.
Clarifications with security department.
Communication and planning of migration activities (Windows drives move, ordering new firewall and NAT requests).
Test coordination from end-user point of view.

Jan 2018 - Dec 2019

2 years

Project Lead KD Integration Projects BIIP and Connectivity

Project lead of BIIP (BI Integration Layer Project).
Project lead for access topics into datacentre Berlin and connectivity between DC Ratingen/Berlin and VDI/laptop access to backend.

Jan 2018 - Dec 2019

2 years

Agile Transformation Lead BICC

Vodafone GmbH

Leading agile transformation of the BICC department.
Organising standard trainings on agile ways of working (Scrum, Kanban).
Implementing tools to support agile work (Jira plugins for project planning, project management templates, digital Kanban boards).
Setting up agile working areas.
Planning and supporting Agile Day (kick-off day for agile work in BICC).

Jan 2018 - Dec 2018

1 year

Project Lead / Scrum Master HoHo (Household Match)

Project lead and Scrum Master for the Household Match (HoHo) project.
Organising agile standard meetings (daily, retrospective, planning, review).
Setting up digital agile tools (Kanban board, digital retrospective tools).
Supporting the project team in learning and applying agile work in Scrum and Kanban.

Jan 2015 - Dec 2017

3 years

Technical Project Lead VAP (Value Add Programme)

Technical project lead for the Value Add Programme.
Initial setup of a new analytical environment (Hadoop, Aster, RStudio, SAS, Clintview).
Implementation of prototypes (e.g. Household Match, Network KPIs, Social Network Analysis).
Decommissioning of old tools.
Defining RACI matrix with operations team.
Ordering software deliveries and vendor support.

Jan 2014 - Dec 2015

2 years

Project Lead Hardware Renewal laura2 Server (BICC)

Project lead for hardware renewal of laura2 server, one of the central BICC servers.
Initial project setup.
Ordering vendor support and infrastructure.
Requirements definition.
Requesting and coordinating the project team.
Planning hardware setup, tool installation, firewall communications, script adaptations for several user departments and testing.
Aligning responsibilities and documentation.
Decommissioning old hardware.

Jan 2009 - Dec 2014

6 years

Technical Project Lead Arcor Integration – Infrastructure and CPCOM

Technical project lead during Arcor integration for infrastructure and CPCOM (central product catalogue and order management).
Requirement definition for new hardware and ordering hardware from datacentre.
Vendor coordination of software deliveries.
Aligning new processes.
Planning datacentre moves.
Planning new access options between Arcor network and Vodafone network.
Aligning release cycles between Arcor and Vodafone.
Setting up integration test environments for Arcor and Vodafone release test and production environments.
Switching operational applications to other departments and vendors (managed services).
Defining SLAs from an operational point of view and supporting AD&M contract discussions.
Coordinating deployment activities and several new applications and modules.

Jan 2007 - Dec 2009

3 years

Technical Project Lead AD&M (Application Development and Maintenance)

Technical project lead for the AD&M project.
Splitting application environments into development/test and pre-production/production.
Setting up a new network segment (DMZ) for use by the AD&M main vendor (EDS/HP).
Managing server moves of 120 physical and virtual servers into the new DMZ.
Implementing new access options to switch from Vodafone desktops to EDS desktops (asset management).

Jan 2007 - Dec 2009

3 years

Project Manager Security Layer TI Production

Vodafone GmbH

Project management for implementing a security layer in TI production.
Setup of project PMO.
Initial setup of a project team with more than 40 team members.
Requirements and scope definition for more than 180 affected TI applications.
Budget controlling.
Ordering software from different vendors.
Alignment of architecture.
Implementing new digital support processes.
Setting up software, infrastructure and processes of SSGD (Sun Secure Global Desktop).
Managing test and implementation.
Coordinating TÜV Rheinland testing and certification of the secure production environment.

Jan 2003 - Dec 2006

4 years

Migration Planner TI Production

Vodafone GmbH

Creating migration strategies for KIAS and DWH release implementation and cutover planning.
Establishing main KIAS releases and minor interim releases.
Coordinating downtimes and cutover of release migrations and infrastructure projects.
Communicating migration progress and risks to management during cutover.
Initial setup of operational change management team.
Initial setup of operational release management team.
Creating war room concepts and standard planning concepts.
Migration planning and rollout planning of ePOS.

Jan 2002 - Dec 2002

1 year

Administrator and Release Manager zMRDB

Administration and release management of zMRDB (zentrale Master Routing Datenbank).
Setting up development and test environments for the zMRDB project (version and release management, delta builds, database administration, software delivery).
Writing shell scripts and tools for administration and test automatization of zMRDB.
Setting up the initial production environment of zMRDB in Munich.
Training the operational team in Munich.
Providing test support for contact persons of German mobile companies.

Jan 2000 - Dec 2002

3 years

System Administrator and Release Manager

Various clients (e-plus, T-Mobile, Primacom, Multilink Genf, BEN NL, Ericsson Poland, Signal-Iduna)

System administration and release management for multiple telecommunications clients.
Setup of development environments.
Automation of individual unit test environments for developers.
Version management and merging of different development trees.
2nd and 3rd level support of operations teams.
Creating system documentation.
Training project teams in using Unix, ClearCase and other tools.
Version upgrades of Unix, Oracle, ClearCase and Clarify systems.
Database schema maintenance with ERWIN.
Creating delta deliveries and full deliveries.

IT Consultant / Project Manager

Working as an IT consultant for more than 25 years, initially responsible for technical systems and creating system build and delivery.
Since 2003 working in coordinative roles as migration planner (downtime coordination / cutover manager), preparing migration concepts and establishing operational change and release management.
Planning different environments (pre-production and production) and acting as technical project lead for several infrastructure and software projects.
Worked in BICC for 6 years as project manager, supporting departmental organisational topics. As main project manager of the CTE bucket, focused on infrastructure and overall topics such as VAP, BIIP, setup of PMO and agile transformation of BICC (Scrum, Kanban).
Acting as technical (sub-)project manager for several application projects migrating to new virtual servers on-prem or to a new IT service provider in the chemical industry.
Project manager for implementing Ipanema services (network routing) to enable 90 different sites with dedicated internet lines and additional VPN tunnels, enabling a hybrid WAN concept.
Sub-project lead for workplace topics in an M&A environment and PMO support.
Project manager for a data center move from on-prem environment into a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure including OS switch and architectural changes.
Leading a company-wide implementation of M365 Copilot, rollout of internally developed AI tools (chatbot, translation bot), and evaluation of transcription solutions such as Microsoft Teams Live Transcript with Copilot and Bliro.

Summary

I am working as an IT consultant for more than 25 years. During the first years I was responsible for the technical systems and creating the system build and -delivery.
Since 2003 I am working in coordinative roles as a migration planner (downtime coordination / cutover manager), preparing migration concepts and installed the operational change – and release management. I planned the different environments (PreProd and Prod) and was the technical project lead of several infrastructure and software projects.
I was working in BICC for 6 years as project manager and supported the department organisational topics. As main project manager of the CTE bucket the focus of my projects are infrastructure and overall topics like VAP, BIIP, setup of PMO and the agile transformation of BICC (Scrum, Kanban).
In the meantime, I was the technical (sub-)project manager for several application projects to migrate them to new virtual server on-prem or to a new IT service provider (chemical industry).
One of my last bigger project I was the project manager for implementing Ipanema services (network routing topic) in order to enable 90 different sites with a dedicated internet line and additional VPN tunnels to different services and enabling a Hybrid WAN concept.
In one of my last projects I was the sub project lead for all workplace topics in an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) environment and also supporting as PMO.
My last project was a data center move of an on-prem environment into a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure including OS switch and architectural changes.
My current project is a company-wide implementation of M365 Copilot, the rollout of internally developed AI tools (chatbot, translation bot), and the evaluation of transcription solutions such as Microsoft Teams Live Transcript with Copilot and Bliro.