Etisalat's vision is a world where people's reach is not limited by matter or distance; a world where people will effortlessly stay in touch with family and friends; a world where businesses of all sizes can reach new markets without the limitations of distance and travel.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Position: Head, IT Business Office

Job Summary

• Responsible for the governance and management of the demand pipeline and act as primary partner for the business functions to capture, structure, align and plan accepted business demand and match this demand with the IT supply functions' capacity.
• Ensure consistent capturing and prioritization of the demand on IT and regular alignment and prioritization of demand.
• Support the annual planning cycle with estimation of the demand based on known drivers.
• Manage regular communication channels and fora related to the day to day operations between business units and Technology Services.
• Has responsibility for conducting reviews on IT performance on overall service delivery and incidents management and for ensuring business value is consistently and satisfactorily delivered from an operational delivery standpoint.
• Coordinate the activities of the Change Control Board (CCB)

Principal Functions 
Strategic/Tactical:

• Strong business partnering by working closely with senior leaders in order to develop an IT agenda that closely supports the overall aims of the business units.
• Govern all delivery partners (ITO and others) in the discharge of their service delivery obligations.
• Understand pattern of business activities and the underlying drivers & take appropriate actions in order to keep IT budget & costs within approved limits while meeting Business requirements on time, minimizing delivery risks & at the required quality

Operational:

• Coordinate the activities of the CCB.
• Demand & Business Relationship Management
  • Govern and manage the demand pipeline whilst matching this demand with the IT delivery capacity. Negotiate, schedule and prioritize requests in the most efficient manner through the optimal deployment of IT resources, impact of business performance and strong focus on customer satisfaction
  • Ensures timely and accurate reporting of all IT demand related issues to senior management and key stakeholders. Develop KPIs for Demand Management as well as dashboards and regular reports to create transparency and tracking of change requests and projects
  • SPOC for all new business requests, responsible for analysing and determining the fulfilment team for any service requests. Ensure business requests support the achievement of business goals.
  • Provide, maintain, and regularly publish a consolidated view of all the requests or demand made to IT for visibility and to provide insight for decision making on resource allocation and other planning purposes
  • Responsible for collating / consolidating capacity and other resource requirements to ensure business requirements are delivered
  • Define and maintain the IT Service Catalogue. Agree OLAs with internal customers and ensure alignment with the SLAs agreed with delivery partners
  • Identify and manage the risks related to delivery capacity and capability of current and forecasted demand. Produce solid forecasts that guarantees the continuance of business activities.
  • Collaborate with other teams and functions on matters related to demand management.
  • Business Relationship Management.
    • Customer liaison/advocacy - Understand customers expectations based on their strategic objectives while delineating expectations that are driven out of individual behaviour and institutionalizing customer-centric improvement mechanisms. Foster common understanding and better synergy between business units and IT
    • Ensure the voice of the customer is reflected in all projects and initiatives delivered by IT. Continuously engage with the business to understand business activities that may create IT demand whilst ensuring communication of progress and improvement initiatives with Customers. Assist in providing actionable, proactive insight that drives IT Organizations business decisions, escalating customer issues, driving and defining specific action plans with the relevant departments to achieve speedy issue resolution. Support in spotting and managing any service-impacting risks.
    • Attend and participate in the CE customer forums, CEO Roadshows, and other similar platforms.
    • Organize periodic Internal Customer Forum (ICF) with business units/areas to review performance, gauge satisfaction level, understand expectations and negotiate priorities

Performance Management:

• Drive for the attainment of expected service levels with the delivery partners (ITO and others) and review performance at periodic service review meetings;
• Review and analyse service level performance reports and ensure the right insight and recommendations on under-performing services levels are brought to the fore.
• Ensure concerns / deviations from expected performance levels are identified and appropriate actions taken in the CSI plan;
• Liaise with delivery partners and D&BRM team to define and implement CSIs based on outcomes of performance reports, CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) surveys, etc.
• Implement measures / appropriate mechanisms to track progress towards full implementation of open CSI actions;
• Work with D&BRM to ensure that approved changes in expected service level are captured and addressed during the service reviews;
• Identify and manage risks that might threaten the capacity of all IT suppliers to deliver to expected service levels;
• Define and maintain quality measures to guide and drive measurable improvements in IT service delivery;
• Conduct post implementation reviews on CSIs implemented till closure.
• Perform any duties as assigned by the Director, IT Demand Management & Planning.

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university preferred.
• Possession of an advanced degree, preferably an MBA, will be an advantage.

Experience, Skills & Competencies

• Sound knowledge of internal business processes, outsourcing, vendor management and the mobile telecommunications industry; possesses a broad based operational perspective and provides solutions for all forms of business risk;
• Experience in working / negotiating through complex issues and providing alternative solutions;
• Deep knowledge of ITIL is required; deep and demonstrable experience as an ITIL practitioner;
• 9 to 12 years of combined work experience in a service management or IT governance with role no less than half of those in an IT/Telecoms environment is strongly required.
• At least 3 years experience in a managerial role.
• Strong customer-centric focus.
• Experience in developing planning models is strongly recommended.
• Candidate will ideally have some exposure to IT operations management and good knowledge of IT governance processes;
• Experience with IT financial management, resource planning, task prioritization, budget / cost control.
• Strong ability to process data and extract actionable insights
• Highly developed business communications skill (verbal and written), solid team player, change agent, strategic and creative, excellent relationship management skills and the ability to drive performance, consensus from all areas within the company.