Som Gollakota is an IT Manager who treats IT as a business enabler, and prides on bridging the gap the business and IT.
IT Project Management and management in general are his profession and passion. They are his core competencies. Som has been
in IT for about 19 years, and have been managing all aspects of IT projects and programs involving global and local teams for
over 13 years.
He has managed projects, programs, products, and engagements in most technologies, number of domains (retail, supply chain,
manufacturing, operations, telecommunications, aerospace and defense, online stores, core IT, HR, and so forth), and across
a number of geographies and time zones (Continental US, Canada, Ireland, UK, Germany, Belgium, China, and India). The projects
he manages often cut across multiple domains and geographies. These are essentially IT projects involving products, services,
applications, and IT infrastructure. Som personally consider himself a generalist in terms of Industry or Technology verticals.
His core focus and competency is Program/Project Management.
Professional Profile Overview
Som Gollakota
EXPERTISE
- PMO Development
- Program Management
- Project Management
- Corporate Vision & Mission
- Vendor Management
- Offshore Management
- Win-win Negotiation
- Mentoring and Personnel Development
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Professional experience: 13 years delivering business technology solutions to Fortune 1000 companies and startups (19 Years in IT)
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Delivered global programs sized between $250 K and greater than $10 M, for Microsoft, T-Mobile, Starbucks, Aleris
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Managed employee, vendor, and outsourced teams located in continental US, Canada, Ireland, Europe, China, and India
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Built Offshore Delivery & PMOs, mentored project and senior management in global communications and deliveries
INDUSTRIES
- Management Consulting
- Information Technology
- IT Outsourcing
- Mobile Telecom
- Manufacturing
- Speciality Retail
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
PMO Consultant & Mentor | Independent Consulting
2009-Present
Project and program management consulting services. Select achievements:
- Planned and strategized delivery roadmap of legacy infrastructure upgrades for Starbucks $80 M GBSS program
- Led development of Offshore Delivery and PMO of a Chicago-based technology and process outsourcing company
- Mentored senior management and staff of Indian IT Services companies in global communications and deliveries
IT Manager | Aleris International
2012-2013
Led a highly diversified portfolio of corporate initiatives and programs aimed at global transformation of Aleris IT. Select results:
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Planned, strategized, road-mapped, and kicked off $1.5 M Global Communication and Collaboration Initiative
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Floated RFP, selected/onboarded vendors, architected, and executed global implementation of SharePoint
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Conducted vendor evaluations, selection, on-boarding, and managed SaaS implementation of EH & S GDMS
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Defined and implement QA process, and executed QA for vendor deliverables on Global Oracle R12 ERP Rollout
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Planned, analyzed, negotiated, and lead migration of over 450 Lotus Domino Applications to other platforms
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Re-architect existing intranet to increase uptime from 75% to 99.99% with zero-downtime during disaster recovery
Sr. Program Manager | T-Mobile USA
2007-2009
Managed $12 M operational and version 1.x programs, as well as four other critical Retail programs to successful delivery. Select results:
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Led 24x7 Task Force on an operational program to resolve over 300 critical defects impacting over 40 systems on a product bleeding $2 M a month over 25 incremental releases within 3 months
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Successfully delivered three incremental enhancements worth $6 M in 3 months for a $30 M mobile product
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Delivered enhancements worth $1.6 M to retail systems (POS, CAM/iCAM, Prepaid and Post-Paid Billing Systems) impacting over 2000 stores nationwide
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Delivered new line of Bill Payment Kiosks to nationwide stores with customization from start-to-finish in 3 months
Sr. Delivery Manager | Microsoft Corporation
2005-2007
Delivered over 7 end-to-end programs for MSIT, MSLI, OEM IT, Co-Op Marketing and PSBG. Select programs:
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System Lock Pre-Installation for OEMs affecting Windows Vista and Office 12 launch, purchasing and activation
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Microsoft Dynamics Brand Change affecting over 21 Partner and Small Business Applications
Tech. Lead, Project Manager, Engagement Manager, MES Consultant | Birlasoft
1996-2005
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Developed Automobile MES Tracking product for GE Fanuc, and Implemented MES for Ford and Land Rover
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Managed several client engagements from pre-sales to delivery and acceptance for GE and non-GE clients
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Led tech teams and developed critical client and server software (using C++) for 7 different clients
