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Yves P. Armand, B. Comm SUMMARY PAGE PROFILE Experience in all fields of the IT service industry ranging from management consulting on strategic initiatives to client management activities including client prospecting and closing, elaboration of solutions as well as presentation of service offerings. A unique blend of field experience in process and organizational optimisation, operations and administration of IT services combined with exceptional communication, negotiation and leadership skills added to significant achievements in business development make Mr Armand a valuable asset to any IT service organization. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS HCL America Expansion of the company’s footprint in several client business areas. Negotiate renewal of outsourcing agreements. Work with cross-geographical teams in proving quality consulting and development services. CGI Renewal and expansion of new business in the company’s financial services sector to the tune of several million dollars. Create and manage the operations of a remote development center for Mainframe application systems development that required the hiring of over 20 resources in a short timeframe. Provide human resource and administrative support for a team of 40 professionals. Act as staffing manager for a large scale development project in the banking industry. DMR Consulting Definition of national marketing strategies for IT services in the EAI space. Opportunity management and solutions definition for several national and international accounts. Management of local, and national business alliances to develop new markets, share information and close new business. Conduct of an audit of all European operations for DMR Consulting. Select, evaluate, negotiate the acquisition and implement an international practice management system in DMR’s 24 worldwide offices. Conduct several strategic audits and feasibility studies for various clients. R3D Consulting Review of a large scale document management system for the SOQUIJ, a legal services provincial agency. Led a restructure of all IT positions for Standard Life. CABS INC. Management of the Chicago branch office including: personnel management, financial administration, product development as well as marketing activities. Via Rail Canada Management of the daily operations of the railway’s national reservation system. Administer a yearly operating budget of 5MM. Monitor and report on contractual agreements with system’s main suppliers. SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS SECTORS OF INDUSTRY: Financials services, IT professional services, IT Software services, Transportation, Distribution AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Client and account management, Management consulting, Change management, Personnel administration, Operations management, Program management, Project management, Contract management, Coaching and training EDUCATION AND TRAINING: B. Comm, McGill University, formal project management training, formal marketing training, formal methodology training, formal presentations training LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE: Fluent in French, English, Italian, basic knowledge of Spanish SOFTWARE SKILLS: Ms Office suite PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE HCL AMERICA Account Management and Business Development 2010- 2012 For HCL, an India based international provider of offshore outsourcing services, assist in the presentation and dissemination of strategic information related to new products and services for the airline industry mainly to the Air Canada group of companies. Duties are to expand the HCL footprint outside the regular realm of the IT services division and expand into various other business areas of the airline such as sales, operations, marketing, procurement and HR. Administration and coordination of multi-geographic teams in delivering services in accordance with contractual service level agreements as well as follow upon regular account management administrative duties. SINAPSE STRATEGIC INTERVENTIONS Business Development 2010 Called upon to assist in the expansion of the company’s newly opened Montreal office by taking an active part in seeking new client and business opportunities, especially in the private sector. Conducted typical account management activities mainly in the prospecting and qualifying of new accounts and business partners. Participated in the publication of several business proposals to various potential new customers. SOQUIJ – Société Québécoise d’Information Juridique Management Consulting 2009 As a freelance consultant, conducted a complete review of the company’s operations with emphasis on evaluating new computer based systems under construction, potential re-organisation and restructuring of departments. Resulted in a series of recommendations in terms of system priorities, realignment of responsibilities and action plan for future IT endeavours. All the recommendations presented to senior management were accepted and subsequently implemented by the client’s organization. CGI INC. Business Relationship Management and Operations Management 2004-2009 As a Director of Consulting-Services, duties were to promote the products and services of CGI to a targeted and well defined clientele in the financial services sector (insurance and investment). Responsible for renewing and expanding business relationships with clients that had been, for various reasons, dormant or neglected for an unacceptable period of time. • Tangible benefits of these interventions were the generation of a very respectable level of business and orders as well as the renewal of regular and frequent business contacts. Also acted as staffing manager for a large scale development project at the National Bank of Canada. Subsequently assigned to the CGI Greater Boston Office for one year in order to develop strategic accounts in the insurance and investment sectors especially with the Liberty Mutual group of companies. Assumed the role of Director Consulting Services with principal responsibilities being to lead and manage the remote development center as it provide services to target CGI clients (mostly Desjardins and the Government of Quebec) operating in various Mainframe technology environments. Lastly, in a role of Director, Program Management, accountable for the financial viability of the sector by assuring an optimal assignment of projects and tasks to members of the sector. Responsible for hiring new members as well as providing adequate support for annual and post-project statutory evaluations as part of career management roles and responsibilities. R3D INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY Business Development and Management Consulting 2003-2004 Responsible for expanding the client base by promoting the professional services of R3D to perspective clients. This client prospecting was not limited to any industry sector. • Results were additional revenue of over half a million dollars and opened new opportunities for the firm. Conducted a strategic review of a large scale documentation management system for SOQUIJ, a Provincial government organisation dealing with publication of jurisprudence information. This audit consisted in evaluating and comparing the systems and procedures used by the company and to recommend a series of actions to bring it in line with its charter which resulted in the firm retaining its leadership position in its market. Project leader for the revision and restructuring of all IT positions for the Standard Life insurance company. The final result was the implementation of a new and improved organisational matrix linked to the IT market as well as new career management orientations. DMR CONSULTING Business Development and Relationship Management 1996-2002 My experience in strategic management consulting, in project management as well as in operations of large scale IT systems added to exceptional leadership and communication skills assisted DMR in positioning itself as a world leader of e-business and emerging technology services. In carrying out the duties of National Director, I accomplished the following: • Conducted a total review and audit of the five (5) operating entities of DMR Europe. This audit included the elaboration of several operational and organisational recommendations in preparation for the upcoming implementation of an administration and billing pan-European system. • Articulated and formulated client strategies, represent the firm in trade shows and conferences and provided DMR offices with proactive sales support in their respective business development initiatives; • In concert with global and local EAI middleware provider partners (Vitria, IBI, Software AG, Versata), formulated joint marketing and sales activities, developed new markets, shared marketing information, conducted regular account reviews and finally measured tangible results; • Articulated and updated marketing strategies aimed at positioning DMR as a leader in selected services. This included service launch initiatives, event planning and corporate communications; • Conducted regular activities linked to marketing and business development such as: opportunity evaluations, definition of solutions and business proposals (solicited and unsolicited); • Coordinated the marketing aspects of promoting the firm’s four (4) remote development centers to DMR’s US and international offices; • Managed several large scale business proposal teams aimed at responding to official RFP’s in the geomatics and land management sector especially in the Latin American market. • Managed the sales and marketing of DMR’s Y2K professional services for the period 1996 to 1999. These services generated substantial revenue for the firm over the period. Of interest, was the management of an international alliance between DMR and SNC-Lavalin (an international engineering services firm) that established DMR as a leading-edge provider of Y2K services. CABS INC. Operations Management 1995-1996 Director of operations for the Chicago office. CABS was a provider of practice management systems for professional services firm such as: law firms, accounting firms, engineering and IT services firms. • Prospecting of new clients, conduct of sales presentations, establishment of sales objectives for the branch office and provide administrative duties in terms of personnel management for a support staff of over 10 professionals. o Sales revenue ended up being increased by an order of magnitude. • Participated in the development and release of new software products in concert with the teams responsible for North American product development in the Sydney, Australia head office. DMR CONSULTING Management consulting 1989-1995 • Definition of a complete process and data architecture aimed at providing Air Canada affiliated travel agents with access to various products and manage their commission levels. This program, entitled ICP, was subsequently used at Air Canada for a long period of time. • Project Manager charged for orchestrating the user requirements detailed study, the functional and technical analysis and finally the business process priorities for a multi-national practice management system. During this lengthy period, I accomplished the following: o Recommended the technical and organisational architecture required for the implementation of the new office management and client billing system; o Led a prototype project and confirmed both architectures and evaluated modifications to the package and the internal systems supporting the new system; o Negotiated an enterprise-wide licensing agreement in view of the acquisition of an integrated practice management package following an extensive functional and technical review analysis; o Coordinated all the activities related to the implementation of the new system by first conducting a pilot implementation followed by the final deployment of the system in 24 offices (Canada, United States, Australia, New-Zealand) over an 18 month period. • Conducted a complex and multi-disciplinary feasibility study aimed at evaluating the requirements, the costs and the benefits of a new raw material transport system from Alcan’s harbour facilities to its smelting operations in the Saguenay region. • Led a team in the conduct of an audit at the Centre Hospitalier d’Youville, an Eastern Townships chronic care hospital’s administrative, medical and pharmaceutical systems in preparation for a legal recourse against the original system provider. This audit was to be considered an exhibit in court. • Provided Hydro-Quebec with expertise in the selection of a credit collection package that was to be integrated with the company’s client billing system. • As part of the “Réservations-Québec” consortium made up of DMR, Tandem computers, Desjardins and the Quebec Minister of Tourism, I was instrumental in the organisational architecture of the system and worked in the production of several feasibility studies (technical, marketing, clientele…) as the de-facto expert in reservation systems. VIA RAIL CANADA Operations Management 1986 - 1989 As the manager in charge of daily operations of the reservation system, which at that time was the third biggest in Canada, I worked on the following projects: • Negotiation of a 22 million dollar contract extension with the main provider of the reservation system (Air Canada followed by the Gemini Group). • Coordination of the replacement of all peripherals (screens and printers) of the reservation system in over 95 Canadian cities and locations for a total cost of 2 million dollars; • Definition and implementation of strategic objectives and system requirements for improving the efficiency and functionality of the system, with emphasis on pricing algorithms; • Participation in various feasibility studies and organisational reviews aimed at rationalising manual and redundant functions and launching new services; • Maintenance of a parallel training and testing environment in line with release of new functionality; • Coordinating the acceptance of VIA Rail within the IATA group as a surface carrier thereby expanding access to new world-wide audience; • Administration of the yearly budgets fixed by the treasury: 5 million in operating costs, 6 million in telecommunication and related costs, 8 million in system improvements for the period 1986 to 1992; • Official representative of the marketing department in the reservation system replacement project targeted for 1992. These functions included preparation of RFP’s, evaluation of responses and contribute to final selection process. Project Management 1983 - 1986 Acted as project manager for several large scale project developments, mainly: • Managed feasibility studies, preliminary analysis, functional and technical specifications, design and development of a series of initiatives aimed at measuring revenue by train service, measuring actual passenger ridership by service and tracking rolling stock on a geographical scale; • Plan, organise and control all aspects of system development projects (human resource management, task distribution, budget and quality control, scheduling milestones and ensuring effective user participation) Yves P. Armand, B. Comm 402-1460 Avenue du Docteur-Penfield Montréal, QC, Canada H3G 1B8 Yves_armand@yahoo.ca Tel: 514-926-2516 SUMMARY PAGE PROFILE Experience in all fields of the IT service industry ranging from management consulting on strategic initiatives to client management activities including client prospecting and closing, elaboration of solutions as well as presentation of service offerings. A unique blend of field experience in process and organizational optimisation, operations and administration of IT services combined with exceptional communication, negotiation and leadership skills added to significant achievements in business development make Mr Armand a valuable asset to any IT service organization. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS HCL America Expansion of the company’s footprint in several client business areas. Negotiate renewal of outsourcing agreements. Work with cross-geographical teams in proving quality consulting and development services. CGI Renewal and expansion of new business in the company’s financial services sector to the tune of several million dollars. Create and manage the operations of a remote development center for Mainframe application systems development that required the hiring of over 20 resources in a short timeframe. Provide human resource and administrative support for a team of 40 professionals. Act as staffing manager for a large scale development project in the banking industry. DMR Consulting Definition of national marketing strategies for IT services in the EAI space. Opportunity management and solutions definition for several national and international accounts. Management of local, and national business alliances to develop new markets, share information and close new business. Conduct of an audit of all European operations for DMR Consulting. Select, evaluate, negotiate the acquisition and implement an international practice management system in DMR’s 24 worldwide offices. Conduct several strategic audits and feasibility studies for various clients. R3D Consulting Review of a large scale document management system for the SOQUIJ, a legal services provincial agency. Led a restructure of all IT positions for Standard Life. CABS INC. Management of the Chicago branch office including: personnel management, financial administration, product development as well as marketing activities. Via Rail Canada Management of the daily operations of the railway’s national reservation system. Administer a yearly operating budget of 5MM. Monitor and report on contractual agreements with system’s main suppliers. SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS SECTORS OF INDUSTRY: Financials services, IT professional services, IT Software services, Transportation, Distribution AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Client and account management, Management consulting, Change management, Personnel administration, Operations management, Program management, Project management, Contract management, Coaching and training EDUCATION AND TRAINING: B. Comm, McGill University, formal project management training, formal marketing training, formal methodology training, formal presentations training LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE: Fluent in French, English, Italian, basic knowledge of Spanish SOFTWARE SKILLS: Ms Office suite PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE HCL AMERICA Account Management and Business Development 2010- 2012 For HCL, an India based international provider of offshore outsourcing services, assist in the presentation and dissemination of strategic information related to new products and services for the airline industry mainly to the Air Canada group of companies. Duties are to expand the HCL footprint outside the regular realm of the IT services division and expand into various other business areas of the airline such as sales, operations, marketing, procurement and HR. Administration and coordination of multi-geographic teams in delivering services in accordance with contractual service level agreements as well as follow upon regular account management administrative duties. SINAPSE STRATEGIC INTERVENTIONS Business Development 2010 Called upon to assist in the expansion of the company’s newly opened Montreal office by taking an active part in seeking new client and business opportunities, especially in the private sector. Conducted typical account management activities mainly in the prospecting and qualifying of new accounts and business partners. Participated in the publication of several business proposals to various potential new customers. SOQUIJ – Société Québécoise d’Information Juridique Management Consulting 2009 As a freelance consultant, conducted a complete review of the company’s operations with emphasis on evaluating new computer based systems under construction, potential re-organisation and restructuring of departments. Resulted in a series of recommendations in terms of system priorities, realignment of responsibilities and action plan for future IT endeavours. All the recommendations presented to senior management were accepted and subsequently implemented by the client’s organization. CGI INC. Business Relationship Management and Operations Management 2004-2009 As a Director of Consulting-Services, duties were to promote the products and services of CGI to a targeted and well defined clientele in the financial services sector (insurance and investment). Responsible for renewing and expanding business relationships with clients that had been, for various reasons, dormant or neglected for an unacceptable period of time. • Tangible benefits of these interventions were the generation of a very respectable level of business and orders as well as the renewal of regular and frequent business contacts. Also acted as staffing manager for a large scale development project at the National Bank of Canada. Subsequently assigned to the CGI Greater Boston Office for one year in order to develop strategic accounts in the insurance and investment sectors especially with the Liberty Mutual group of companies. Assumed the role of Director Consulting Services with principal responsibilities being to lead and manage the remote development center as it provide services to target CGI clients (mostly Desjardins and the Government of Quebec) operating in various Mainframe technology environments. Lastly, in a role of Director, Program Management, accountable for the financial viability of the sector by assuring an optimal assignment of projects and tasks to members of the sector. Responsible for hiring new members as well as providing adequate support for annual and post-project statutory evaluations as part of career management roles and responsibilities. R3D INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY Business Development and Management Consulting 2003-2004 Responsible for expanding the client base by promoting the professional services of R3D to perspective clients. This client prospecting was not limited to any industry sector. • Results were additional revenue of over half a million dollars and opened new opportunities for the firm. Conducted a strategic review of a large scale documentation management system for SOQUIJ, a Provincial government organisation dealing with publication of jurisprudence information. This audit consisted in evaluating and comparing the systems and procedures used by the company and to recommend a series of actions to bring it in line with its charter which resulted in the firm retaining its leadership position in its market. Project leader for the revision and restructuring of all IT positions for the Standard Life insurance company. The final result was the implementation of a new and improved organisational matrix linked to the IT market as well as new career management orientations. DMR CONSULTING Business Development and Relationship Management 1996-2002 My experience in strategic management consulting, in project management as well as in operations of large scale IT systems added to exceptional leadership and communication skills assisted DMR in positioning itself as a world leader of e-business and emerging technology services. In carrying out the duties of National Director, I accomplished the following: • Conducted a total review and audit of the five (5) operating entities of DMR Europe. This audit included the elaboration of several operational and organisational recommendations in preparation for the upcoming implementation of an administration and billing pan-European system. • Articulated and formulated client strategies, represent the firm in trade shows and conferences and provided DMR offices with proactive sales support in their respective business development initiatives; • In concert with global and local EAI middleware provider partners (Vitria, IBI, Software AG, Versata), formulated joint marketing and sales activities, developed new markets, shared marketing information, conducted regular account reviews and finally measured tangible results; • Articulated and updated marketing strategies aimed at positioning DMR as a leader in selected services. This included service launch initiatives, event planning and corporate communications; • Conducted regular activities linked to marketing and business development such as: opportunity evaluations, definition of solutions and business proposals (solicited and unsolicited); • Coordinated the marketing aspects of promoting the firm’s four (4) remote development centers to DMR’s US and international offices; • Managed several large scale business proposal teams aimed at responding to official RFP’s in the geomatics and land management sector especially in the Latin American market. • Managed the sales and marketing of DMR’s Y2K professional services for the period 1996 to 1999. These services generated substantial revenue for the firm over the period. Of interest, was the management of an international alliance between DMR and SNC-Lavalin (an international engineering services firm) that established DMR as a leading-edge provider of Y2K services. CABS INC. Operations Management 1995-1996 Director of operations for the Chicago office. CABS was a provider of practice management systems for professional services firm such as: law firms, accounting firms, engineering and IT services firms. • Prospecting of new clients, conduct of sales presentations, establishment of sales objectives for the branch office and provide administrative duties in terms of personnel management for a support staff of over 10 professionals. o Sales revenue ended up being increased by an order of magnitude. • Participated in the development and release of new software products in concert with the teams responsible for North American product development in the Sydney, Australia head office. DMR CONSULTING Management consulting 1989-1995 • Definition of a complete process and data architecture aimed at providing Air Canada affiliated travel agents with access to various products and manage their commission levels. This program, entitled ICP, was subsequently used at Air Canada for a long period of time. • Project Manager charged for orchestrating the user requirements detailed study, the functional and technical analysis and finally the business process priorities for a multi-national practice management system. During this lengthy period, I accomplished the following: o Recommended the technical and organisational architecture required for the implementation of the new office management and client billing system; o Led a prototype project and confirmed both architectures and evaluated modifications to the package and the internal systems supporting the new system; o Negotiated an enterprise-wide licensing agreement in view of the acquisition of an integrated practice management package following an extensive functional and technical review analysis; o Coordinated all the activities related to the implementation of the new system by first conducting a pilot implementation followed by the final deployment of the system in 24 offices (Canada, United States, Australia, New-Zealand) over an 18 month period. • Conducted a complex and multi-disciplinary feasibility study aimed at evaluating the requirements, the costs and the benefits of a new raw material transport system from Alcan’s harbour facilities to its smelting operations in the Saguenay region. • Led a team in the conduct of an audit at the Centre Hospitalier d’Youville, an Eastern Townships chronic care hospital’s administrative, medical and pharmaceutical systems in preparation for a legal recourse against the original system provider. This audit was to be considered an exhibit in court. • Provided Hydro-Quebec with expertise in the selection of a credit collection package that was to be integrated with the company’s client billing system. • As part of the “Réservations-Québec” consortium made up of DMR, Tandem computers, Desjardins and the Quebec Minister of Tourism, I was instrumental in the organisational architecture of the system and worked in the production of several feasibility studies (technical, marketing, clientele…) as the de-facto expert in reservation systems. VIA RAIL CANADA Operations Management 1986 - 1989 As the manager in charge of daily operations of the reservation system, which at that time was the third biggest in Canada, I worked on the following projects: • Negotiation of a 22 million dollar contract extension with the main provider of the reservation system (Air Canada followed by the Gemini Group). • Coordination of the replacement of all peripherals (screens and printers) of the reservation system in over 95 Canadian cities and locations for a total cost of 2 million dollars; • Definition and implementation of strategic objectives and system requirements for improving the efficiency and functionality of the system, with emphasis on pricing algorithms; • Participation in various feasibility studies and organisational reviews aimed at rationalising manual and redundant functions and launching new services; • Maintenance of a parallel training and testing environment in line with release of new functionality; • Coordinating the acceptance of VIA Rail within the IATA group as a surface carrier thereby expanding access to new world-wide audience; • Administration of the yearly budgets fixed by the treasury: 5 million in operating costs, 6 million in telecommunication and related costs, 8 million in system improvements for the period 1986 to 1992; • Official representative of the marketing department in the reservation system replacement project targeted for 1992. These functions included preparation of RFP’s, evaluation of responses and contribute to final selection process. Project Management 1983 - 1986 Acted as project manager for several large scale project developments, mainly: • Managed feasibility studies, preliminary analysis, functional and technical specifications, design and development of a series of initiatives aimed at measuring revenue by train service, measuring actual passenger ridership by service and tracking rolling stock on a geographical scale; • Plan, organise and control all aspects of system development projects (human resource management, task distribution, budget and quality control, scheduling milestones and ensuring effective user participation)