Ajai Vadavattath
Bengaluru
Summary
Results-driven People Manager with extensive experience in Data Storage, Backup & Recovery, Cybersecurity, and Customer Success. Known for fostering growth and collaboration within teams, leading to high productivity and efficient task completion. Specializes in strategic planning, team leadership, and operational improvement, with a strong focus on communication and problem-solving to ensure seamless project execution. Aims to cultivate positive work environments that empower individuals to excel.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Manager, Commvault Cloud Success Services
Commvault
Bengaluru
05.2023 - Current
- Drive adoption and onboarding for enterprise accounts, accelerating customer value realisation.
- Lead customer success strategy, GRR, and churn forecasting, and executive risk management.
- Oversee program deliverables, ensuring precision and proactive execution.
- Partner with sales to manage forecasts, pipeline health and drive upsell/cross-sell growth.
- Identify strategic expansion opportunities for the Enterprise Success Program (ESP).
- Act as an escalation leader, resolving issues swiftly and maintaining stakeholder confidence.
- Build and scale high-performing teams; recruit, onboard, and mentor SAMs and TAMs.
- Responsible for delivering measurable business outcomes, strengthening partnerships, and cultivating success-driven teams.
Associate Manager, Technical Support
Commvault
Bengaluru
10.2020 - 05.2023
- Led a team of 19 Customer Support Engineers supporting Commvault’s global customer base.
- Ensured world-class support through proactive backlog management for HOT and premier/ESP accounts.
- Managed daily technical escalations from customers, partners, and sales/account teams.
- Analysed complex situations and proactively allocated resources to resolve issues efficiently.
- Drove QBRs and cross-functional interlocks to address support needs and strategic priorities.
- Oversaw hiring, mentoring, and onboarding for Unix/DB engineers; managed annual merits and promotions.
Manager, Technical Support Services
DDN Storage
11.2019 - 10.2020
- Directed and coordinated a team of 14 technical support specialists across the US and India.
- Assigned tasks based on skill sets; proactively analysed logs to anticipate and resolve issues before escalation.
- Managed technical escalations from customers, partners, and account teams.
- Conducted quarterly QBRs for sensitive and critical customer accounts.
- Reviewed team KPIs and provided feedback to drive continuous process improvement.
- Identified skill gaps and organised targeted training; mentored new team members.
Technical Support Manager
Western Digital
Bengaluru
09.2017 - 11.2019
- Directed and coordinated a team of 9 technical support specialists across the US and India.
- Assigned tasks based on skill sets; proactively analysed logs to anticipate and resolve issues before escalation.
- Managed technical escalations from customers, partners, and account teams.
- Conducted quarterly QBRs for sensitive and critical customer accounts.
- Reviewed team KPIs and provided feedback to drive continuous process improvement.
- Identified skill gaps and organised targeted training; mentored new team members.
Technical Account Manager (TAM)
Tegile Systems
Bangalore
02.2017 - 09.2017
- Single point of escalation for premier customer issues; managed and coordinated all HOT cases for 200+ premier accounts.
- Collaborated with sales and accounts teams to identify potential sales leads and support renewals.
- Delivered remote Quarterly Business Reviews for premier customers, covering product lifecycle, capacity planning, OS roadmaps, and asset health checks.
Storage Engineer
Tegile Systems
Bangalore
01.2015 - 02.2017
- Troubleshot complex SAN, NAS, and DAS storage network issues; set up hosts and servers.
- Led initial installations of Tegile Storage Arrays in collaboration with professional services.
- Conducted performance analysis and managed technical escalations.
- Performed Solaris cluster troubleshooting and resolved issues via Tegile Intelliflash UI/CLI.
- Analysed VMware environments and VMkernel logs for root cause resolution.
Storage Engineer
Hewlett-Packard
01.2013 - 12.2014
- Provided technical support for HP Storage and Servers, troubleshooting issues for global clients across multiple business functions.
- Delivered end-to-end support for storage, switches (Brocade, McData, Cisco), and server environments.
- Proficient in NAS, DAS, SAN, StoreEasy, AiO storage, and HP EVA product lines.
- Analysed business requirements, implemented infrastructure solutions, and maintained both third-party and in-house applications.
- Participated in architecture reviews to ensure compliance with standards and best practices.
- Supported data availability, device maintenance, replication, migration, and proactive system upgrades for optimal performance.
Systems Engineer
Wipro Technologies
Bangalore
06.2011 - 01.2013
- Delivered enterprise service and consulting for customers and field engineers, providing global support for EMC2 storage products (AX4-5, CX3, CX4, Celerra NAS, VNX).
- Assisted with configuration changes, data loss recovery, software upgrades, and installations.
- Proficient in virtual networking, VMware vSphere, and vCenter environments.
- Managed LUN provisioning, capacity monitoring, performance tuning, and troubleshooting of complex storage issues.
- Supported EMC2 replication software (Mirror View, Snap View, SAN Copy) and high-end servers in Unix/VMware/Solaris environments.
- Maintained data backup processes to industry SLA standards; provided support for Cisco/Brocade switches.
Technical Associate
Aditya Birla Group
11.2010 - 07.2011
- Resolved user issues with virtual machines on macOS via Parallels Desktop.
- Administered macOS environments and managed OS installations (Windows, Linux, RedHat) for VM deployment.
- Installed printers in VMs using Apple Bonjour and addressed networking issues in PD virtual environments.
Education
Bachelor's Degree - Computer Science
University of Calicut
01.2010
Skills
- Cybersecurity
- Customer success
- Technical support
- Disaster recovery planning
- Data storage solutions
- Cloud infrastructure management
Certification
- Tegile Implementation Specialist
- EMC Proven Professional Certification (EMC) - Information Storage Associate - EMCISA
- EMC Proven Professional Certification (EMC) - Implementation Engineer VNX Solutions Specialist Version 7.0 - EMCIE
- Cisco Certified Network Associate Industrial (CCNA I)
- Commvault Certified Professional
Languages
Malayalam
First Language
English
Proficient (C2)
C2
Tamil
Upper Intermediate (B2)
B2
Hindi
Proficient (C2)
C2
Timeline
Manager, Commvault Cloud Success Services
Commvault
05.2023 - Current
Associate Manager, Technical Support
Commvault
10.2020 - 05.2023
Manager, Technical Support Services
DDN Storage
11.2019 - 10.2020
Technical Support Manager
Western Digital
09.2017 - 11.2019
Technical Account Manager (TAM)
Tegile Systems
02.2017 - 09.2017
Storage Engineer
Tegile Systems
01.2015 - 02.2017
Storage Engineer
Hewlett-Packard
01.2013 - 12.2014
Systems Engineer
Wipro Technologies
06.2011 - 01.2013
Technical Associate
Aditya Birla Group
11.2010 - 07.2011
Bachelor's Degree - Computer Science
University of Calicut