Jimmy Charak

Dynamic professional with nearly 13 years of experience in Operations management, Technical Support, and customer relationship management in the travel industry. Skilled in leading teams, developing procedures, and setting service standards for business excellence. Proficient in GDS (Sabre, Amadeus), Excel, BSP, and online modules like "Compleat" and "Concur." Strong interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills with a focus on team management and customer relations. Experienced in bridging communication between business and technology teams, emphasizing trust-building for project success. Familiar with Bug reporting tools such as Jira. Successfully managed back-office operations, shared service centers, processing services, and implementation.

• Travel Support Manager, Domain Expertise: Proficient in Travel, CRM solutions, and database scripting, with a focus on supporting various services like dining, suppliers, and events., Technical Proficiency: Skilled in utilizing monitoring tools, conducting website maintenance, and troubleshooting SQL/PostgreSQL databases., Complex System Navigation: Demonstrated ability to navigate through complex systems with ease, ensuring efficient management of tasks., Project Management: Experienced in multitasking and utilizing JIRA boards for efficient task management and completion., Proactively conduct root cause analysis for recurring issues and implement preventive measures to improve system stability., Skilled in the monitoring and maintenance of systems, databases, and applications, ensuring optimal performance and reliability., Expertise in API integration for Hotel and CarHire suppliers, encompassing comprehensive knowledge of onboarding processes., Proficient in Agile methodology, actively participating in ceremonies like Stand up, review calls, product reviews, and managing Kanban Board., Experienced in handling various types of User stories (Epic, story, feature, Bug, Task, change request, support)., Managed Mapping team queries and supplier integration emails, resolving daily issues., Effectively handled change and defect requests related to IVector through Jira and Confluence., Conducted training sessions for new joiners on Amadeus and IVector as part of the onboarding process., Collaborated closely with QA and took responsibility for Testing requirements., Provided support for and rectified hot issues, minimizing their impact on production., Managed client escalations, grievances, write-offs, ADM/ACM, and financial concerns., Successfully reclaimed significant amounts in ADMs from different airlines, including during the COVID-19 pandemic., Coordinated with the project team for the newly developed tool, IVector., Established new processes for operational activities in IVector, ensuring smooth finance operations., Addressed travel-related queries for 30+ FTE from Zurich and Cape Town daily., Handled flight changes, re-issuing of air tickets, refunds, and online check-in for members., Maintained relationships with suppliers such as Elite-Rent a car Zurich/Geneva, Carey International, Diamond Air International., Tracked service requests and reconciled vendor payments.
• Operations Manager, Understanding new requirement specifications or updates and analyzing their scope and impact on existing requirements., Business Rules Mapping & Documentation. Collaborated with Projects team in creating the process related documents to ensure the smooth flow of day-to-day Operations., Implementing best practices and processes to improve the Operational system and policies Maintaining track of all the cases assigned to me and working on daily basis., Attending scope call regarding new implementations., Ensuring Service delivery for Ticketing & O/B customer service; assessing BCP document and ensuring BCP readiness; conducting monthly skip level meetings with teams; mentoring and coaching team leaders., Taking care of day-to-day operational activities to ensure the best services are provided to the existing and new customers., Have been part of Client onboarding process when Cox & Kings went out of business and most of their clients got associated (Through Radius Travel) with Uniglobe Mod Travels on BSP mode., Coordinating with project team, testing, development., Review process on regular basis, identify non-value add steps and eliminate unwanted steps to improve process., Have implemented the Quality check process to ensure all the RM remarks required by the client are entered while making bookings., Helped development team for project Amadeus Connect in configuring smart keys into smart flows., Worked on ADM’s and refund which were pending from past 2 years and were not even identified by the team. Within 2 weeks of joining started working on this backlog and got 50% amount received within a month., Analyze errors and service delivery failure, made daily submission reports, and ensure necessary steps are taken to mitigate risks and avoid recurrence.
• Business Analyst, Testing the products on the fly so that the issues coming on the way are resolved at the same time., Comparing the time lag for the transactions processed on old product (Galileo) with new product (Amadeus). Provide active production support and handled on-call responsibilities., Providing support on hot issues reported and rectifying them to make the process smooth. Daily bugs review with the projects team so that it has very minimal effect on production., Resource planning in accordance with the numbers test cases to sign off the total functionality of the product., Interacting with products team, developers, technicians etc. and providing a brief about the requirement., Worked closely with the Amadeus and GMAX tech team.
• Senior Travel Analyst, Work for Switzerland, Sweden, France, and Netherland market and assist the American Express corporate clients with their travel across the world., Managing reservation queues and invoicing air, car & hotel bookings., Coordinating with clients and managing payments of hotel & car vendors., Prepare daily ticketing, invoicing reports, and SLA trackers. Training and supporting our third-party clients, team members and new employees with functional and technical queries., Manage process activities (ADM/ACM, Open Items, Refunds, Write offs, BSP Reconciliation, etc., Working and rectifying bookings on invoicing tools – AGM (Amadeus Agency Manager)., Preparing & presenting timely process improvement charter., Fare Analysis as per previous flight data and technical issues related to GDS (Amadeus)., Contribution in the training of new hires in the process and continue to support them with my own experiences gained over my tenure at American Express.
• Customer Support Executive, Responsible for handling ticketing, reservations, fares, refund, and rail related queries., Monitoring E-ticket server and availability link of the airline., Maintained a workflow system for different teams in Operations., Responsible to resolve the customer queries regarding Schedule changes and reservations., Handling and solving queries through LIVE CHAT., Follow up with airline to get protection for cancelled flights or refunds. Supervising executives on daily activities and helping them in queries from Customers.