Raza Sheikh

As a Trusted Advisor to Top Management, a dual role encompassing core operations management and product design was undertaken, driving global operations and revenue generation. The strategic focus centered on championing the digitization of operations and the adoption of cutting-edge technological platforms, such as Informatica MDM, Azure Cloud, and Databricks, for valued customers.

Key activities involved Market Sizing, Competition Mapping, Gap Analysis, Customer Needs Identification, Product Benchmarking, and provision of Pre and Post-sales support. Additionally, oversight of Product Performance Monitoring, Product Quality Analysis, and Testing was within the purview.

Full accountability was held for developing and executing comprehensive product-related strategies. This encompassed establishing the overarching product vision, fostering innovation, leading product development efforts, steering product design, and building a robust product organization.

Notable achievements during this tenure included:

1. Formulating key product and operational strategies, coupled with the establishment of budgets and ROI metrics (pertaining to both human resources and operations) to adeptly address current and future business imperatives. Improved data visibility across the enterprise by leading a project that greatly improved business processes in the analyst and sales communities; provided training to more than 350 users for Business Intelligence solutions.

2. Playing a pivotal role in realigning operations to align with evolving organizational requirements. This involved strategic planning and forecasting, product portfolio planning, defining product-market strategies, and ensuring meticulous execution of capacity and demand planning.

3. Taking the helm of various functions, including New Product Development, crafting compelling Business Case Proposals and securing approvals, strategically positioning products in the market, and implementing effective pricing strategies to enhance profitability. Led a $4.5-million project and reengineering effort of the technical architecture to support needs of developing a new data infrastructure.

Overall, this multifaceted role as a Trusted Advisor and strategist in product-related activities significantly contributed to the organization's growth and success.

Assumed Technical Architecture Leadership responsibilities, overseeing the design of technical architectures to drive transformative changes in work practices and procedures. Leveraged cross-functional expertise and a versatile track record to conduct Gap Analysis for validating alignment between business requirements and functional specifications.

Demonstrated proficiency consistently in providing high-level support to teams, enhancing operational performance, quality metrics, and cost-efficiency. Supervised technology planning and development to meet company stakeholders' needs, including customers and vendors, with the goal of boosting productivity, optimizing business outcomes, and streamlining cost and time expenditures.

Key Achievements:

Orchestrated and executed the technical aspects of the company's strategy, seamlessly aligning them with overarching business objectives.
Identified and integrated innovative technologies for a competitive edge, strategically allocating technological resources.
Ensured efficient, profitable, and secure technology utilization through the implementation of cutting-edge systems and infrastructure.
Effectively communicated the technology strategy to partners and investors, fostering a clear understanding of our approach to technological innovation and its impact on business growth.
Handpicked by the Chief Service Officer to lead the new Data Governance Committee. Tasked with establishing data ownership, resolving data conflicts, and aligning enterprise data to mature data governance practices, enhance data integrity, and reduce operational risk due to data quality issues.

Key Contributions:

Spearheaded the data strategy and business intelligence initiatives to support high-quality data reengineering, a $11.5-million project that significantly reduced operational costs. Gained C-level buy-in, developed RFPs, executed projects, and maintained stakeholder communications.
Recognized as a Business Information and Technology Strategist for pioneering Data Governance enterprise-wide.
Developed roles and competencies related to Enterprise Data Architecture, Data Analysis, and Modeling for data acquisition, processing, management, quality, analysis, warehousing, MDM, and integration.
Established and led the Business Intelligence Steering Committee, refining application vision and roadmaps for data warehousing and business intelligence solutions. Aligned business objectives and matured business intelligence capabilities.
Implemented self-service tools, granting users easy access to enterprise-level data assets for various business needs.
Streamlined development efforts across the enterprise by instituting standards and platforms for development, test, and production environments.

As the Lead BI/DWH Designer for a prestigious Energy Project focused on UK Smart meters, I have consistently demonstrated my expertise in defining, designing, and implementing Business Intelligence (BI) strategies for various BI-related solutions. My role has involved direct collaboration with both IT and business users to facilitate, define, and document data requirements, which serve as the cornerstone for database design, data extraction, analysis, and data cleansing.

Here are some key accomplishments and responsibilities that highlight my contributions:

• Utilized my extensive data architecture and warehousing skills to spearhead the development of a cutting-edge Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) that encompasses the entire data lifecycle. This involved implementing best practices for data integration, transformation, and logical and physical design.
• Led the efforts in Data Warehouse Dimensional Modeling, including the definition of Data Model Design and Naming standards. These standards were applied consistently from the database level to the BI layer, ensuring a high degree of data consistency and integrity.
• Actively participated in the design, development, documentation, and application of best practices and procedures governing the implementation and operation of the EDW. These practices and procedures were instrumental in ensuring the efficiency and reliability of our data warehouse solutions.

• Established a Reporting System : I spearheaded the creation of a robust reporting system tailored to meet the needs of both management and internal strategy research groups.
  
• Tableau Subject Matter Expertise : Leveraging my expertise as a Tableau SME, I assumed the responsibility for conceiving, designing, and implementing interactive data visualizations that have become integral to the organization's data-driven decision-making processes. These visualizations are widely utilized across the company to facilitate informed insights and strategic planning.
  
• Development of Data Visualization Solutions : I actively participated in the development and ongoing enhancement of data visualization solutions, ensuring that they not only meet but also exceed the expectations of our stakeholders. This included collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to gather requirements and translate them into effective visual representations.
  
• Production Support : I provided unwavering production support for the data visualizations, consistently ensuring their availability, reliability, and performance. My role involved troubleshooting issues, optimizing performance, and implementing updates as necessary to meet evolving business needs.
  
• Stakeholder Engagement : I engaged proactively with stakeholders, including management and internal research teams, to understand their evolving data needs. This facilitated the seamless alignment of our data visualization solutions with the company's strategic objectives.
  
• Training and Knowledge Sharing : I played an instrumental role in mentoring team members and conducting training sessions to empower them with Tableau and data visualization best practices. This knowledge-sharing initiative contributed to building a highly skilled and capable team.
  
• Continuous Improvement : I championed a culture of continuous improvement by evaluating emerging technologies and trends in data visualization. This enabled us to stay at the forefront of the field and explore opportunities for enhancing our reporting and visualization capabilities.

• Collaborating closely with clients and the Salesforce team to analyze, define, and meticulously document data requirements for various Salesforce objects, ensuring seamless data integration and utilization.
  
• Taking a hands-on approach in designing and developing innovative Nissan Business Intelligence solutions that address specific business needs and challenges, thereby contributing to the organization's overall success.
  
• Identifying opportunities for improvement and innovation within the BI landscape, and proposing new processes and technologies to key stakeholders and Management. This involved conducting TPOC (Technical Point of Contact) meetings and delivering impactful demonstrations to garner support for Nissan BI initiatives.
  
• Leveraging my expert-level knowledge of Tableau Business Intelligence Visualization products to create compelling and insightful data visualizations that empower decision-makers and end-users with valuable insights.
  
• Demonstrating extensive expertise in architecting ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) environments using Informatica Power Center, ensuring efficient and robust data movement and transformation processes.
  
• Taking a lead role in the development of Tableau Reports, Documents, Dashboards, and Scorecards, delivering comprehensive and user-friendly data representations that enable data-driven decision-making throughout the organization.
  

• Validate and Enhance Data Model Designs in Existing Osprey DW Reports:
  
• Collaborate with the team to review and optimize the data model designs in all current Osprey DW reports, ensuring alignment with business requirements and facilitating swift and efficient report generation.
• Establish and Enforce ETL/Report Development Standards for the Osprey Platform:
  
• Define and implement best practices and guidelines for ETL and report development on the Osprey platform, ensuring consistency and quality across projects.
• Lead Osprey Data Warehousing Initiatives and Ongoing Maintenance:
  
• Take charge of Osprey data warehousing projects, as well as the daily upkeep of the environment, ensuring its reliability and performance.
• Drive Project Estimation Activities and Offer Clarity on Business Requirements:
  
• Assume a leadership role in project estimation, providing valuable insights and clear guidance regarding business requirements and viable implementation alternatives.
• Diagnose Data Quality and System Deficiency Problems and Propose Solutions:
  
• Identify and analyze issues related to data quality or system shortcomings, presenting multiple solutions for resolution to stakeholders.
• Create Reports Using Business Objects Web Intelligence:
  
• Develop reports using the Business Objects Web Intelligence tool, harnessing its capabilities to deliver insightful and actionable information to stakeholders.