Senior Manager, Business Services - Kempton Park at DSV

Main Purpose of the Role

The incumbent for this role will have full management responsibilities for the DSV Road IT Client Engagement Team and will be a key-member of the Local IT Operations and Services management team. The role requires a broad and comprehensive understanding of multiple functional areas relevant to the Road Logistics & Road Transportation businesses.  

The Senior Manager has full management responsibility for IT stakeholder management, people management, management of the IT budget, management of IT security policy adherence, onboarding of new clients within agreed time and cost parameters.

You will be a key-member of the IT Operations and Services IT Team. In this role you will Act as the overall IT representative towards the Business Change Management and Marketing & Sales functions.

The Senior Manager is accountable for demand management, the supply as well as the deployment of standard client facing IT solutions to regional business partners and customers.

The role of the IT Senior Manager (SM) comprises the following equally important components:

• Full accountability for IT service delivery to the business unit.  
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with members of the senior management team and business unit leader.
• Up to date with all business unit projects that have IT involvement.  
• Ensure that formal weekly and monthly reporting is done back to the business unit. 
• Manage and guide a group of individual contributors and/or team leads/team supervisors based in South Africa.
• Oversee and following up on the daily operations, KPIs and providing direction to team activities.
• Set targets, implement guidelines, coaches and assist with any issues the employees/supervisors may have.
• Conduct performance management and appraisal & disciplinary procedures.
• Responsible for managing vendor & supplier relationships – both internal and external, and ensuring that all team members whether direct reports or members of other teams provide the services and functions required to ensure that the IT service in the business unit functions as intended.
• Ensure that all IT costs are understood and that these are perused monthly to ensure that it is under control and within budget. 
• IT Security is of paramount important, and the IT SM needs to ensure that IT Security policies and guidelines are understood, and that security risks and vulnerabilities are monitored, identified, reported and promptly remediated so as to ensure the absolute integrity of the DSV IT infrastructure at large and that a security vulnerability or risk never threatens the companies’ IT systems.
• Responsible for coordinating client onboarding activities with multiple local and global IT teams.

Duties and Responsibilities

Strategy

• Develop/Contribute and maintain an understanding of the GIT and Regional strategy and objectives, as well as the current operational environment and challenges.
• Participate in translating Global IT  and business strategic objectives into action plans and ensuring their execution. 
• Understand client requirements and market trends that will contribute towards the DSV standard client solutions.
• Know the business model and key levers that drive performance and profitability. 

Client and Business IT Support

• Liaison with business partners, Global IT Support Teams and vendors to resolve IT related issues, problems and requests.
• Effective and timely escalation of issues while maintaining effective communication with all stakeholders on incidents or requests that get escalated.
• Support the root cause analysis process to identify possible solutions/improvements to avoid issues.
• Stakeholder and Relationship Management
• Participate in business & client stakeholder meetings
• Providing of status updates to business & client stakeholders
• Responsible for managing the IT relationship with clients
• Attending/Facilitating client meetings.
• Work as part of a close-knit team, to provide a quality service to the business & clients.
• Build and maintain positive relationships with all members of the senior business & IT management team across functions.
• Demand Management 
• Participate in Managing regional projects pipeline, prioritization of projects and related SLAs for Customer Solutions. 
• Ensure Business Case is completed and aligned to sign-up for correct deliveries
• Together with the Business Implementation Manager align external and internal timelines
• Participate in priority setting and negotiating mutually acceptable solutions where conflicts arise
• Represent IT and ensure compliance of IT standards with external engagements (New business take on)
• Responsible for business analysis, and translation of business requirements into demand
• Establish IT relationships with the client facing DSV staff to ensure IT Product strategy is enforced
• Establish & maintain relationships with key IT stakeholders withing client organisations
• Documenting and understanding local application requirements
• Evaluation and signoff of final IT product/solution delivery to ensure alignment between business requirements, solutions design, and final product delivery according to centrally governed standards and processes
• Coordination of User Acceptance Testing with clients 
• Post implementation support to clients

Application / Project Portfolio Management 

• Assist the regional business partners in pre-sales activities in particular in the RFI & RFQ responding process and client presentations and meetings where necessary. 
• Assist Sales Department presenting the Optimal Solutions to Customers (sell what we have)
• Build and sustain a comprehensive understanding on systems and infrastructure that supports the business unit.
• Responsible for interacting with the relevant IT functions (IT Governance / IT Productivity / IT Architecture / IT Service Delivery) with the end goal of delivering IT solutions to the regional products (Marketing and Sales
• Initiates, directs and overseas crucial IT-related projects.

Process, Compliance & Security

• Monitor and ensure adherence to DSV Global IT policies, standards & procedures. 
• Responsible to manage internal and external audits, compliance and process adherence, including remediation of identified gaps.
• Contribute to the change management process; in particular, represent the interests of the customer when assessing risk and impact. 
• Identifying and managing service improvement opportunities. 
• Identifying, defining, managing, monitoring and reporting on the services and SLA required to support the organization. 
• Define and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor project progress and areas needing improvement.
• Maintain and manage a risk register for area of responsibility.

Other duties

• Oversee an in-house IT team, responsible for onboarding of new clients. 
• Hands-on managerial role includes overseeing and following-up on the daily activities of IT personnel.
• Sets targets, implements guidelines, and evaluates performance. 
• Monitors changes or advancements in IT products, in order to discover new technologies which can be implemented to gain a competitive advantage on behalf of the company. Analyze costs, value, and risks of such new technologies.
• Advisor to executive-level management to suggest action.
• Budgetary authority with respect to the cost centers you are responsible for.
• Responsible for monitoring Profit & Loss statements.

Job Related Requirements and Skills

• Grade 12 / Matric - Non Negotiable
• BSc./ BComm degree or 3-year Diploma - Advantageous
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in the IT industry of which minimum 5 years in a management role responsible for all aspects of managing an IT team in a mid to large size company. Demonstrable track record of strong management and leadership skills.
• Your current role preferably sees you reporting to a CIO / CTO / IT Director or similar. 
• Competence and demonstrable experience in successfully operating at a strategic level. Your current role preferably sees you as a member of the business EXCO / MANCO with full accountability for the entire IT portfolio of the business.