Keywords
desktop applications
Technical support
IT support
client support
IT Freelancing
IT Infrastructure
Support Project
Customer Support
Printer Support
Software Support
Hardware Support
It Infrastructure Leader
IT Management
Windows Server 2012
Remote Desktop Support
desktop support
technical support specialist
Windows Support bis Windows 10 Pro
MS Office Support bis Office 365
IT Infrastructure Operations
MS Windows (Server 2012/2008/2003
Remote Support
Tech support
ad servers
IT Solutions
SupportMaintenance
IT engineer
IT admin
IT Infrastructure Support
Operational Support
Windows Server 2008 R2
Server Administrator
Active Directory
Project Management
Telephone Support
Secondlevel Support
Firstlevel Support
Training
Serverconfiguration
Server Operations
Server Administration
Windows Server
Sales
IT Consulting
Migration Windows Server
Server 2012R2
Exchange Server
Server
IT Infrastructure Architectur
IT Service Management
IT Manager
IT Risk Management
2nd Level Support
Microsoft Server
Server Management
User support
2 and 3 Level Support
Cisco
Server 2008R2
System Administration
Skills
- Goal Setting Entrepreneur 2014
- Sales Strategies Entrepreneur 2014
- Global Investing Entrepreneur 2014
- Effective Selling Strategies SMI 2013
- Understanding Financial Statements Biz Facility 2011
- Cisco Small Business Sales Engineer Comztek 2010
- Cisco Small Business Engineer Comztek 2010
- Microsoft Enterprise Volume Licensing Microsoft 2007
- Microsoft AD Group Policy Management Torque IT 2007
- Leadership and Management Discovery Leadership Academy 2006
- Facilities Management Afrotech 2005
- Facilities Project Management Afrotech 2004
- Active Directory Design Innobits 2003
- Active Directory (Advanced) Innobits 2003
- ITIL Foundation Foster & Melliar 2003
- HR and IR fundamentals Discovery Institute 2003
- Leadership Certificate Discovery Leadership Academy 2003
- Time Management Discovery Institute 2003
- Dell Desktop & Server Engineer Discovery 2002
- Cisco ICND Torque IT 2002
- Project Management X-Pert 2002
- Linux Introduction University of Stellenbosch 2001
- Microsoft Volume Licensing Microsoft 2001
- 3 Com Networking 3 Com 2000
- A+ Technician Dynamix Computer Training 2000
- MCSE NT4 with IIS Dynamix Computer Training 2000
- Microsoft Office 97 and Windows 95 Dynamix Computer Training 2000
- Electrical Engineering (S2) PE Technikon 1996
- Matric Brandwag High School 1994
- Afrikaans, English, Maths, Science, Woodwork, History
Microsoft Server 18 years 5/5
Microsoft Server Infrastructure 18 years 5/5
Microsoft Exchange 18 years 5/5
Microsoft IIS 18 years 5/5
Microsoft Desktop OS 20 Years 5/5
Advanced Troubleshooting 18 years 5/5
Active Directory & GPO’s 18 years 5/5
Backup Technologies 18 Years 5/5
Anti-Virus Technologies 18 Years 5/5
Virtualisation (VMWare & Hyper V) 6 years 4/5
Microsoft Licensing 8 years 4/5
Networking 20 years 5/5
Cloud Solutions 3 years 4/5
PABX & VOIP (Siemens,Avaya,3CX) 13 years 4/5
ITIL 15 years 5/5
King III 1 year 2/5
Linux 1 years 1/5
IT Hardware (Desktop / Server) 25 years 5/5
Firewall & Security 10 years 4/5
Enterprise Storage 8 years 3/5
Data Centres 6 years 4/5
Access Control 6 years 4/5
Time & Attendance 6 years 4/5
CCTV & Surveillance 6 years 4/5
Infrastructure Monitoring 15 years 5/5
Connectivity / Hosting 8 years 5/5
Cisco IOS 10 years 4/5
Server Hardware 18 years 5/5
Wireless & Wi-Fi 10 years 5/5
Citrix & Terminal Services 10 years 3/5
Firewalls / Security 8 Years 3/5
Business
Business Management 8 years 4/5
Sales 8 years 5/5
Customer Service & Interactions 20 years 5/5
IT Design 10 years 5/5
Project Management 15 years 5/5
Facilities Management 4 years 4/5
Best Practise Implementations 10 years 5/5
Staff Development & Management 14 years 4/5
Corporate Governance 18 years 5/5
Report Writing & Documentation 15 years 5/5
Financial Management 12 years 5/5
Risk Analysis 15 years 5/5
Enterprise IT 12 years 5/5
SME IT 10 years 5/5
Vendor Liaison 18 years 5/5
Forecasting 8 years 5/5
SLA Management 15 years 5/5
Resource Planning 12 years 5/5
Infrastructure Management 18 years 5/5
Systems Administration 18 years 5/5
Account Management & Client Relations 9 years 4/5
Soft Skills
• Time Management 4/5
• Negotiation 4/5
• Urgency 5/5
• Tenacity 5/5
• Analytical 5/5
• Resilience 5/5
• Customer Service 5/5
• Motivation 5/5
• Taking Initiative 5/5
• People Skills 4/5
• Detail Orientated 4/5
Project history
Employment
03/2008 – Current Impact IT & Risk Services (Information Technology) Owner (Director & Shareholder)
Permanent senior management level position at Impact IT in the IT sector in South Africa
Description
I am currently responsible for Impact IT’s operations & sales on a national level to all our clients.
Duties & Responsibilities
Operational
I am responsible for operations of the company on a day to day and long term basis which includes:
Permanent management level position at Discovery Holdings in the financial sector in Cape Town, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description:
I was appointed as regional IT team leader, later promoted to Regional IT Manager and Regional IT & Facilities Manager thereafter. I was responsible for all regional IT infrastructure, support functions & facilities. My role later also included technical building management and facilities.
Duties & Responsibilities
Operational
Reason for leaving
My position was made redundant by centralisation to Johannesburg. I was offered the position within Sandton Head Office but declined to re-locate due to my aging parents. I therefore opted to start my own IT business.
07/2001 - 03/2002 University of Stellenbosch (Education) Senior Support Engineer
Contract skilled level position at University of Stellenbosch in the Information Technology sector in Stellenbosch, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description
I was employed by the University of Stellenbosch as a hardware and software support engineer, responsible for desktop support to the Campus environment.
Duties & Responsibilities
I was headhunted by the CRM Manager of Discovery in Cape Town
08/1998 - 06/2001 Alexander Forbes (Financial Services) Network Administrator and Support Engineer
Permanent skilled level position at Alexander Forbes (Dimension Data) in the Information Technology sector in Stellenbosch, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description
I was employed by Alexander Forbes as a Support Engineer, based in Stellenbosch. I was responsible for all IT infrastructure of the investment arm of the Stellenbosch branch.
Duties & Responsibilities
Alexander Forbes IT was outsourced to Dimension Data and I was retrenched due to the FIFO rules as the other engineer being onsite for 15 years already. Our IT Director, Manager and myself and other technicians were retrenched.
06/1996 - 07/1998 Impro systems (Security) IT software Technician and Support Engineer
Description
During my employment at Impro Systems, I started as installation technician and progressed to where I was responsible for all software configurations to the Access Control and Time and Attendance systems, as well as general IT support to our clients and in-house departments.
Duties & Responsibilities
I was headhunted by the Manager of IT Alexander Forbes in Cape Town CBD.
01/1995 - 05/1996 AEG / Schlumberger Electronics (Engineering) Student Electronic Engineer
Permanent junior level position at AEG Energy Control in the Engineering sector in Atlantis, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description
I was employed by AEG International as a Student Electronics engineer. I was retrenched when AEG were bought out by Schlumberger Industries. I primarily responsible for the PCB design of the power supply and contactor circuit as well as prototype testing, according to SABS standards on the Taurus Prepaid electricity meter.
Duties & Responsibilities
AEG Electronics was sold to Schlumberger International and I was retrenched together with most of the R&D team, some of which was relocated to France.
03/2008 – Current Impact IT & Risk Services (Information Technology) Owner (Director & Shareholder)
Permanent senior management level position at Impact IT in the IT sector in South Africa
Description
I am currently responsible for Impact IT’s operations & sales on a national level to all our clients.
Duties & Responsibilities
Operational
I am responsible for operations of the company on a day to day and long term basis which includes:
- IT Governance Implementation
- Innovative Solutions Design
- Staff & Resource Management
- Client Liaison
- Vendor Liaison
- Strategic planning
- Infrastructure Management & reporting to all our clients on a monthly basis
- Technical SLA Management to our clients
- Management Reporting to partners and shareholders
- Project Management
- ITIL Procedures and Implementation
- IT Consulting
- IT Troubleshooting
- Project Implementations
- Evaluations of new Technical strategies
- Technical design & analysis
- Risk Consulting & analysis
- Implementation of Best Practices
- Project planning
- Expansion planning & forecasts
- New opportunities analysis
- Current Economic Analysis
- Long Term Technical Analysis & consultations to our clients
- Staff Training Requirements in changing environments
- Staff Leadership in terms of long term planning and growth
- Customer Billing
- Budget vs. Actual Forecasts & Analysis
- Cost Analysis and control
- Vendor Contracts & Negotiations
- Stock Control
- Payroll
- Debtor & Creditor Management
- Business Financial Management Accounts & Performance
- Cash flow Management
- Sales proposals & quotes
- Technical Analysis & Design
- Sales Forecasts
- Sales presentations & contract negotiations
- Sales tracking in terms of budgets
- Prospecting & Lead Generation
- Driving Sales Targets
- Connectivity, Hosting and Service Solutions
- Staff Salaries and Incentives
- One on Ones and PAs with staff
- Resource Planning
- Resource Hiring
- Staff Training Planning
- Staff Coaching
- Client & Vendor Contracts
- Legal arbitration
- Legal compliance in terms of consumer act
- Legal compliance in terms of collections and Contract terms
- Labour Law & CCMA
- National Offices revamp and roll outs
- National and African technology refreshes
- Various Server replacements & Upgrades
- Numerous Domain mergers and upgrades with GPO Policies
- VOIP / PABX Implementations
- Backup Strategy Implementations
- Disaster Recovery documentation and implementations
- National Risk Analysis and mitigation procedures
- Numerous Office moves and infrastructure implementations
- Industrial Printer Support
- Retail Technology refreshes
- Numerous Anti-Virus & Security implementations with various firewalls
- Best Practise implementations
- Network (LAN & WAN) Optimisations
- Global Project roll-outs
- Various Wireless technology implementations
- Numerous Monitoring implementations i.e. Nagios
- MSP System Implementations i.e. Kaseya, N-Central, GFI and Labtech
- Data recoveries
- Process Implementations
- Increase 6 monthly revenue by 43%
- Increase annual revenue by 64%
- Various Building relocations
- Staff Development from Desktop to Senior Server
- Grow the business to R 5m p/a
- Secure National Support Contracts
- Develop Measurable Best Practices methodology
- Microsoft Silver Infrastructure Partner
- Implementation of Monitoring & MSP Systems
- Implementation of various processes at clients
- Implemented a Full Service desk and systems
Permanent management level position at Discovery Holdings in the financial sector in Cape Town, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description:
I was appointed as regional IT team leader, later promoted to Regional IT Manager and Regional IT & Facilities Manager thereafter. I was responsible for all regional IT infrastructure, support functions & facilities. My role later also included technical building management and facilities.
Duties & Responsibilities
Operational
- Regional IT Staff Management
- Regional Infrastructure & Facilities Management
- Desktop Support SLA Management
- Regional Management Reporting
- Regional IT Project Management
- Regional Server Infrastructure Uptime and Administration (Microsoft)
- LAN/WAN Infrastructure Uptime and Support
- Regional PABX Uptime and Administration
- Regional Voice Recording Uptime and Administration (Trunk side & Extension side)
- Regional IT and Facilities Budget Input and Control
- Ensuring 99.8 %, 27x7x365 Uptime of the environment (IT & Facilities)
- ITIL Procedures and Implementation
- Regional Service Desk (IT and Facilities)
- Remote Franchise and Satellite Support along the Coast
- Evaluations of new Technical strategies
- Vendor Liaison (IT and Facilities)
- Regional System Performance Monitoring and feedback
- IT Infrastructure Support & Escalations
- Stock & Store Management and Control
- Financial negotiations
- Vendor Liaison
- Vendor Contracts and SLAs
- Department Budget Control
- Project planning
- New opportunities analysis
- Staff Training Requirements in changing environments
- Staff Leadership in terms of long term planning and growth
- AD Environment planning and design for the Coastal Infrastructure
- AD Roll-outs ( Server and Desktop)
- Technology Refresh
- Capacity planning on Voice, WAN, LAN, Desktop, and Server Infrastructure
- Telephone Change
- Regional Mail Archiving
- Out Of Office Procedures
- Regional File Archiving
- Franchise and Satellite Upgrades
- Centralised Service Desk Implementation
- Regional Voice Recording Implementation/Upgrade
- Regional VOIP Implementation
- Disaster Recovery Implementation
- Staff Salaries and Incentives
- One on Ones and PAs with staff
- Management feedback to Executive management
- Resource Planning
- Resource Hiring
- Staff Training Planning
- Staff Coaching
- Discovery Team Leader of the year award
- KZN Office Installation
- PTA Office Installation
- Regional Technology Refresh
- Domain Consolidation from Metropolitan to Discovery
- Regional Voice Recording Implementation
- Regional Service Desk Implementation
- Regional Access Control Implementation
- Office Relocations and Outfit
- Top Performing SLA department
- Franchise Office Roll-outs
Reason for leaving
My position was made redundant by centralisation to Johannesburg. I was offered the position within Sandton Head Office but declined to re-locate due to my aging parents. I therefore opted to start my own IT business.
07/2001 - 03/2002 University of Stellenbosch (Education) Senior Support Engineer
Contract skilled level position at University of Stellenbosch in the Information Technology sector in Stellenbosch, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description
I was employed by the University of Stellenbosch as a hardware and software support engineer, responsible for desktop support to the Campus environment.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Hardware & Software Support and fault finding
- User and dealer liaison
- Support to 1200+ Users
- Hardware and software support
- Set up and installation of new machines
- Repair of existing machines
- Microsoft & Novell Networks
- Help Desk and Service level agreements and support system
- Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me
- Microsoft Office 97/2000
- Client-server applications
- Desktop Deployments & imaging
- Successful Y2K Change Over
- Consistently Exceeding SLA’s
I was headhunted by the CRM Manager of Discovery in Cape Town
08/1998 - 06/2001 Alexander Forbes (Financial Services) Network Administrator and Support Engineer
Permanent skilled level position at Alexander Forbes (Dimension Data) in the Information Technology sector in Stellenbosch, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description
I was employed by Alexander Forbes as a Support Engineer, based in Stellenbosch. I was responsible for all IT infrastructure of the investment arm of the Stellenbosch branch.
Duties & Responsibilities
- LAN/WAN Support
- Cat5 and fibre optics cabling and patching
- Microsoft NT server administration
- Microsoft Exchange 5.5 administration
- Rightfax administration
- Hardware and Software support of servers and desktops to 200+ users
- Backup configuration and administration
- Help Desk and Service level agreements
- Project Management
- Client, user and dealer liaison
- Inventory management
- UPS Maintenance
- Virus Control
- Siemens PABX administration and support
- Access Control Administration
- Spotlight Support
- Management of all Stellenbosch Infrastructure
- Management of all Mossel Bay Infrastructure
Alexander Forbes IT was outsourced to Dimension Data and I was retrenched due to the FIFO rules as the other engineer being onsite for 15 years already. Our IT Director, Manager and myself and other technicians were retrenched.
06/1996 - 07/1998 Impro systems (Security) IT software Technician and Support Engineer
Description
During my employment at Impro Systems, I started as installation technician and progressed to where I was responsible for all software configurations to the Access Control and Time and Attendance systems, as well as general IT support to our clients and in-house departments.
Duties & Responsibilities
- LAN, Hardware and software support to users & clients
- Microsoft NT Server & email administration
- MS Access programming
- Backup configuration and administration
- UPS maintenance
- Anti-Virus implementation and control
- Administration, installation, supporting and training on security software
- Installation of security cameras, computer aided proximity security.
- Access Control and Time and Attendance software and integration
- Database administration and configuration
- Implementation Time and Attendance & Access Control in Kenya
- Implementation of Access Database for Denel
- Support of Access Control Systems for SafMarine
I was headhunted by the Manager of IT Alexander Forbes in Cape Town CBD.
01/1995 - 05/1996 AEG / Schlumberger Electronics (Engineering) Student Electronic Engineer
Permanent junior level position at AEG Energy Control in the Engineering sector in Atlantis, South Africa (Western Cape)
Description
I was employed by AEG International as a Student Electronics engineer. I was retrenched when AEG were bought out by Schlumberger Industries. I primarily responsible for the PCB design of the power supply and contactor circuit as well as prototype testing, according to SABS standards on the Taurus Prepaid electricity meter.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Computer Aided PCB and Schematic design on CAD
- Electronic prototype design and testing
- SABS Testing against specifications on hardware & design
- Computer hardware support
- Procedure analysis
- Project management on small projects
- Developed the Contactor in Pre-Paid Electricity Systems
AEG Electronics was sold to Schlumberger International and I was retrenched together with most of the R&D team, some of which was relocated to France.
Local Availability
Only available in these countries:
South Africa
I am Flexible in the GMT to GMT + 3 Timeline
All Remote Functions
After Hours can be arranged
Willing to Travel for Projects
All Remote Functions
After Hours can be arranged
Willing to Travel for Projects
Other
To whom it may Concern
Cover Letter to Gabriël Jacobus Louw CV
I am an IT Professional Generalist with a strong business acumen who has been involved with IT for over 28 years. Starting my “career” on Dos 6.1 and GW Basic programming, I advanced through all Microsoft operating systems as well as Networking and Server.
I progressed from pure technical to the IT Leadership, Facilities, Projects, Risk and Best Practises disciplines, while still entrenched in Technical IT as my base career direction. I haven’t lost my passion for IT yet, and still provide technical assistance to clients on a daily basis.
During the last couple of years owning my own business, provided a steep learning curve in terms of business management, financial management, staff management and technical ability as I was exposed to most technologies at once in the SME market, which can be unforgiving at times. This scenario forced me to be creative with technology due to budget constraints and require problem solving at an advanced level with utmost urgency as you realise the true grit of the IT landscape by developing a thorough understanding of IT principles within different disciplines, which sometimes deviates from text books.
Owning my own business also developed my ability to manage multiple projects at once as well as how to handle stress and to work under pressure, as most SME systems are considered “live” environments. The urgency characteristic has developed alongside my communication skills on various levels of seniority.
I’m an analytical and extremely loyal individual with a passion for excellent customer service and keen sense of urgency who has experience in corporate environments as well as the SME landscape.
I appreciate the time taken to read through my CV and look forward to an open discussion on where I can add value to your management, operations or technical teams as I believe my skill set speaks for itself in terms of experience in technical with the amplification of management and business sense.
Please do not hesitate to contact me for any questions or just an informal chat.
Regards
G.J. Louw
Cover Letter to Gabriël Jacobus Louw CV
I am an IT Professional Generalist with a strong business acumen who has been involved with IT for over 28 years. Starting my “career” on Dos 6.1 and GW Basic programming, I advanced through all Microsoft operating systems as well as Networking and Server.
I progressed from pure technical to the IT Leadership, Facilities, Projects, Risk and Best Practises disciplines, while still entrenched in Technical IT as my base career direction. I haven’t lost my passion for IT yet, and still provide technical assistance to clients on a daily basis.
During the last couple of years owning my own business, provided a steep learning curve in terms of business management, financial management, staff management and technical ability as I was exposed to most technologies at once in the SME market, which can be unforgiving at times. This scenario forced me to be creative with technology due to budget constraints and require problem solving at an advanced level with utmost urgency as you realise the true grit of the IT landscape by developing a thorough understanding of IT principles within different disciplines, which sometimes deviates from text books.
Owning my own business also developed my ability to manage multiple projects at once as well as how to handle stress and to work under pressure, as most SME systems are considered “live” environments. The urgency characteristic has developed alongside my communication skills on various levels of seniority.
I’m an analytical and extremely loyal individual with a passion for excellent customer service and keen sense of urgency who has experience in corporate environments as well as the SME landscape.
I appreciate the time taken to read through my CV and look forward to an open discussion on where I can add value to your management, operations or technical teams as I believe my skill set speaks for itself in terms of experience in technical with the amplification of management and business sense.
Please do not hesitate to contact me for any questions or just an informal chat.
Regards
G.J. Louw