ALEXANDER KANDELAKI              Page | 4

 

ALEXANDER KANDELAKI

Email: alex@ccvp.org  | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/akandelaki/

31a 64^th Street               Tel: 917-653-7382

West New York , NJ 07093             

 

 

Dynamic 17 year career reflecting a pioneering spirit and superior technical performance in the Information Technology, Investment Banking, Service Provider and Professional Services industries.  Developed industry unique business and technology solutions for both enterprise and service provider markets focused on emerging technologies to meet each market’s diverse needs.  Successful lead multi-national pre-sales and technology solutions teams to create and deliver large-scale mission-critical projects on time and under budget.  Team-based management style and excellent interpersonal/communication skills. Demonstrated achievements in:

 

Ø Sales Engineering and Solutions                   Ø Strategic Sales and Project Planning                    Ø  Team Leadership & Collaboration             

Ø Solutions & Service Delivery (ITIL )  Ø Market and Product Analysis                                 Ø Capacity Planning

Ø IT Strategy                                 Ø  Financial Analysis/Business Impact                   Ø High End Client Presentations/Briefings

Ø Systems Integration                              Ø  Project Budgeting, Forecasting & Management Ø Relationship Management

 

                                                                      EXPERTISE

 

High-energy leadership style. Developed solutions based on market drivers and customers’ business needs.  Leadership contributions in directing skilled solutions architects, pre-sales personnel, consulting directors and consulting teams to analyze, architect and deliver focused business solutions. Constantly utilizing a relationship oriented service model to discover, identify and recommend solutions to solve business problems.

·          Extensive experience in networking, unified communications, cloud computing, and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

·          Proven track record for delivering high-quality solutions and products from conception through general availability under challenging timelines

·          Extensive experience in establishing customer relationships with “C” level management and technical personnel based on trust, teamwork, and knowledge

·          Demonstrated ability to work closely with enterprise, OEM, and service provider customers and translate their needs into solutions, priorities, and deliverables

Excellent communication skills with non-technical and technical audiences to support complex sales cycles and strategic partnership development

·          Recognized as a motivated self-starter who is capable of working in an unstructured environment where strategic thinking, execution, and hands-on skills are critical

·          Strong track record in defining, developing, and delivering technology solutions that optimize efficiency and support rapid organizational growth

·          Ability to unite technical competency and business process to provide unique and cost effective solutions to business problems

 

SOLUTIONS and CERTIFICATIONS

 

§          Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert CCIE  VOICE – in progress                                    Cisco Certified Network Associate CCNA

§         Cisco Certified Voice Professional - CCVP / CCNP Voice (recertified 01/2013) Cisco CQS - SMB Engineer

§          Cisco Certified Unified Presence Specialist (certified 01/2013)                               Cisco IP Telephony Operations Specialist

§          Cisco Certified Design Professional – CCDP in progress                                    Avistar Certified Video Conferencing Architect

§          CITRIX CERTIFIED SALES PROFESSIONAL (CCSP 2013)

 

                                                        Expert Level solutions knowledge:

 

§          Microsoft Lync 2010, Microsoft Lync 2013 §          Cisco Unified Communications Manager/ Callmanager §          Cisco Voice Gateways §          Cisco Unified Presence §          Cisco SIP §          Cisco Gatekeepers

§          Citrix XenDesktop §          Citrix XenApp §          CitrixNetscaler CloudGateway §          VMware vSphere, View, Fusion §          SaaS §          IaaS §          DataCenter §          Hosted solutions

§          Large scale Desktop Video Conferencing design, integration and deployment §          Video Conferencing Rooms §          TelePresence §          Polycom §          Tandberg VCS §          Lifesize §          Avaya/Radvision SCOPIA

§          SIP §          H323 §          H264 §          RT §          BGP §          MPLS §          VPN §          Networking Routing §          Switching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

 

Avistar Communications, Inc.,  (NASDAQ: AVSR)  New York , NY              July 2004 – June 2013

Unified Communications Company

Director, Technology Solutions

 

Established, recruited, and managed global technology solutions team within Avistar, reporting directly to CIO/COO. Served as product and solutions subject matter expert, reviewed deployment plans and tasks for consistency with the overall architecture. Provided direct guidance to solutions architects and implementation teams on product best practices. Identified opportunities to expand and enhance technical knowledge and leadership skills of the solutions, support, development and product teams. Actively communicated and evangelized the best use of the systems architecture and technology solutions to achieve Avistar business objectives.

 

·          Created a technology and vertical marketing oriented pre-sales support model to assist sales and business development groups as well as regional sales efforts in gathering and defining customer requirements as well as delivering customer solutions.

·          Directly supported in-house Sales, Business Development and Product Management teams across US, EMEA and APAC.

·          Pro-actively owned all technical aspects and relationship management, played important role in acquisition of companies new agreements with Citrix, Samsung, Lifesize, Yamaha, Intelsat, CSC, Department of Defense, etc.

·          Led and delivered successfully large scale projects for Citrix OEM and Samsung (Android platform)

·          Successfully drove UC projects ranging from $50K to $25M.

·          Gave briefings and presentations to CIO/CTO level staff at key customer accounts to attain new, maintain and grow existing and close new business. 

·          Delivered technical sales engagements, in-depth presentations, pilot/proof-of-concept work, competitor analyses involving Microsoft UC, Cisco UC, IBM, Polycom, Tandberg, Radvision, Avaya.

·          Strategic bid responses, answered RFx’s and advised projects on business models around the solutions and technologies.

·          Presented at large-audience technology shows including Citrix Synergy, Citrix Summit, IBM Lotusphere, Interop, ISE, UC Expo, etc.

 

Director, Channel Pre-sales & Technology Solutions Americas

Worked closely with Sales Management to facilitate account and pipeline planning and to ensure the most effective use of pre-sales resources. Directly engaged with key customers particularly in strategic sales campaigns and problem escalation scenarios. Provided innovative solutions and strategies to solve complex issues and clients’ business problems. Played key role in acquisition/implementation of different projects for Company’s major customers: Deutsche Bank, UBS, Golden Sachs, Credit Suisse, Citi, Capital Group, PNC Bank, Dexia Bank.

 

·          Directly supported Sales and Business Development teams in the US and UK. Pro-actively own technical aspects of the solution.

·          Directly involved in sales opportunity planning and review process.

·          Recognized and awarded by management “Above and Beyond” Award as a best employee of the Company.

·          Extensive involvement in strategic bid responses, answer RFx, advise customers on business models around the solutions and the technologies.

·          Presented technical solutions to clients at CxO level as well as interacted with prospects non-technical executive management.

·          Participated and presented Avistar on major technology shows: Interop, InfoComm, Wainhouse Forum.

·          Upon contract execution, facilitated pre-sales to post-sales transition of projects to the Project Manager and/or Solutions Architects by providing details about the client expectation to help ensure delivery of service.

·          Developed "Avistar Video & Network Solutions and Design Guide" training program for customer support department and Channel Partners. Program included training material such as labs, documentation, presentations, etc. The new program saved Avistar over $500K in external training costs.

·          Was responsible for the launch  of Avistar cloud-based video conferencing platform.

 

Golden Apple Trading, Inc.,   New York, NY              2002-2004

International consulting and technology implementation company

Sr. Regional Consultant /Sr. Technology Solutions Architect

 

Led presales group for EMEA region. Worked with telecommunication and voice service providers to develop communication service bundles for financial, enterprise, and healthcare market segments. Supervised and led integrated data networking communications projects. Directly engaged in broadband VOIP telephony solutions offerings in EMEA markets.

·          Contributed to meeting revenue targets by providing pertinent, timely and on-going customer technical information flow.

·          Played a key role in business development and pre-sales activities to engage new opportunities with Tier 1 Telco’s and service providers: MCI, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Global Crossing, Cogent, Teleglobe, Primus, etc.

·          Developed comprehensive technical account plans in conjunction with sales representatives that included technical qualification of prospects, proposed demonstration criteria, trial/prototype plans and closure planning.

·          Led the design of secure IP/VOIP networks using different equipment and technologies such as Cisco, VocalTec, Nextone, etc.

·          RFP/RFI technical response support, technical competency assessment of new and/or existing partners, and an escalation advocacy role for partners and/or customers for technical issues to drive resolution and assure customer objectives are achieved.

·          Trained and conducted educational courses for staff in remote offices.

 

AnswerThink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSR), New York, NY              2001

International consulting and technology implementation company.

Sr. Consultant - Technology Solutions Group

 

Designed, developed and implemented projects based on Sun Solaris, Linux and Windows NT/2000 platforms. Played key role in implementation of different server/client projects for company’s major customers: IBM, Proctor & Gamble, AICPA, Verizon, etc.

 

·          Defined and maintained network/server infrastructure for Company’s ecommerce applications group consisting of 250+ developers.

·          Recognized by management for recommendation design and creation of company’s back-up system based on ArcServe 2000 platform, resulting in virtually no downtime of projects and saving $150K+ per month.

·          Designed NYC TechnoPLEX network/system architecture diagrams, using Visio 2000 resulting in an increase of overall employee productivity and time savings.

 

Exus Networks (Cyprus), Inc. (NASDAQ: EXUS),  Limassol, Cyprus & New York, NY              1998-2001

International Telecommunications Provider

Technical Director, Head of Technology Solutions Group

 

Supervised and led presales and technical team responsible for Global IP satellite network in 10 countries. Translated technical features of the firm’s products and services into tangible customer business benefits. Implemented BGP, IP routing and IP addresses planning for company’s Global Network. Performed analysis of network problems on real time basis. Serviced as an Exus Local Internet Registry technical contact person with RIPE NCC.

 

·          Defined network and system requirements for company’s major projects.

·          Worked with Sales Managers to ensure their pre-sales objectives are met by ensuring the technical skill level is available for sales presentations and product demonstrations. Responsible for making certain that forecast objectives are met.

·          Attended sales visits to ensure pre-sales team member proficiency.

·          Innovated new service IP telephony solution for the company resulting in sales and revenue increases.

·          Monitored project roll-out with and analysis actual data against estimated plans and budgets, and provides recommendations for improvements and future planning.

·          Supervised groups of system and network managers in company’s remote offices.

 

 

Sprint / Global One , EMEA Division, Tbilisi, Georgia                                                                                                               1996-1998

Telecommunications Service Provider in Georgia

Presales Manager

 

Member of Pre-Sales team , supporting all revenue generating activities and quota achievement. Maintained an integral presence for  demo sites - management contact, viability of demo site itself, and  equipment status.

 

·          Identified and developed potential new business opportunities and provided technical account management to assigned accounts.

·          Contributed significant portions and/or worked on responses to RFPs, RFQs and RFIs.

·          Responded to customer questions on technical and business related issues.

·          Directed the implementation of creation, development and realization of Intranet/WAN connectivity project with 500 workstations and servers for Supreme and Constitutional Courts in Georgia.

·          Escalated issues such as product, support, and process.

             

EDUCATION

 

Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia

MS in Management Information Systems

 

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Cisco Unified Communications:  UNITEK, Freemont, CA
Cisco Unified Call Manager, Cisco Voice Gateways/Gatekeepers,

Cisco Troubleshooting of IPT, Cisco QOS courses.

 

Avistar Communications, INC., REDWOOD CITY, CA

Avistar Video Conferencing solutions and design Curriculum

Avistar Network planning and administration Curriculum

 

Sun Microsystems, New York, NY

Sun Solaris 8 System Administrator Certification Curriculum

 

Nortel Networks, New York, NY

Advanced Router configuration Curriculum

 

Nortel Networks, Dallas, TX

LMDS and Wireless Local Loop technology Curriculum

 

Nextone Communications, Germantown, MD

Advanced soft switch configuration Curriculum

 

SPIN SALES training

DALE CARNEGY  training

DISC  training