The Practice Manager, Hybrid Networks primary objective will be to lead, drive and build a regionally consistent and sustainable Networking practice aligned to and in support of the overall business strategy. The manager will fulfil business development, practice development and product management functions that accelerate regional success within the Hybrid Network business units. He/she must ensure that the regional or global practice and business is grown in line with the global solutions and services strategy. This employee will drive the transformation and growth for selling the practice across the region.

Key roles and responsibilities:

Strategic Alignment

• The Practice Manager will work closely with the top Executive and a variety of internal stakeholders to develop, enable, and ensure the execution of the Networking and related practice strategy. They will align business unit specific KPI metrics and reporting across all countries or regions and group project management bodies. They provide thought leadership and will continuously research and ensure the implementation of the latest, best practice methods and tools that will align to the achievement of the group strategy. This employee will be directly involved in solution development and go-to-market activities and build a strategy that is consulting and client-led.
• The Practice manager will be responsible for the strategic management of vendor alliances and relationships relevant to their domain. He/she will ensure compliance with and alignment with the requirements for maintaining the relevant vendor certifications and will drive execution of vendor alliances within the TS Business.

Operations And Efficiency Management

• The Practice Manager will manage business operations to ensure the achievement of business goals. They will contribute to the development of policies and procedures and operating plans that will enable the achievement of the overall business unit strategy. This employee will be responsible for the budget for the business unit as aligned to their geographic span and ensure that profitability and financial performance, including the management of partner rebates.
• This individual will take corrective action to ensure efficient operations consistent with strategic objectives, operational plans and goals, and profit and loss. They provide the necessary oversight to ensure that the business unit is achieving client and financial goals by providing regular reviews and reporting on progress against strategic programs and projects related to the business unit. The Practice Manager will drive execution to ensure the achievement of business unit goals within their territory.

Practice Development

• The Practice Manager Networking will be responsible for the establishment and confirmation of practice management leadership capabilities. They will work with the regions and countries to establish and manage the most appropriate practice management team and structure to align to internal business units and market requirements. They provide the necessary governance and oversight to ensure that Dimension Data is achieving client and financial project management goals by providing regular reviews and reporting on progress against strategic programmes and projects. This individual will lead and facilitate regular regional or global practitioner or delivery training activities on relevant topics and subject matter and will build and maintain a regional community of practice where information and best practices can be shared. This employee will advise leadership on the principles and values of the practice, IT automation and continuous delivery.
• The Practice Manage Networking will also create standards and tools for new solution architecture and delivery continuous delivery frameworks that will promote and establish a reliable practice within Dimension Data and a contender in the market. They will define the approach to lifecycle management for the assets created and build a skills pool to roll out to clients within the regions. This employee will create continuous integration for tooling to support regions with automated build, test and deployment with a focus on continuous improvement in quality delivery.

Business Development

• The Practice Manager Hybrid Networks will assume the role of “go-to-market” lead for the practice and align sales with key opportunities. He/She will work closely with Marketing and Sales to support regional sales by providing training sessions to sales employees and assisting with the determination of pipeline necessary to achieve regional targets, including the development of short-term incentive programs. This employee drives the regional implementation of deployment pipelines to achieve key strategic business outcomes. They will directly support strategic deals and client engagement practices and mentor local and regional teams, accordingly, providing subject matter expertise on RFPs/RFIs.
• This employee will measure Practice success and promote thought leadership by developing white papers and capturing and disseminating cases studies with region as well as speaking at events.
• They will support the regional marketing and demand generation activities through the provision of advice to the regional teams. They will drive the region and countries to ensure that they are equipped with the appropriate skills and ability to sell operational expense services.

Go-To-Market Initiatives

• The Practice Manager will manage the execution of the go-to-market strategies and tactical plans for the business unit. The individual will determine the go-to-market program goals and benchmarks, ensuring that these are tracked and monitored. He/she will develop the go-to-market scorecard and/or dashboard and associated metrics and develop and manage the go-to-market budget for the business unit. The Practice Manager will need to mobilise specialised sales for the business unit with the ability to overlay sales teams in the relevant account teams.

Product Management

• The Practice Manager will oversee the business unit’s product/portfolio lifecycle and in so doing take responsibility for the strategic planning and tactical activities required for product growth and management. This individual works closely with a variety of organisations to ensure that the business growth opportunities are realised and defines and agrees product/product portfolio strategies. He/she will specify market requirements for current and future products by conduction market research supported by client engagement sessions.
• The Practice Manager will drive new offers, enhancements and upgrades of the relevant product or product portfolio through the Global Service Introduction Process. This individual will develop and implement group go-to-market plans, working with all departments to ensure execution thereof. He/she will manage the partnership and alliance strategy for the relevant product or product portfolio, analysing requirements for the particular product or product portfolio.

Stakeholder Management

• The Practice Manager will work with the region to establish and manage the most appropriate structure to align to the business units and manage requirements. The individual will provide the necessary governance and oversight to ensure that Dimension Data is achieving client and financial management goals by providing regular reviews and reporting on progress against strategic programs and projects. He/she will engage with key clients to understand their business and provide innovative solutions to address client pain points through the service we provide.

Financial Management

• The Practice Manager will take responsibility for implementing and managing the business unit’s annual budget for their geographical span. The individual will manage profit and loss of the business unit and ensure that the required funding to support strategic transformational projects has been considered. He/she makes decisions that could impact the business unit and organisation’s profitability.

People Management

• The Practice Manager acts as a people manager within the unit. The individual will ensure the full utilisation of resources and provides leadership and motivates employees towards the fulfilment of the business unit and organisation’s mission. He/she will contribute to the development and management processes that enable the management function as a team. The individual will develop and maintain a viable succession plan that covers all critical management positions within the business unit.

Requirements

Academic qualifications and certifications:

• Bachelor’s (graduate) degree in business or technology fields
• Relevant Certifications such CCIE, CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Data Centre, ITIL Certifications, F5, Fortinet or any other related Certifications.

Experience required:

• Demonstrated years of relevant experience in a pre-sales/sales role
• At least 6 years’ experience working with Network Solutions, Security solutions, Data Canter Solutions, and other related technologies.
• Experience in leading and managing large IT projects and rolling out IT infrastructures across various technologies.
• Strong leadership and conflict management skills
• Must have analytical skills enabling quick and meaningful understanding of customer needs and goals.
• Good communications and presentation skills, with the ability to operate comfortably at and beyond client senior executive levels.
• Strong negotiating skills and ability to persuade and maintain multilevel relationships within prospects and clients.
• Good documentation skills – ability to write formal proposals which may include a demonstrable understanding of the business and an ability to articulate the ROI.
• Commitment to the concepts of technology enabled, value-added selling.
• Must be able to demonstrate business awareness.
• Proven success prospecting, building a pipeline, moving opportunities through the sales cycle; proposing, presenting, and discussing solutions Technology Leads and other decision-makers.
• Great project management skills, including organization, planning, time management and prioritization

What will make you a good fit for the role?

• The Practice Manager is a thought leader in the industry and is recognised by industry peers for out of the box thinking, knowledge and creativity. He/she demonstrates good knowledge of the industry, market trends, the competitive landscape and development in the technology industry. The individual is an exceptional leader and demonstrates influencing skills with the ability to add value quickly.
• He/she presents as purposeful, articulate and very confident with a strong understanding of international/multi-national challenges. He/she displays maturity in the work environment and is energetic and visibly passionate. He/she is a resilient self-starter, not afraid of creating internal controversy through alternative thinking and execution. The Practice manager is an inspiring leader of people and natural mentor and coach to more junior employee.
• He/she should possess excellent communication skills (both verbally and written) and employ these skills to interact with a variety of stakeholders at a senior level. He/she maintains integrity, demonstrate reliability, and recognise their direct reports, whilst building a cohesive team. This individual is a charismatic leader that inspires the solutions leadership organisation to achieve the set performance targets.