AT&T Network Systems / Lucent Technologies (1991 - 1999)

What have I done:

November 1991 - April 1992:

• as a department head I was responsible for the activities and results of a team of 40 application developers, subdivided into 3 sub-teams. This position was cancelled in an internal reorganization.

April 1992 - September 1994:

• as manager of the 'European Regional Technical Team (ERTT) of GISA (Global Information Systems Architecture)' I was responsible for all activities and results regarding the implementation of a standard Information and Application architecture within the subsidiaries in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). This consisted of plants, R&D- and Sales-organizations in: Huizen – the Netherlands, Tres Cantos - Spain, Rouen - France, Neurenberg - Germany, Bydgoszc – Poland, Kiev - Ukraïne, Jakarta – Indonesia, Riadh – Saudi Arabia, Shanghai – China. In total there were roughly 20 (implementation) projects that were highly dependent on each other, in which 20 to 30 employees were continuously at work. Next to that there was a small team of experts ( 5 to 6 employees) providing day-to-day support. The architecture was based on a 'standard set-up' of the 'MFG/PRO'  ERP package of qad.inc.
• as ERTT Manager I provided for the regional input to the definition of the Global Architecture.

September 1994 - February 1997:

• as EMEA Regional Chief Architect I reported to the AT&T – CIO Enterprise Architecture Organization in the headquarters in Warren NJ. In this time-frame I was member of a team that designed the basic 'Business Process Model' for the entire Global Lucent Organization. This model included a number of standard process blueprints for various combinations of 'Business types' and per Business Type a 'preferred Target Systems Architecture'.
• in parallel I worked on the process definition and associated Systems Architecture for a Global BPR Initiative with the objectives of: lead-time reduction and  'Product Simplification and Standardization' of the 'Quote to Cash'  process.
• after the selection of SAP R/3 as the major component in the business support architecture (Customer order management, Procurement, Finance and Master Data Reference) I was in the lead of a small team of specialist defining the 'SAP Hierarchy – Settings' for Lucent Technologies in total and for the EMEA region in particular.

February 1997 - December 1998

• as member of the EMEA CIO Management Team I was responsible for:
  • CIO Architecture: definition and implementation of a 'Plug and Play' Architecture Concept. Supporting project managers and developers in the transition to new technologies like OO and WEB enabling).
  • CIO Portfolio Management: definition of the migration targets and controlling the work program for the realisation.
  • CIO Work Program Management and Budgets: Planning and Control for the entire EMEA CIO Community (450 employees in 6 countries, total Budget 120M$ yearly).

In this role I managed a small team of both 'super specialists' and administrative support employees. For CIO Architecture and CIO Portfolio Management I was in the lead in the 'Core Architecture Team' that executed the same tasks on a Global Level (+/- 2500 employees, mainly in the U.S. wit a total Budget of 1.200 M$ yearly).

• In the last 6 months I was actively involved in the preparation of decision making on redesigning 'Strategic Outsourcing'.

What have I learned:

The painful transition from home grown taylor-made software to configurable standard software. The development of Architectural concepts that were re-implementable on a Global scale. The definition of 'linkage and disconnection' points and the effective use of message based middle-ware as 'application architecture bus'. The dependencies between 'Business architectures' and 'IT architectures'. The 'services' orientation and the very first planning and implementation of the 'retained organisation' in major outsourcing deals.

And personally I gained a lot of international experience and some lifetime friends with various cultural backgrounds.