Bongani Soko

Over 15 years of experience in IT operations and project management, with extensive expertise in negotiation, conflict resolution, leadership, and project service delivery. Educational achievements include a Higher Certificate in Negotiation & Conflict Resolution from the University of Cape Town, an IBM Leadership Management Programme NQF6 from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and a National Certificate in Banking Services and Advice NQF5 from Milpark Business College. Previous roles as a Test Lead and Data Center Manager at IBM/Kyndryl South Africa involved DR testing, system management, infrastructure services, project administration, and vendor management to ensure optimal system performance according to business needs. This diverse background positions as a valuable asset with proven problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills that align with organizational goals.

Five years of Test Leading in Disaster Recovery for the biggest Retail giants in South Africa, Including Project Management, Project Coordination, Service Delivery, Data Center Management, facility management, infrastructure management, staged (racking & stacking), setting up, and performed hardware deployments. In addition, I would also perform troubleshooting and diagnostics on equipment, as well as perform hardware decommissions for changes and refreshes following Standard Operating Procedures.

Certified Disaster Recovery Manager.

Certificate in Business Continuity Institute

Certified in ISO27001 CyberSecurity Management.

Certified in Business Continuity Management BCMS & ISO 22301

Certified in Cybersecurity & Cyber Attacks.

Certified in Cybersecurity Tools & Cyber Threat Intelligence.

• I managed Consumer/ Vendor Field engineers.
• I managed Enterprise Field Engineers.
• I managed and negotiated access agreements.
• I managed Electrical Engineers.
• I did Data Centre management
• I managed Data Centre access – customers/vendors
• I scheduled the emergency maintenance and general repairs through Change Management.
• Critical electrical, backup power, HVAC, and fire-detection systems maintenance. Vendor management and Security. The greatest trait of all the above is the ability to collaborate with my colleagues globally and locally to render services to our clients.

• Business Continuity & Resiliency Management - Professional (5-10 years) - Jan 1, 2016 - Current
• Business Management - Intermediate (5-15 years) - Sep 1, 2012 - Nov 30, 2023
• Infrastructure Services - Professional (5-10 years) - Feb 1, 2012 - Nov 30, 2023
• Facilities Management - Professional (5-10 years) - Jan 1, 2020 - Aug 31, 2023
• IT Support, Desktop Support & Project Support - Completed - Feb 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2019

• Coordinate infrastructure projects and initiatives as assigned
• Perform Infrastructure Representatives’ duties on IS projects as assigned
• Oversee transition and knowledge transfer from project to steady state
• Investigate new requests, document requirements, and present to the Higher Management – Demand Management

• Provide leadership on policy compliance and process improvements
• Participate and provide leadership in CAB meetings and eCAB
• Oversee infrastructure changes to ensure policy compliance, proper scheduling, testing & verification, and backup
• Provide backup coverage for CAB/eCAB meetings

• Ownership of the DR program; planning, coordination, execution, results review
• Drive improvements, effectiveness, and innovation to the current IS architecture
• Lead, coordinate, and maintain IS BCP
• Drive modernization and relevance to the current IS landscape
• ITCM - Business Planning
• Project Management
• Project Tracking
• Program Management
• Report Writing
• Service Delivery

• Ownership of the Major Incident Process ensuring effectiveness, identification of any opportunities, training and education on the process
• Lead and coordinate restoration of service impacting events - SEV1/2
• Lead and conduct Post Incident Reviews (PIR) and Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

• Guide cross-functional meetings to ensure alignment across IS teams
• Drive operational efficiency and effectiveness – patching, monitoring, alerts, etc
• Guide resolution of service-impacting issues that need collaboration across teams
• Monthly review of Infrastructure dashboards and lead review meetings with the Infrastructure Team
• Coordinate evidence gathering to support various audits
• Coordinate infrastructure requirements supporting infrastructure services
• Maintain and publish support contact lists
• Review and update Infrastructure SOP’s and Policies
• Coordinate infrastructure efforts for audits and evidence gathering
• Administer contract lifecycle; renewals, budgeting, software license keys - ensuring no service disruptions