Dylan Duffus

I was the Industry Portfolio Delivery (IPD) Lead for Retail, Consumer Goods, Automotive and Industrial clients.

As the IPD I brought sales and delivery support and experience to the industry and account teams, contributing to the solutioning and deliverability of large contracts.

Recognition received for:

• making a material impact on sales and delivery,
• achieving financial performance, recovering difficult jobs, improving profitability,
• being very structured, detail orientated and able to deal with complexity and varying levels of uncertainty,
• being well respected for my experience by industry teams,
• commitment to Technology business overall,
• actively sharing my experience and perspectives on how to grow and improve the Technology business overall,
• being a significant part of the leadership team and contributing to overall success,
• being a committed and valuable member of the extended team and having a good grasp of the delivery and potential delivery issues,
• exposing and teaching teams on new tech topics and future growth engines,
• playing a critical role one in one the most successful accounts across Accenture South Africa, and shaping its strategy and outcomes,
• demonstrating utmost professionalism and leadership,
• facilitation of core tech curriculum courses for technology professionals and
• building relationships with capability leads and ecosystem partners.

Quality Assurance Directors at Accenture are certified senior leaders who have specialised experience and skills to manage quality and risk on higher complexity and -risk deals. They serve as trusted advisors to Companies and Accenture teams, providing an independent view of risk, value delivered, and potential barriers to success.

As a Quality Assurance Director, my responsibilities spanned the entire project lifecycle.

During Sales & Solutioning (Opportunity Phase):

• Conduct opportunity QA and ensure solution alignment between the Client and Accenture team.
• Participate in New Business Meetings to provide an independent perspective on risk and barriers to client success.
• Review and approve Solution Contingency allocation.
• Ensure material risks are identified and managed.

During Mobilisation:

• Conduct regular cadence of quality reviews.
• Enable a smooth transition from sales to delivery and ensure adherence to quality standards.

During Delivery:

• Manage risk and mitigating actions jointly with the client and Accenture team.
• Conduct regular joint quality management reviews.
• Identify potential changes or misalignments in expectations.
• Advocate for positive outcomes by identifying barriers to success and necessary actions.

During Program Wrap-up:

• Capture key learnings and valuable insights for future projects.

I was asked to take the lead for previously contracted delivery work (D365 AMS, BI AMS and Security IMS portfolio) as well as the recently awarded managed services scope (IMS, SIAM, SACM, SAM).

Headcount pf the team was 195.

This complex deal included the transfer of people and management of service transition.

Transition of services to Accenture went well and transferring employees were complementary of the employment transfer process.

Performance of the new services against SLA was successful with seamless transition and knowledge transfer from the previous supplier.

Detailed analysis of incidents and service requests were used to inform improvement plans.

Within 4 months we achieved:

• 75% Reduction in Severity 1 issues.
• 25% Reduction in Service Requests.
• 30% Reduction in Incidents.
• 90% Reduction in maximum aging of Incidents.

The role entailed deal solutioning and ensuring deliverability for a $43m managed services engagement.

This complex deal included components such as:

• Infrastructure Managed Services.
• Service Integration and Management.
• Service Asset and Configuration Management.
• Software Asset Management.
• Application Management and Support.
• Transfer of people to Accenture.

"Dylan played a critical role on the account, one of the most successful accounts across Accenture South Africa, and shaped its strategy and outcomes. He has done exceptionally well and should be credited with the success of the account." - Senior Leader and Exco member.

Portfolio Directors are experienced delivery executives, trusted client advisors and innovative leaders driving success for Clients, People and Accenture.

As Africa Technology Delivery Portfolio Lead I worked across Industry groups with the Technology and Consulting Sales Leads, Customer Group Leads and Account Leadership to:

• Deliver the technology account plans (Sales, Revenue, Profitability, Cost of Poor Quality) across the industry portfolios.
• Ensure quality tech delivery across the portfolio.
• Ensure Tech community alignment and industry focus.
• Ensure deliverability during opportunity stages for technology work across accounts.
• Focus on training & certification for Technology Service Delivery Leads.
• Enable investment in development of Analysts.
• Institute, measure and track contract improvement plans.

I was the Technology Services Lead for a team of 240 at a Health Industry Client.

This team was highly distributed geographically.

The scope entailed Application Maintenance and Development and the international rollout of the platform including data migration.

• Built Client engagement and trust through delivery excellence and data led management.
• Continuous Improvement of quality, experience and productivity (SLAs and Development Quality).
• Implemented Process and Governance improvements to stabilise environment.
• Reduction of Client costs through the optimisation, eradication and automation of work.
• Sales, revenue and profitability accountability.
• Mentoring of senior management.
• People development and coaching.

I was the Technology Services Lead for a Communications Industry Client. The highly distributed team of 180 performed Application Support, Maintenance and Development..

Success was achieved through:

• Client engagement and trust through delivery excellence.
• Continuous Improvement of quality, experience and productivity (SLAs and Development Quality).
• Reduction of client costs through optimisation, eradication and automation of work.
• Management of sales, revenue and profitability.
• Mentoring of senior management.
• People development and coaching.

The contract extension was successfully negotiated.

I was the Technology Services Lead for a large Retail client, directing a team of 430 people.

Scope:

• Service Desk & Service Management.
• Architecture.
• Application Maintenance, Support & Development (Finance, Financial Services, Point of Service, Data Warehouse, Supply Chain).
• Asset Management Centre.
• Field Services.

Key outcomes:

• Executed complex resolutioning and offshoring to achieve cost savings.
• Developed and executed initiatives to enhance operational efficiency and service delivery.
• Fostered relationships with key stakeholders to align project goals with business objectives.
• Mentored and coached senior leaders, promoting a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration.
• Oversaw operations and provided corrective feedback to achieve daily and long-term goals.
• Strengthened client relationships with regular communication, timely project delivery, and high-quality services.
• Developed comprehensive business plans, outlining long-term goals and actionable steps toward success.
• Delivered consistent revenue growth by identifying new business opportunities and expanding service offerings.
• Implemented robust financial controls and reporting systems, ensuring accurate forecasting and budget management.
• Promoted a culture of continuous learning by investing in employee development programs and resources.
• Championed process improvement initiatives to streamline workflows, reduce costs, and enhance productivity.
• Improved decision-making processes, implementing data analytics that provided actionable insights across departments.
• Strengthened stakeholder relationships, providing regular updates and managing expectations through effective communication.
• Reduced financial inconsistencies while assessing and verifying billing invoices and expense reports.

I led a team of 75 performing Application Maintenance, Support and Development of Financial Services platform.

Additionally I led the systems component on a project to enable a R10b sale of the credit book (2012).

Under my leadership the team created an innovative solution to enable credit books sales in 20% of the time previously required.

This role entailed working closely with business, peer system teams and suppliers, including:

• Point of Service
• Finance
• BI
• Credit Management
• Data Centre

Key outcomes:

• Achieved significant reductions in batch failures and batch window through data led improvement plans.
• Enhanced customer satisfaction by improving processes, addressing root causes, resolving disputes promptly, maintaining open lines of communication, and ensuring high-quality service delivery.
• Mentored staff, fostering professional growth and enhancing team performance.
• Maximised performance by monitoring daily activities and mentoring team members.
• Managed budgets effectively, ensuring optimal financial performance while investing in necessary resources for business growth.

Responsible for the Service Delivery of a 55-person field support team.

Successfully delivered on SLA and project timelines for incidents, service requests, store opening and closing projects, refurbishment projects, software image management, hardware R&D, etc.

Entailed rebuilding the culture, image and data driven management of the team.

I operationalised an Asset Management Centre for a Retailer's store hardware (desktops, servers, switches, payment devices, etc.).

I implemented processes for receiving, dispatching, warranty management, maintenance, disposal, spare parts demand planning, stock management, etc.

Key focus areas:

• Established a PMO for a multi-vendor SDLC environment.
• Created scalable methodology based on scale and complexity of projects.
• Designed and managed the creation of the PMO portal.
• Led change management and migration process.
• Accordingly instituted required governance and forums.

Responsibilities:

• Led cross-functional teams to develop and implement strategic initiatives, enhancing operational efficiency.
• Mentored junior managers, fostering professional growth and improving team performance.
• Collaborated with stakeholders to align resources and optimise project outcomes.
• Facilitated training sessions to enhance team capabilities and operational knowledge.
• Maintained positive customer relations by addressing problems head-on and implementing successful corrective actions.
• Evaluated employee performance and conveyed constructive feedback to improve skills.

Responsibilities:

• Led development teams to deliver high-quality software solutions aligned with business objectives.
• Managed application lifecycle, ensuring timely updates and adherence to industry standards.
• Mentored junior developers, fostering skill development and knowledge sharing within the team.
• Developed detailed project plans including scope definition, timelines, resources requirements, risk assessment, and communication strategies.
• Communicated directly with project stakeholders, providing timely updates on project advancement.
• Led technical discussions to align stakeholders.

• Led software development projects, ensuring adherence to best practices and coding standards.
• Mentored junior developers, fostering skill growth and enhancing team productivity.
• Designed updates to existing software to meet changing customer demands.
• Produced robust, accurate code that minimised production issues.
• Evaluated and improved development work of other developers on team, working to provide training, constructive criticism and knowledge transfer.
• Delivered well-documented code that simplified ongoing maintenance efforts by other developers working on future iterations of projects.
• Developed clear specifications for project plans using customer requirements.
• Authored code fixes and enhancements for inclusion in future code releases and patches.

• Enhanced software functionality by identifying and resolving complex coding issues.
• Designed intuitive user interfaces that enhanced overall product usability and customer satisfaction levels.
• Developed custom software solutions for clients, tailored to their specific business needs and operational challenges.
• Developed comprehensive documentation for software projects, facilitating easier maintenance and future enhancements.
• Corrected, modified and upgraded software to improve performance.
• Developed conversion and system implementation plans.