Telecom Talk

	Garmin Nuvi GPS Winners
Congratulations to Michael Kirk of Cricket Communications and Jeffrey Seiden of Sage Telecom, the winners of the Garmin Nuvi GPS drawing at our Billing World booth. And thanks to everyone who stopped by!

Meet Our Staff

Featured Consultant: Luz Mariela Delgado Murillo, Project Manager

Luz joined Alliance in August of 2006. She has held IT management positions in wireless companies since 1994 and has been consulting since 2002. Luz is currently supporting a billing system conversion for an Alliance client in Mexico City.

TT: How/when did you get into telecom?
I got into telecom in 1994 when I joined the biggest mobile telco in Colombia. I held key positions from Systems Consultant to IT Operations Manager and achieved great results leading several IT projects during the six years I worked for this company. My contributions included the design and successful implementation of a LAN/WAN network, a helpdesk, and a new billing and customer care system with multiple interfaces.

TT: What is your subject matter expertise and how did you develop your knowledge in that area?
Project Management, specifically in telecom billing. After performing key positions in the IT Billing and Customer Care Operations area where I gained broad experience on the definition and delivery of the state-of-the-art processes and procedures within an IT service organization, I was called to lead a major billing conversion project. After this successful implementation I have been managing several billing programs and have employed proven and systematic processes to manage all the elements of the project from beginning to end. I have managed multi-disciplinary teams in a multi-cultural environment and have enabled to cultural change as much as the hardware-software changes. I think a well balanced combination of academic preparation, use of proven and systematic processes and learning from experience approach is the way to achieve a solid record of successful implementations of information technology programs, which I'm very proud of!!

TT: What do you feel is the biggest contribution you feel you've made to a client?
In 2002 I was called to assume the direction of the project that was facing critical issues of outstanding delays, budget overrun, resource management issues. The client was ready to cancel the project and wanted to go for an in-house development and management approach.   After listening to both the client and vendor we took several actions to solve the situation. We built a comprehensive project plan, which was reviewed and approved by all involved parties, and we implemented formal Project Management procedures with the client's participation. The very first results were evident a few weeks after and the client decided to continue with the endeavour. The project was successfully completed on time to allow the client to launch a very competitive commercial brochure using the above implemented software.

TT: What is one of the most interesting projects you've worked on?
A project I managed for America Movil where two different Billing and Database systems, from two different regions of the country, were replaced by a centralized application. I was managing over US$25 million budget; we had eight suppliers involved in the project, all of them reporting directly to me, plus around 60 people from business areas, directly assigned to the project. We migrated 1.2 million subscriber accounts and the systems serve more than 800 end-users.

TT: What is your favorite city/country to work in?
As part of my assignments, I have had a golden opportunity to visit and work in many places; it's difficult to select just one place but I would say that apart from my own country of Colombia the best place to work in would be Montevideo-Uruguay.   Montevideo is a beautiful, picturesque city of both Italian and Spanish colonial architecture.

TT: What do you like best about working with Alliance?
What I like the best about working with Alliance is the unconditional support I receive from all coworkers. Their extensive knowledge on these businesses helps them to understand the challenges we can face during those kinds of endeavors.   Alliance offers open and professional relationship to both clients and consultants.

TT: What hobbies do you enjoy in your free time?
In my free time I enjoy reading, playing tennis and investing valuable time with my family; visiting new places and learning everything about others culture, history, arts, traditions, and more!!

To request Luz for your next project or to view her full profile, visit www.atswireless.com/ServicesConsultHot.htm