Joana Castelo Branco Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, England, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

IT Category Manager for Commercial Procurement - focusing on delivering cost efficiencies and contribute value in the Technology space for Burberry. As an IT Category Manager, I took on the responsibility of delivering cost savings via contract negotiation and risk mitigation, managing supplier relationships and contracts effectively for the Technology Towers, leading strategic sourcing processes for high profile, innovative projects within the Company.

London, United Kingdom

As a Global IT Asset Manager for Burberry I had the opportunity to reshape the Hardware Asset Management area by setting new processes and policies at a Global level such as Recycling and Disposal, Stock Management, Hardware and Software re-harvesting, Contract and Vendor Management.When I joined, I also had to quickly set in motion a 3-months action plan to optimise hardware fulfilment, re-harvesting and recycling across the Globe. We achieved very good results and this allowed my team to work in a more sustainable, structured way and concentrate on reporting, analysis and engagement with key business areas such as Retail and Creative Media.Significant improvement of the Starters and Leavers process in integration with the IdAM Team (Identity and Access Management) by creating new hardware and software standards for each team and streamlining the process for asset fulfilment.My team was also responsible for managing the Telephony contract and I was involved in the negotiations of very high-profile software contract renewals and in audit defense.I was involved in a project for the automation of our CMDB, through the integration of two systems, to allow Burberry to attain a high level of accuracy in the Asset Register, which will help the company reduce costs and mitigate risk regarding asset depreciation and insurance, increase security and plan more accurately for the asset refresh lifecycle.

London, United Kingdom

Reporting into CTOAt Informa I expanded my knowledge and skills in Software and Hardware Lifecycle at a more strategic level. I also coordinated the Microsoft Renewal whilst the Company was undergoing an M&A and achieved £M in savings.Responsibilities:I managed a team of people who were responsible for the complete Software Catalogue and Lifecycle of hundreds of applications used by Informa’s 5 Divisions across approximately 8,000 fixed and virtual desktops in 30 different Countries.We created and redesigned processes and policies for ITAM across the Group and were responsible for maintaining an accurate IT Asset Inventory, in collaboration with Change Management and the Service Delivery Teams.I was the internal business lead for the commercial relationship with Microsoft, Adobe, IBM and Snow and responsible for the engagement with the Security team and the Heads of the different Business Divisions regarding: software usage and legal terms, contract negotiation, license compliance, application upgrades and sun-setting of older versions. I supported the creation of a new End-User Computing strategy for the Group with focus on automation of processes and integration of tools (Snow, SCCM and ServiceNow) in order to deliver seamless workflows for the Hardware and Software Stores as well as Service Management improvement and cost reductions. I created metrics and KPIs for Contract and Budget Management with the following objectives: on-time renewals, achieve savings through the review of software usage and re-harvesting of licenses as well as agreement renegotiation.Achievements: • Snow roll-out and implementation to over 8,000 Desktops (including VDi and Macs) and over 400 Servers. • Creation of a new Hardware and Software App Store in Service Now and integration with Snow to ensure Compliance within the Software Request Process as well as SCCM to deliver seamless deployment of approved, secure and managed applications to the users.

London, United Kingdom

Reporting to: Head of Technology – Senior PartnerLead the Commercial and Asset Management Team within Foster + Partners’ Technology Department at the level of Associate. This team focused on managing supplier relationships, ensuring effective procurement, budget management and looking after the company’s assets.Responsibilities:• Responsible for leading the Commercial and Asset Management Team members, agreeing goals and setting supporting objectives for team members. Effective management of the team's resources and reporting on the team's KPIs.• Leading the IT budget planning and management processes, collating detail of planned expenditure and on-going costs, forecasting and re-planning at key points in the year working with the finance team to incorporate these where agreed.• Implementing and overseeing the organisations Sftw and Hdw Asset Management processes. Ensuring high levels of license compliance, harvesting of unused software and hardware, reporting on process performance and asset utilisation. • Manage and re-negotiate renewals for all Technology services or contracts provided by external organisations. Ensuring that the Renewal process is followed in order to guarantee prompt renewal or cancellation of contracts avoiding unplanned costs.• Manage IT suppliers to ensure positive and effective relationships, lead the procurement administrators and ensure compliance with company processes. Run the tender processes for the Technology Department.• Lead cost reduction initiatives to address any problem areas or create opportunities to reduce IT spend where possible.• Business case creation in order to provide advice and guidance to decision makers to support the organisation's best interests on Software License and Hardware management.• Improve the automation of Software and Hardware Asset Management processes through systems integration; asset discovery, data mining and reporting; process documentation, communication and auditing.

London, United Kingdom

As a Software Asset Manager I was responsible for overseeing procurement, management and compliance relating to software licensing for the Practice, ensuring that the license records are well maintained and that licenses are allocated and used most effectively, working with IT Procurement team and having a close working relationship with the Configuration Management function.Responsibilities:• Manage contracts and vendor relationships to maximize return on investment for software licensing and maintenance.• Review proposed technical solutions to ensure the correct license model is adopted and procured.• Identify savings opportunities for software renewals and licensing.• Provide regular reporting for budgeting, software compliance & inventory, contract summaries, and cost comparison purposes.• Review and advise on contractual license holding and terms and conditions.• Assess software licensing requirements and procure in the most effective way for the company.• Maintain accurate records of software licenses and maintenance agreements in the configuration management database.• Ensure the company is appropriately licensed for software usage and making best use of software assets• Respond to requests from end users, managers, developers and team members for specific IT Software requests.• Provide guidance and training to the IT Department on software compliancy.• Assist with other (non-software) procurement tasks at peak times or when cover is required and train members of the Procurement team to cover software procurement tasks.

Lisbon Area, Portugal

As a Manager for the SAM Business Unit, I managed a team of people delivering SAM projects and audits for Microsoft as well as other Software vendors. Responsibilities:• Effective management of the team's resources and reporting on the team's objectives and KPIs.• Responsible for the Microsoft partnership and Gold Partner Certification in SAM and Licensing.• Responsible for the Snow partnership – this software was used by the team for software inventory and discovery as well as application usage metering.• Overview the delivery of Microsoft SAM Baseline Reports; SAM Assessments and Deployment Reporting.• Overview the delivery of Consultancy projects and Audits regarding License Entitlement and usage for over 20 different software vendors.• Delivery of SAM and Licensing training and workshops.• High Level presentations to Clients on ROI, Compliance Reporting and Dashboards.Achievements: Managed a successful Business Unit in an extremely tough economic environment. Develop the Consultancy offer from scratch and established successful Partnerships with global software vendors. Conducted complex License Compliance Audits for several organisations. Published opinion articles creating awareness to SAM Services and on how to achieve ROI through the re-negotiation of software agreements.

Lisbon Area, Portugal

Software & Services

While at Microsoft and having worked in different positions I was able to gain great knowledge and experience about Sales and Marketing and about the IT Industry as a whole. Commercial Team Leader Dec 2006 - Jan 2010Responsibilities:• Managed a team of Partner Account Managers in the Small and Medium Business Unit. • Coordinated team activities: elaboration and analysis of team reports and metrics. • Delivered training in Microsoft Licensing Programs and Products. • Sales Pipeline management and reporting. Partner Account Manager April 2002 - December 2006Responsibilities:• Addressed Commercial, Sales and Licensing issues as well as the Microsoft Partner Network (technical certification). • Elaborated Partner Business Plans for the financial year. • Managed Pipeline and Sales. Recruited several new Microsoft Partners. • Defined and developed joint marketing campaigns.

Other; Certificate In Negotiation Mastery, Completed

Negotiation Mastery is an 8-week, 40-hour online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Negotiation Mastery prepares students.

Licenciatura, Gestão

Completed with 16/20 average.