G OP Akumar Narayana Panicker

Gopakumar Narayan-| - Location: Kerala, India | Career Summary A dynamic IT professional with 16 years of expertise in managing Delivery of IT Solutions and IT Support management in Retail Industry including Application, Infrastructure, Project Management and Business process consulting. Possess Extensive experience in Retail Industry business processes and best practices on various Retail domains such as Merchandize Financial Planning, Category Management, Supply Chain, Assortment Planning, Trade Management, Warehouse Management, Inventory Management, Store Management, Point of Sales, Logistics / Distribution, ECom / Omni Channel and Business Intelligence/Information Management . Work Experience Landmark Group, Dubai, UAE Business Relationship Manager Apr 2017 – Aug 2020 An integral member of the 6-member BRM team in dynamically executing business process re-engineering initiatives of Landmark’s Omnichannel Retail domain. Supporting Business Growth and Continuity by managing strategic partnerships and developing technology roadmaps with a focus on Accelerating Customer Success. • • • • • • Engaged with IT and Business on several key programs delivering more than USD 75 Million in business benefits, notably; RFID (Checkpoint), PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), Oracle Planning Suite (Merchandise Financial Planning, Assortment Planning). Responsibility included Post Implementation Review. Achieved significant cost saving (approx. 1% on freight OPEX) by delivering Cost and Volume Comparison dashboard for the corporate supply chain. Delivered “Management Exception Reports” enabling the management to pro-actively improve the stock and sales positions in the stores. Implemented Crowd Management Solution for the retail stores as part of business continuity plans during COVID19 Pandemic. Actively managed Change Request Management process across all IT projects resulting in minimized costs and increased efficiency in project management with shorter correction and going-live phase. Participated in vendor/product evaluations along with POC (Proof of Concept) for multiple new technologies, notably; (SAP HANA for “Single View of Truth” and “Exponea” for Customer Data Platform / Marketing Automation). MAX Retail LLC, Dubai, UAE IT Manager Jul 2007 - Apr 2017 Responsible for the IT infrastructure setup of 35 UAE MAX stores. Successfully contributed and oversaw key solutions for the core retail teams – store, merchandising, planning, and warehousing notably ORACLE Retail Implementation for Concept and UAE Territory. • Implemented Visual Retailing for the brand thereby achieving significant savings in productivity. • Served as SPOC during discovering, requirement gathering for Oracle Retail Implementation. • Responsible for data migration from in-house systems to Oracle; notably POS to Oracle point of sale for 35 UAE MAX stores. • Extensively contributed to effective Inventory Management which involved researching discrepancies between inventory reports throughout numerous store locations. Page 1 of 2 • • • • • • Initiated Wooqer (collaboration platform for accountability tracking in real-time with workflows and checklists) rollout for UAE stores and office. Led PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) implementation. Provided training for 500+ Vendors ensuring 100% adoption. Provided Automated Replenishment and Store Consolidation Solution enabling stores to proactively manage product displays at the store. Handled Business escalations with élan achieving the expected delivery standards. Led MAX business during the implementation of Enterprise Reporting which includes requirement gathering, report development & UAT. Post-implementation worked on Analytical reporting for business users using OBI Answers/Dashboards. Provided End to End “Shipment visibility report’ and “landed Cost report” to logistics team enabling reduction of sizeable man-hours and improved visibility of shipments. Noteworthy Mentions o o Appreciated for the successful completion of UAT on all Retail modules (RMS, WMS, SIM, POS). Appreciated for the infrastructure readiness for both stores and warehouses during Oracle Retail rollout. MAX Retail LLC, Dubai, UAE IT Coordinator May 2004 - Jun 2007 Bharti Televentures Ltd., New Delhi, India Network Support Executive Jan 2003 - Dec 2003 Targus Technologies Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India Hardware Support Executive Mar 2001 - Jan 2003 Womeninfoline.com, New Delhi, India IT Support Executive Jan 2000 - Jan 2001 Academic Qualifications Master of Arts in Economics MG University, Kerala, India 1996 Trainings / Certifications • • • Certified in ITIL Service Management Foundation MEP (Managerial Excellence Program) from SP Jain Dubai MCSE Certified Language Skills English, Hindi – Fluent Malayalam – Native Page 2 of 2