Milind Agarwal
Plano,USA
Summary
Seasoned Solution Architect with extensive experience at ERICSSON Inc, specializing in cloud-native application deployment and orchestration analytics. Proficient in AWS and Agile methodologies, driving operational efficiencies through AI innovations. Led diverse teams to achieve critical project milestones, resulting in a 10% reduction in build time. Demonstrates strong leadership and technical expertise to navigate the evolving telecom landscape.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Solution Architect OSS – Orchestration and Analytics practice
ERICSSON Inc
Plano, TX
10.2018 - Current
- Lead idea-thon to use transformative AI/Generative AI for operation optimization for Orchestration domain
- Lead team to deploy cloud native applications for network slicing project for Oecus
- Lead team for PKI certificate upgrade activity for cloud native applications for BAH project
- Lead and manage team of 20 resources for Orchestration and Analytics practice
- Successfully mentor and train 5-member team in Mexico for Ericsson Orchestration SI activities
- Successfully completed the delivery of 5G core solution LCM operations using EVNFM (Evolved Virtual Network Function Manager) for 5 regional carrier customers
- Successfully completed the delivery of Orchestration 5G POC implementation activities for DISH, TELUS and Sprint (2019 -present)
- Leading test team as Test Architect to design and implement test strategy for verification and validation of Cloud Orchestration and Automation of Network Services for Sprint (2018 – 2019)
- Lead SA OSS for 6 regional carrier projects for 4G LTE and 2 utility company projects for 5G SA installation using EVNFM
- Design and create framework to deploy Graph index based RAG application to support operations of projects
- Provide technical expertise and leadership for complex analysis, design, development, network audit, and architecture planning of commercially viable end-to-end technical Ericsson solutions to achieve maximum technical and business performance
- Preparing solution for automation of life cycle operations of Virtual Network Functions (VNF) and Containerized Network Functions (CNF) using Ericsson Orchestration (EO) and Evolved Network Function Manager (EVNFM) solution for efficient, and error free roll out of services in Ericsson’s clients’ networks
- Preparing end-to-end solution design documents
- Preparing artifacts required during Pre-Sales phases of the solution
- Creating software and hardware estimate documents based on Ericsson tools and Sales processes using following Ericsson proprietary tools
- Preparing Scope of Work documents and solution validation and deployment plan based on prior experience of similar activities
- Creating solution bill of material, activating licenses as per Ericsson processes
- Leading team of onshore and offshore Ericsson resources during design, deployment, and validation of the solution in client networks
- Manage assigned resources and relevant technical collaboration efforts for optimal solutions development, competence transfer, and performance management
- Utilize technical expertise to analyse technology, define business requirements, and participate in risk analysis
- Provide technical expertise and leadership to core team in developing list of potential activities and solutions
- Provide technical support and leadership for various phases of solution architecture planning and creation for Ericsson solutions to achieve optimal solutions design and development based on complex business and project requirements
- Preparing solution artifacts during pre-sales as well as post-sales phase of the automation solutions based on Ericsson Orchestrator (EO) stack
- Preparing high level design documents to provide implementation strategy for standard and customized automation solutions using EO
- Preparing and supervising low level design to describe the implementation plan in detail for client solutions using EO
- Preparing IP design for Ericsson Orchestrator components – Service Orchestrator (SO), Cloud Manager (CM) and Evolved Virtual Network Function Manager (EVNFM)
- Preparing interface specifications for peer nodes
- Preparing Initiatives, Epics and User Stories using JIRA tool issue
- Participating and mentoring the development of custom application using EO Custom Workflow VMs
- Code review with development team for custom application
- Deployment of Ericsson Orchestrator solution in Ericsson internal lab, client lab as well as production network
- Test planning and preparation of Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP), Test Object List (TOL) comprising description of tests to be performed covering end to end aspect of a solution
- Test Scope defining, Test Planning and Test Effort Estimate
- Preparation of Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP), Test Object List (TOL) comprising description of tests to be performed covering end to end aspect of a solution
- Setting up JIRA project to track bugs and provide feedback to the develop team
- Organizing client acceptance test sessions / test results review meetings (onsite as well as offsite) with clients’ representatives to agree and confirm test phase completion for solutions
- Besides, executing highly complex test cases
- Provide technical leadership and expertise for complex solution pre-sales activities, including essential areas such as technical proposal response drafting and review, hardware and software sizing, onsite technical engagement, technical proposal preparation and presentation, and product positioning
- Working with Ericsson Account and Sales Team for gathering client business requirements for automation of service roll out
- Preparing technical solution proposal to fulfill client business requirements
- Positioning Ericsson Orchestration solution to fulfill client use-cases
- Onsite technical engagement with client business and technical teams for agreement on the proposed solution
- Providing hardware resource requirement on cloud-based solutions and bare metal compute platforms for deployment of Ericsson Orchestration solution
- Preparing software licensing carts for base as well as optional value packs using Ericsson proprietary ECP tool
- Conducting onsite and online Proof-of-concept (PoC) workshops for proposed automation solution
- Providing response to statement of compliances to client provided Request for Proposal (RFP) documents
- Provide technical expertise and leadership to analyse business and project requirements, as well as to design and develop Ericsson solutions for optimal systems performance
- Participating in client workshops to gather business requirements for automation of telecom service roll out using 5G Core and other network functions
- Analysing business requirements and preparing solution proposals based on Ericsson Orchestrator product features
- Creating Initiatives, Epics and User Story as JIRA issues
- Preparing Scope of Work document based on User Stories and tracking the progress of the project delivery
- Provide technical expertise to ensure appropriate preparation and review of solution design documentation to enable optimal solution development results
- Preparing Business Requirement (BR) documents and cost estimating for each use-case
- Preparing High Level Design documents and detail (low level) design documents
- Preparing Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) and Test Object List (TOL) detailing the test steps and expected results
- Preparing method of procedure documents detailing the steps to deploy / upgrade Ericsson Orchestrator software and configuration packages to clients’ systems
- Preparing Handover documents and User Guides describing Ericsson delivered solutions and best practices to maintain and troubleshoot
- Utilize technical expertise for solution scope definition activities to enable optimal solution development progress and success
- Organizing / participating design workshops to understand scope of work involving multiple Ericsson and other vendors’ or third-party products
- Providing input to define the scope of Ericsson Orchestration products for automation of life cycle management of Virtual and Containerized Network Functions
- Deciding scope of any bespoke utility / tools to bridge the gap between clients’ requirements and available product features
- Prepare responsibility matrix and co-ordinate multiple team activity between Ericsson, client and other stakeholders
- Provide technical expertise to develop technical presentations and proposals regarding solution portfolios and associated technical functionality and benefits, taking into consideration business and project requirements
- Preparing presentation contents and leading awareness sessions to keep stakeholders technically informed regarding proposed solution, and Ericsson Orchestrator product’s adaptability to new technologies, such as Automation and cloud native architecture
- Organizing design workshops for analyzing technical aspect of solutions along with foreseen risks
- Arranging awareness sessions on newly available features of latest releases of Ericsson Orchestrator products and how these features benefit the client
- Presenting solution for automation of life cycle of network functions products using Ericsson Orchestrator custom workflows
- Organizing and leading status update meetings to present periodic progress during design, development, and test phase
- Utilize technical expertise to establish and manage stakeholder interactions and relationships for optimal understanding of business/project requirements and how those fits with the Ericsson product portfolio’s capabilities
- Organizing and attending onsite as well as online meetings with clients’ representatives during requirement gathering and design phase
- Organizing and attending onsite as well as online meetings with clients’ representatives during the progress of project delivery phase
- Arranging client awareness workshops (onsite as well as online) and imparting knowledge of the latest features of the product and how they fit for client requirement
- Utilize technical expertise for competence sharing as well as competence development with relevant stakeholders, for solution development, design, and analysis involving Ericsson’s networks and related solutions
- Organizing awareness sessions with clients and relevant stakeholders on Ericsson Orchestration (EO) products’ capability / features and scope of use for product features to meet business requirement or value addition to their existing solutions
- Arranging knowledge sharing sessions with Ericsson peers as cross competence knowledge transfer initiatives
- Arranging knowledge transfer sessions on Ericsson Orchestrator system products for new joiners
- Preparing and sharing of reusable assets (best practices of adapting new technology, automation to develop and test business logic configurations etc.)
- Provide feedback to Ericsson Research and Development stakeholders
- Analyzing client requirements and providing feedback to Ericsson Orchestration (EO) Product Management team as market analysis for the following –
- Prospective features to be included in product roadmap to cater to the market requirements following Ericsson MRD process
- As market feedback
- Providing feedback on bugs the standard product faced during deployment and delivery phase using Ericsson SDP process
- Conducting periodic license audit for EO footprint in North America and suggesting ways to improve process compliance
- Periodic meetings with EO Product Sales team on findings of the audit
- Knowledge sharing session on license compliance process
- Preparation of process document on license acquisition process
- Explore opportunities for add-on Sales
- Participate in knowledge transfer, documentation, and information sharing
- Preparation and update of solution walkthrough documents or handover documents for clients’ operations team to facilitate handover process
- Conducting knowledge sharing sessions and preparing documents on –
- Ericsson Orchestrator (EO) as a product and platform
- New features in EO
- Lessons learnt as part of the project execution
- Custom application developed on EO for the project
- User Guide for the custom application
- Ensure the availability of relevant features in Ericsson products to satisfy business and project requirements
- Proposing solution based on the roadmap of the Ericsson Orchestrator (EO) product
- Providing feedback to EO Product Design Unit for market requirement following Ericsson MRD process
- Validation of new releases for EO and preparation of method of procedure (MOP) documents to document installation and upgrade process
- Upgrading the installed base in client sites as per availability of the required feature
Business Consultant / Implementation Manager
ERICSSON Inc
Plano, TX
06.2015 - 10.2018
- Successfully completed the delivery of Orchestration 5G POC implementation activities for DISH, TELUS and Sprint (2019 -present)
- Leading test team as Test Architect to design and implement test strategy for verification and validation of Cloud Orchestration and Automation of Network Services for Sprint (2018 – 2019)
- Leading as Scrum Master to deliver a high value Cloud SDN/NFVi orchestration project using Ericsson products and ETSI industry standard architecture
- (2017 – 2018) (Client: Verizon)
- Leading and coordinating as RTE multiple scrum teams across USA and India for delivering the business-critical application for a leading toll-free service provide in North America
- (2016 – 2017) (Client: SOMOS)
- Leading 16-member team spread across USA and India in ensuring the smooth delivery to tier 1 telecom operator of private cloud solutions in the IaaS domain using OpenStack
- (2015 – 2016) (Client: AT&T)
- Designing and implementing cloud orchestration and automation solutions for virtual network services using Ericsson Dynamic Orchestration platform and products, adhering to ETSI MANO standards
- Design network service descriptors complying to TOSCA templates and designing custom workflows using BPMN tools such as Camunda for implementation of the solution
- Facilitate all aspects of SDLC lifecycle of a project from requirements gathering, functional specification to design, development, testing and manage their respective deliverables helping achieve high CSI
- Prepare Requirement Tractability Matrix to ensure complete coverage of requirements from requirement gathering and design phase, system development phase to UAT
- Manage test strategy and test plan development effort to ensure that it meets the project objectives while achieving low cost of quality
- Facilitate clients in developing technology development road map by leading discussions among various stake holders such as solution architects, business owners and product management team
- Drive PI planning exercise to come up with SMART objectives to be delivered in quarterly period and align them with project release plan
- Mentoring scrum masters and guiding/conducting scrum ceremonies such as daily scrum meetings, sprint planning, backlog preparation, retrospective, and client demos
- Monitoring and tracking sprint performance through tools such as sprint burndown and burn up charts ensuring high resource utilization
- Actively consult with client on the future road map of the project initiative to help identify add-on sales opportunity driving higher revenues from the existing clients/engagement
- Assist in presales activities such as business and technical solution development, resource estimation, resource onboarding plan and providing cost estimates for various aspects of the project
- Coordinate the effort to develop the competency plan for the practice by doing proactive gap analysis between market trend and existing resource skill set analysis
- Leverage best practices to design, develop, and deliver best-in-class Sales materials, ensuring quality and consistency within or across accounts/ regions
- Collaborate across accounts/regions to provide a single voice, ensuring that all messages are synchronized
- Maintain a broad view within or across regions and accounts
- Conduct cross-organizational debriefs to review lessons learned and implements ideas on how to improve quality, services, and deliverables
- Oversee, mentor, consult, and instruct the team regarding Ericsson proposals/RFx responses, and sales collateral
- Conduct refresher training on proposal/writing standards to ensure a consistent knowledge base among team members
MBA Summer Associate @ Strategic Services Practice
COGNIZANT BUSINESS CONSULTING
Moorestown, NJ
06.2014 - 08.2014
- Developed future technology road map and performed gap analysis comparing the legacy IT system for home-health care client
- Successfully conducted workshops and interview with client to facilitate risk analysis and ensure above average quality of care
- Identified and recommended potential areas of improvement in monitoring process to strengthen regulatory and third-party payer contract compliance across the company for health care client
Assistant Consultant
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD
Boxborough, MA
01.2011 - 01.2013
- Improved Quality Assurance process by removing redundant tests scenarios and reducing build time of project by 10%
- Developed a test strategy for the network virtualization product in coordination with development team
- Responsible for calculating cost budgeting and project valuations for the team to ensure that expenses stay within effort and resource estimated for the project
I.T.Analyst
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD
San Jose, CA
01.2008 - 01.2011
- Developed using open source technologies a “proof of concept” as technology demonstrator for getting client approval and feedback on final requirements of project
- Successfully coordinated between offshore onsite team to lead six-member team to ensure smooth delivery of Partner Program Platform project based on “Software as a Service” (SaaS) model
- Achieved $200K annual cost saving for Cisco by delivering IT tool for enrolling channel partners in more than 50 channel partner programs
- Received certificate of appreciation from Senior Director of client and “Star Team” award for outstanding contribution by efficient planning during the project release
Assistant System Engineer
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD
Mumbai, India
01.2005 - 01.2008
- As offshore team lead, led three-member team and acted as a liaison between technical team and business team of our client and ensured timely deliverable of IT project for revenue management
- Consolidated the software metrics of entire account consisting 200 team members for senior team members for continuous monitoring of account performance
Education
Executive Certificate - Business Analytics
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
Plano, Tx06.2024
MBA -
QUESTROM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (BOSTON UNIVERSITY)
Boston, MA05.2015
Post Graduate Diploma - Information Technology
S.P. JAIN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH
Mumbai, India06.2005
Bachelor of Engineering - Electronics
UNIVERSITY OF PUNE
Pune, India08.2002
Skills
- AWS
- Azure
- OpenStack
- Kubernetes
- Ericsson Orchestrator
- Oracle
- Java J2EE
- Struts
- Spring
- Hibernate
- PL/SQL
- HTML
- JavaScript
- Project manager
- Agile Project Leader
- Release train engineer
- Cloud Infrastructure Management
- SDN
- VNF
- Delivery manager
- Product manager
- Agile
- Certified SAFE 40 Agilist
- Microsoft Project
- Visio
- JIRA
Certification
- AWS Solution Architect Associate
- Azure Fundamentals
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
- Leading Safe @ SAFE 4.0 Agilist
- AI/ML (UTA)
Languages
- English, Fluent
- Hindi, Fluent
Accreditations
- AWS Technical Professional
- AWS Business Professional
- Introduction to Kubernetes (Linux Foundation)
Timeline
Solution Architect OSS – Orchestration and Analytics practice
ERICSSON Inc
10.2018 - Current
Business Consultant / Implementation Manager
ERICSSON Inc
06.2015 - 10.2018
MBA Summer Associate @ Strategic Services Practice
COGNIZANT BUSINESS CONSULTING
06.2014 - 08.2014
Assistant Consultant
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD
01.2011 - 01.2013
I.T.Analyst
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD
01.2008 - 01.2011
Assistant System Engineer
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD
01.2005 - 01.2008
- AWS Solution Architect Associate
- Azure Fundamentals
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
- Leading Safe @ SAFE 4.0 Agilist
- AI/ML (UTA)
Executive Certificate - Business Analytics
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
MBA -
QUESTROM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (BOSTON UNIVERSITY)
Post Graduate Diploma - Information Technology
S.P. JAIN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH
Bachelor of Engineering - Electronics
UNIVERSITY OF PUNE
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