Sufyaan Patel

• 80% — Improvement Data Ingestion and Warehousing Speed
• 40 — Person-hours Saved in Regulatory Reporting Submission per Cycle

The client was required to report on potential capital gains tax (CGT) liabilities for each asset on a monthly basis. The existing process was manual, error-prone, and time-consuming, frequently resulting in missed deadlines and necessitating extensions.

I designed and implemented a solution that created a data warehouse to ingest, validate, aggregate, and automatically generate reports. This reduced the monthly reporting cycle from three to four weeks to under three days, improved timeliness and reliability, and cut the workforce from three people to one, boosting efficiency and resource allocation.

The reporting cycle was reduced from three to four weeks to under three days, and the personnel required for report production dropped from three to one.

• 25% — Increase in Marketing Email Click-throughs

At Sawubona, email marketing campaigns were executed manually. A single standard email template was created and sent to a targeted list of clients, identified based on their specific interests, through mail merge software. However, this approach yielded a low click-through response rate, suggesting a lack of engagement and effectiveness in the campaigns.

As part of my role at Sawubona, I defined and owned the development of a comprehensive data strategy designed to support and accelerate AI and machine learning initiatives. I focused on optimizing data infrastructure, ensuring robust data governance and quality, and automating data pipelines to streamline workflows. I also fostered cross-functional collaboration and built the strategy with scalability and future-proofing in mind. This approach enabled machine learning workflows to leverage AI/ML effectively, driving improved consumer engagement.

I achieved a 25% increase in marketing email click-through rates, reduced unsubscribes from blogs and emails, and improved return on investment from customer data.

• 5% — Reduction in IT Costs
• 2x — Customer Base Growth

The company’s customer marketing and insights database was hosted on an on-premises SQL Server. The data volumes were approaching the limits of the existing infrastructure, and scaling up would have required increased capital expenditure. There was a need to scale out without incurring exorbitant capital costs.

I migrated the solution to AWS cloud technologies to improve scalability, enhance performance, and ensure greater flexibility for future growth. I optimized data management for marketing campaigns, improved real-time analytics, and reduced operational costs.

I improved cost efficiency, performance, and data accessibility while increasing scalability and flexibility. I also strengthened security and compliance, and reduced time to market by streamlining processes and accelerating delivery.