Anil Agarwal
Verified Expert in Engineering
Cloud Architect and Azure Developer
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since March 8, 2023
Anil is a cloud technology architect with more than 18 years of experience. He is committed to delivering top-quality results and exceeding his clients' expectations. With his extensive experience in cloud technology and passion for technology in general, Anil helps his clients achieve their goals and take their businesses to the next level.
Portfolio
Experience
Availability
Preferred Environment
Microsoft Azure, Cloud Architecture, Azure, Integration, Cloud Migration, Azure PaaS, Cloud Strategy, DevOps
The most amazing...
...project I've worked on is the migration of 1,000+ legacy Windows servers for a large banking customer, which transformed how the company operates.
Work Experience
Lead Architect
Allen & Overy
- Led the successful migration of Allen & Overy's critical business systems, iManage, Elite 3E, and PeopleSoft, from on-prem infrastructure to Azure Cloud, resulting in a 30% reduction in infrastructure costs and a 40% improvement in system performance.
- Designed and implemented Azure architecture for migrating iManage systems across the UK, EU, and global regions, encompassing over 300 servers, optimizing infrastructure for cost-effectiveness while ensuring scalability and reliability.
- Architected and implemented a unified search system for the iManage Document Management System (DMS), incorporating AI-based search capabilities and advanced data recovery mechanisms.
- Provided technical leadership and guidance to the project team throughout the migration process, facilitating knowledge transfer and ensuring adherence to best practices and industry standards.
- Implemented robust backup and disaster recovery strategies for Azure-hosted applications, achieving a 99.99% uptime and minimizing data loss in the event of system failures or disruptions.
- Conducted regular performance assessments and optimization initiatives for Azure Cloud resources, resulting in a 15% reduction in infrastructure costs while maintaining optimal system performance and scalability.
- Acted as a subject matter expert on Azure Cloud technologies, providing guidance and recommendations on platform enhancements, feature adoption, and cost optimization strategies.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop and deploy proactive security measures, including encryption protocols and access controls, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive business data stored in Azure Cloud.
Azure Integration and Solution Architect
AkzoNobel
- Acted as an Azure integration architect on a project that involved adopting a new procurement system, Coupa, to process PO, GR, invoices, and other interfaces needed to send or receive data to multiple SAP systems globally.
- Led a team of developers to create a middleware layer for the new procurement system, Coupa. The middleware layer, which utilized Azure Logic Apps, Service Bus, and Azure Functions, streamlined data transfers between Coupa and multiple SAP systems.
- Gained experience working with SAP systems, helped execute a proof of concept to migrate these systems to Azure, and completed the project on time and within budget with all SAP systems, i.e., six environments, globally.
Azure Evangelist
Tata Consultancy Services
- Worked as a part of the company's Microsoft business unit (MBU) on strategic cloud implementation deals for banking, finance, insurance, and public service clients across the UK and Ireland.
- Acted as an evangelist, assisted customers with cloud migration strategies, defined a digital transformation lifecycle from inception to operation, and provided expert guidance to help with technological and business process decisions.
- Migrated 1,000+ legacy Windows servers for a large banking customer. Defined a road map and provided technical guidance to a government customer. Performed cost optimization exercises for multiple clients and delivered savings.
Senior Cloud Architect
Virtusa
- Helped customers as a part of the cloud transformation team by providing various services, such as digital infrastructure, analytics and intelligence, customer experience, applications, DevOps, and security.
- Created Pega's migration strategy for one of the largest UK banking groups. Performed a detailed comparative analysis highlighting the pros and cons of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS-based applications and reported results to the C-level executive.
- Designed and ran a proof of concept for features unavailable in the bank's managed cloud, including a data migration strategy, file transfer process, support of highly confidential data, third-party connectivity, etc.
- Designed and defined an end-to-end automated DevOps process for deploying applications in Azure using Azure DevOps.
Azure Solution Architect
Cognizant
- Assisted with numerous technical elements covering cloud advisory services, Azure landing zone design, implementation, and migration of servers.
- Migrated 200+ servers from a customer data center to Microsoft Azure and performed data center consolidation.
- Set up a landing zone and migration of multiple critical applications with over 6TB of associated data.
- Defined high- and low-level design for the Azure environment.
- Collaborated and discussed with different teams to enable the refactoring of applications using cloud-native components such as microservices, web apps, Azure Functions, containerization, etc.
- Designed, built, and deployed an application with a mix of IaaS and PaaS components.
Solution Architect
FedEx
- Joined the team of architects, as part of FedEx's culture of innovation, after the acquisition of TNT in 2016. Extended their on-premise infrastructure to Azure.
- Worked closely with Microsoft experts to determine the best practices for cloud infrastructure, including security, network routing, and SCCM processes.
- Provided guidance on Azure infrastructure design and implementation, including virtual networks, subnets, security groups, and VPN connections.
- Implemented automated deployment and management processes using Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates and PowerShell scripts.
- Developed and implemented backup and disaster recovery solutions to ensure business continuity in the event of an outage or disaster.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration between cloud-based and on-premise systems and demonstrated a strong commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.
- Proved instrumental in the project's success thanks to my expertise in cloud infrastructure design and implementation, as well as my ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
Delivery Lead
TNT
- Joined a document service team as a cloud infrastructure architect to migrate various customs clearance applications to Azure.
- Identified that their legacy system that provided electronic customs images was considered business critical but lacked disaster recovery capabilities. Also, vendor support for the legacy application had already ended, and documentation was limited.
- Conducted a thorough analysis of the existing system, including its architecture, infrastructure, and dependencies.
- Designed a cloud-based solution that provides scalability, resilience, and disaster recovery capabilities.
- Implemented the solution using Azure VMs, storage accounts, virtual networks, load balancers, and application gateway.
- Developed automation scripts to simplify the deployment and management of the solution.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams, including developers, testers, and project managers, to ensure seamless integration with other systems.
- Demonstrated my expertise in cloud infrastructure design and implementation, as well as my ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
- Achieved the successful migration of the customs clearance applications to Azure, resulting in significant cost savings, increased resilience, and improved disaster recovery capabilities.
Principle Analyst and Application Architect
TNT Express Delivery Service Depot
- Planned, designed, and supported mailroom solutions for a £25 million per annum business with six scanning and record management centers across the UK.
- Managed highly skilled technical teams and supported the development of our technical environment to meet the tactical and strategic needs of the business.
- Oversaw the delivery of technical activities across design, development, and testing teams to deliver high-quality services within governed environments.
- Maintained an innovative approach and kept up-to-date with ECM and RM market trends, researching new offerings and developing technical strategies to build capabilities and strengthen the business's market position.
- Provided valuable insights and made strategic decisions that contributed to the business's success.
Implementation Architect
United Utilities
- Acted as a document management consultant and supported migrating and deploying inbound mail-room capture processes using IBML and Captiva platforms for United Utilities.
- Set up infrastructure and developed capture processes and integrated them with dispatcher projects for automated classification and extraction of content before releasing it to multiple workflow platforms.
- Set up EMC Captiva InputAccel, web, database, and reporting servers and business processes for the new InputAccel applications while transitioning knowledge to existing support teams for future development.
- Provided significant cost savings and business benefits for United Utilities.
- Acted as a senior developer and consultant, ensured a smooth transition, and shared my expertise with the support teams.
- Helped establish a robust document management system that continues to benefit United Utilities today.
Senior Associate Technology
Publicis Sapient
- Provided expertise on Microsoft applications infrastructure services and solution management for Vertex. Led a team of five developers over four and a half years and delivered complex solutions with high quality and client satisfaction.
- Conducted feasibility and cost-benefit, gap, and root cause analyses, and proposed business solutions, while being the single point of contact for client interaction. Validated processes and improved systems for optimization.
- Reduced costs by 60% through automating processes. Recognized as the top 5% performer for client-focused delivery for three years and received an achievers award for efficient project delivery.
Experience
Azure Well Architected Framework Assessment for Cost Optimization - NHS England, UK
https://www.england.nhs.uk/As a result of the assessment, I identified areas where cost savings could be achieved without impacting performance or security. By working closely with the NHS team, he was able to implement recommendations and deliver savings of around 25-30% overall and up to 40-50% in some areas.
My work involved identifying underutilized resources, optimizing storage, reconfiguring networking, and leveraging Azure's reserved instances and other cost-saving tools. I also provided guidance on best practices for Azure cost management and FinOps.
Overall, my expertise in Azure cost optimization and ability to conduct thorough assessments and deliver cost-saving solutions helped the NHS to optimize its Azure environment and reduce its costs significantly while maintaining high levels of performance and security.
Data Center Migration to Azure Cloud
Also, I oversaw the migration execution, which included preparing the on-premise servers for migration, replicating the data to Azure, and configuring the migrated workloads on Azure. Furthermore, I ensured the ongoing health and performance of the Azure infrastructure by implementing monitoring and optimization tools and processes.
SAP Integration with Coupa Through Azure | Global Supply Chain Management
My task included defining the integration requirements, designing the integration architecture, setting up the Azure environment, and deploying, monitoring, and maintaining the integration.
Working closely with AkzoNobel's IT team, I understood their business processes and data exchange requirements between SAP systems and the Coupa SaaS product. Based on the requirements, I designed the integration architecture using Azure Service Bus and Azure Logic Apps, ensuring it was secure and scalable.
I tested the integration to ensure the seamless data exchange met the business requirements. After successful testing, I deployed the integration to production and provided documentation and training to AkzoNobel's IT team to help them maintain and troubleshoot the integration.
Lloyds Banking Group | Pega Migration to Azure | Automated Deployment
The team I managed consisted of over ten members, including cloud and DevOps engineers, security engineers, Pega developers, testers, and business analysts, both onshore and offshore. I designed and ran a proof of concept for features unavailable in the company's managed cloud. Also, I created high- and low-level designs for the proposed solutions and took them through the governance processes.
Additionally, I architected DevOps build and release pipelines to provision standard enterprise-approved resources, built complete migration and mitigation solutions for on-premise Pega environments to Azure, and drove the DevOps adoption and implementation of toolsets and best practices for automation, configuration, and release management.
Metropolitan Police London | Azure Landing Zone Build and Application Migration
My role involved assisting with various technical elements, such as providing cloud advisory services, agile application development, Azure design, implementation, migration services, and cloud-managed services to support new cloud operating models like DevOps.
One of my primary responsibilities was provisioning Azure environments, including sandbox, development, staging, and production environments. The MPS had previously engaged with another company for their subscription and on-premise connectivity to the Azure platform but was unhappy with the overall progress and readiness of the cloud platform. Therefore, I had to ensure that all their subscriptions and environments were ready regarding best practices, security, governance, and access-related requirements.
Working with such a large government organization was both exciting and challenging. In just seven to eight months, I delivered multiple projects, which enabled New Signature to win more business with the MPS.
On-premise Platform to Azure Application Migration
I oversaw various aspects of the project, including defining the high- and low-level design for the Azure environment. I collaborated closely with the AMS teams to facilitate the refactoring of the application using cloud-native components such as microservices, web apps, Azure Functions, and containerization.
Additionally, I was involved in designing, building, and deploying the application with a mix of IaaS and PaaS components. I also created a one-click deployment script using JSON and ARM templates and developed build and release pipelines to deploy the application in the development, test, and production environments.
FedEx (TNT) | Roadmap for Cloud Migration
In this project, I discussed with Microsoft experts to decide on cloud best practices around security, network routing, SCCM processes, and more. As part of my role, I participated in design discussions at the enterprise and application levels, evaluated various services offered by Azure through POCs, and worked with teams to ensure Azure services' consumption efficiently and reliably.
I assisted the information security team with assessments of the customer on the designed Azure architecture. Also, I selected migration approaches to lift and shift workloads to Azure or architecting a greenfield development and/or production platform for new applications. I drove the quality of the onboarding plan and reported to the business about implementation and ongoing cost estimates. Additionally, I documented and shared technical best practices and insights with engineering and the architect community.
Various Projects for TNT Business Solutions
In this position, I maintained an innovative approach while managing the delivery of all technical activities across our design, development, and testing teams, ensuring that we kept high standards and delivered high-quality services within governed environments.
With my extensive experience and understanding of trends in the ECM and RM market, I researched new offerings brought to market and formalized technical strategies that leveraged these developments to build the capabilities that helped our business achieve a stronger position in the market.
The clients I worked for were:
• HMLR
• Durham and Darlington NHS Trust
• UCHW
• Ministry of Defense
• National Archive of the UK
• PPI Claim Line and Stanton Fisher
• Newham Council
• Lloyds Bank
• Ipsos
Well Architected Assessment for Cost Optmisation - NHS England
https://www.england.nhs.uk/As a result of the assessment, Anil identified areas where cost savings could be achieved without impacting performance or security. By working closely with the NHS team, I was able to implement recommendations and deliver savings of around 25-30% overall and up to 40-50% in some areas.
Anil's work involved identifying underutilized resources, optimizing storage, reconfiguring networking, and leveraging Azure's reserved instances and other cost-saving tools. He also provided guidance on best practices for Azure cost management and FinOps.
Overall, Anil's expertise in Azure cost optimization and ability to conduct thorough assessments and deliver cost-saving solutions helped the NHS to optimize their Azure environment and reduce their costs significantly while maintaining high levels of performance and security.
Education
C Level Diploma (Equivalent to Master of Technology Degree) in Computer Science
Department of Electronics and Accreditation of Computer Classes (DOEACC) - New Delhi, India
B Level Diploma (Equivalent to Master of Computer Applications Degree) in Computer Science
Department of Electronics and Accreditation of Computer Classes (DOEACC) - New Delhi, India
Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics
University of Rajasthan - Jaipur, India
Certifications
Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified Trainer
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert
Microsoft
Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft
Skills
Tools
Terraform, iManage Worksite
Languages
SQL, Java, VB.NET
Frameworks
Windows PowerShell, .NET
Paradigms
DevOps, Azure DevOps, Automation
Platforms
Azure Design, Azure PaaS, Pega, Oracle Development, Application Platform
Storage
Database, Azure, SQL Server, SQL Server
Other
Microsoft Azure, Cloud Architecture, Integration, Cloud Migration, Cloud Strategy, Computer Science, IT Infrastructure, Applications, Data Migration, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Certified Trainer, Architecture, Networking, Freelance Programming, SAP, IT Strategy, Server Migration, Cloud Security, Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory, Artificial Intelligence, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Coupa, Solution Architecture, Azure Landing Zones, Solution Design, Scanning, Data Extraction, Kofax, EMC Captiva InputAccel, COTS, Machine Learning, Azure Service Bus, iPaaS, Data Center Migration, Data, CI/CD Pipelines, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), SQL Server 2015, FinOps, Costs, Law, Document Management Systems (DMS)
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