Eric is available for hire

Eric Mhlongo

Verified Expert in Engineering

Solutions Architect and Developer

Location

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Toptal Member Since

January 20, 2022

Eric is a technology leader and digital advisor that unifies business vision, connects strategy to execution, and empowers teams and individuals to succeed. He has a track record of success in leading, architecting, delivering complex, customer transformation programs involving IT strategy and governance, digitization, innovation, modernization, cloud deployments, and migrations worth over $20+ million. Eric has 14 years of IT industry experience backed by five years of global work experience.

Portfolio

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation, IT Strategy, IT Governance...

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Solution Architecture, Digital Transformation, Digital Strategy...

Silica Financial Services

Leadership, Digital Transformation, Digital Strategy, Cloud Strategy...

Experience

Solution Architecture - 8 years Enterprise Architecture - 7 years IT Strategy - 7 years Cloud Strategy - 6 years Azure - 5 years Cloud Migration - 5 years Digital Transformation - 5 years Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 5 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, VMware, Confluence, Jira

The most amazing...

...program I've led is an enterprise digital transformation program worth over $20 million and cloud adoption for customers across 20 African countries.

Work Experience

Customer Solutions Manager III—Financial Services

2020 - 2021

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Provided thought leadership, prescriptive guidance, and accelerated AWS largest enterprise financial services client along with their multi-year cloud-powered digital transformation program worth over $20 million.
Engaged customer business, finance, and technology executive leaders to understand business goals, drivers, and challenges. I assessed their current business state and developed proposals for enterprise-wide cloud transformation.
Led engagement planning, mobilized resources, and ensured that all teams like solutions architects, consultants, sales, product, and partners are working together effectively to deliver customer outcomes.
Introduced mechanisms for enabling organizational and people change critical to sustained success and wide-scale cloud adoption, such as Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE), DevOps and innovation enablement functions, and enterprise re-skill models.
Owned and led cloud enablement and accelerated adoption for customers across 20 African countries. I supported them with portfolio assessments, business case development, operating model, roadmap, technical capabilities, deployments, and migrations.

Technologies: Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation, IT Strategy, IT Governance, Enterprise Transformation, Digital Strategy, Cloud Strategy, Cloud Deployment, Cloud Migration, Enterprise Architecture, IT Project Management, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Leadership, Customer Engagement, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Private Banking, Engineering, Platforms, VMware, Information Security, Networking, Solution Architecture, Migration, Cybersecurity, IT Infrastructure, Enterprise Software, Servers, Storage, Virtualization, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Innovation, Modernization, Cloud, Agile Project Management, ITIL, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Architecture, Investment Banking, Wealth Management, Asset Management, Team Management, Interviewing, Technical Hiring, Global Team Management

Senior Solutions Architect III

2019 - 2020

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Provided technical thought leadership, architecture consultation, and best practices to education sector customers on how they can use cutting-edge cloud technologies to drive digital transformation in academia and deliver business value.
Helped researchers to leverage cloud computing services to solve some of the biggest data, analytics, and artificial intelligence-related challenges and accelerate time to achieve scientific breakthroughs.
Worked with AWS engineering teams to convey customer and partner feedback as input to AWS technology roadmaps. I influenced AWS roadmap changes to accelerate customer adoption and value.
Helped customers to establish their overall cloud vision, strategy, and roadmap and then helped them to execute cloud deployment and migration projects to transform their institutions.
Helped researchers to run large, complex simulations and deep learning workloads in the cloud using a complete suite of AWS high-performance computing (HPC) services to gain insights faster, and quickly move from idea to market.

Technologies: Solution Architecture, Digital Transformation, Digital Strategy, Digital Innovation, Cloud Strategy, Cloud Deployment, Cloud Migration, Databases, Networking, Migration, High-performance Computing, Cybersecurity, Leadership, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Engineering, Platforms, VMware, Linux, Information Security, IT Strategy, IT Governance, Enterprise Transformation, Enterprise Architecture, IT Project Management, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Customer Engagement, Azure Active Directory, IT Infrastructure, Enterprise Software, Servers, Storage, Virtualization, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, VMware vSphere, Scripting, Innovation, Modernization, Cloud, Agile Project Management, Learning Management Systems (LMS), ITIL, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Operating Systems, Software Architecture, Architecture, Python, Team Management, Interviewing, Technical Hiring, Global Team Management

Leader—Technology Architecture

2018 - 2019

Silica Financial Services

Provided leadership and strategy for the technology architecture functional area, with a key focus in driving cloud transformation strategy and architecture to drive strategic value and impact to the business.
Built a program for enterprise-level cloud transformation strategy; road-map, governance, integration, and best practices; drove a cohesive strategy that is pragmatic and focuses on business value. I served as a product owner of AWS and Azure.
Provided architectural leadership to key technology areas; IT infrastructure, DevOps, and IT security teams. I bridged the gap between traditional IT infrastructure and development teams, led and guided the DevOps culture and cloud operating model.
Served as a trusted strategic advisor to the CTO and CISO. I assisted the executive team in implementing IT and information security strategy, achieving performance improvement, and enhancing value.

Technologies: Leadership, Digital Transformation, Digital Strategy, Cloud Strategy, Cloud Deployment, Cloud Migration, Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, IT Strategy, IT Governance, IT Project Management, Information Security, Cybersecurity, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, VMware, Azure Active Directory, IT Infrastructure, Engineering, Platforms, Linux, Databases, Networking, Digital Innovation, Enterprise Transformation, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Customer Engagement, Migration, Enterprise Software, Servers, Storage, Virtualization, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Hosting, VMware vSphere, MS Exchange, Scripting, Innovation, Modernization, Cloud, Agile Project Management, ITIL, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Operating Systems, Software Architecture, Architecture, Wealth Management, Asset Management, Python, Team Management, Interviewing, Technical Hiring

Enterprise Solutions Designer - IT Infrastructure and Security

2017 - 2018

Liberty South Africa

Provided technical thought leadership, architecture design, and delivered enterprise-scale IT infrastructure, hybrid cloud, and cyber security solutions that solve critical customer needs and deliver business value.
Designed, governed, and led the implementation of hybrid cloud solutions; MS Azure and AWS.
Designed and led the implementation of a cyber security transformation program including perimeter network and endpoint security, data and application security, identity and access management, and security controls that improved the organization's security posture.
Provided guidance, assistance, and communication on architectural designs, definitions, and guidelines to software vendors, project delivery teams, and IT operations teams.
Led and worked with other domain EAs such as business applications, integration and middleware, data and analytics to ensure standardization and reuse of IT assets across the entire IT landscape.

Technologies: Digital Transformation, Digital Strategy, Cloud Strategy, Cloud Deployment, Cloud Migration, Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, IT Infrastructure, Information Security, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Software, Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMware, Hyper-V, Azure Active Directory, Servers, Storage, Networking, Virtualization, Engineering, Platforms, Azure, Linux, Databases, Digital Innovation, IT Strategy, IT Governance, Enterprise Transformation, IT Project Management, Leadership, Customer Engagement, Migration, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Data Center Migration, Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI), Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Hosting, VMware vSphere, MS Exchange, Scripting, Innovation, Modernization, Cloud, Agile Project Management, ITIL, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Operating Systems, Architecture, Asset Management, Python, Team Management, Interviewing, Technical Hiring

Solutions Architect | Project Technical Director

2015 - 2017

Huawei Technologies Co.

Provided leadership, architecture consultation, designed and delivered hybrid cloud, software-defined data center, hyper-converged infrastructure, virtual desktop infrastructure, and IT disaster recovery solutions to customers across the Middle East.
Led and drove pre-sales efforts including technical sales presentations, architecture design discussions, competitive displacement, proof of concept (POC) engagements, RFI/RFP responses, and technical workshops.
Directed and managed the end-to-end delivery and organization of architecture and technology standards, governance, security policies, risk, and performance management during the lifecycle of the projects.

Technologies: Digital Transformation, Digital Strategy, Cloud Strategy, Cloud Deployment, Cloud Migration, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Data Center Management, Data Center Migration, Solution Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Software, Servers, Storage, Networking, Virtualization, Migration, IT Project Management, VMware, Hyper-V, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Engineering, Platforms, Azure, Linux, Information Security, Databases, Digital Innovation, IT Strategy, IT Governance, Enterprise Transformation, Leadership, Customer Engagement, Cybersecurity, Azure Active Directory, IT Infrastructure, Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI), Hosting, VMware vSphere, Scripting, Troubleshooting, Modernization, Cloud, Agile Project Management, ITIL, Operating Systems, Software Architecture, Architecture, Python, OpenStack, Team Management, Interviewing, Technical Hiring, Global Team Management

IT Infrastructure Engineer

2012 - 2015

Investec Bank

Provided the overall design, implementation, administration, and support of the modern enterprise-scale IT infrastructure environment such as cloud, virtualization, storage, server, hosting, and IT DR.
Designed, implemented, integrated, and managed VMware vSphere, Microsoft Windows Server, EMC VMAX storage, Dell, and HP Data Center solutions.
Designed and implemented fault-tolerant, high availability, and IT disaster recovery solutions for the IT Infrastructure environment to ensure business continuity requirements.

Technologies: IT Infrastructure, Virtualization, Servers, Storage, Hosting, Cloud Strategy, Cloud Deployment, Cloud Migration, Databases, SQL, MS Exchange, Azure Active Directory, Windows Server, Linux, VMware, Scripting, Private Banking, Engineering, Platforms, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Information Security, Networking, IT Strategy, Digital Strategy, Enterprise Architecture, IT Project Management, Leadership, Solution Architecture, Migration, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Software, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Data Center Migration, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI), Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, VMware vSphere, IP Networks, Troubleshooting, Modernization, Cloud, Agile Project Management, ITIL, Operating Systems, Architecture, Investment Banking, Interviewing, Technical Hiring

IT Systems Engineer

2011 - 2012

Sun International

Provided all aspects of IT infrastructure management, support, optimization, and administration to Carnival City data center unit.
Designed, implemented, and managed Microsoft Data Center environment using MS Hyper-V, Windows Servers, Active Directory, MS Exchange Server, SQL Server, SCCM, and SCOM.
Designed, implemented, and managed Dell Enterprise SAN/NAS/VTL, Dell server hardware, Cisco networking, Arcserve backup, Tibco integration, Linux, and McAfee endpoint security.

Technologies: IT Infrastructure, Servers, Storage, Databases, SQL, Windows Server, Hyper-V, MS Exchange, Linux, Engineering, Platforms, VMware, Information Security, Networking, IT Project Management, Solution Architecture, Migration, Cybersecurity, Azure Active Directory, Virtualization, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Hosting, Scripting, IP Networks, Troubleshooting, Modernization, ITIL, Operating Systems, Architecture

Systems Engineer

2010 - 2011

Dimension Data

Provided proactive and reactive support to clients to ensure that their systems remain operational through proactively identifying, investigating, and resolving technical incidents and problems.
Designed, implemented, and supported enterprise-scale Microsoft Active Directory platform, Exchange Server platform, and Citrix platform.
Developed strategic plans for improving the customer's environment from a reactive culture to a dynamic infrastructure. I provided documentation, run books, and audited the supported platforms.

Technologies: IT Infrastructure, Servers, Databases, Storage, MS Exchange, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Citrix, Azure Active Directory, Exchange Server, IP Networks, Troubleshooting, Windows Server, Platforms, VMware, Linux, Information Security, Networking, Solution Architecture, Migration, Cybersecurity, Virtualization, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Hosting, Scripting, Modernization, ITIL, Operating Systems, Architecture, Engineering

Technical Support Specialist

2009 - 2010

Standard Bank South Africa

Provided support and maintenance to mission-critical applications systems to ensure banking operations are unimpeded. I analyzed incidents, identified, and implemented solutions to facilitate banking operations with minimal downtime.
Worked on the supported applications that include business delivery system, core banking, payments, and card systems.
Created and maintained documentation such as processes, procedures, and Wiki info for supported applications.

Technologies: IBM Mainframe, IBM Db2, Databases, Private Banking, Platforms, Linux, Information Security, Software Development, Solution Architecture, Cybersecurity, Servers, Storage, SQL, Scripting, Troubleshooting, ITIL, Operating Systems, Software Architecture, Investment Banking, Wealth Management, Asset Management, Engineering

Experience

Enterprise Transformation Program

I supported one of the largest AWS enterprise customer transformation program worth 100+ million over five years. I also worked as a dedicated technical and business strategic cloud program leader to drive program success, cloud maturity, and value. In addition, I led and supported multiple program workstreams, including transformation and value realization, operating model, migration portfolio and analysis, platform engineering, data, and innovation. Lastly, I successfully supported the delivery of Mobilize phase worth over $3 million and partially supported the delivery of migrate and modernize phase worth over $20 million, which consisted of over 1000 applications.

Cloud Migration Acceleration Program

I led and supported a cloud migration acceleration program worth over $4 million for an AWS enterprise customer. The program included the migration of business applications and websites, the MUREX Capital Markets platform, and the mobile banking platform. I orchestrated resources and ensured that all teams like solutions architecture, professional services, sales, product, and partners worked together effectively to deliver customer outcomes.

Africa Cloud Transformation Program

I led a cloud enablement and adoption program for customers across 20 African countries. The program was aimed to ensure that affiliated customer across Africa follows a parent company, the Group strategy and that they are successful in their cloud transformation initiatives. As the owner and leader for Africa Enterprise Transformation, I helped customers develop cloud adoption capabilities, including portfolio assessment and analysis, business case, operating model, roadmap, resources re-skilling, and cloud technical foundation needed for successful wide-scale cloud deployment and migration.

Countries supported included Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Mauritius, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

Learning Management System—Cloud Migration

https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/worldwide/south-africa/customer-stories/

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I championed, led, and supported the successful quick move of universities to online learning. I led the architecture design of a secure, fault-tolerant, and highly available Sakai Learning Management System (LMS) solution. I also supported and guided the AWS partner to migrate Sakai LMS from on-premises to AWS. Sakai is a robust open-source learning management system designed to create customized learning environments.

The architecture for Sakai solution consisted of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Amazon CloudFront, and Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) across multiple availability zones.

The migration was a success, and it allowed the university to successfully adopt online learning and able to scale to meet the demands of over 15,000 active students sessions concurrently.

Education

2022 - 2022

Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology Management

Management College of Southern Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa

2019 - 2021

Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurship and Business Management

Management College of Southern Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa

2008 - 2009

Certification in Information Technology

MICT SETA - Johannesburg, South Africa

2007 - 2009

Diploma in Information Technology

Birnam Business College - Johannesburg, South Africa

Certifications

DECEMBER 2019 - DECEMBER 2022

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate

AWS

SEPTEMBER 2019 - SEPTEMBER 2022

AWS Certified Developer Associate

AWS

NOVEMBER 2018 - NOVEMBER 2021

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate

AWS

NOVEMBER 2017 - PRESENT

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) – Azure Cloud Platform

Microsoft

JULY 2016 - PRESENT

HPE Accredited Technical Professional (HPE ATP) – Storage Solutions

HP Enterprise

MAY 2016 - PRESENT

HPE Accredited Technical Professional (HPE ATP) – Server Solutions

HP Enterprise

FEBRUARY 2016 - PRESENT

COBIT 5 Certified – Enterprise Governance for Information Technology

APMG International

FEBRUARY 2016 - PRESENT

ArchiMate 2 Certified – Enterprise Architecture Modeling

The Open Group

OCTOBER 2015 - PRESENT

VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5 (VCAP-DCD) – Data Center Design

VMware

JULY 2014 - PRESENT

Microsoft Specialist – System Center and Hyper-V

Microsoft

JUNE 2014 - PRESENT

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) – Server Infrastructure on Windows Server 2012

Microsoft

JUNE 2014 - PRESENT

VMware Certified Professional 5 (VCP) – Data Center Virtualization

VMware

MARCH 2014 - PRESENT

TOGAF 9 Certified – Enterprise Architecture

The Open Group

FEBRUARY 2014 - PRESENT

DELLEMC Certified Information Storage Associate v2 (EMCISA)

DELL

JANUARY 2014 - PRESENT

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) – Routing and Switching

Cisco

JULY 2012 - PRESENT

Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) – Enterprise Messaging Administrator

Microsoft

APRIL 2012 - PRESENT

Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) – Enterprise Administrator

Microsoft

FEBRUARY 2012 - PRESENT

CompTIA Certified Security+

CompTIA

MAY 2011 - PRESENT

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

Microsoft

DECEMBER 2010 - PRESENT

ITIL v3 Certified - IT Service Management Process

Loyalist Certification Services

JULY 2010 - PRESENT

CompTIA Certified Network+

CompTIA

MARCH 2010 - PRESENT

CompTIA Certified A+

CompTIA

Skills

Platforms

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Windows Server, Azure, Linux, Citrix, OpenStack, Docker

Other

IT Strategy, Cloud Strategy, Solution Architecture, IT Infrastructure, Virtualization, Data Center Management, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Troubleshooting, Cloud, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Information Security, Digital Transformation, IT Governance, Cloud Migration, Enterprise Architecture, Leadership, Customer Engagement, Migration, Servers, Storage, Disaster Recovery Consulting, Data Center Migration, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI), Scripting, IP Networks, Modernization, Exchange Server, Operating Systems, Architecture, Engineering, Platforms, Team Management, Interviewing, Technical Hiring, Global Team Management, Software Development, Networking, Digital Innovation, Enterprise Transformation, Digital Strategy, IT Project Management, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Enterprise Software, Innovation, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Software Architecture, Investment Banking, Private Banking, Wealth Management, Asset Management

Tools

VMware, Hyper-V, VMware vSphere, MS Exchange, Confluence, Jira

Paradigms

Hosting, ITIL, High-performance Computing, Agile Project Management

Storage

Cloud Deployment, Azure Active Directory, Databases, IBM Mainframe, IBM Db2

Industry Expertise

Cybersecurity

Languages

SQL, Python

Collaboration That Works

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