Enterprise Technology Programs, Customer Success & Transformation Leader

Enter Portfolio

Dallas–Fort Worth, TX

Vivek Issar

Enterprise Technology Programs, Customer Success & Transformation Leader

Customer Success · Cybersecurity & Technology Risk · AI Governance

About

I lead enterprise technology programs and client relationships where enablement, security, and governance have to hold up together.

For more than 25 years I have run large client engagements, IT operations, and modernization programs in healthcare, retail, energy, telecommunications, FMCG, and utilities. I carried account-level accountability across multiple engagements totaling nearly $900M, working directly with SVP and CTO sponsors and with the engineering, infrastructure, security, and vendor teams that do the work.

I am known for three things: transformation that lands in regulated, physical environments; quantitative reporting that tells executives the truth early; and operating models that keep working after handover. I bring the same access-control and stage-gate discipline to AI adoption.

Years of experience
25+
Industries
6
APAC · EMEA · NA · LATAM
Global (75+ countries)

PMP · AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate) · CISM and ISO/IEC 42001 in progress

Focus areas

  • Customer success & executive advisory

    • Senior Customer Success Manager on a $400M+ multi-tower engagement; advised the client SVP and CTO through a full account transition.
    • Six years as senior representative on a $170M+ account that renewed and expanded instead of going to tender.
    • Co-authored a three-year roadmap a client adopted as its own and renewed on.

  • Cybersecurity & technology risk

    • Zero HIPAA exceptions across a 4,000+ device refresh at 26 healthcare sites.
    • Governed NIST and ISO 27001 aligned identity, access, and monitoring controls across a 2,200+ location estate.
    • NERC CIP-aligned utility programs, OT and ICS security knowledge, and a Google Cybersecurity Certificate. CISM in progress.

  • AI security & governance

    • Applied perspectives on agent access boundaries, prompt injection, and release and shutdown governance.
    • Framework alignment to NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001, with EU AI Act applicability checks.
    • GenAI Prompt Engineer L2 and Claude Code 101. ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Implementer in progress. See applied perspectives.

Selected business impact

  • Scale

    ~$900M

    Combined engagement value across six enterprise accounts under my delivery accountability.

  • Executive advisory

    $35M+

    Client investment and expansion decisions influenced through cost modeling and performance benchmarking.

  • Cloud modernization

    61%

    Run-cost reduction through Azure modernization for a U.S. telecommunications provider.

  • Customer success & enablement

    25+ years

    Technology career spanning enterprise client engagements, including 16+ years at HCLTech (2009–2026) and six years on a $170M+ telecommunications account that renewed and expanded without a competitive tender.

  • Program delivery

    4,000–11,000+

    Devices and users per program, from a healthcare refresh across 26 sites (zero defects, zero HIPAA exceptions) to a Desktop as a Service rollout across 9 countries, plus a router refresh rolled out across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas.

  • Operations

    38% · 20%+

    Labor-cost reductions in retail (38%) and healthcare (20%+, over $2.4M annually), with no SLA degradation.

Regulated delivery record: HIPAA, NERC CIP-aligned utility programs, a state weighing-scale audit (100% compliance), and NIST and ISO 27001 controls.

Career experience

  1. Sep 2026 – Present

    Technical Program Director

    Palindrome Tech LLC · a large telecommunications client, IT infrastructure programs
    • Lead two enterprise IT infrastructure programs in Dallas and Houston in partnership with client stakeholders, aligning IAM objectives, success criteria, milestones, and dependencies.
    • Direct delivery of security and compliance workstreams implementing identity, access, and monitoring controls aligned to NIST and ISO 27001, with sprint planning, story pointing, retrospectives, and iteration reviews as the operating rhythm.
    • Own engagement cadence, status reporting, and risk tracking that surface adoption blockers early.
  2. Oct 2009 – Jul 2026

    Technical Programs & Customer Success Leadership

    HCLTech · enterprise client engagements in healthcare, retail, energy, telecommunications, FMCG, and utilities
    • Carried delivery accountability for portfolios in healthcare ($400M+), telecommunications ($170M+), retail ($110M), FMCG ($85M), energy ($75M), and utilities ($50M): nearly $900M combined.
    • Primary contact and senior HCLTech representative on a $170M+ telecommunications account for six years; it renewed repeatedly and expanded without a competitive tender, with $20M+ in service expansion influenced and 45% better operational efficiency from a delivery model that stayed the account standard.
    • Cut cost with no SLA degradation: run cost down 61% through Azure modernization, support labor cost down 38% in retail and 20%+ (over $2.4M annually) in healthcare, over $1.2M CAPEX and about $400K OPEX saved on a thin client migration, and 34% waste found in utility provisioning.
    • Influenced $35M+ in client investment and expansion decisions ($15M+ retail, $20M+ telecommunications) through cost modeling and performance benchmarking, and secured $2M in incremental investment on first submission.
    • Mobilized a 4,000+ device refresh across 26 hospital and clinic sites within two months of account takeover: zero defects and zero HIPAA exceptions. A transition governance framework cut onboarding and transition time by about nine days across every tower.
    • Built an 80-vehicle field service operation outside contracted scope, cutting hardware ticket volume approximately 35–38% month over month, and delivered state weighing scale recertification through a government audit at 100% completion.
    • Orchestrated a Desktop as a Service rollout for 11,000+ users across 9 countries and standardized Azure and AWS delivery frameworks, raising engineering productivity 34% and service reliability 15%.
    • Built a global field and end user services organization from a standing start (176 technicians, four Operations Managers, and eight Team Leads across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas), reducing incidents 35% and improving cost margins 15% and workforce productivity 20%.
    • Improved first-call resolution 30% and reduced repeat incidents 66% in a $50M utility modernization portfolio under NERC CIP-aligned obligations; later led three Global Tower Managers and five Program Managers across a 400+ delivery headcount.
    • Progressed from Technical Program & Delivery Manager to Global Head for Programs, Delivery and Customer Success.

Earlier career
  1. Oct 2008 – Sep 2009

    Sr. Technical Lead

    Quatrro Business Solutions · India
    • Supported pre-sales and post-sales engagement for an internet security product.
    • Served enterprise and SMB clients.
  2. May 2006 – May 2008

    Technical Consultant

    HCLTech (British Telecom) · India
    • Provided pre-sales advisory and post-sales support for network equipment.
    • Supported managed services delivered through joint offerings with Yahoo and Symantec.
  3. Oct 2005 – May 2006

    Technical Consultant

    Genpact (Dell & BUPA) · India
    • Supported claims auditing and approval workflows.
    • Maintained data integrity and process compliance.
  4. Jul 2001 – Jun 2003

    Sr. Application Developer

    Hayat International · India
    • Built export management applications that automated documentation, shipment tracking, and compliance workflows.
    • Earned Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD).

Leadership case studies

Health system device refresh at takeover speedBias for Action · Deliver Results
Situation
A Texas health system with 26 hospital and clinic sites. Two months after I took over the account, a 4,000+ device refresh had to start on partial site data.
Action
I sequenced the refresh on the data we had and corrected in flight, while live support continued. In parallel I put a transition governance framework in place for knowledge ownership, workflows, and escalation paths.
Result
The refresh closed with zero defects and zero HIPAA exceptions. Onboarding and transition time fell by about nine days across every tower.
Principles
Bias for Action: I mobilized within two months instead of waiting for complete information.
Deliver Results: zero defects in a regulated environment while live support continued.
A renewal earned through candorEarn Trust · Customer Obsession
Situation
A $170M+ telecommunications portfolio where I was primary contact and senior HCLTech representative for six years.
Action
I ran quarterly executive reviews on unfiltered performance data and disclosed delivery misses before the client found them. I built the delivery model from inception: sprint cadence, backlog governance, change control, risk registers, and health scoring.
Result
The account renewed repeatedly and expanded instead of going to tender, with $20M+ in expansion influenced and 45% better operational efficiency. The delivery model remained the account standard after handover.
Principles
Earn Trust: the client heard about our misses from me first.
Customer Obsession: I kept the client’s view of performance accurate, and the account renewed and expanded.
Field operations nobody ownedOwnership · Customer Obsession
Situation
A U.S. retail enterprise with 2,200+ locations. Stores could not predict when a technician would arrive, and the gap sat outside the contract.
Action
I took it on anyway. I built an 80-vehicle field service operation within existing budget: dispatch and routing, GPS tracking, warehouse restocking, and tiered P1/P2 defect resolution.
Result
Hardware ticket volume fell approximately 35–38% month over month (roughly 100–120 of ~300). Separately, support labor cost fell 38% with zero SLA degradation.
Principles
Ownership: I acted on a problem outside the contract’s scope.
Customer Obsession: I fixed what the stores actually experienced, which was not knowing when help would arrive.
A 72-country organization from zeroThink Big · Dive Deep
Situation
An $85M field and end user services portfolio for a global FMCG enterprise, with no global organization in place.
Action
I stood up four Operations Managers, eight Team Leads, and 176 technicians across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas, with escalation designed so anyone could raise a problem early. When I found that several countries restricted network-gear imports, I rebuilt a seven-country router replacement around in-country procurement.
Result
Incidents fell 35%, and no shipment was held at any border. Cost margins improved 15% and workforce productivity 20%.
Principles
Think Big: I built a 72-country organization from a standing start.
Dive Deep: I found the import constraint in the plan and redesigned around it.
Cross-border DaaS rolloutDive Deep · Bias for Action
Situation
A Desktop as a Service rollout for 11,000+ users across 9 countries in the Americas for a global energy company, while engineering teams built the hosted platform.
Action
I owned discovery, country sequencing, pilot validation, cutover, and stabilization. When 210 endpoint devices bound for Brazil went missing in transit, I moved Brazil to the end of the sequence and recovered the shipment in parallel. Separately, I traced recurring configuration drift to a provisioning assumption left unexamined for three years and removed it at source.
Result
The schedule was protected. Standardized delivery frameworks raised engineering productivity 34% and service reliability 15%.
Principles
Dive Deep: I traced the drift to the assumption behind it, not the symptom.
Bias for Action: I re-sequenced immediately and recovered the shipment in parallel.

Technical expertise

Cloud & Infrastructure
Microsoft Azure modernization, Amazon Web Services, Desktop as a Service (DaaS), thin client architecture, data center transformation, LAN/WAN and router replacement.
End user computing & identity
Windows 10/11 refresh and imaging governance, Microsoft Intune, SCCM, Active Directory, Azure AD, Remote Desktop, Citrix; Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Zebra estates.
Service management & reporting
ServiceNow, JIRA, MS Project, Power BI, Microsoft 365; EVM metrics (ETC, EAC, SPI, CPI).
Field operations & supply chain
Dispatch routing, GPS fleet tracking, Glovia inventory management, warehouse restocking, in-country procurement.
Technology risk & resilience
Governance across HIPAA, ISO 27001, NIST, SOC 2, SOX, and NERC CIP-aligned environments; identity, access, and monitoring control programs; vendor and third-party risk; regulatory audit readiness.
Leadership & delivery
Program and portfolio leadership, operating model design, service transition, stage-gate governance, Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery, executive and quarterly business reviews, renewal and expansion strategy, Lean Six Sigma.

AI security & governance

Applied perspectives

How access-control, modernization, and governance experience from prior programs applies to AI adoption.

  • Agent and tool access boundaries. Extend least-privilege and identity governance to AI assistants and agents: scoped credentials, read-only defaults, and human approval for high-impact changes.
  • Data exposure and prompt injection. Treat public-facing and internal AI workflows as separate trust zones, and test for prompt injection before release.
  • Framework alignment. Map AI use cases to NIST AI RMF functions and ISO/IEC 42001 controls, check EU AI Act applicability, and name an accountable owner for each system.
  • Release and shutdown governance. Carry stage-gate and cutover discipline into AI releases: read-only pilots, audit logging, rollback, and a tested shutdown path.
  • Compromise and recovery readiness. Plan for a compromised AI account as infrastructure programs plan for incidents: MFA coverage, fast revocation, and rehearsed recovery.

Credentials

Education

Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Engineering · The Institution of Engineers, India

Certifications

  • Project Management Professional (PMP)
  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
  • ITIL v3 Foundation
  • Agile Scrum Master (EXIN)
  • Six Sigma Green Belt
  • Lean IT
  • Scrum Fundamentals Certified
  • Google Cybersecurity Certificate
  • GenAI Prompt Engineer L2
  • GenAI Foundation
  • Claude 101 and Claude Code 101 (Anthropic)
  • Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
  • Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD)

In progress

  • CISM
  • ISO/IEC 42001 AI Governance Lead Implementer
  • AWS Certified AI Practitioner

Contact

Complex technology. Trusted outcomes. Let’s talk.