Collaboration Solution Architect & Technical Specialist
Portal is an award-winning business and technology consultancy specialising in Customer Engagement, Collaboration and Analytics, providing technology solutions and managed services across a range of industries including Education, Public Sector, Financial Services and Manufacturing.
Collaboration Solution Architect & Technical Specialist
Salary: Commensurate with skills and experience
Location: Bracknell, Berkshire
Portal is currently looking for a Collaboration Solution Architect & Technical Specialist to design and deliver Collaboration solutions and services to customers and to develop our value propositions around the Collaboration agenda.
Our Consulting team is an integral part of the Portal structure, designed to support external customers across multiple solutions and technologies. The Consulting team develop solutions to take to market and work with customers to deliver complex and highly visible projects.
You will contribute to the definition and delivery of solutions, based on IBM Collaboration Solutions products, to our clients. Based primarily at our offices in Bracknell, Berkshire with project work at our clients across the UK, you will be knowledgeable about the full ICS product portfolio - particularly in IBM Connections but preferably accompanied with skills such as WebSphere Portal, IBM Sametime, Notes/Domino. You will also understand the range of IBM's cloud offerings, and be able to support our marketing department in developing and delivering go-to-market materials for Collaboration value propositions, both as discrete propositions to general business and also within the Exceptional Student Experience as part of collaboration to achieve best-in-class student and staff engagement.
The role will involve the delivery of customer projects using the Collaboration technologies. We anticipate that the role will be split across the solution architecture, pre-sales/marketing, and delivery tasks.
We will require the successful candidate to be able to support, demonstrate and deliver in the following key areas:
Solution architecture, pre-sales and marketing support
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Analyse prospective customers' requirements, and assist in proposition of the best possible ICS software solutions, applying creative solution thinking, where appropriate to include other capabilities from Portals' Mobile and Analytics Centres of Excellence alongside Collaboration offerings;
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Create and deliver compelling demonstrations, creating presentations and/or proof of concepts which map features/benefits of Collaboration software to prospective customers' specific needs;
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Assist in the preparation of proposals and respond to the technical sections of customer RFI/RFPs;
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Analyse prospective customers' requirements, and assist in proposition of the best possible ICS software solution;
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Work with customers from all industries and lines of business; including finance, retail, commercial, public, and marketing, sales, HR, IT, CFO, CIO; adapting approach to suit the audience;
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Enable Portal sellers with new ICS product information, strategic thinking about Collaboration, and enablement on new ICS product features;
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Be a content contributor to our marketing content output, and be active in social media;
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Provide on-going technical support to well-qualified opportunities
Technical delivery
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Able to design collaboration solutions;
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Significant experience in delivering solutions to clients across multiple industries;
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Demonstrable experience in performing installs through to user interface customisations for the IBM Connections product;
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Knowledge/experience of two of the following products: WebSphere Portal, WCM, Notes Domino, Sametime, Office 365/Exchange, Sharepoint.
- Ability to deliver quality technical documentation for delivered systems
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to deepen his or her skills with these products by on-going implementation practice as part of the Collaboration Centre of Excellence's consulting delivery team.
Excellent customer-facing and communication skills are essential, together with the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships within both the sales team and with clients, and be pro-active in the establishment and growth of customer relationships. Will also be able to articulate solutions to a wide audience with clear decision-making skills with the ability to balance conflicting interests.
We require proven commercial skills, recognising the impact of own work on profitability, as well as identifying customer constraints when delivering proposals/statements of work, combined with sound business judgment and ability to communicate with all levels of management.
You will possess high personal drive and motivation to constantly improve industry, product and domain expertise and knowledge. Our candidates must be IBM Certified and have demonstrable experience of working in a professional services environment, designing and delivering complex solutions, with particular focus on building and deploying solutions both in the cloud and on premise.
How to apply: please email your CV to (see below)
Status: Full time
Base location: Bracknell, Berks
Benefits: PHI, Pension scheme, Life insurance, Private medical insurance
Career level: Non-Manager
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