Leslie Maclachlan

Nov 2017 - Current

Sector: Finance

Senior System and Network Administrator

In his position as Senior administrator, Leslie is responsible for maintaining Peregrine's Microsoft server infrastructure. Reporting directly to the CIO, he manages a small team through projects including:

• Installation and configuration of Aruba switches in a new building. (14 floor switches and 2 Core switches in a VSX pair)
• Migration of mail from Exchange to Office 365
• Azure Active Directory sync
• Dealt with stakeholders to manage the technical side of a company merger worth 1 Billion ZAR.
• Reducing RTO and RPO by implementing an Arcserve UDP backup solution.
• Maintained a strict SLA for a trading subsidiary

Sept 2013 - Oct 2017

Sector: IT Service Provider

Service Delivery Manager / Senior IT Consultant

Leslie dramatically increased customer service by transforming the business from a reactive, on-site support company to a pro-active Managed Service Provider. Team productivity was improved by his implementation of a ITIL based helpdesk and an RMM (n-able) solution. He increased company revenue by creating two new products;

• an off-site backup solution for their clients using Veeam backup
• Hosted Virtual machines

Leslie provided high level consulting services to the companie's clients. This included solution design, network Architecture as well as technical management services. Other projects he managed were:

• Increasing server availability by implementing Hyper-V clusters - Storage solutions using DAS and iSci
• He was part of a team that installed a new network from scratch to allow an Australian film to run in the African bushveld
• Managed the Exchange server configuration during a company merger
• Migrated clients from Exchange to Office365

Dec 2009 - Aug 2013

Sector: IT Service Provider

IT Manager

Leslie assisted in starting a new company in Cape Town for a German company opening a local branch. As there was only one client – the South African Golf Association, Leslie was involved in setting up the SLA, including response times, etc.

• Leslie was responsible for maintaining the security for their Public facing servers. He configured a high available VMWare cluster, a cluster of firewalls (Sonicwall) so as to mitigate downtime in their 24/7 environment.
• Leslie reduced company telephony costs by almost 40% by designing and implementing a SIP telephony solution.
• Increased team productivity by imple ITIL standards at the service desk
• Maintained a budget of R400000

Feb 2002 - Nov 2009

Sector: IT Service Provider

IT Director

Leslie moved to London from South Africa to bring his considerable skills to bear on the clients of London technology firm i-Layer Assist. Providing technical account management, consultancy and solution implementation management to London Fund Management companies, Leslie was pivotal in raising the profile of the business and in aiding its client’s growth.

Returning to South Africa in 2002, he started up a South African branch office in order to provide remote support for his London head office.

He managed a multi-disciplinary, geographicly seperate service desk supporting clients both in London and South africa. He pioneered remote server monitoring using IBM Director.

He provided high level consulting and solution design to their clients. For his company (and the London based head office), he reduced telephony costs by implementing least cost routing between two Avaya pbx’s.

He managed projects like:

• Reducing server sprawl by virtualizing many of his clients server infrastructure.
• IBM System Director installation, configuration and the subsequent management of remote servers
• Site to site VPNs
• Enabled Directors of their clients to work from home using VPN and SIP-based handsets.