Bertrand Cabaret

When I stepped into this role, I knew the challenge was immense—overseeing global End User Computing (EUC) operations for a vast, dispersed workforce. But I also saw an opportunity: to transform IT service delivery, drive strategic change, and lead large-scale integrations—all while ensuring seamless experiences for every employee. Here’s how my team and I made an impact: • Cut costs without compromise: By rethinking procurement and usage strategies, we slashed laptop expenditure by 50%—freeing up budget for innovation while keeping teams equipped. • From regional to global—smoother, faster, better: We moved away from fragmented regional IT support to a unified global delivery model, boosting efficiency and ensuring consistent service for every employee, no matter where they worked. • Leading through change: Mergers and divestments can be chaotic, but I’ve steered critical IT integrations within FIS, ensuring seamless transitions—so teams could keep working without disruption. • Empowering a global workforce: Managing a 400-member team across regions isn’t easy, but together, we’ve delivered reliable IT services to 90,000+ employees and contractors, helping them stay productive and connected.

When I took on this role, the mission was clear: unify IT operations across borders—streamlining teams, cutting inefficiencies, and ensuring seamless tech support for every international office. But no one could have predicted the biggest challenge of all—enabling an entire workforce to work from home, almost overnight. Here’s how we turned obstacles into opportunities: • The race to remote work: When COVID-19 hit, we had three weeks to equip 95% of employees with secure, reliable work-from-home capabilities. No playbook, no time—just relentless focus. And we delivered. • Stronger together: Scattered local IT teams weren’t just inefficient—they created inconsistency. So we restructured operations into a unified global model, boosting speed, clarity, and collaboration. • Mergers, divestments, and midnight oil: Leading IT integrations isn’t just about tech—it’s about people. Every transition was designed to keep teams productive, with minimal disruption—even when the stakes were high. • A leaner, smarter global IT footprint: By offshoring support teams, we didn’t just cut costs—we boosted efficiency by 75%, proving that smarter operations could mean better service at lower cost. • Transformation beyond tech: That “global initiative” wasn’t just a project—it was a culture shift. We didn’t just meet targets; we rewired how IT aligned with the business, setting up long-term success. This wasn’t just about systems or budgets—it was about keeping people connected when the world went remote, simplifying complexity across regions, and proving that IT could be a strategic force, not just a support function.

Picture this: 100+ IT professionals spread across 20 countries, a sprawling tech stack of 7,300 workstations and 5,400 servers, and the challenge of keeping everything running—seamlessly—for a rapidly growing business. That was my reality when I took the helm of IT operations across EMEA and APAC. This wasn’t just about keeping the lights on. It was about building the backbone of a global company—one that could scale, adapt, and support every team, from London to Singapore. Here’s how we made it happen: • The glue holding a global IT ecosystem together: From networks and telephony to Skype for Business (back when it was Lync!) and corporate portals, we didn’t just maintain systems—we built the solutions that kept teams connected, no matter where they logged in. • 24/7 support, across borders and time zones: Managing round-the-clock helpdesk teams in India and Tunisia meant no employee—whether in HR, finance, or engineering—was ever left waiting when tech issues struck. • Acquisitions, integrations, and the art of seamless change: Every merger or divestment came with its own IT puzzle. My role? Ensure zero downtime for employees while folding in new systems, teams, and processes. • From regional oversight to global leadership: What started as regional IT governance soon expanded—I took on SunGard’s global operations and engineering, ensuring infrastructure could support the company’s ambitions at scale. Looking back, this role taught me that great IT isn’t just about technology—it’s about enabling people. Whether it was an engineer in Berlin, a trader in Hong Kong, or an HR team in Mumbai, our job was to make sure their tech worked, so they could focus on what mattered.

When I first stepped into this role, EMEA's IT operations were fragmented – different regions, different standards, different challenges. My mission? To transform this patchwork into a cohesive, high-performing IT ecosystem that could support the business's ambitious growth. Here's how we turned disjointed operations into a strategic advantage: • From chaos to clarity: We completely reorganized IT support into five streamlined regions, cutting through complexity to deliver faster response times and more consistent service across EMEA. • The security revolution: At a time when cyber threats were growing, we didn't just implement security policies – we built a culture of compliance, rolling out encryption, rigorous patching protocols, and comprehensive data protection measures. • One team, many locations: Leading on-site teams in France and Tunisia taught me the power of local expertise combined with global standards – we created IT services that actually worked for each office's unique needs. • The great device migration: Remember the switch to Windows 7? We standardized thousands of devices across the region onto HP hardware, eliminating compatibility headaches while future-proofing our tech stack. • Going global while staying local: By establishing our first offshore support hubs in China, India, and Tunisia, we didn't just extend our coverage – we built the foundation for what would later become FIS's global IT delivery model. This was where I learned that real IT transformation isn't about technology – it's about people. Whether it was helping an anxious team adapt to new security protocols or coaching offshore teams to deliver seamless support, success always came down to communication, trust, and relentless focus on the end-user experience.