About Me
With over 12 years experience in the IT industry, I specialise in analysing and transforming existing business systems and processes into more productive and efficient solutions. I strive to ensure the success of projects I have managed and partaken in. I transform the complex terminology and processes into easy to digest information, empowering the users with the new technology. I am always looking at new technologies and methods that would benefit business operations, ensuring that the business receives the best solution to their problem.
I have supported small businesses through to large enterprises of over 28000 employees all in different industries including Website Design and Hosting services, Business and IT Software training, and Engineering Consulting. I have developed, deployed and supported global infrastructure and critical business applications hosted on premise and in the cloud.
Please feel free to go through my resume, and contact me if you require any more information.
Experience
Owner / IT Consultant
Sugars IT Consulting
Central Systems Analyst
Arcadis
Delivered infrastructure and application support globally for over 28000 employees
- Supported several critical business systems including Microsoft Server 2003 to 2012 R2 servers, Exchange 2010 and 365, Lync Server 2013, Dynamics AX 2007, and Office 365 Cloud, maintaining close to 100% uptime
- Diagnosed and solved cross forest Active Directory issues within a short timeframe
Managed and contributed in infrastructure projects that improved the productivity of employees
- Lead implementer in the deployment of Lync Server 2013 infrastructure in Australia, allowing staff to collaborate globally
- Migrated and batched with PowerShell over 600 mailboxes from an existing on premise Exchange 2010 infrastructure to Office 365
- Configured Aruba Wi-Fi infrastructure to provide staff members and external consultants an easy and secure way of connectivity inside several offices
- Configuration changes to SonicWALL firewall appliances to allow specific access for clients to access external servers, including external consultants requiring specific IP addresses and ports to allow VPN access
Proactive management of IT Infrastructure and security
- Upheld strict ISO 27001 global information security standards with global infrastructure incidents and change management being documented. This maintained the security of businesses data
- Routinely performed clean-up operations on Microsoft Exchange, Lync Server, and AD infrastructure
- Identified licencing issues on Office 365 using Azure PowerShell to prevent loss of access to services to employees
- Migrated mailbox data from Office 365 soft deleted accounts into a new account
- Determined Message path of lost emails, including the releasing of emails blocked by Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010
Improved the productivity of IT employees
- Developed a PowerShell framework to batch and execute commonly performed administrative tasks by IT employees
- Reduced the time required for specific infrastructure projects components, including the migration of over 5000 on premise public folders to shared mailboxes on Office 365
- Reduced resolution time of issues experienced by staff with up to date information stored on a SharePoint knowledge base
- Provided informal training through the creation of video tutorials and small groups for new system and business processes, improving project implementation success rates.
Technology Support Officer
TP3
Delivered infrastructure and application support in Australia
- Tier 1 to 3 support for over 250 employees, instructors, and students while adhering to a service level agreement
- Ensured 99%+ uptime at four sites while sustaining a 95%+ satisfaction rating since beginning of employment
- Support for several technologies including Microsoft Server 2003 to 2008 R2, Ubuntu Linux, Exchange 2010, Lync Server 2010, Dynamics CRM, and Cisco Switches
- Ensured new employees were correctly configured, including creation of Active Directory user account, Microsoft Dynamics CRM user account, Microsoft Lync SIP account, and a Microsoft Exchange mailbox
Facilitated Infrastructure Installations and migrations to improve functionality and productivity for Staff, Trainers, and students
- Designed, configured, and migrated an existing Exchange Server 2003 and 2003 Domain Controller infrastructure to a new 2008 R2 forest, with Exchange 2010 server. The upgrade resulted in improvement in security and performance, and an increase in the available features available to be taught
- Designed, built, and configured Microsoft Lync 2010 infrastructure to allow people from several offices to collaborate. This reduced cost of phone calls between staff at different sites by not needing to utilise the existing PSTN network
- Upgraded and migrated the VMware ESX 3.5 virtualisation infrastructure to ESXi 5.0, using vSphere client and vCenter Converter for Virtual migration
- Created and maintained a Standard Operating Environment (SOE) for a training room network and implemented a deployment system to distribute the images to each PC
- Collaborated with a team to successfully install, customise, test, and implement Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Manager 2011 within a predetermined 3-month time frame. This resulted in higher productivity by staff, more features available, and the elimination of a yearly licensing fee
Provided external consultancy services
- Ensured a 500 computer standard operating environment rollout and user migration at AstraZeneca was performed successfully. The project resulted in being completed one week before delivery date
- Developed Intranet websites for external clients included Qantas, GE Capital Finance, and Takeda, ensuring clients requirements and expectations were met throughout the entire project
Created and maintained business documentation
- Created a Microsoft Visio network diagram with IP addresses of all network devices, physical, and virtual servers
- Created and updated Emergency Shutdown and Business Continuity Plan documentation, including backup and restore procedures for the Exchange database
- Maintaining a repository of information for commonly performed tasks
Systems Administrator & Web Developer
Boyd Design (Now Online Fusion)
Managed and configured Linux cloud servers running WHM and cPanel hosting software for over 100 clients
- Creating new hosting and email accounts associated with each customer
- Made configuration changes to hosting and mailbox accounts quota levels
- Migrated customers with existing hosting to our hosting provider, including proactively making DNS changes to reduce disruption
Provided Tier 1 and 2 helpdesk support for over 100 clients
- Assisted clients on the configuration of email accounts in Outlook 2003, 2007, and Mozilla Thunderbird
- Documented issues and knowledge on the company’s infrastructure in a knowledge-based wiki
Developed and deployed strategic changes to improve productivity and prevent loss of data
- Centralised the storage of data onto an Ubuntu Linux file and web server, improving speed when testing changes to websites, and creating a secondary backup
- Created and implemented a maintenance and backup plan for the local webserver and employee’s computers
Supervised, managed, and trained remote employees
- Provided training for employees and customers for the setup and configuration of Content Management Systems, Shopping carts, and Newsletter managers
- Supervised three off-site programmers to develop and manage custom PHP programming jobs, including providing conceptual designs, flow charts, and story boards to achieve the customers’ requirements and expectations
Worked Autonomously
- Worked unsupervised for over 6 months, being the first point of contact for walk in clients
- Prioritised several tasks at a time, consulting with customers to ensure the final conversion of the design to a web format was to their requirements, and delivered on schedule
Proactively researched the latest trends and coding standards
- Researched new methods for integrating JavaScript frameworks, including jQuery and Prototype, to ensure the customer was delivered a website that functioned to their expectations
- Conformed the coding of HTML and CSS to W3C recommendations for cross-browser compatibility
Certifications and Education
Currently Studying
Master of Information Systems Security
Charles Sturt University - Distance
70-411 - Administering Windows Server 2012
Microsoft
Achieved
Graduate Certificate in Information Systems Security
Charles Sturt University - Distance
70-410 - Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
Microsoft
Certificate IV in Information (Database Administration)
TAFE - Northern Beaches Campus
Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA)
Cisco Systems
Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT)
Cisco Systems
Certificate III in Information Technology (Network Administration)
TAFE - Northern Beaches Campus
Skills
Problem Solving, Time management, and Automation
I enjoy the challenge of receiving a problem or request, and determining the best course of action to take to ensure the stakeholders are happy. I utilise my time management skills to assess the priority of the request or issue, determine the best course of action to fix the issue or implement a request, and if feasible, develop a way of automating to reduce time to perform that action in the future. An example would be new user creations. I created a PowerShell script that performs several functions including password modification, Mailbox creation, and Lync account set up. This reduced something that would take an hour to approximately 5 minutes.
Enthusiasm with keeping up to date with latest trends
I enjoy the challenge of going into the office and determining what actions I could take to affect the business in a positive manner. I dedicate a large part of my free time to learning about new software, hardware, and methods to ensure I have the most up to date knowledge to solve daily issues and requests. I also test my knowledge learnt by setting up development and production environments outside of work. This includes a FreeNAS storage server with Robocopy backup, and a Windows Server 2016 Active Directory domain at home.
Professionalism, ethical behaviour, and Security
Professionalism and ethical behaviour is paramount for me. Maintaining trustful relationships with both internal and external people has been highly regarded. On many occasions, confidential actions and information are required to be undertaken, such as disabling of a person’s access before they are made redundant, and making changes to permissions on confidential information. Learning new ways to provide security in a business environment is a passion of mine, and I am continuing to learn through doing a Masters in Information System Security.
Technologies
- Virtualisation technologies such as Hyper-V, VMware Esxi, and Virtualbox servers
- Installing, configuring and maintaining Windows and Linux operating systems, including Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2016, Windows XP to Windows 10, and Ubuntu Linux.
- Backing up and restoring hard drives contents with Symantec Ghost, Microsoft Backup, Commvault and rsync.
- Experience coding PHP and using MySQL databases.
Interests
Long Distance Running
From 5K to Marathon races
Gardening
Including composting and Growing Herbs, Fruit, and Vegetables
Photography
Including Nature, Landscape, Astrophotography, Wedding, and portraiture genres
Contact Me
Contact Details
[email protected]
www.matthewsugars.com
www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsugars
I am currently based on the Central Coast, and happy to work in Sydney!