Gimy Vihas Gracias

Founder & IT Director

Over a short career spanning nearly 7 years, Gimy has gathered exhaustive hands-on experience working with network operations, system administration, and turnkey IT infrastructure projects, for businesses in various stages of growth, in diverse industries including but not limited to financial, automobile, aeronautical, banking and IT industry, helping them grow into highly successful ventures. A subject matter expert, Gimy is credited with designing, building, consulting & verifying system security designs in his previous roles.

With a Master’s Degree in Computer Network and Security from Middlesex University, UK and completed certifications including Cisco Certified Network Administrator, MCTS in Windows Vista & Windows, MCTS in Exchange Server, & MCTS in Active Directory, Gimy has stayed focused on continuous learning and building on skills to ensure delivery of exceptional services to his clients.

During his tenure as an engineer in his prior projects, he has successfully undertaken managerial duties including team building, management, project allotment and management, ensuring optimal resource allocation and management of project delivery timelines.

In his current role as an engineer at BP, Gimy has successfully managed support for users spread across various geo-locations seamlessly, achieving stellar results well within the stipulated budget and time. His success has been recorded and rewarded by the client, leading to the renewal and extension of the client contract three consecutive times, to date.  In addition to his technical qualifications, Gimy, over the last few years of being involved in the industry has observed and learnt first-hand the challenges of running a successful SME (in any industry), in today’s market. The team and strategy for VG Support was put together based on the most in-demand services for an SME/start-up in the UK. Over the years Gimy has built a robust network of professionals and businesses in several industry verticals. As VG Support goes on to expand its operations, this network continues to prove to be a
great source for clients and long term contracts.

Gimy is currently working on obtaining industry certifications that will further his ability to lead his team and provide complete services to his clientele. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) are the two certifications
that have been planned for successful completion in 2016.

Role at VG Support:

• Leading VG Support through setting up and initial years
• Handpicking team members and putting together the core team for VG Support
• Leading the service planning and delivery for the current client segments
• Identifying new service categories, client segments and markets to target
• Overall leadership and management

VINOD THALAMATTATH VIJAYAN

DIRECTOR, MARKETING STRATEGIES

Vinod T. Vijayan is a seasoned marketing professional, with an interest and passion for creating and implementing simple, yet effective marketing strategies. He has worked as a Marketing Manager at VG Support since 2013 and has overseen the set up and growth of VG Support from the ground up.

Vinod has a Bachelor’s degree in commerce and accounting from India and an MBA from the London School of Commerce (UWIC Cardiff Metropolitan University). At VG Support Vinod has been instrumental in developing a clear marketing strategy as the business has grown from a start up to a confident SME operating in the UK. With his background in commerce and accounting, he is also actively involved in setting budgets and ensuring that projects and overheads stay within forecasted budgets, for each financial period.

He has also played a key role in identifying suitable partnerships for the company, initiating conversations and building long-standing relationships with partner companies.

Vinod has been a great team member at VG Support thus far and will continue to support and lead the company through these crucial years in his role as the Director of Marketing Strategies.

Role at VG Support:

• Formulating and implementing an effective marketing strategy for the company as it evolves
• Identifying and leading the company’s representation in key conferences and trade shows
• Responsible for identifying and maintaining long-term partnerships
• Market research and analysis on an ongoing basis to keep a watch on the market, identify trends and reciprocate with proactive marketing strategies
• Working with support engineers and Founder to ensure that the various activities are streamlined and working towards achieving the company’s overall vision and goals
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Overall management and supervision of company growth and long term strategies.

Krishna Kumar

Krishna Kumar is an IT professional with several years of end-end project management experience. With an MBA specializing in HR, from the University of Madras, India and an MA in Human Resource Management from the Middlesex University, UK, Krishna is also an experienced management professional with the ability and tact to manage complex projects that involves multiple layers of resource allocation, across countries and over extended time periods. With requisite technical know-how adequately complemented with management knowledge and techniques, Krishna is an asset as a support engineer at VG Support.

Over the last 3 years, Krishna has been instrumental in identifying, bidding for, winning and implementing projects on behalf of VG Support. Smart resource and time allocation means that the projects are always completed well within the budgeted time and money, resulting in high client satisfaction, leading to positive referrals and repeat custom.

Krishna Kumar also brings the view point of having dealt with and worked with start-ups and SMEs in the past. This unique exposure allows him to bring elements of value-added services and exemplary customer service practices, while working with customers of VG Support. He is an expert in SQL Server 7.0, C, C++, Java, Linux, Html programming languages in addition to his knowledge in project management techniques – Microsoft Project, and Agile and Waterfall Project methodologies.

Role at VG Support:

• Overseeing the identification and pitching on new projects
• Budget & resource allocation for new projects
• Streamlining the implementation and delivery of existing projects to ensure that it stays within budgeted time and money
• Client interaction and support
• Core programming and desk support for clients and larger internal projects

Benson John

Benson John comes to VG Support as the much needed office administrator for the team. He is involved on a day-to-day basis in maintaining the smooth running of the office – with his duties including but not limited to tracking and maintaining office expenditure, creating, maintaining and updating client database and customer support log, overseeing recruitment and placement of contract, freelance, temporary or permanent staff and ensuring glitch-free functioning of the office network.

Benson also leads interactions with the clients and ensures that the client calls/ support requests are adequately logged and the right support engineer or other resources is allocated as needed. With the work of VG Support completely dependent on the smooth operation of its network and that of its clients, Benson John is instrumental in ensuring that the infrastructure that supports VG Support runs efficiently, and with minimal downtime.

Abhinav

Abhinav works with VG Support in the role of a Desktop Support Engineer. His main duties during a work day include providing support to clients ensuring a robust, single point contact while remaining within the desktop computing environment. Depending on the type of call this might include providing instructions and support to install, diagnose, repair, run maintenance checks, offer remote support, troubleshoot, and/ or run upgradation schedules.

For a business like VG Support, the role of a desktop engineer is vital in assuring the clients of a smooth operation and reinforcing client confidence. Abhinav’s experience at VG Support covers a wide range of topics, emphasizing the need for quick learning, analysing and re-applying the knowledge in different scenarios.

Abhinav is extremely passionate about his role and the difference that it makes to the clients of VG Support and VG Support as a business, and is an exemplary associate. His technical knowledge together with his ability to focus, organize, deal with customer queries efficiently, makes him the ideal candidate to handle this role.

At VG Support he works together with Krishna Kumar who is also a Desk Support Engineer and Shameena, a support engineer to answer customer queries and provide the requisite solution for both internal and external clients.

Shameena

Shameena is the most junior member in the staff line up at VG Support – and works with the team in the position of a support engineer. Role at VG Support:

• Provide IT support to clients across UK – remote and at onsite offices
• Project implementation per issue guidelines, following timelines and budgets with core team members