Application Analyst

Application Analyst
London
6 months +

The role of the Applications Analyst is to assist with the coordination and support and management of business systems and applications serving 1000's of users globally, throughout their lifecycle from implementation to decommission. 

The key activities include: having working knowledge of several business systems/applications especially around the bespoke custom development technologies and understand how each application/system has been designed, implemented and configured ranging from the technical layer through to how it supports the business process, work with the appropriate support teams ensuring SLAs are met, customer experiences are acceptable and be an escalation point for the business and the support teams.

The role holder is expected to support the team with changes and enhancements, lifecycle activities, testing, license and TCO management, documentation, security reviews, HA/DR processes etc.

The role holder is expected to partner with our outsource providers ensuring escalations are managed, work requests are submitted and estimates are accurate and tracked against budget.

Key Responsibilities

* Responsible for assisting the business in the use of their IT/IS landscape ensuring that relevant teams are engaged in the effective management of the information assets and capabilities.
* Have knowledge of the assigned technology and how IT/IS enable business processes.
* Provide assistance to the Architecture, Infrastructure and Project Management teams to effectively design, deliver and support required business solutions
* Actively manage 3rd party suppliers and service delivery teams ensuring SLAs are understood and met. Ensure any escalations are managed to completion and that relevant and effective communication is completed to the business users.
* Provide regular reports and metrics indicating the level of service received by the business, ensure risks and issues are documented, escalated and managed and relevant communication within both Group IS and the business takes place.
* Act as a contact point for any support issues ensuring issues are resolved and service delivery teams and 3rd party suppliers are held accountable for breaches to agreed SLAs.
* Participate in any testing activities ensuring test cases are documented and executed, defects are logged and managed and business users understand their role in the test process.
* Ensure that appropriate application licenses are procured and documented, regular maintenance costs are budgeted and invoices paid and any issues are escalated.
* Provide suggestions on how to add value to the business with the use of IT/IS including new products, processes, upgrades and decommissions.
* Participate in the system lifecycle ensuring that upgrades are planned, budgeted and executed in accordance with the business need and good system management practices. 
* Participate in the continuous improvement of the IS service offering including suggesting new processes and ways of working both within in the immediate team and part of the wider IS function. Honour and champion new adopted processes and hold peers accountable for their actions.
* Build relationships with key stakeholders ensuring commitments are delivered, provide advice and guidance with the use of IT/IS solutions and business value is recognised
* Ensure appropriate documentation is created, updated, reviewed and shared to aid in the smooth running of the business solutions.
* Assess the risks and work in a safe manner at all times, robustly implementing health and safety rules, instructions and systems and refuse to undertake work that compromises your safety or health.
* Report in a timely manner all incidents including near miss and safety observations (NMSO), accidents and injuries and raise any health and safety concerns with your line manager.
* Participate in an on-call rotation for critical escalations.
* Actively monitor and respond to incidents and requests logged within a ticket tracking tool.

Technical/Professional Qualifications/Requirements 

* Degree in IT or relevant discipline or equivalent experience
* Demonstrable experience providing 1st or 2nd line support to IT/IS systems. 
* Knowledge of development processes 
* Experience of stakeholder management in a multi-national environment a plus
* Proven experience of working in a matrix organisation
* Proven experience of working with a 3rd party outsourcer 
* Technical knowledge of system management processes including, configuration, testing and change management.
* Conceptual understanding of infrastructure including Databases, Servers and Networks.
* Results-oriented and customer-focused, able to interact and communicate at all levels
* Effective team player and able to be an ambassador of Group IT in all interactions both externally and internally