Aby Rajan

I have spent the better part of 13 years and 4 months in enterprise VoIP and Unified Communications — taking projects from initial planning and solution design through implementation, testing in live environments, and structured handover to the business. My background spans Cisco's full UC stack, carrier-grade softswitches, session border control, and the increasingly blurry line between telecom and cybersecurity. What I bring to a business is not just technical depth — it is the ability to look at a telephony environment, understand where it is costing money or creating risk, and build a clear path forward.

I have done this for global pharma companies, Big Four consulting firms, US retail groups, and automotive manufacturers. I understand compliance requirements (TRAI, DoT OSP), I work well across time zones with cross-functional teams, and I genuinely enjoy the problem-solving that this work demands.

Telecom Network Specialist - IQVIA - Global

(2023-01 - 2025-10)

IQVIA is one of the world's largest healthcare data and technology companies, operating across 100+ countries. I owned the global telephony infrastructure — running BAU operations while simultaneously leading a major cost-reduction transformation.

• Delivered an 80% reduction in global PSTN telephony spend by architecting and rolling out a first-of-its-kind integration between on-premises Cisco CUCM and Microsoft Teams as the user-facing PSTN app. The concept started as a lab proof-of-concept I built independently, was validated with stakeholders, then deployed in phases across IQVIA globally. It replaced an expensive cloud-based Microsoft telephony model while actually improving the end-user experience.
• Designed and built new-site telephony from the ground up for IQVIA offices in Bonn (Germany), Netherlands, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Budapest — each covering CUCM call flow architecture, CUBE SBC routing, Webex client deployment, and integration back into the global infrastructure.
• Drove full organisational enablement after deployment — recognising that a new platform is only as good as the people who use and support it, I designed and delivered a structured training programme across multiple layers of the organisation. This included hands-on sessions with the L3 VoIP engineering team covering advanced Webex on-prem architecture and troubleshooting, and a separate practical training track for the L1/L2 global service desk teams focused on how to confidently handle the most
• Produced a comprehensive training handbook and recorded video sessions that were distributed to all department managers across Engineering and Support — giving the organisation a lasting reference they could return to long after the project closed.
• Secured executive and senior leadership buy-in through a series of high-level stakeholder meetings with senior leaders across the engineering and operations hierarchy.
• Led India telecom regulatory compliance (TRAI / DoT OSP), designing the full OSP licence architecture to legally enable Cisco softphone use for remote workers across India.
• Strengthened VoIP security alongside the Cybersecurity Business Unit, implementing advanced defence mechanisms against telecom-specific threats. Created a dedicated Cisco emergency line ('Batman line') for P1/P2 breach escalations.
• Modernised the legacy infrastructure footprint by migrating ISDN circuits to SIP across multiple sites and deploying Mobile and Remote Access (MRA) via Cisco Expressway — enabling full Webex Calling on mobile without a VPN connection.
• Migrated Cisco SBCs (CUBEs) to the SDWAN voice fabric across most IQVIA locations, modernising the voice routing infrastructure and simplifying management at scale.
• Provided telephony architecture input for M&A activities, developing cost models and infrastructure designs to support acquisitions and new entity onboarding across the business.

Principal Engineer — Infrastructure - HARMAN International - Global

(2020-12 - 2022-12)

HARMAN (a Samsung company) builds connected technologies for automotive, consumer audio, and enterprise markets. My focus was driving UC transformation — moving the business from legacy Jabber towards a cloud-first model while maintaining stability across a complex global network.

• Led the company-wide Jabber-to-Webex Calling migration, consolidating the UC experience into a single application and reducing on-premises licensing and maintenance overhead across the organisation.
• Delivered the Amsterdam office deployment end-to-end, covering IP phone rollout, voicemail configuration, Jabber profiles, and full call routing in CUCM and CUBE — on time and to specification.
• Upgraded and stabilised the global UC backbone by refreshing Cisco Expressways and UCCX/CUCM servers across the Harman network, reducing legacy vulnerability risk and improving platform reliability.
• Deployed Cisco Video Mesh to improve internal meeting quality and reduce dependency on external cloud infrastructure for video traffic.
• Rebuilt L1 support operations from the ground up — new incident handling processes, shift rosters, and knowledge transfer sessions — measurably reducing escalations and improving average resolution times.

Technical Lead - TEKsystems — Managed Services

(2020-06 - 2020-12)

Provided senior Cisco UC support across multiple enterprise clients simultaneously within a managed services model. Handled escalations, change requests, and BAU telephony operations, maintaining SLA adherence under the variable demands of a multi-client environment.

Senior UC & Video Engineer - ascena Global Innovation Center (via ANSR Global Corporation) - Bangalore

(2017-12 - 2019-12)

ascena retail group (Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant, LOFT, Justice) operates over 2,500 stores across North America and Asia. I joined the Global UC Engineering team in Bangalore to own Cisco UC delivery for new office openings and innovation initiatives across the group's international network.

• Opened four international offices with full Cisco UC infrastructure — New Delhi (Aug 2019), Dhaka, Bangladesh (Feb 2019), Hong Kong (Mar 2018), and the Bangalore Global Innovation Center (Jan 2018). Each deployment covered CUCM, Unity Connection, IM&P, Voice Gateways, and integration to US-based UC clusters via SME.
• Reduced engineering queue burden through automation: after analysing ticket data, I found that MACD tasks dominated the queue. I integrated a third-party automation tool that allowed IT staff to self-provision Jabber profiles, phone extensions, and voicemail directly.
• Launched a Cisco Self-Care Portal within Jabber, giving employees control over their own UC endpoints and reducing IT dependency for common day-to-day requests.
• Built team knowledge at scale through illustrated user handbooks for employees and structured NOC training on L1 MACD workflows and correct network-down escalation procedures.
• Deployed Cisco Video Mesh across the ascena cluster to support global WebEx meetings without unnecessary cloud media relay.

Senior Voice Engineer - Valuepoint Pvt. Ltd. (Client: KPMG India)

(2015-11 - 2017-10)

KPMG India is one of the Big Four professional services firms, with offices across all major Indian cities. This was a full legacy PBX-to-Cisco VoIP transformation with significant regulatory complexity — one of the most compliance-heavy deployments I have handled.

• Reduced PSTN infrastructure costs to one-fifth of prior spend by converting all PRI lines to SIP trunks terminating on CUBE routers with HSRP

B.E. - Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering - Anna University — SRM Institute of Science & Technology, Chennai (2008-05)