Karen Talmakkies

Owned end-to-end change management including chairing CABs, coordinating master release schedules, classifying standard changes, and driving process improvements and ServiceNow QA for change modules.

Managed RFC lifecycle and emergency changes, chaired CABs, maintained change reports and SLAs, and led escalations and failed-change processes to ensure timely closures and compliance.

Managed major incidents and stakeholder communications, led incident meetings, optimized incident assignment processes, and produced weekly/monthly incident reports supporting problem and change functions.

Oversaw service desk operations and major incidents end-to-end, chaired incident meetings, managed customer escalations and bridges, and ensured SLA adherence and team workload balance.

Managed end-to-end service delivery, SLAs, supplier relations and customer engagements, led transitions and small projects, and delivered reporting and continuous service improvements.

Led major incident management and problem analysis, coordinated RCAs and trend analysis, maintained SLAs and dashboards, and supported problem and change management activities.

Served as service desk SME and assistant team leader handling high-priority incidents, process improvements, training, and performance evaluation resulting in improved team performance.

Handled high-priority incident resolution, problem coordination and RCA delivery, maintained service administration, and produced weekly incident and SLA reports.

Provided first-line support for Dutch bank users, led training and rostering, compiled weekly statistics and chaired team meetings to maintain service quality.

Completed SIAM Foundation training at Fox ITSM in Cape Town in March 2021.

Completed ITIL V3 Intermediate Lifecycle Stream certification through Torque IT between 2018 and 2019.

Completed Agile Project Management Practitioner training in Cape Town in November 2019.

Completed Kepner Tregoe Foundation training delivered by Torque IT in June 2018.

Awarded a National Diploma in Information Technology, completed in June 2013.

Completed professional training at Oval International, finalized in December 2004.