TECHWORK 23: A Gabriel Durai, Actis

Experience
With 28 years of experience in the IT industry, Gabriel has primarily focused on the financial domain. He has a Master's degree in computer applications and a Bachelor's degree in physics from Loyola college.

For the past decade, Gabriel has served as the chief technology officer at Actis, leading the information technology team, where he has overseen global operations, business applications, infrastructure, security and support.

Prior to this, Gabriel spent eight years at Infrastructure Development Finance Company, where he was responsible for infrastructure, security and business applications. Before that, he managed network and business applications at Cholomandalam Investment and Finance Company.

Achievements
As CTO at Actis, Gabriel has successfully transitioned the company to an enterprise IT model with a focus on cloud, security, social media and mobility. Notable achievements include early adoption of virtualisation and cloud models across the business, adherence to best security practices, design and implementation of a global SD-WAN network, establishment of a data warehouse and platform, and creation of an agile work environment and unified collaboration platform.

To aid the organisation in achieving its goals, Gabriel is focused on examining investments on their short- and long-term needs. This includes digitalisation of business processes, data governance, centralisation of enterprise reporting, and adherence to industry best practices for information security.

Plans for the future include using advanced technology effectively for Actis’s wide-reaching reforms, strategies and initiatives. In an ever-changing environment, Gabriel highlights that IT must strike a balance between being structured and flexible.

Actis’s current tech stack includes: Microsoft Office 365 suite; Azure and AWS for cloud services; virtualisation through VmWare (VMC) on AWS; Zscaler, Crowdstrike and Mimecast for security platforms; security consultancy from Verizon; Allvue for fund accounting; and Microsoft Dynamics NAV for financial accounting.

Gabriel’s primary means of communication and networking with contacts around the world are at community events, seminars and through one-on-one conversations.