Rowena Van Diemen

Lead global Product, Data, and Development teams in support of the MRI Global Data Strategy, ensuring alignment with company objectives and long-term technology goals. Define and own the vision, strategy, and roadmap for strategic global data, SaaS and AI products. Lead multiple global projects and enterprise initiatives across North America, the UK, South Africa, and India. Partner with Development leadership and key stakeholders to drive delivery and successful execution of strategic initiatives. Build strong cross-functional collaboration across Engineering, Design, QA, Sales, Professional Services, Legal, and Product teams. Manage global cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, Data, and Business functions in fast-paced enterprise environments. Oversee product launch planning and execution with Project Management, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support teams. Track product performance through KPIs, customer feedback, usage metrics, and market insights to guide product improvements. Drive data-informed product evolution by incorporating user insights, business priorities, and market trends. Communicate product strategy, progress, and delivery risks to executive leadership and key stakeholders. Establish and lead a global early adopter program, managing multiple strategic client implementations and feedback cycles. Partner with Sales leadership to support strategic opportunities and contribute to closing high-value enterprise deals. Manage relationships with strategic global clients, including escalation management and long-term partnership development. Provide strategic product, application, and data consulting to clients and partners on complex initiatives. Work closely with clients to understand business challenges and deliver solutions that create measurable value. Oversee vendor and technology partner relationships that support product delivery and innovation. Function as the primary liaison with Microsoft for platform collaboration, product requirements, and issue resolution. Collaborate closely with the VP of Product, CIO, CTO, and CEO to align product delivery with long-term business and technology strategy. Bring strong technical knowledge across enterprise applications, SaaS platforms, data products, analytics, AI features, and global product delivery.

Develop and manage product roadmap for a strategic MRI product, delineating its vision, goals, and crucial milestones.
Conduct thorough market research, engage in client interviews, and analyze competitors to identify potential opportunities.
Collaborate closely with stakeholders to collect and prioritize product requirements, considering customer feedback, business objectives, and technical feasibility.
Foster close collaboration with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, quality assurance, Sales, Professional Services, Legal and other product teams to ensure the timely and cost-effective development of exemplary products.
Plan and execute product launches, coordinating marketing, sales, and customer support endeavors for a seamless introduction.
Assess product success and identify areas for improvement by monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) and user feedback.
Continually refine the product based on user insights, market dynamics, and business objectives, leveraging data-driven decisions to optimize performance.
Keep stakeholders across all levels of the organization, including executives, informed about product updates, progress, and challenges to maintain alignment and secure support.
Establish and supervise a global early adopter program, overseeing multiple client projects.
Aid sales team to close deals.
Client demonstrations during early adopter program.
Manage client escalations.
Manage platform requirements across the organization.
Manage client relationships (strategic clients).
Manage projects (partners and clients).
Manage vendor and partner relationship.
Manage relationship with Microsoft relating to new product requirements or issues.
Manage relationships with Salesforce (Tableau) relating to contract renewals and escalation.
Manage implementation and support of AI feature (using powerbi data models).
Develop and maintain pricing strategy.
Manage GTM process for new product delivery.
Manage and Mentor product owners and business analysts.
Work closely with engineering team to develop products and client solutions, including business intelligence solutions integrated with AI and SaaS applications.

Collaborate with stakeholders, including executive team, to understand business problem statements and convert them into user stories.
Articulated product vision and user stories in a way clearly understandable to development teams.
Managed backlog of user stories for two products.
Established user story acceptance criteria and refined stories with Scrum teams.
Created Sprint Release Plans with input from development teams.
Applied Agile methods and processes to promote a disciplined and transparent project management process.
Perform the role of Scrum Product Owner in application and BI team.
Prioritise stories in backlog to align with business vision.
Create product roadmaps.
Analyse and document current software programs and applications.
Involvement in full system life cycle.
Consult with network administrators as well as developers to assist in resolving problems with software products or company software systems.
Design and maintain user acceptance procedures.
Performs system testing and coordinates test efforts with QA.
Support business as usual activities.
Elicit customer requirements and create product documentation.
Identify inefficiencies and champion continuous improvement, not only on the system but also giving input into process improvements.
Communication of priorities and progress of delivery.
Design new business processes.
Manage external vendor relationships (DEA- customer bank statements, SACRRA – Credit bureau (including all credit bureaus)).
Scrum Master when required - Facilitate grooming, planning, and Retrospectives with the scrum teams.
Build data models in Power BI.
Create Dashboard Reports in Power BI.
Perform Data Analysis.
Design and Build Proof of Concept.
Extract customer data with SQL queries in MS SQL server.
Manage Sprints in Jira.
Assist development team with data anomalies.
Facilitate customer training in data cubes and Power BI reporting.

Gather and Analyse system and business requirements.
Create business and functional requirements documents.
Analyse business processes to determine problems, risks and identify opportunities for improvement.
Manage system and business-related queries.
Review processes and conduct process audits as required.
Review product documentation with architecture team for approval of new systems.
Design and model new business processes.
Liaise with managers and relevant users on feasibility studies and establishing business and systems requirements for Unit Trust Business.
Production Support (Business and IT queries).
Prioritise backlog based on customer requests or customer needs.
Formulate strategies and guidelines to improve the business environment.
Effective communication with all parties during the execution of duties.
Maintain an in-depth knowledge of all SLA scope of services documents, with particular emphasis on agreed-to response and repair times.
Create reports for clients to make strategic decisions (Oracle and SQL).
Consult management (both IT and business) on business procedures and policies.
Assist Project Managers with project cost.
Manage implementations and create implementation plans: Projects, Incidents, Enhancement Requests.
Work closely with the IT team to design and implement the best possible solution within the constraints of the tools available.
Facilitate the implementation of new or enhanced processes.
Owns systems user acceptance testing and implementation of changes or new applications.
Investigate and define requirements for business processes.
Renders support and facilitate sessions for end-users, including training.
Document requirements include data modelling, interface layouts, data flows, screen design, and report layouts.
Expert advice/ Subject matter expert on content area (OM Unit Trust Websites (including Mobile Site) and Financial System – Silica and internal web-based administration system for unit trust).
User Interface Design.
Ensure all testing protocols are adhered to.
Manage Integration system enhancements and testing with other business units.
System Testing.
System Interface Analysis and Design.
Manage change control process on SharePoint for all internal changes.
Create Test Scripts (TFS).
Create Test Plans.
Create incidents on SNOW and follow ITIL principles to manage incidents and problems.
Mentor junior business analyst.
Consult on projects as subject matter expert.
Assist support team with queries.
Work on large scale projects with multiple external vendors in South Africa and abroad (including Africa).
Manage software implementations for multiple large-scale projects.
Manage external vendor relationships.
Manage product and fund launches.
Work on Data Migration Projects.

Production Support (EMEA clients).
Gather and Analyse system and business requirement.
Manage business related queries.
Ensuring incidents resolution within SLA.
Ensure Support desk always provides professional and courteous service.
Manage escalation of high severity incidents.
Effective communication with all parties during the execution of duties.
Maintain an in-depth knowledge of all SLA scope of services documents, with particular emphasis on agreed-to response and repair times.
Advice on changes and improvements to SLA.
Create reports for clients to make strategic decisions.
Consult with business (EMEA clients), IT team, and IBM helpdesk (India) to resolve business queries.
Create Web Specifications for development team.
Expert advice/ Subject matter expert on content area (Websites/Mobile Sites).
Testing.
User acceptance Testing.
System Testing.
Microsoft CRM Dynamics Support.
QA of Client communication Material.
Advising QA team on test scripts.
Conduct Impact Analysis & Assessments.
Create monthly client reports.
Run SQL Scripts (SQL Server).
Create Dashboards.
Account Management.
Manage relationships with clients in Europe, Africa (including South Africa).
Update email templates for bulk correspondence (HTML).
Facilitate user training.

Gather and Analyse Business Requirements.
Conduct workshops to improve business Process.
Create Functional and Non-Functional Specifications.
Production Support.
Conduct Impact Analysis & Assessments.
Expert advice/ Subject matter expert on content area. (CRM systems and websites).
Data Migration.
Build and manage new products for Financial Advisers.
Build and manage products for Sanlam Life and Call Centre.
Manage Testing of products and systems: Performance, Systems, User acceptance, Regression, Integration.
Create test packs, test matrix, and test plans.
QA training Material.
QA Client communication Material.
Manage and resolve business queries.
Process Modelling.
Conduct JAD sessions with clients, financial advisers, and IT team.
Create client reports (SQL Server, DB2).
Manage implementations and create implementation plans: Projects, Enhancement Requests, Incidents.
Coordinate marketing campaigns with external advertising agencies.
System design.