Lavanya Shriram

Strategic Business Analyst with over 20 years of experience in digital transformation, automation and operational efficiency. I specialise in streamlining business processes, integrating cloud technologies (Azure) and leveraging data intelligence tools like SQL, PowerBI and Excel to drive informed decision-making. I use Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) framework and Design Thinking to develop user-centric solutions that align with business goals. Certified in PSM1 and BCS Practitioner in Business Analysis, I excel in Agile environments, bridging the gap between stakeholders and IT to turn complex challenges into actionable insights.Proficient in JIRA, Confluence, Miro, Visio and Azure DevOps for collaboration and workflow management.

Key Skills

Requirement Gathering & User Stories
Agile & Waterfall Methodologies
KPI Tracking & Change Management

Professional Experience

Dec 2021
Present
Business Analyst | Digital Transformation
Toyota London, GB
Key Responsibilities:
Gather customer insights, map workflows and identify pain points to design user-centric solutions
Define problem statements and prioritize business needs based on customer value and organizational objectives.
Define API requirements for seamless integration with external systems, ensuring efficient data exchange.
Define GDPR-compliant processes to exclude PII from business reports.
Serve as a key contributor in modernizing Toyota's Order Management System (OMS), transitioning from the legacy AS400 framework to an Azure-based architecture capable of integrating with 25+ external systems.
Implemented Dynamics 365 Sales to streamline the vehicle order processing and enable the sales team to make data-driven decisions.
Key Achievements:
Recovered 13.5M by fixing financial reconciliation gaps and contract inefficiencies, ensuring seamless data transfer to BCA for used car sales.
Streamlined the vehicle order tracking process resulting in a better customer experience for over 70K retail customers.
Boosted data quality by 80% in six months by analysing 4106 issues, collaborating with the development team to resolve root causes, and implementing a PDCA cycle to ensure data integrity.
RPA-driven vehicle order price protection scanned 16,000 records and automatically updated any changes, saving the Fleet Localization Account Manager ~60 hours per quarter and freeing support teams and SMEs from manual error corrections.
Digitized 250,000 vehicle registrations, enhancing customer experience and helping Toyota/Lexus dealers across the UK with faster processing while saving 50+ trees, and 2.5M litres of water.
Jan 2019
Jan 2022
Business Analyst |Mobile Apps
Dazzling Web Planet Eastleigh, GB
Defined & maintained the product backlog, ensuring seamless Agile delivery.
Led requirement elicitation, stakeholder collaboration, & process optimization using
Azure DevOps & JIRA.
Supported QA & testing teams, improving system reliability & customer satisfaction.
Key Achievements:
CitizenApp: Reduced issue resolution time by 40% through real-time local issue reporting.
MyLocalHut: Developed a marketplace app, increasing vendor engagement by 25%.
Tap2Teach: Designed a tutor-student matching system, improving placement speed by 50%.
FeedTheTummy: Launched a food retail platform, expanding local vendor outreach by 35%.
Dec 2016
Jan 2019
Freelance Consultant
Freelance Consultant Chennai, IN
Worked as a Business Consultant for over two years, providing expertise in process optimization, agile transformation, and digital strategy. Assisted organizations with business analysis, stakeholder management, and workflow automation using tools like Jira and Azure DevOps. Led workshops on agile methodologies and helped teams define MVPs, improving operational efficiency and product development.


Oct 2013
Dec 2016
Business Analyst
Mpower2excel | Academy Website Development Chennai, IN
Streamlined registration & processing for 10000+ academy applicants improving workflow efficiency.
Defined & documented functional/non-functional requirements, reducing development rework by 40%.
Led user acceptance testing (UAT), achieving 95% first-time approval rates.
Conducted training sessions for 15+ stakeholders, reducing support queries by 40%.
Oct 2011
Oct 2013
Co-founder
Career transition-Entrepreneur Chennai, IN
 I co-founded HRM Global Business Services and build it from the ground up over two years. The business remains active and is now managed by my business partner, allowing me to transition back into my career while leveraging the entrepreneurial skills I gained. 
Apr 2011
Oct 2011
Business Analyst
Santander Leeds, GB
Optimized change management processes for Santander's cards division unit, by streamlining system updates to minimise business disruption.
Facilitated Change Advisory Board meetings, prioritizing critical changes & risk assessment.
Improved approval efficiency & reduced post-deployment incidents by 20%.
Jul 2008
Apr 2011
Part-Time Consultant
Relocation London, GB
 I took a career break due to relocation but stayed professionally active through part-time consulting. I leveraged my expertise in business analysis, agile methodologies, and process optimization to help organizations streamline workflows and improve efficiency 
Jul 2006
Apr 2008
Business Analyst
Infosys Chennai, IN
Enhanced Citibank's Liquidity Management System (LMS), improving daily transaction processing for $500M+.
Reduced requirement-to-development turnaround time by 30% through improved documentation.
Led a web-based document management system for Boeing AeroInfo, improving retrieval time by 40%.
Sep 2003
Aug 2006
Programmer/System Analyst
Standard Chartered Chennai, IN
Developed a Single Sign-On (SSO) solution, improving authentication efficiency by 60%.
Helped the application deployment team, reducing release cycles from 2 days to under 30 minutes via automation.

Education

May 2004
Jun 2006
Master of Software Systems in
Birla Institute of Technology (DLPD)
May 1999
Jun 2003
Electronics and Communication Engineering in
Madras University

Certifications

2023
BCS Practitioner in Business Analysis
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
2020
Professional Scrum Master
Scrum.org

Languages

English
(Fluent)
Tamil
(Native)
Hindi
(Basic)

Get in touch with Lavanya