Marvin Krause

Who Am I?

Hi, I’m Marvin Krause. Husband, father of 3, I.T. Professional (Movaci’s Service Desk Manager since 2008). I am Melbourne, Victoria, Australian bred (19th Nov, 1983), but Chiang Mai, Thailand born.

In 2006, at the age of 24, I moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand which changed my perceptions of life.

I immediately fell in love with the many different groups of people I met and hung out with (church, soccer, IT Professionals), and the different ideas they had to offer.

But they all had one thing in common, community.

That idea of community stuck with me and forced me to grow from a quiet Melbourne gaming geek into an outgoing, loving, and yes, God-fearing individual. It challenged and changed my views of the world, its many different people, and the common goals we all share in life.

It encouraged me to realize we can have different outlooks on life, have healthy disagreements, and despite all that, we can still be the best of friends or mates, as the colloquial term goes.

I’m still growing, still learning, still open to new ideas whilst keeping a level head by clinging onto the roots of what makes me tick.

What Have I Studied?

Early Education: 1988 – 2001

Primary School – Westgarth Primary School

High School – Thornbury Darebin Secondary College

I was processed through the regular Australian education system, Prep to Grade 6, Year 7 to Year 12. All the regular Math, English (the proper one, Australian), Science (Chemistry, Physics), Music, Auto, etc., etc., classes that are supposed to give you what you need for life. And they did, they taught me how to learn, how to read, think about, and understand all manner of subjects.

But I was most fixated on Music and Technology.

Advanced Education: 2001 – 2004, permanently deferred.

• TAFE – NMIT Heidelberg, Advanced Diploma in Computer Systems

In 2001, on behalf of my addiction to computer games, and with a grandiose vision of becoming a gaming developer, I chose to enroll into an Advanced Diploma of Computer Systems at NMIT Heidelberg, now known as Melbourne Polytechnic. I learnt various I.T. skill which would aid me later in life:

• Building desktop computer hardware.
• Basic computer operating systems, Windows & Linux.
• Basic electronics and logic circuit design. 
• Windows 2000 Server configuration and administration.
• Programming (C++, Unix, and Java).
• Web development (HTML was still the standard at the time)
• Cisco CCNA Networking (physical media, switching, routing protocols, logical network topologies, network design, network troubleshooting).

All in all, not a terrible course. But in Dec of 2004, I was distracted by Chiang Mai, Thailand, leading me to short term employment opportunities, full-time employment in Thailand, and a shift towards specialized technical certification.

Do I regret not completing my course? Sort of, as academic credentials are highly valued in Australasia, but it wouldn’t have allowed me to experience Thailand and the life, friends, and family that I’ve been granted from being here. Most decisions are best left in the past and chalked up as a learning opportunity for future experiences, which this certainly turned into.

Tech Certs

Since Nov 2007, Movaci’s leadership has challenged me to continue to develop my I.T. skills in many different important areas, driving me to understand what IT technologies and frameworks I enjoy and want to keep learning about.

Credential Profiles: Microsoft Certification Profile | Credly Proifle

CompTIA Certifications

Certification Goals

TBD

TBD

History of Employment

If you would like contact details for persons who supervised my employment, please send a request to this address.

Dec 2004 – Jan 2005 – Payap Christian Zone, Internship in Ministry

In 2004 I was given the opportunity to participate in the ministry internship program at Payap Christian Zone where I was introduced to campus ministry. Responsibilities included but were not limited to:

• Communicating with students on campus and developing friendships.
• Participating in running programs for students from across SE Asia.
• Participating in studying with students who were interested in studying the bible.

Much to my family’s worry and concern (to put it mildly), this experience redirected my vision from a life in I.T. to a life in some form of ministry starting in Thailand. Little did I know that this desire would come full circle in 2007.

After my internship in Chiang Mai, instead of returning to Australia and completing my studies, my goal was to find a way to return to Chiang Mai to participate in the next internship program.

Jan 2005 – Dec 2006 – Unskilled Trades Laborer (building, carpentry, plastering, concrete rendering)

In an attempt to redirect my passion, a family friend offered me employment in the Trades industry as an unskilled laborer. Across the next couple of years, I was thrown into the mix, starting on a building site in North Melbourne running various basic manual labor jobs and getting a chance to learn some more skilled jobs with licensed tradesmen.

I met many good people, many good friends, and the experience impacted not just my hard skills, but my characteristic and personality as I was ripped out of my comfort zone and into a social environment completely foreign to a scrawny 22-year-old who’s experience of trades was mowing the lawn.

The experience was nerve wracking as I’d never really been great at trades during high school, but I learnt resilience, persistence, and grit. The small group of tradesmen eventually trusted me, or liked me enough, to letting me join them and teaching me many different skills.

• Concrete rendering.
• Repairing plaster drop ceilings
• Building structure installation and carpentry.
• Air-conditioning maintenance
• Painting
• And the list goes on.

 Looking back, I’m so grateful today for the time everyone took to develop an ungrateful 22-year-old with eye’s only for Chiang Mai, Thailand. And after almost 2 years in the trades, I gained another opportunity to return for what I thought would only be another 3-month internship.

Dec 2006 – Nov 2007 – Payap Christian Zone, Apprenticeship in Ministry

3-months very quickly became 4-6 months, and through various circumstances and experiences, which are far too many to effectively communicate in a few sentences, before I knew it 1 year had passed.

Responsibilities expanded on the previous internship:

• Planning and running English camps for local schools and orphanages.
• Teaching English communications language on and off campus at Payap University.
• Planning activities throughout the week to develop friendships with students.
• Learning to organize and run internship programs.
• Milestones
  • Multiple mission’s trips to Siem Reap to work with the street kids and their schools.
  • An English workshop at a school in Mae Hong Son.
  • Multiple visa renewal trips to SE Asia countries and learning more about the people and cultures.
  •  Befriending a group of Thai local students who spent time with the ministry long after my employment at my full-time job. Some of whom accepted Jesus into their life.
• Soft skills gained
  • Learning Thai from teaching and communicating with Thai nationals.
  • Planning and organization skills.
  • Time management.
  • Teaching communication skills.

Nov 2007 – May 2008 – Movaci – Technical Support Engineer

By the end of 2007, I was faced by the prospects of returning to reality and a life in Oz. But I’d met a ton of people and made some really close friends, one of which worked at a local IT Support outfit named Movaci. He knew that I was looking at any opportunities to stay in Chiang Mai and told me that they were looking for a foreigner to help with Global IT Support.

When I walked in through the boss’s door, I was equally surprised to have run into him too. 5 minutes later I was hired as a Global Technical Support Engineer, and I was getting familiar with the tools of the trade and all with a focus on the Privacy and Security of customer data.

• International support communications for a global user base.
• Remote support troubleshooting over OpenVPN and RealVNC.
• Thailand domestic tier 1 customer support.
• Thailand domestic tier 1 office support.
• SMB tier 1 network device configuration and support.
• Web Application tier 1 hosting support, Plesk.
• Workstation maintenance and support, Global and Domestic
• Global Onsite support services.
• Ticket system self-help management.
• Domestic and International Asset Tracking.
• Microsoft Office Suite support.
• Microsoft SharePoint On-Prem support.
• Microsoft InfoPath support.
• Customized I.T. service solutions support covering a broad range of technologies including but not limited to digital asset systems, international conferencing solutions, project management solutions.

May 2008 – 2022 – Movaci – Service Desk Manager

In 2008, after a successful onsite for one of Movaci’s major customers, I was offered not so much a choice as much as a prod in the right direction. The ultimatum? Become the Service Desk Manager or go home. I was reluctant as I didn’t want to be my best friend’s boss. But we worked it out and I never looked back. 

As we grew from a 5 person tightly knit network services support team into a 45-person strong MSSP a lot of the additional responsibilities were organic as Service Desk transformed from 2 people into 3 teams covering Global and Domestic support, as well as Web Services Support utilizing ITIL Service Operation as a framework

• All of the above but increased to tier 2 based on staff experience.
• Global, Domestic, Internal and External customer facing ticket system maintenance and management.
• Dedicated service desk contracting and individualized ticket system configuration and support.
• Dedicated service desk remote customer service meetings at request.
• Event, Incident, Problem, and Change Management implementation, prioritization, categorization, escalation, and communication between the customer and Technical Services functions.
• Knowledgebase management for Global, Domestic, Internal, External, and dedicated outsourcing customer ticket systems.
• 24/7/365 Global support services.
• Microsoft Active Directory On-Prem and Azure AD implementation, migration, management, troubleshooting and support.
• Managed Endpoint solutions implementation and support.
• Receiving, SMB and SME network infrastructure availability and security.
• Microsoft Office 365 tier 2 administration, migration, implementation and troubleshooting for SMB, SME, and non-profit customers.
• Project solution recommendations for customer support.
• Website services management for application stability, security, active patch management, and application troubleshooting.
• Workstation security, tier 2 implementation, troubleshooting, and escalation.

 Personally, I and my fellow service desk colleagues have not limited ourselves to our day-to-day service desk priorities and we are constantly pushing ourselves to learn and research what can help Movaci grow as the world moves towards digital transformation.

• Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Autopilot.
• Power Automate for business automation in Microsoft Office 365 environments.
• Microsoft Teams Phone System.
• Microsoft Teams collaboration across multiple Technical Functions.
• Microsoft Teams Rooms solutions.
• Azure SAML SSO integration.
• Microsoft security score auditing, resolution, and customer support.
• Microsoft and 3rd party MDM and MAM solutions.
• Microsoft Exchange online tier 1 management and support.
• ITIL GAP Assessments.
• Tier 1 and 2 sales customer consultation calls.
• Service catalog strategy, design, transition, and operation.
• SMB Network Infrastructure and Security systems recommendations.

Jan 2022 – Nov 2022 – ASIS Thailand Chapter Secretary

Leading into what was to be my final year at Movaci. My boss, and friend, encouraged me to take on additional responsibilities in the local ASIS Thailand Chapter to learn from industry security experts in Thailand.

This has given me insights into how the private and public sectors are able to be of benefit to each other through collaboration, expanding out of the limitations of a single organizations capabilities and working as a team on critical public security and exploitation issues.

Movaci also had the opportunity of implementing the technical solutions, media design, and event management for the Asia Security Exchange 2022 held in Bangkok Thailand.

April 2023 – Current – Movaci – Senior Technology Consultant in Australia.

After 1 year of deliberation, Movaci offered me an opportunity to start something new, something that is growing and changing month to month as we discover how flexible we are in terms of personal growth, as well as the business and “tribe” in terms of new experiences and opportunities.