Cutting a Path through Two Decades of Digital Consulting and Solutions

I have always loved to try different things. Fortunately, whenever I have tested myself by going out of my comfort zone, I have always emerged stronger.

A journey comes with a lot of learning – my career has taken me around the world and through many different roles and challenges.

I have now been providing IT, consulting and digital solutions and services to the banking, manufacturing and retail industries for 22 years, across multiple geographies. I came to Australia in 2013 with my previous company, TCS, and in early 2020, I was brought on board at Cognizant to lead Digital Operations for the BFS, insurance and government sectors.

That’s the short version. For the rest of it – what I’ve done, my steps up the ladder and what I attribute my progression to – keep reading.

Career overview

I graduated as a mechanical engineer and spent the first three years of my professional life with an automotive industry in India. Then my path took a turn towards the technology industry in 2001, when I joined TCS as a business analyst.

This was my first real experience with the tech industry. I was supporting one of TCS’s US-based clients, who designs, manufactures and distributes engines and related components. I was new to the IT world, but my understanding of the automotive and manufacturing business helped me better understand the clients’ requirements and translate those to technical teams. It also gave me a chance to acquire new technical skills.

During my time at TCS, I moved to the US to support the growing need for analytics for the client’s aftermarket supply chain. Again my functional experience along with analytical abilities came in handy as I learned new technical skills in the field of business intelligence and data analytics.

While there, I helped clients improve their supply chain visibility and velocity while navigating variability successfully. I also grew TCS’s business substantially through consultative selling, and by keeping clients’ needs at the centre of all discussions.

The GFC signals a turning point

As the effects of the Global Financial Crisis worsened in late 2008, I launched into rationalisation, consolidation , optimisation and re-prioritisation of clients’ spend, and mobilisation of our resources. Then, after six years in the US, I moved back to India. Shortly afterwards, I left TCS to become Global Supply Chain Manager at HSBC.

My role was to set up the supplier ecosystem in India. However, I missed consultative solutioning and selling a lot. Within a year, I’d joined Siemens’s Information System division as regional manager for Western India, selling SAP solutions, Enterprise applications and SaaS based supply chain solutions. It felt good being back to talking with customers, understanding their problems and selling solutions and services.

In late 2011, TCS asked me to return to help them integrate a newly acquired entity in Banking Business Process Operations, into their organisation – yet another new field of learning for me! I relocated to Australia in 2013 to manage the APAC relationship of a Banking & Financial Services client. Once here, I worked closely with clients and our teams at multiple locations in Australia, India, Philippines and Singapore to stabilise the operations. Over the next few years, I grew this business for TCS. Together as a team, we transformed clients’ operations by leveraging technology, analytics and platform solutions, reducing total cost of ownership for them, while creating better customer experience.

Joining Cognizant

I remember reading an article last year where our CEO Brian Humphries mentioned his two-fold strategy: expanding Cognizant beyond North America and winning in key digital battlegrounds – Data, Cloud, IoT and Digital Engineering. When I read that, I thought that if these two strategies are successfully executed, it will have a massive impact for both Australian clients and Cognizant associates who will be part of that exciting journey. So, when the opportunity to become a part of it was presented, I took the plunge and accepted.

My role at Cognizant encompasses Business Process Operations, Operations Consulting, Automation, Analytics, Enterprise Services and Platform solutions and services across Cognizant Industry verticals. For much of the last year, we have concentrated on supporting our clients’ critical business operations while navigating uncertainty during the pandemic. We have accomplished that successfully with minimal impact to our clients’ businesses.

We have already seen a good amount of investments and commitments by Cognizant in this market, despite the pandemic. We have also brought many new leaders on board who understand the local market well. That will certainly help us serve clients better and take Cognizant to new heights.

Keys to progress

To date, my ability to understand the big picture, analytical thinking, ability to connect the dots and willingness to roll up my sleeves to devise detailed solutions to solve client’s problems, have helped me a lot. I also subscribe to collaborative culture, client-centricity and servant leadership principles.

Further to that, I am a big believer in continuous learning, as well as cultivating skills that can be leveraged and transferred from one job to another, irrespective of domain or industry. I started my career in manufacturing operations and product development. I then used those skills to learn technology. When I moved to serve banking clients, my technology skills and lean manufacturing skills helped me to understand and optimise banking operations.

I obviously still have a lot to achieve and will be working towards it every day. I am very much looking forward to leading Cognizant’s digital operations into a thriving 2021.

Interested in joining our team at Cognizant? Head to our careers page where all of our latest job openings are listed.