The 10 Most Powerful Women in Technology 2021

ISSN 2582-127X

JUNE 2021

T H E

MOST POWERFUL

Top 5 Cultural Practices to Retain Women in Tech

IN TECHNOLOGY

2021 What Can Leaders Do to Keep More Women in the Tech Industry?

-SENIOR DIRECTOR, HEAD OF HR FOR THE AMERICAS & GLOBAL PEOPLE PROGRAMS, EPAM SYSTEMS, INC.

EDITORIAL The Influence of Women is Crucial to the Future of Technology

W

omen in technology, this topic is discussed in hush tones even in 2021. While the scenario is improving

slowly, it's time people spoke about the importance and the benefits of encouraging more skilled women

in tech fields rather than talking about statistics and male domination. Hiring women in tech

organizations, especially in leadership positions, is a step forward from the business point of view and also for society.

Organizations that appoint women in leadership roles, be it as team leads or a regional manager and above, outperform the rest. A study done by McKinsey found that organizations that promoted gender diversity were 15% more likely to earn greater ROI. Many other studies have also cemented the fact that having a balanced gender representation in the tech community resulted in more success.

Another merit of women taking the lead is the elimination of bias. As the tech industry had fewer women before, algorithms and tech products that were developed back then had a prominent bias. Think of facial recognition software, that discriminates based on facial appearance or based on gender. This oversight can be corrected if organizations promote gender diversity, not just in theory but also make sure it reflects in the hiring process.

Let's think about another issue that has been the talk of the town for a long time now, the wage gap. Women who have now joined the workforce are being vocal about the monetary disparities between them and their male counterparts.

It's only logical to assume that because men constituted the workforce a few years back, the pay grade was designed from that perspective. When more women will be given the freedom to put their skills to work and charge teams, the passive-aggressive wage discrimination will come to a halt. To accommodate this, archaic wage rules need to be relooked to make allocations that fit the current workforce.

Successful women in tech and STEM fields will also become role models to the future generation of bright girls, who want to make a difference in this world using the ever-evolving technologies.

These benefits are not a mystery, yet some organizations struggle to make this change. Small acts can create a big difference. One way to find the right talent and skillset within women, is to work with university-level STEM programs.

Encouraging women early in their education can fuel their interest in technology and help organizations prepare a workforce with the required skill sets.

Organizations can also host female mentorship and leadership programs that can also double up as marketing. Women who are already in leadership roles can represent their respective companies and demonstrate the innovations and the possibilities that technology can create. This will not just give organizations and the women in charge more visibility but also divert interest and attention towards the organization and its products.

No change can take place overnight. But small beginnings can be made to start a new chapter in the tech industry and STEM fields. In this magazine issue, ten powerful women tech leaders have spoken about their journey, the perils they faced, and how they want the future generation of female leaders to be. Analytics Insight takes pride in being a small catalyst to this change.

- Apoorva Komarraju Senior Analyst

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C O N T E N T S

08 COVERSTORY

Kate Pretkel EPAM Systems, Inc.

16

22

30

Cherry Yeung

Dana Florea

Jacqueline Teo

Azendian Solutions

Accesa

HGC Global Communications

36 Professor Kerensa Jennings FRSA

44 Kenesa Ahmad

Melissa Massa

Aleada Consulting

Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group

BT

28

48

ARTICLES

42

Top 5 Cultural

What Can Leaders Do

Practices to Retain

to Keep More Women

Women in Tech

in the Tech Industry?

Kate Pretkel Senior Director, Head of HR for the Americas & Global People Programs EPAM Systems, Inc. 08

Connecting People through Confidence and Communication

T

here have been many discussions on women in tech,

women leaders driving successful tech companies, lack

of equal gender representation in business, and more.

COVER STORY

Transforming the Industry by

Women leaders have always been a terrible deficiency in the business world. Many social factors stop women from breaking the glass ceiling. Here, we are coming out with one exceptional woman leader, Kate Pretkel, leading the HR team at EPAM Systems, Inc. She is an excellent example for aspiring women leaders as she shares her challenging journey as a woman leader and her thoughts on the ongoing digital transformation and its impacts.

09

“ We're experiencing a technology revolution as digitalization transforms business models both internally and externally. We can expect the employee experience to evolve and grow with AI and predictive analytics.

“ Kate Pretkel Senior Director, Head of HR for the Americas & Global People Programs EPAM Systems, Inc.

www.epam.com 10

About EPAM

EPAM is a leading global product development, digital platform engineering, digital and product design agency. With engineering and innovation at its core, the company uses strategy, consulting and design to help its clients solve the most difficult technical challenges. EPAM works with global organizations across a range of verticals, including financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, business information services, media, entertainment, telecommunications and many more. EPAM is one of only four technology companies to appear on Forbes 25 Fastest Growing Public Tech Companies list every year of publication since 2013.

Redefining the Company Internally

As the Head of HR for North America and Global People Programs at EPAM, Kate is involved in designing the company's internal programs that stretches from onboarding to performance management and compensation. She is also responsible for HR software selection and development and acts as the product lead for some of the tools EPAM creates and uses internally.

Kate reveals that her career has not always been in HR as she started as an engineer with an interest in computer programming, web design and computer graphics. Kate soon reached a point in her career where she realized her interest was more in engineers as people rather than engineering itself.

After this enlightening awareness, Kate entered into the HR field without prior experience in people management.

A Successful Career Shaped by Struggles and Challenges

Kate believes that her childhood laid the foundation for her success as an empathetic and attentive leader. She shares that as a child she was bullied in school and struggled to feel accepted. This challenging experience taught her to always make sure that everyone around feels safe and comfortable. Kate says that regardless of the circumstances, it is important to make sure people feel connected and supported. Kate prioritizes this when rolling out new business processes and initiatives because part of her success stems from building up and empowering others to achieve.

Another part of Kate's success and confidence as a leader, she mentions, has stemmed from her familial relationships. As the daughter of an engineer, Kate's father included her in conversations about his career and encouraged her to help him fix things around the house. In doing so, she says she never felt like engineering was something intended only for men. Kate remembers how her parents supported all her interests and never imposed limitations, which later empowered her with confidence in a predominantly male-dominated function. Kate reveals that as an adult it became significant for her to choose an equal partner who would share the household duties. These personal environments have helped to succeed in her career and made her empower others to do the same, observes Kate.

11

From Being Unacquainted to Leading a Company

Kate reiterates how she started her career in HR without any prior experience in the field and when she joined EPAM in 2012, the company was reinventing itself. Once she joined, Kate had to work on projects that no one else knew how to accomplish since they had not done anything of that sort before. Without prior experience or a management title, Kate joined management meetings and took the lead on how the company should proceed and communicate with people across the organization.

Kate acknowledges the challenge involved in the process, and she found it exciting and scary because the responsibility was huge. Kate knew that the team needed to lead change management to help the company grow and succeed. The company wanted to create processes that worked for its people and not simply for the sake of having them. No one knew exactly what to do, but as a team, they all were committed to figuring it out, says Kate.

Transforming Leadership with Unique Qualities

According to Kate, practising self-awareness and self-reflection is the most important factor to understand oneself as a leader, including learning what motivates them and why. In Kate's words, by understanding oneself more, a person can understand others and their perceptions better. In change management, Kate finds self-reflection critical, as it is a way to process whether change is understood and accepted. Start by asking yourself whether your actions or plans are the right things and why, says Kate. This brings another important characteristic, which is intuition because as Kate puts it, “If you feel like something is not right, you should stop to assess the situation.”

Kate believes that intuition is like an internal machine learning system that develops through curiosity and confidence. Kate admits that all her experiences and lessons learned came together to form this confidence, which indicates the importance of listening and trusting one's gut feelings.

Being adaptable and agile is another quality Kate believes is important for a transformational leader. The current complex world makes it almost impossible to create plans that will remain consistent. Hence, as Kate suggests, a leader should learn to adjust on the go and accept that one may not know all the answers.

Lastly, Kate focuses on fostering a product mindset that enables the leaders to strategically deliver the most value to their teams, clients, and stakeholders, and avoid doing something for the sake of doing it. This is important no matter your role, says Kate. She incites an example from her career. When Kate and her team consider rolling out a new HR program, she says how they think about it as a product for the employees. This allows the team to consider how they will be consuming it, the value they will receive, and how the company will communicate the plan, elaborates Kate. Listening to feedback is also a key attribute for leaders, as far as Kate is concerned.

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Continuous Innovation and Evolution

At EPAM, the team is constantly reinventing itself and anticipating how the team can solve the next big technical challenges for its clients. Kate says that digitalization and digital transformation have been key focus areas for EPAM, both internally and for its clients. Before the pandemic, the company realized that its workforce was becoming more remote, which challenged it to rethink the employee experience and how technologies and programs can be leveraged to adapt. Kate reiterates that this thought process helped EPAM to quickly pivot and help both its employees and clients adjust to the disruption caused by COVID-19. She conveys programs and processes mustn't become stagnant as the world continues to evolve. Complexities are always growing, which pushes EPAM to continue innovating solutions and evolve as a company, discloses Kate.

Simplifying Business with Modern Technology

Disruptive technologies are here to stay and should be embraced, states Kate.

She and her team continuously think about how to improve the employee experience and productivity with technologies like artificial intelligence and automation. Kate notes that these technologies aid in solving challenges by making them faster, providing more informed decisions, facilitating feedback and fostering employee growth. Predictive analytics is another benefit that shows potential risks and highlights areas that need attention. For leaders, Kate adds, this means they have more information than ever before at their fingertips. This complex data can be overwhelming according to Kate, but with the right systems in place, its value significantly helps streamline the decisionmaking process and create new opportunities for success, she says.

The Future is Safe in the Hands of Technology Keep Moving Ahead and Never Turn Back

Kate strongly believes that digital transformation will continue to be at the forefront across all industries. However, to be successful, Kate clarifies that the focus should be on creating unique experiences for both customers and employees. Technologies will become more interconnected, raising the need to evaluate long-term strategies and business models, concludes Kate.

As Kate suggest, it is normal and completely okay to be scared and feel like an impostor as a woman leader out there. Nevertheless, she asks these young women leaders to remind themselves every morning that they are good enough and can do this. Kate understands that self-doubt is exhausting and takes energy away from accomplishing more productive things. However, she reminds me that one should take the first step and do not be afraid to learn further in the journey. Kate intends to communicate to budding women leaders that making mistakes is normal, but they should never stop moving ahead as they might not know where the next step leads.

13

Kate Pretkel Head of HR, North America and Global People Programs EPAM Kate Pretkel is the Head of HR for North America and Global People Programs at EPAM. In her role, she is involved in designing the company’s internal programs that stretches from onboarding to performance management and compensa on. Kate is also responsible for HR so ware selec on and development and acts as the product lead for some of the tools EPAM creates and uses internally. www.epam.com

Jacqueline Teo Chief Digital Officer HGC Global Communica ons Jacqueline Teo has a strong background in Finance and started as a junior accountant when she graduated. Her break in technology came from her love to travel and later, she joined a technology consul ng company.

Today, she is working as the Chief Digital Officer for HGC Global Communica ons where she enables digital transforma on for the company, across people, process and technology. www.hgc.com.hk

Professor Kerensa Jennings FRSA Senior Adviser BT Professor Kerensa Jennings is a digital impact specialist and senior adviser at BT. She is also an award-winning strategist, storyteller, and non-execu ve director who specialises in purpose, produc vity and digital impact. Prior to BT, Kerensa was the CEO of a Royal social enterprise, where she led a digital product and growth strategy, taking the company from launch to global success.

Cherry Yeung Group Director, Opera ons and Campus Solu ons Azendian Solu ons Cherry Yeung is the Group Director of Opera ons and Campus Solu ons at Azendian Solu ons.

She has more than sixteen years of experience in enterprise data warehouse, business intelligence and machine learning solu ons, serving both public and private sectors. At Azendian Solu ons, Cherry oversees notable por olios including pre-sales delivery and maintenance support departments as well as the LiteOn Campus solu on. www.azendian.com

Kenesa Ahmad

Melissa Massa

Dana Florea

Co-founder and Partner

Worldwide Vice President, Sales, Cloud Service Provider

COO

Aleada Consul ng

Lenovo Infrastructure Solu ons Group

Kenesa Ahmad is the Co-founder and Partner at Aleada Consul ng.

In her role, she advises clients on privacy, data protec on and informa on security issues. She also assists in developing and implemen ng global privacy and data protec on programmes, assessing mul jurisdic onal, legal and regulatory obliga ons and integra ng privacy protec ons into emerging cu ng-edge technologies. Before Aleada, Kenesa worked as a consultant in IBM global privacy.

As the Worldwide Vice President of Sales for the Cloud Service Provider segment within Lenovo Infrastructure Solu ons Group, Melissa works with the largest companies in the world that provide public cloud services. She is responsible for building the global customer base with Lenovo sales teams throughout NA, EMEA, and APJ. As a leader, Melissa believes in crea ng a vision.

www.aleada.co

www.lenovo.com

Kerri-Lynn Primmer Morris Chief Technology Officer, Healthcare Microso As the Chief Technology Officer for Healthcare at Microso , Kerri-Lynn Primmer Morris leads a team of Digital Advisors who help healthcare organiza ons embrace and bring to life digital transforma on. Key to her team’s mission is to use cloud technology to harness ar ficial intelligence and machine learning to bring new digital ideas to the table in the quest of solving cri cal issues.

Accesa Dana Florea is the COO of Accesa, a leading IT Services and Technology company. Started as an Improvement Manager three years ago, Dana was offered the COO role at the beginning of 2020. She is responsible for providing short and long-term opera onal strategies that support effec ve business management, nurturing people growth, and alignment with the company’s strategy. www.accesa.eu

Deepa Madhavan

Kelly Steckelberg

Senior Director

Chief Financial Officer

PayPal

Zoom Video Communica ons

Deepa Madhavan is the Senior Director of PayPal, an American ecommerce company specializing in internet money transfers. She has a rich career of close to two decades with an impressive track record in effec vely leading large product and engineering teams in regulatory data and warehousing space. Before joining PayPal, Deepa worked in Deloi e and took a break to raise her children.

Kelly Steckelberg is the Chief Financial Officer of Zoom Video Communica ons. Due to her extensive leadership and experience in finance sector, Kelly has held various roles including CEO, COO, and CFO of Zoosk, divisional CFO posi ons for the Consumer Segment and WebEx. Kelly believes that employees should think of the company’s finance as their own and contribute to its growth.

www.paypal.com

www.zoom.us

www.microso .com

www.bt.com

15

Cherry Yeung Group Director, Operations Azendian Solutions

16

An Eminent Leader Transforming Enterprise Digital Transformation

A

zendian Solutions is a South East Asia-based

It has been recognised as one of the premier data and

Data and Analytics company which applies

analytics companies in Asia with the introduction of

new A.I. techniques with the aim to achieve

Operations Technology (OT) for the last five years. The

and enhance productivity in enterprises. Azendian's A.I.

company is successful in implementing IT capabilities

solutions are in 2 key domain areas: Smart Estate and

such as AI, machine learning, data and analytics in the

Smart Campus. Their solutions are accessible even to

realms of OT that can generate better solutions to

non-data science trained users.

traditional engineering problems. The company, with a

Cherry Yeung is currently an executive-level data and

current focus on education and the built environment,

analytics professional with a focus on management and

develops enterprise-grade software and application

growth for Azendian's LiteOn Campus solution and

based solutions to enhance productivity and

delivery practice. Her industry focus has been in Higher

sustainability in the digital 4.0 economy, making

Education since 2017. Her special skills include building

significant contributions to today's smart city solutions.

and driving diverse, multi-functional teams to achieve

Azendian Solutions creates partnerships with clients to

enterprise goals across a broad spectrum of business

enhance their digital journey by optimising operations,

challenges; designing and development of enterprise

developing insights for informed decision making and

data analytics solutions leveraging an optimal mix of

realising cost-efficiency. This process is enhanced by

methodologies; project and program management.

machine learning and AI techniques to achieve exponential productivity gains for clients. The beauty of

Specialization and Services: Seeking Company Briefing

the solutions is that they do not require substantial

Azendian Solutions was founded by a team of veteran

investment and change in hardware and other

Data Management and Advanced Analytics consultants.

equipment.

17

“ I hope shared challenges remain a powerful impetus to my team's success. Everyone is aligned, their “eyes of the prize”, successful completion of the most demanding projects will build our name for excellence and further sharpen Azendian's advantage in a fiercely competitive market.

“ Cherry Yeung Group Director, Opreations Azendian Solutions

www.azendian.com 18

The LiteOn Campus solution is scalable with various

simple configurations and cutting-edge new AI features

modules that provide several institutions of higher

in the market.

learning with in-depth insights to sharpen the use of resources. These modules are currently being used by

Success as a Woman Leader: The Journey

the faculties and administrators of the top five leading

Cherry commenced her career as a consultant in a

institutions of higher learning in Singapore. There are

software house which provided her with an intense and

other future plans which are currently in-progress to

rigorous experience, but it was a route she has no

expand into enterprises and other organisations, with

regrets taking.

focus on proper training and education.

She had honed her skills learning from great mentors in a

The LiteOn Estate solution applies Data and AI to enable

nimble start-up environment. She considers those early

existing customers in real estate and facilities

years as providing pivotal experience for her to develop

management to optimize efficiency in building

agile problem-solving skills and adaptability. Cherry

operations and also obtain sustainability benefits.

firmly believes that her capacity for growth continues to expand with every challenge she faces. She thrives on

An Empowered Leader Propelling Business

having her team members exceed expectations with

Cherry Yeung is Group Director of Operations and

superior outcomes.

Campus Solutions at Azendian Solutions. She has more than 16 years of experience in enterprise data

Face-to-face with Primal Challenges

warehouse, business intelligence and machine learning

A company has to face innumerable challenges in a

solutions serving both public and private sectors. Her

consulting service environment when it is at the growth

ex p e r i e n c e r a n g e s f r o m p r o d u c t d e s i g n a n d

stage with a young team. The challenges get bigger when

development, pre-sales to project/product delivery

projects are complex, when deadlines are shorter, and

applying an optimal mix of methodologies for reliable,

stakes are high. These crucial situations require gleaning

scalable and sustainable solutions to every unique

from lessons learnt and intuition to manage multiple

challenge.

priorities at hand.

Cherry feels challenged and energised having to oversee

Cherry feels the chief concern is in the area of talent

notable portfolios at Azendian Solutions that include

management, hiring the right people for the right roles at

pre-sales delivery and maintenance support

the right time, which is half a battle won. She has a

departments as well as the LiteOn Campus solution. She

constant urge to seek out, recognise and nurture young

is highly inspired and committed to building a future

talents to build a highly motivated team. The success of

through driving efficacy and advanced technologies in

the team depends on sharing on the challenges and

Education.

ensuring that everyone is aligned with their “eyes are on

Cherry gets the adrenaline rush by winning complex

the prize”. Successful completion of the most demanding

deals and providing solutions to complex problems with a

projects builds up a name for Azendian, sharpening its

tight deadline. Exceeding clients' expectations with

advantage in a fiercely competitive market.

innovative solutions for the LiteOn Campus solution

Cherry is a firm believer of empowerment through

pushes Cherry to always think out of the box. She and her

responsibility that pushes her team members out of their

team help their clients through creating appropriate

comfort zone and stimulates collaborative and creative

designs capable of handling different business processes

thinking. Her key focus in training the team is achieving

of various institutes of higher learning and leveraging

personal growth, whereby she promotes transparency

19

and accountability to encourage members to take

their customers. Ultimately, the solutions to these

control of their professional careers. This in turn will

market research have to be practical, scalable and also

create opportunities to accelerate their personal growth

sustainable.

and achieve their potential.

She has invested significant resources to develop

Disruptive Technologies: Impact on Innovation and

comprehensive templates, methodologies, reusable

Leadership Roles

assets, and various tools to better equip the teams and

Disruptive technologies are transformative, life-

projects. Cherry believes that this approach will further

impacting as well as sudden at a fast pace. Cherry, as a

spur the development of her team by minimising time

leader, challenges her team to be leading the pack rather

spent on repetitive work and channelling that time and

than play catch up and thinks about creative ways to help

energy to enhance productivity instead. She finds these

others embrace technologies in accelerating company

strategies most effective to keep herself afloat in a

growth. She believes that a different mindset and

demanding environment with tight deadlines.

attitude are required to seize opportunities provided by disruptive technologies.

Transformational Leadership: Combining Vital Attributes

Azendian Solutions: Foremost Attention

Cherry considers the combination of various qualities

Azendian Solutions has a clear focus on some specific

that make one a transformational leader such as vision,

values that can differentiate its solutions and people

motivation as well as being a game-changer with out-of-

from competitors in the market. Solutions and

the-box thinking. These admirable qualities must be

technologies are ever changing but Azendian's approach

balanced with resilience and hard-nosed discipline to

and the way they manage their relationships with

manage any critical situation efficiently.

customers remain the constant pillars in the process. The key offering is to generate solutions that reduce risk and

Targeting Audience with Innovative

time to market as well as enhance productivity with

Products/Solutions

larger ROI. Cherry shares, “Plug and Play products in the

To continually innovate products that will be relevant

Smart Campus and Smart built environment are the way

and resonate with their audience, Azendian Solutions

to go in the Digital 4.0 world of AI.”

requires a deep understanding of their clients' needs and challenges. Azendian believes the best way to go

Advice for Aspiring Women Leaders

about this is to tap on their clients' domain knowledge

A valuable piece of advice by Cherry for aspiring leaders

to be abreast of trends in their businesses. The key is to

is to “Keep focusing on client's interests as if they were

have domain skills leading the solutions development

our own.” Women leaders have the gift of being multi-

with data science skills supporting the process. The

dimensional and being strong relationally that help build

Azendian team bridges the gap with specialist

teams as well as close partnerships with clients.

knowledge and technologies that can be innovative to 20

Dana Florea COO Accesa

22

The Tech Leader Who Believes in Empathy and Adaptability

D

ana Florea, is one of the powerful women in

alignment with the company's strategy. Her career

tech as she is successfully operating as the

revolves around creating teams and environments

COO of Accesa. Part of the Ratiodata Group,

where technical intelligence and emotional intelligence

Accesa is a leading IT Services and Technology company

meet, and she likes to promote it amongst other leaders.

headquartered in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.The company

She believes that if one can be fully oneself and can put

has offices in Oradea and Munich. It is an established

their whole self into the work, they will have the best

employer of choice for IT professionals and a trusted

chance of thriving and being successful.

partner for major brands in Retail, Financial Services Manufacturing and Automotive. With more than 700

Facing the Challenging Phases

passionate IT professionals and 20+ competence areas,

The decision to accept the COO position at Accesa has

Accesa has a distinctive people-first cultureThe

been a pivotal moment in Dana's career. After only three

company's problem-solving approach through

weeks in the role, the entire world faced an atypical and

technology enables each one to thrive, their clients to

unique situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

evolve, and end-users to succeed.

The pace of the new times accelerated Dana's journey of self-discovery, building self-trust, courage, and

The Journey of a Successful Strategist

gratitude. The rare situations of this time have placed her

Dana joined Accesa three years ago as an Improvement

in a position to balance caring for her colleagues and

Manager and was offered the COO role at the beginning

their critical work while continuing to care for her clients'

of 2020. She is responsible for providing short and long-

needs. Dana believes that the intensity of actions has

term operational strategies that support effective

taught her more about herself as a leader than her entire

business management, nurturing people growth and

15-year career.

23

“ Be authentic, think strategically, and use your expertise. Showcase your knowledge, and don't be afraid to speak out in the business you are in or in panels, conventions, industry events on social media, or even blogging. Last but not least, learn continuously.

“ Dana Florea COO Accesa

www.accesa.eu 24

The Making of a Transformational Leader

the meaning of technology and the people who either use

According to Dana, any transformational leader needs to

or are impacted by technology.

be empathic. She makes time to know the people at an

Humility and a willingness to seek diverse inputs are

individual level. She believes that any leader needs to

essential. A directive leadership style that lacks

understand how people respond to change, the attitude

humbleness is not resonating with the people anymore,

to feedback, or what motivates people to be part of an

especially in the IT Services industry.

organization. According to her, charisma and true

Adaptability and vision are both critical for different

presence in every situation allow no space for negativity,

reasons. For any leader, having a clear vision and

which helps leaders create and sustain a creative and

articulating it well, is a core competency. The sheer

connected environment. Leaders who inspire have at the

unpredictability of the business environments today

centre of all their actions and decisions the

means traditional analytical approaches fail to provide

organization's greater good. They generate a level of

the definitive insights into long-term strategies that

trust and accountability, which allows those being led to

leaders have relied on in the past. Adaptability without

feel safe and secure when choosing to follow.

vision can lead to rudderless change. Dana finds fearless engagement with partners to be critical. Combining

Ascending the Stairs of Customer Satisfaction

people insights and data insights will make the difference

Innovation comes in many shapes and forms for Accesa.

between engaged and connected leaders and the others

Its clients are set on their digital transformation path to

who tag along.

bring in new technologies. Therefore, every project the company delivers directly contributes to the innovative

The Future that Lies Ahead

environments of its clients. At Accesa, the company has

Dana feels that the company's IT Services are part of a

an internal audience avid to innovate and continuously

meaningful chain of interactions: the purpose of their

optimise how they work. The company's operations

services is to help clients design, build or maintain

Tooling Team supports and constantly interacts with the

technologies, which in turn help their clients and

internal audience. They aim to solve real problems and

employees be better at the work they do, get better

address real needs. Therefore, the Accesa key that

results, interact easier, understand the information in

unlocks customer satisfaction success is active listening,

new ways, or enhance the value for their customers and

paramount for both the clients and the colleagues.

overall, contribute to the betterment of life. This path is here to stay. For the future generation of women leaders,

Acing Innovation in Disruptive Technologies

Dana has the advice to build up the courage to remove

Disruptive technologies are already changing the

the "veil of invisibility". She firmly believes that women

society. They help build the future, drive productivity,

have natural superpowers like an innate ability for

increase sustainability and help people live longer. The

empathy, nurturing, and passion.

leaders of today have to combine an understanding of 25

5

CULTURAL PRACTICES TO RETAIN

WOMEN

IN TECH

28

T

he proportion of women in tech companies is gradually decreasing, according to research done by Accenture

and Girls Who Code (GWC). Experts suggest that this is due to poor workplace culture in many tech companies,

which are unable to attract and support the female workforce. Despite new technological developments, only

24% of women hold computing jobs in the US, and this can also go down to 22% in the coming years.

In less inclusive workplaces, GWC found that women felt discriminated against, as advance to management roles of women is just 28% when compared with 40% of men. While in an inclusive workplace women are likely to advance by 61% beyond the age of 30 and it can go up to 77% for a woman of color. For an inclusive work culture, the survey and analysis of GWC suggest five cultural practices, which can retain women in tech companies.

1

Supportive Parent Policies

4

Encourage Change and Creativity

Better maternity and paternity policies are the first to

Most of the women enter the tech world to bring in some

look for in any company. There should be freedom of

kind of change. So building a strong workplace culture

taking equal leaves to give their children their best time.

that encourages creativity and change is important.

This practice must be started by senior managers to set

Rewarding employees for innovative contributions in

an example for the rest of their team. The studies show

the field of marketing, products, and services can hold an

that this alone practice can lead 385,000 women to

additional 190,000 women in the company.

retain in the tech sector.

2

Allow Them to Set Targets

5

Meet their Terms

The best way to retain women is to show them the right

Many companies organize networking programs such as

role models among the top company leaders. This could

after-work drinks, breakfast meetings, weekend games

encourage and motivate women to set long-term goals

for better engagement. But few women may not be

working in a tech company. Setting their target in

comfortable in attending these events. In such a case,

contributing to the company can be advantageous.

organizing events according to their needs sometimes

These practices can retain more than 310,000 women.

can make them feel better which can, in turn, motivate them to work better. This can retain 190,000 women in the U.S sticking to their tech roles.

3

Provide Reinforcements

These five practices can help you build an inclusive environment that can also encourage more women in

Every employee needs supportive teams to work with. It

taking up tech-related jobs as tech is one sector that is

can be even more important for women in their

excelling day by day and requires more workforce.

workplace. The provisions of sponsors, mentors, and employee resource chains can help to equalize the ups and downs. The supportive environment can hold 230,000 women in tech alone.

29

Jacqueline Teo Chief Digital Officer HGC Global Communications

30

Accelerating Digital Transformation With A Focus On Innovation

D

igital culture is predominant in the 21st

Jacqueline Teo: My background is in Finance and I

century. Digital is an inseparable part of our

started as a junior accountant when I graduated. My

lives now. Women have been the major

break in technology came from my love of travel and I

contributors to the promotion and integration of

joined a technology consulting company. It so happened

technology even in areas that lacked knowledge of

that one of my first clients was a Telco company and I was

digital. Adhering to the digital dissemination and

inspired by how technology could change our lives. At

transformation, Jacqueline Teo of HGC Global

that time, 3G and smartphones were emerging and the

Communications isinstrumental in making digital

world was moving from ADSL to IP, copper to optical

t ra n s f o r m a t i o n s a n d i n n ov a t i o n s u b i q u i t o u s .

fibre. SMS was the word du jour and enterprises ran on

Emphasizing more on this, Jacqueline talks about the

Frame Relay. With that, I started my 25-year journey that

factors that steer her towards digital transformation for

has taken me around the world and allowed me to be a

a strong digital adoption and adaptation.

part of some of the most amazing technological advances

Featuring in“The 20 Powerful Women in Technology”,

that continue to influence our lives today.

Jacqueline Teo shares her valuable insights on digital

I am the Chief Digital Officer for HGC Global

transformations and her experience that helped her to

Communications. My role is to enable digital

take a step into the technology sector and initiate digital

transformation for HGC, across people, process and

innovations and transformations. Here is the gist of the

technology. (is this statement required here?)

interview.

What are the factors that contribute to your success?

Brief us about HCG Global Communications along with

Jacqueline Teo : I work in fairly male-dominant

your role as the CDO

environments. Early in my career, I was one of the few

31

“ The future of AI and cloud lie in the speed and cost-effectiveness of distributed technologies to the edge where user transactions occur. This will drive the development of edgenative applications that emphasise decentralised deployment and management of devices, services and data.

“ Jacqueline Teo Chief Digital Officer HGC Global Communications

www.hgc.com.hk 32

women in technology, in the engineering-based

boundaries. This is, to me, is how the digital space works –

telecommunications and media industry. In addition, my

pioneering new experiences, continuously learning,

work was mainly based in highly conservative and

being curious, having the courage to try new things and

hierarchical cultures that would place younger women in

the passion to stay on your journey.

stereotypical roles.

I, therefore, learnt very quickly to face setbacks,

What, according to you, are the vital attributes that a

pushbacks, challenges, confrontations, provocations,

leader should possess?

conscious and unconscious biases. There weren't as

Jacqueline Teo - Transformational leaders often need to

many strong female role models in those early days. The

b a l a n c e v i s i o n w i t h d e l i ve r y a b i l i t y,

behaviour I observed and adopted were a mirror of the

limitations/constraints of resources (human, financial,

environments I was in. And I often wondered why I felt

environmental, physical) and change adoption. Often our

stressed and constantly pressured. It just wasn't

stakeholders are diverse and hence soft skills such as,

authentic.

effective communication, influencing and building

Over the years, I have been determined (and fortunate!)

strong connections are a must. My top three attributes

to find the right mentors and supporters - male and

for every transformational leader are:

female, younger and older, within and outside my industry - in my journey to authentic leadership. I have

Care about people - genuinely

come to understand that I need to be true to my values,

Ultimately, people enable change and you will need

focus on my strengths and make this my own story. And I

others to have the same vision, energy and passion as

learnt that you can't do this on your own. You need

you. To garner such support, you need to enable others to

people in your corner, keeping you on track, giving you

do what they do best. Leadership is about building on the

honest feedback so you can grow. I often err on the side

strengths of others, empowering them to take the lead

of having a voice and call things out, rather than be a

and encouraging them to achieve beyond what they can

bystander in this world and go with the politically correct

imagine. Always remember it is your privilege to be

or popular thing to do. While this has not always been

instrumental in someone else's success. So focus on their

easy, my support group has been there to keep me

success first.

focused and balanced.

One of the greatest influences for me was the emergence

Resilience

of software engineering and the implications for systems

By definition, transformations require some sort of

architecture and integration. Agile methods, extreme

change. The impact on individuals tend to be very

programming and code quality were starting to gain a

personal – some may be indifferent, some resistant,

following. In the late 90s, I remember devouring the

while others are more accepting. As a leader, you are

works of Watts Humphrey, Kent Beck, Barry Boehm, Ken

leading people (directly and indirectly) into unfamiliar

Schwaber, Christopher Alexander, etc. Back then, the

territory. Perseverance, having empathy and always

concepts were not well understood and they were

being curious as to why things are the way they are, is

disparate concepts. Back then, the concepts were

important. This can get physically and mentally tiring and

applied inconsistently and it took a lot of trial and error to

you can feel that the world is against you or does not

refine the practices and attain the outputs desired. They

understand you sometimes. Leaders need to build

were pioneers in their field and not afraid to push the

resilience not only for themselves but also in their teams.

33

Humility

can focus on creativity, innovation and design for

Transformational leaders need to have the humility to

business outcomes. More time can also be spent in

learn as well as to unlearn. Recognise that everyone

experimentation and research of new products, user

brings strengths to the solution and your best

experience, customer intimacy and delivering

contribution is bringing together those strengths to

personalised services.

create an outcome. Much like the conductor of an

Today's business landscape is extremely competitive and

orchestra.

constantly changing. Leaders have extraordinary

This is especially true when creating new digital models,

demands placed upon them to deal with conflicting

using design thinking, applying artificial intelligence and

demands. You have to innovate while transforming, and

innovating customer experiences. Consider yourself a

maintain a steady operation while driving change. On top

part of the other person's journey and use the

of that, the changing social landscape, especially brought

opportunity to be part of their legacy.

on during the pandemic, has brought new perspectives to what keeps a person motivated. Leaders now need to

How do you innovate your products/solutions?

practice more value-based leadership that gives

Jacqueline Teo: Digitization is largely dependent on

importance to ethics and humanitarian principles. They

people – their ability to imagine a solution, their

have to demonstrate authenticity and know-how to

resilience and the stamina to deliver, their acceptance of

engage in the face of topical issues such as inclusion,

the change, and their willingness to coexist with the

fairness, social justice, environmental responsibility etc.

solution.

These values are relevant when defining parameters for

Innovation is therefore not just in technology but also in

ethics and bias in AI, incentive alignment potential of ML,

the conversations and methods I apply to include people

ethical use of data, consequence of using social data to

in the journey. This normally involves constant

influence new consumption behaviours.

consultation, user trials, testing new concepts iteratively

In addition, there is an emerging workforce that has

together, creating a space for open and safe discussions

spent most of their time by themselves (physically) in the

where I make sure everyone has a voice. Mostly, I work on

virtual world. The pandemic has driven school online,

motivating people to be engaged in joint outcomes and

mobile games and social media platforms are the top

making sure they have clarity in how they contribute to

entertainment categories and the lack of borders in a

the result.

digital world distorts the traditional concepts of personal connections and relationships. Attracting and leading

How are disruptive technologies impacting innovation

your next generation of leaders will need you to shift

and leadership?

your mindset of a 'job':

Jacqueline Teo:

1. Understand these new ways of thinking and new

Innovation in the virtual world is complimented by new

motivations

opportunities to innovate in the physical world. People

2. Break traditions on titles, roles and hierarchies. Jobs

34

that exist now are not likely the ones they want nor the

need to put the extra effort into brand and customer

ones that are needed in the future

engagement to remain relevant to customers.

3. Be creative on what career development means. In this

In addition, expansion to adjacent industries such as

digital age, 18 years old can become their own CEOs and

cloud providers, IT solutions and systems integrators

they know it. So ask yourself constantly what can I offer

that offer similar or complementary solutions will

them, not why should I hire them.

continue to create competition in our periphery.

However, that is where we expect our customers to

How do you see the company and the industry in the

spend a significant part of their budget. The Telco partner

futureahead?

ecosystem will therefore need to become more open to

Jacqueline Teo: Content and social use will continue to

enable easy onboarding, collaboration and integration

drive demand for high-speed connectivity. Technology

with partner solutions. In the vast sea of such solutions,

advancements in Wi-Fi (such as OpenWifi), 5G, and

we will have to continuously review our strategies and

satellite to terrestrial integration are poised to meet

have robust governance in place to ensure we invest

these expectations. In addition, the evolution of intent-

where it matters and stay relevant to our customers as

b a s e d n e t w o r k s , l eve ra g i n g s o f t w a r e - d e fi n e d

things change.

architectures (SDN, SDWAN etc), virtualisation of networks (NFV), alongside endpoint evolution (IoT,

What is your advice for budding or emerging women

sensory, chips, cybersecurity, edge applications, data,

leaders?

e n r i c h e d ex p e r i e n c e s e t c ) a n d r evo l u t i o n a r y

Jacqueline Teo - Three things I would say to my younger

compression algorithms will continue to disrupt the

self:

telecommunications industry.

#1 The world is a big place. Whatever happens today will

As a result, telecommunication companies have emerged

be tomorrow's past. Learn, move on, and be determined

as one of the most essential industries during support of

to a better version of yourself every day.

the new normal and this will most likely stay that way for

#2 Lead with grace and kindness. Remember those who

the foreseeable future. The Telco's role in enabling

supported you, and how they helped you to where you

remote working, virtual collaboration, seamless delivery

are today. So make sure you support others in that same

of products, services and customer experiences by

way.

utilising cloud technologies, is expected to continue. Its

#3 The worse answer you will get in life is a “No”. So if you

challenge will be to evolve quickly and pivot with their

know that already, dare to go for what you want. There

customers as their industries too, get disrupted. This can

are only infinite ways to win from that point. One quote

cause conflicts in focus and challenges with resource

that inspires me to keep going is: “You miss 100% of the

allocation and priorities. Telcos will continue to an

shots you don't take (Waye Gretzky)”

important component for our digital future but they

35

Professor Kerensa Jennings FRSA Senior Adviser BT

36

Driving Businesses to Global Success through Digital Impact Strategies rofessor Kerensa Jennings is a senior adviser at

P

digital world with an important piece of advice and three

BT, award-winning strategist, storyteller and a

secret ninja skills.

purpose, productivity and digital impact.

A Helping Hand for the Better Future

Kerensa has just under thirty years' experience in TMT

BT is one of the world's leading communications services

and also advises a number of other businesses and

companies with a simple and ambitious purpose: to

charities on strategy, storytelling and growth.

connect for good. The connections BT makes are helping

She is the former CEO of a Royal social enterprise, based

solve the biggest challenges such as the global pandemic,

at Buckingham Palace, and the bestselling author of a

climate change and cybersecurity. Through the power of

psychological thriller called “Seas of Snow”. She is

technology, BT supports customers to live, work and play

Visiting Professor of Media, Strategy and

together better.

non-executive director. She specialises in

Communications at the University of Huddersfield, a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures

A Multitasker's Prominent Life

and Commerce), and a professionally qualified Executive

Professor Kerensa Jennings is a digital impact specialist

Coach, Workplace Mediator, MBTI Practitioner as well

and senior adviser at BT. She originally joined the

as LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art)

company to lead a portfolio of digital impact programmes

Gold Medallist.

known as BT Skills for Tomorrow that was designed to

Analytics Insight spoke to Professor Kerensa Jennings to

help 10 million people make the most of life in the digital

enlighten the readers about her journey to transform the

world. Kerensa was thrilled to move to an advisory role

37

“ Don't underestimate blockchain. I've recently been looking at some remarkable case studies across a range of sectors and have seen how it's revolutionising supply chains, FinTech, the space economy and even healthcare and education.

“ Professor Kerensa Jennings FRSA Senior Adviser BT

www.bt.com 38

after she and her team delivered a five-year impact

something high as the sky, and then works hard to make it

target within sixteen months. She has been selected

happen. Kerensa Jennings says she has three secret ninja

among the most influential women in the UK tech by

skills--- Persistence, Tenacity and Problem-solving.

Computer Weekly and represents BT on boards, major events and in media.

Kindness to Surpass Obstacles

She was the CEO of a Royal social enterprise, based at

Kerensa has never wavered from doing what she

Buckingham Palace before joining BT. Kerensa lead a

believes is the right thing. Sometimes, people come

digital product and growth strategy, taking the company

across others in their careers who can be inexplicably

from launch to global success. She has almost thirty years

unkind or materially destructive. Her piece of advice to

of experience in TMT and previously ran large-scale

anyone out there confronting challenges is to always be

transformation programmes at the BBC. Kerensa was

guided by your own moral compass. When someone

also a TV producer for many years and qualified

comes across others for whom such morality is missing,

professionally as an Executive Coach. She is currently

then the person has to try hard to ensure their actions do

serving as a Trustee and Board Director at a social tech

not defeat them, or throw them off the course. If anyone

charity and advises a number of other businesses on

does great work and treats others with kindness, then it

strategy, storytelling and growth.

is easier to get through even the most tricky situations.

Being a writer, she tends to store up difficult challenges in

Three Ninja Skills to Aim High

her mental filing cabinet to draw on it for her writing. In

Kerensa Jennings learnt an important piece of advice

her psychological thriller, “Seas of Snow”, she draws

from her old boss at ITN, where she had started as a TV

characters to life from real-life experiences with real

producer--- “You can do it.” and that created the greatest

people.

impact on her career development. Although being a perfectionist was already intrinsic to her character, the

Essential Traits to Drive Success

boss relentlessly insisted and raised the bar that felt

Kerensa considers that every transformational leader

impossible to reach. But he forced Kerensa to shoot for

should possess integrity, focus and compassion to drive

the stars and make her realise that indeed she can do it if

success in the career.

the mind is into it. Kerensa mentions, “There is an echo there of the old Henry Ford maxim about whether you

Strategies for a Better Customer Service

think you can, or whether you think you can't do a thing,

Kerensa says that she is relentlessly, passionately and

then you are probably right.” She sets her sight on

perhaps fearlessly dedicated, to trying to do her best for

39

the audience or the customer. “It is essential to monitor

make a better world. Readers can trace this back to the

feedback and observe which strategies work, and learn

beginning as the pioneers of the world's first-ever

from the mistakes to improve for the future. There is no

telecommunications company almost 190 years ago. The

shame in failing sometimes, but use those times to learn

company supports emergency services and hospitals,

and to grow,” she adds.

keeps economies across the world online and secure as well as delivers large-scale infrastructure for global

A Blend of Cutting-edge Technologies and Humanity

events. BT also prevents thousands and thousands of

Kerensa believes that leadership in the technology

cyberattacks every day, with more AI patents than any

sector, is evolving as quickly as the tech itself is. New

other UK company. The company has an innovative spirit

technologies are offering a remarkable array of

and cares about making a difference. This spirit attracted

possibilities and innovation at a warp speed. She says the

Kerensa to join the company and she does not doubt that

leaders who fly are the ones who have high EQ and

it will continue to be one of the world's most exciting and

understand what makes us human. Hardware, software

successful companies in the upcoming years.

and innovations may come and go but humanity is constant. Cutting-edge technologies can power

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Women Leaders

everything in society such as, the protection of the

Kerensa reckons that whatever field one wants to get

planet, families, businesses as well as the communities.

into, the person needs to have integrity and truly live,

Great leaders are required to strive to run an ethical and

breathe and learn their vocation. She recommends

responsible business to unlock the potential in both

experimenting with building, making and doing things to

people and advanced technologies. The most important

gain hands-on experience; and being prepared to test,

truth to never lose sight of is that we inhabit a fragile

develop and fail. But have the courage to pick oneself up

planet and collectively needs to do our best to look after

and try again. One should be authentic and each person

it.

should believe in their own truth that brings a very special mix of qualities that makes that person unique. It

Looking Forward with Innovative Spirit BT has always utilised the power of communications to

40

is essential to believe in oneself.

What Can Leaders Do to Keep More

Women IN THE TECH INDUSTRY?

42

A

n inclusive workplace culture- the warmth and

and managers can implement these simple strategies and

compassion that it gives is unmatched. To

make the change happen.

attract more women in the tech industry as

Ÿ Giving a larger space to female role models: Giving a

employees and leaders, a safe and inclusive work

larger platform to female role models will encourage

environment is the key. It could make a lot of difference.

more young women to opt for the tech services and increase the number of women working in the

Research conducted on the misrepresentation and

industry. Several young girls with an interest in

inequality against women in the workplace reveals that

technology meet with resistance from the

72% of the women in technology are outnumbered by

surrounding people at an early age. These girls need

men in their offices. During business meetings and

female role models to uplift their motivation and

conferences, the ratio is always 2:1, with men dominating

inspire them to go against all odds.

the sector. In the industry, only 28% of the women are subjected to management roles, compared to 40% of the

Ÿ Encode creativity: The workplace environment

men. This trend holds even more significance when it

should promote creativity among the employees.

comes to women of color, bisexuals, transgender, and

Developing a workplace culture will enhance the

women who have other preferences.

chances for greater creativity and innovative contributions to the new markets, products, services,

It has been a long-established prejudice that women are

and business processes.

not best suited for tech services. Women have inferior knowledge about statistical analysis, mathematics,

Ÿ Meet their terms: Networking is an essential part of

computer programming, and other related fields. These

building a company's profile. Attending conferences

prejudices arise from the deep-rooted patriarchal

and meetings increase the visibility chances of the

thought process ingrained in the minds of individuals. It

company. But rather than organizing these events

demotivates women and hinders their growth.

after working hours, leaders can deliberately arrange them within the flexible working hours so that

Women can thrive well in an inclusive work environment.

employees do not have to juggle other responsibilities

They will feel safe, secure and could produce innovative

and attend the meetings. This would encourage the

ideas to help boost the progress of the organization.

female employees to attend more such events and

With the increase in self-awareness among women over

networking practices.

the years, more and more young girls and female professionals are joining the tech industry.

In today's uncertain times, tech companies need more talents than ever before. By listening to the problems

Leaders in tech organizations should understand the

faced by the working female employees and responding

needs and wants of every individual working in the

to them with solutions that can meet the crisis head-on

organization and implement strict guidelines to

would create a lot of difference. An inclusive

empower the male and female workers equally. To

environment is a winning strategy to strengthen the

eradicate the discrimination amongst the two genders

working environment and keep more women in the tech

and keep the female workers in the industry, tech leaders

companies.

43

Kenesa Ahmad Co-founder and Partner Aleada Consulting

44

Making Your Way As A Privacy Professional

K

enesa Ahmad is a co-founder and partner at

share my values and are willing to take risks together. My

Aleada Consulting, where she assists

job at Aleada and my volunteer work as a co-founder of

companies with assessing global privacy legal

The Women in Security and Privacy (WISP) has been

and regulatory risk and advises on product and feature

tremendously rewarding. I enjoy collaborating with

development, and product flow using privacy-by-design

other professionals who want to learn, grow and improve

methodologies. In this interview, Kenesa highlights steps

just as much as I do.

privacy professionals should take as they advance in their careers.

Venture Out of Your Comfort Zone. Embrace Risk.

I'm a natural introvert. Sometimes, I find it challenging to

Build Your Network. Build Your Team.

step out front and represent myself as the trusted

Searching for answers in isolation can be challenging.

advisor our clients need. Like many others, I often

That's why I regularly consult with my trusted network of

experience “imposter syndrome”. When I can shut off the

seasoned professionals, mentors, and peers. Build a

noise in my head and concentrate on the tasks at hand, I

network with professionals that care just as much as

find that my Aleada partners and I design solutions that

your well-doing as your well-being. I value those in my

exceed my perceived limitations.

network not only for their contributions – in time, knowledge, and resource sharing – but also for their

Embrace Ambiguity

honesty and genuine friendship.

At first, it may seem like there's an easy answer to a

I've also learned that I need to be a part of teams that

client's problem. However, it's never quite that simple.

45

“ “Privacy Tech” is a growing industry.

Software vendors are creating and refining helpful tools all the time. As leaders, we need possess and evolve our knowledge of these new technologies. We research and use these tools everyday.

“ Kenesa Ahmad Co-founder and Partner Aleada Consulting

www.aleada.co 46

We deal with a lot of uncertainty in our work. Creativity

leaders, we need possess and evolve our knowledge of

and resourcefulness are critical for mapping out

these new technologies. We research and use these tools

analytical frameworks for our projects.

everyday.

Those are the times where being a privacy professional is the most fun. Those are also the times when compassion

Understand How Privacy and Security Intersect

and empathy for both your clients and your teammates

Many organizations still think of data security and

will be at its strongest.

privacy as two separate or distinct activities. In fact, they are converging. Privacy professionals must grasp the

Always Research the Changing Regulatory Landscape

cross-disciplinary nature of their work.

Change is constant in this field, and our clients look to us for how to adapt. Serving as a trusted privacy advisor

Kenesa Ahmad, JD, CIPP/US, is the co-founder and a partner

means staying current with developing laws and

at Aleada Consulting, based in Silicon Valley. She specializes

regulations. It also means understanding emerging best

in providing data privacy and data governance serves to

practices and crafting efficient ways to assist clients with

clients across the globe. Ahmad is also a co-founder of

achieving compliance.

Women in Security and Privacy (WISP), a non-profit organization that promotes the advancement of women in

Become Well-Versed in New Technologies

data protection and information security careers.

“Privacy Tech” is a growing industry. Software vendors are creating and refining helpful tools all the time. As

47

Melissa Massa Worldwide Vice President of Sales for the Cloud Service Provider segment

Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group

48

The Innovator Responsible For Lenovo's Famous Cloud Services

W

ith 20+ years of experience in server and

business in Lenovo 6 years ago in North America and

solution's technology, Melissa joined

before that, the company was not familiar with the

Lenovo in 2014. Lenovo (HKSE: 992)

concept. It was truly a ground-up approach and initiative

(ADR: LNVGY) is a US$60 billion revenue Fortune Global

that would allow Lenovo to have a new revenue stream

500 company, serving customers in 180 markets around

within the company. However, to convince the company,

the world. It is mainly focused on a bold vision to deliver

Melissa had to share how they were going to get there

smarter technology for all. The company is developing

and that it would take time and investment. Today, the

revolutionary technologies that power (through devices

CSP business is one of Lenovo's fastest-growing units in

and infrastructure) and empower (through solutions,

the company and is a multi-billion dollar business.

services and software) millions of customers every day and together, creating a more inclusive, trustworthy and

Mesh of Obstacles in the Way to Success

sustainable digital society for everyone, everywhere.

The CSP business is all about engineer-to-engineer relationship building and ultimately trust-building with

Leading the Way in Sales

volumes at a massive scale.

As the Worldwide Vice President of Sales for the Cloud

Initially, it was challenging to identify the right skill set

Service Provider segment within Lenovo Infrastructure

and training within Lenovo. The company needed people

Solutions Group, Melissa works with the largest

to think differently from the traditional approach of

companies in the world that provide public cloud

designing and selling servers. Soon, Lenovo learned that

services. She is responsible for building the global

it needed to hire externally and move people around the

customer base with Lenovo sales teams throughout NA,

globe who had more experience in order to help build the

EMEA, and APJ. As a leader, Melissa believes in creating a

trust they needed with the clients.

vision. She started the CSP (Cloud Service Provider) 49

“ I love being a woman in tech and the timing has never been better for us to continue growing and expanding our diversity overall.

“ Melissa Massa Worldwide Vice President of Sales for the Cloud Service Provider segment Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group

www.lenovo.com 50

Becoming a Transformational Leader

moving forward as access to data is important for

According to Melissa, a transformational leader needs to

companies to grow. People need big data to feed AI, so

be the one that has patience but never stops pushing the

technology expansion is critical. Lenovo helps the

company forward in an inclusive way. She emphasized,

customers by leveraging their CSP engineering team

"Selling and business skills are critical to me since I was in

along with its core product development team whereby

sales, but I needed to understand the supply chain side of

it employs thousands of in-house engineers and many

the business and the services side as well as engineering."

are focused on HPC, Big Data and Artificial intelligence.

For her, becoming close to each of those business units

This is an extremely compelling matter.

and ensuring their support was the key to leadership.

Transformational leaders must think in a much broader

Future Endeavors of the Company

perspective than their own realm of responsibility to be

Melissa is confident that GPU workloads, 5G and IOT will

successful.

help the companies solve problems faster and hopefully address more of humanity's greatest challenges. We will

Presenting Innovation to Customers

see more computational data and storage at the Edge,

As a company, Lenovo is in a unique position where the

which will enhance the customer experience and their

employees listen to the clients first and then design a

ability to process faster. Lenovo is focused on these

product. Using innovation, the company builds such

areas as they have core teams dedicated to each of these

solutions that are based on the demands and

technologies with products and services.

requirements of the clients. The company's customers look across multiple product types from GPU, HPC, to

Melissa's Advice to Blossoming Leaders

highly dense systems and it is critical to not only

To the future generation of leaders, Melissa says, "Don't

understand their direction but also share with them its

be afraid to have a voice." She believes that a leader must

insight and experience, which allows them to bring the

be heard as he or she brings a valuable and experienced

best products to market.

view to the table. She feels that it is important to have diverse leaders to have the best products and services

Assembling Disruptive Technologies

available.

Cloud Service Providers will help shape the growth of AI

51

INNOVATION “Our goal is to rid clients of the headaches associated with securing and managing telecom services.”

— Jennifer Hyland, CEO

Rate Review and Billing Audit Inventory Evaluation and Management Network Design Vendor Management and Contract/MSA Negotiation

Project Management Staff Augmentation Invoice Simpliication and Bill Payment On-Going Support

For more information, please call us at (917) 670-8181 orvisit RacolTech.com