Carine Botturi Interview Brochure

W O R D S: B E C K Y N O R T H F I EL D

C A R I N E BOTTURI

VALUE FROM THE UNEXPECTED

CARINE BOTTURI, DIRECTOR OF DATA STRATEGY AND ENABLEMENT AT TELUS, TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE AND CONSTANT EVOLUTION OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY, AND ITS POWERFUL PURPOSE OF CONNECTING PEOPLE. SU SUP PP O RT RTE ED B BY Y:

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CARINE BOTTURI

And this impactful statement has a lot of clout behind it. Botturi has been working for TELUS for almost a decade and has spent her entire career in the telecommunication sector.

“The industry is in constant evolution,” she says. “Between 1996 to 2000, we were observing huge deregulation activity. From a legislation and competition point of view, things were changing. Then there was the introduction of the IP protocol technology,

the convergence of voice and data networks, the impact of the web, and now the new hot topic, 5G.

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“For me, the purpose of telecommunication is still very powerful,” says Carine Botturi, Director of Data Strategy and Enablement at TELUS. “We connect people, families, businesses, whatever distance, and time zone.”

“On top of that, you add AI capabilities, so telecommunication is always at the forefront of introduction of new technology,” Botturi adds.

As well as this, the industry is also seeing the transformation of the customer experience.

“Introduction of web capabilities have been empowering customers to interact directly with the organisation, without connecting with an agent. We’ve also seen the consolidation of tools to empower team members to be more efficient, like Google Meet,” she 61

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explains, recalling that just a few years ago, the team was working with so many tools to communicate. “Now we see technology that empowers us to do everything at the same place, so it’s a huge efficiency gain.”

She also highlights the use of AI, with predictive analysis to understand and foresee customer behaviour, and the impact on predicting churn. “And from a project management perspective, we’ve been going through the evolution of waterfall methodology – very sequential activities to manage projects to the adoption of Agile and DevOps approaches.

“Everything is changing, and you are constantly challenged. You keep learning and developing. That’s why it’s great to be in the telecommunication sector,” she quips.

Currently, Botturi and her team are leading the implementation of two critical data programs at TELUS – metadata management

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“We connect people, families, businesses, whatever distance, and time zone.” and data quality. They are responsible for tool development, implementation, and maintenance, as well as the usage and adoption strategy across TELUS. And you may be surprised to hear that despite Botturi’s significant transformational skills and presence in the sector, her background and education is more business than technology.

However, this does not hinder the progress of her team – her qualities complement technical skills of her team members.

“Most data leaders come from a technical background, but I think that my more business

CARINE BOTTURI

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“Everything is changing, and you are constantly challenged. You keep learning and developing. That’s why it’s great to be in the telecommunication sector.” background has been an advantage to truly think through how a data culture can impact an organisation. I bring a business and process mindset as well as a focus on value creation and change management.

We all bring different strengths to the table, and every team member will have the opportunity to shine and become the expert in one area,” Botturi explains.

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“To do that, you need to cultivate trust and become a very active listener and become your team members’ spokesperson. You must collaborate and openly share in a very safe environment. And you need to be open to learn and understand the value of the new opportunities brought by your team members,” she adds.

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“I don’t micromanage,” Botturi states.

“I trust team members, so they deliver on time, on-budget, and according to the plan.

And I’m going to give them the opportunity to explore new things – so when we set up goals on a quarterly basis, they have time to continue learning and exploring, and new opportunities come from this exploration work.

We find value from the unexpected,” she says.

CARINE BOTTURI

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Having been a manager of teams since 2010, creating a collaborative environment so people feel they are trusted, empowered, and find opportunity to shine and thrive is Botturi’s “secret sauce”.

Diversity is one of TELUS’ values.

“We promote diversity in our activities and recruitment efforts. For example, we make sure that when we publish a posting, it gets reviewed to attract as many women as men,” Botturi explains. “So, who will we employ to build a funnel of talent? Keeping in mind diversity of gender, and diversity of background experience.”

“Don’t be shy, don’t be afraid to learn new things. Know yourself and your strengths and become excellent at what you do. Build your network of allies.

Keep friendship outside of the technology industry and avoid creating your own roadblocks.”

So, does she have a secret sauce to a successful team?

And Botturi hasn’t been exempt from feeling out of place due to her gender.

“In my team, we are mostly women – it’s not a deliberate strategy,” Botturi says.

“We focus on knowledge, experience, and ability to deliver. I’m more attracted by diversity of thought, diversity of gender, and diversity of experience.

“I had my first interview at TELUS 10 years ago, and that interview was with three gentlemen, all of them with engineering backgrounds, all of them in Toronto. And the interview went very well.

But I had that little voice running in my head telling me the good reason not to hire me, I am not an engineer by education, I am a woman, my first language is French, and I’m located in Montreal,” she says.

“I was almost in denial when I got the phone call of the recruiter telling me I have the job.”

“We can create winning teams that deliver expected outcomes by combining strengths and wealth of experiences from different backgrounds, different training, and different academic backgrounds,” she explains.

Botturi states that the beauty of data is that you can thrive in it, whatever your background. “There’s always something you can bring to the table. That’s the way 66

I’ve been able to manage my team. I also do a lot of coaching and mentoring with younger women who want to join STEAMrelated activities at TELUS,” she says.

And having established a successful career in a male-dominated industry, Botturi has a list of advice for women aspiring to pursue leadership roles. “Don’t be shy, don’t be

CARINE BOTTURI

“But how do we avoid these roadblocks?

Always look for the next opportunity to grow, to learn, and raise around to tackle a new project, a new program, something that’s going to get you out of your comfort zone and where you will be able to showcase your value.” Botturi says.

Something else of value that has been a huge opportunity for TELUS is cloudification.

Botturi and the team centralise information about TELUS’ data assets, and support

analytics activities while benefiting from faster process times, and cost reduction for storage. “We made the very conscious decision to ensure proper metadata documentation of assets being migrated to the cloud,” she says. TELUS leveraged Collibra Data Intelligence Platform as its technology enabler, “to ensure every TELUS data stakeholder can find, understand, and trust information about the data asset – the goal of the metadata program. Collibra’s partnership has now given us the opportunity to extend our automation and AI projects”.

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afraid to learn new things. Know yourself and your strengths and become excellent at what you do. Build your network of allies. Keep friendship outside of the technology industry and avoid creating your own roadblocks.

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