Flag-Bearer of Women in Tech
Years back, when ‘Diversity’ and ‘Inclusion’ were non-existent themes in Corporate culture, the dynamic Sujata Dutta held the fort with sheer skill and determination. Today, as Senior Vice President, Global Service Line Head, Tech_VOIS, she stands testimony that women need only equal opportunity to reach the top, even in Tech.
Sujata entered the Industry with a Master of Technology (MTech) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) from the Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology (IIEST), Shibpur. “I loved Maths and Science since school. I found the Technology field amazing. There’s so much learning in this profession, opportunities to solve problems, freedom to find different resources, and find the solution to enable oneself,” she says.
Sujata holds extensive experience in IT Design, Development, Testing, Quality Assurance, and Consulting using Agile, DevOps, SAFe in leading and strategizing large Business & Technology Transformational Global Engagement across the portfolios. She has generated numerous business opportunities and maximized Customer NPS, Revenue, and turnover by delivering High Quality and building award-winning customer relationships.
She constantly upgraded herself by taking the opportunity to perform various roles to lead the large cross-country role across the multiple domains like Telco, Banking and Financial, Manufacturing, Logistics, Energy & Utilities, Product Development Management by using various technologies and adapting cutting edge technologies. “Of course, all the changes didn’t come to me automatically; I asked what I wanted and worked towards it to make it happen. In my opinion, you need to dream big, have perseverance, courage, and willpower to learn and adapt,” she opines.
Today, Sujata can be credited with bringing together the Industry’s most compelling vision, strategy, solutions, partnerships, and expertise into a single integrated powerhouse for the IT Quality Engineering & Testing field. She plays a Strategic Leadership Management Role in influencing senior stakeholders across the Globe.
“I take a lot of pride in transforming the global practice from ‘Resource-Based’ to ‘Industry Benchmarking KPI driven’.
With 23+ years of IT experience in international and multi-faceted leadership, I identify strategic opportunities. I am passionately involved in setting up and growing new businesses and a large motivated team. I am focused on bringing the highest Quality Engineering and IT solutions for various business verticals.” Sujata has achieved Cost Optimization through Delivery & Operational Excellence, Digital Transformation, Analytics, Innovation, and Next-Generation Automation, which has brought the practice to the top quartile of Industry benchmarking KPIs with 13+% Y-Y improvements.
Her contribution has been recognized in renowned Global industry forums, where her team has had multiple Industry wins. She has received innumerable prestigious awards internally and externally, some recent ones being: ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Award’ 2021; ‘Most Admired Global Indian’ Award 2021; ‘Woman of Excellence Award’ 2021; ‘WomenTech Global Remote Transformation Leader’ 2020; Wequity Solidarity Idol 2021; Winner of ‘Women in Red’ by Vodafone, ‘Testing Leader Of the Year’ organized by UNICOM and NEXTGen, among many, many others.
A Women’s Leader in IT, she has been invited to participate as a speaker/panelist in internal webinars and renowned conferences like UNICOM, NEXTGen, STeP-IN, ATAGTR, TRICENTIS, Amdocs, CapGemini iSPIRIT, etc.
Her passion for excellence and quality delivery has transformed Customer-Employee-Experience, which contributed to the exponential growth of the team by 450+% in 4.5 years. She is a strong promoter of Diversity and Inclusion initiatives and a regular contributor to the WIT (Women in Tech) forum as a mentor, speaker, and panelist. She grew the diversity ratio from 10% to 40% in her organization and supported multiple people (irrespective of gender) ‘Back to Work’ by exhibiting a strong inclusivity agenda.
A mother to two lovely daughters, what keeps Sujata going? “You get in life what you dare to ask for. I truly believe and live by, ‘Don’t downgrade your dream just to fit your reality, upgrade your conviction to match your destiny’,” answers Sujata
This belief helped her tide over the pandemic too. Recognizing that the most critical pillar is people, she worked on Role rationalization and Skill up gradation to remain relevant with the latest strategy, resulting in high team engagement. “I realized that I didn’t only make a difference; I am part of a profession that makes a difference by its very nature. A profession that at its core is about building value – from connecting people across the Globe, iPads, Google, MRI machines, healthcare, agriculture, Electric cars to fighter aircraft – this list goes on,” says Sujata of her passion.
Giving a message to our readers, she says, “Take the time in doing things in deeper ways, get the fundamentals correct to build on top of it. Also, be authentic. Our authenticity gets tinted when we allow our sense of self to be heavily influenced by the opinion of others. Be the truest version of yourself with a strong sense of ‘Self- Worth’.”
