Yogita Tulsiani
Class of 2005


 

Tell us a little about your family background/ history. How has it influenced you?
My family comprises of my parents , 2 kids , my husband and 2 brothers . My family has had a profound influence on my personality. My mother faced lot of hardships in life, bringing us up. I have grown up observing her multitasking effortlessly; treating failures as stepping stones to success and aiming high in life .Whatever I am today is solely due to the values that she instilled in us from childhood.
 

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
I have won quite a few awards for sales excellence in my professional life: the fastest deal, sales deal in a new stream of work, largest deal in revenue terms) in the team.
In my academic life I had won numerous awards for academic achievements since I had always been amongst the top 2 throughout my school and college. It feels very encouraging if you get a prize every single year of your school and college for academic brilliance. I also won lot of awards for extracurricular activities (drama, debates, sports , painting etc ) . In fact, I landed my first job because CDOT picks the top 3 candidates from computer engineering class without any test or interview. I was also a regular scholarship holder from State Bank all my 12 years at school.

Tell us about your profile prior to attending ISB and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
Prior to ISB, I graduated in Computer Engineering from Delhi Institute of Technology and worked with CDOT in Delhi for about 2.5 years.
Post ISB, I had decided to make a career in Technology Sales because I felt that Sales is one of the most important functions in any company. An engineer at heart I did not want to give up on my technology roots. Also, I wanted to make a difference, so a role which impacts the top line, I believe, makes a big difference. I joined Birlasoft (in Noida) under a fast track Sales leadership programme, from campus. I had other offers (including consulting) but I had decided to grow in Sales. After that, there has been no looking back. I have progressed in this role, added value to clients at major geographical locations of the world including Singapore, New York, Atlanta etc. I have travelled extensively and interacted with lot of customers at various hierarchical levels in their organizations. I have clients ranging from middle management levels in small banks to CEOs of the big banks of the world.

How do you think your time at ISB has contributed to your career and personal growth?
ISB has had a huge positive impact on my career and personal growth. My role requires me to mobilise entire organization right from delivery, solutions, presales, to even HR, operations, finance and vendor management. Coordinating with different teams, many of which are not even in the same time zone is not easy. Working on a big deal is almost like running a mini organization in itself, where everyone has to work synergistically, and be mindful of the differences that every team or individuals has. Bringing out the best in every individual for the attainment of common goal is something that life at ISB had taught me.
At ISB, working in different work groups for various subjects required working with different individuals but towards a common goal. Markstrat games, working on case studies are a few examples which prepared me to face the challenges of the corporate world, outside ISB.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
In my current position as Sales Director, I interact with various C-level folks in the top 15 banks of the world and make them aware of the research solutions that my company provides. This role is slightly different from my previous roles because there is no technology sales involved now. What I enjoy about this role is that it requires a deep understanding of various facets of the Banking industry (focusing more on Investment banking). It also requires a better understanding of different corporates in general – something that we studied at ISB, as corporate research. So this role covers much wider areas.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, this role requires mobilizing the entire organization to channelize their efforts towards working on a deal. Besides all this, I love being in a fairly senior role in that it greatly impacts the entire organization.

Briefly describe a typical day at work, in a way that illuminates the kind of challenges and opportunities your role involves.
A typical day at work would involve client meetings (new or follow-ups), working on the next steps post the meeting. Some of the action items would require a deeper insight into the clients current organizations and his/ her ‘pains’ or ‘ gains‘. Which means – how would my solution address his/her pain areas and what would he/she gain by it. This would require brainstorming with subject matter experts in my organization. It would also require insightful discussions with peers, seniors or friends. Sometimes in-depth research also needs to be done, though I have a dedicated research team. I might also need to leverage my personal and professional network. A tailored Value Proposition for every client is a constant challenge which my role faces. The competition is huge and clients are more aware and demanding. Gone are the days when cost arbitrage was one of the prime reasons for outsourcing. Innovative ways of value generation have to be thought through. With challenges come lot of opportunities. Better value propositions, never-thought-of-before solutions, arise. It also gives me an idea of what trends to expect in near future. Where the market is moving , what are the clients’ expectations from us . This hugely helps in defining the future strategy of the company, the direction in which it should move and how to be ahead of competition.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Are there any trends that you can identify?
Few trends that I can identify in the banking industry are.
• First: Achieving balance sheet efficiency will be critical for banks. They would want to consider ramping up their customer relationship programs, increasing cross-selling efforts and investing in product lines that attract stable deposits.
• Second: Growth will still be a priority and banks would think about investing in customer analytics, leveraging digital techniques to elevate customer experience and establish an exclusive partnership with non-bank technology firms to create innovation.
• Third: Contactless Payments transformation will be the third trend I see. Banks would look for new ways to be top of wallet and differentiated customer experience.
• Fourth: Meeting regulatory expectation will require bank’s management to extend its focus from improving specific processes to fully integrating risk management into the bank’s culture.
• Fifth: Data and analytics function within the banks will evolve further.

What was the main highlight or most memorable aspect of your programme at the ISB?
Face to face interactions with the who’s who the corporate world, was the main highlight of my programme at ISB. I met many biggies of the corporate world and spoke to them face to face, during these sessions. CEOs of large organizations talked about their journey and their takeaways from life. This was an enriching experience to hear their stories to fame from ‘ the horse’s mouth’ . Apart from that, working on real life case studies was also extremely beneficial part of my programme.

If you could offer a word of advice to the current class at ISB, what would it be?
ISB exposes us to the real life challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Make the most of every moment at ISB. Everything at ISB : pedagogy , curriculum , knowledge resources , faculty , world class facilities , you name it.... is par excellence . Learn as much as you can, from everything that ISB exposes you to, because anything that you obtain from ISB will always help you in life.

How do you feel you can contribute to ISB?
Though I can never repay what my alma mater has given to me, I can try to contribute in my own little way . Firstly, my personal and professional growth which brings a good name to ISB, would be a little addition to the fame and success of ISB. Second, as an alum, I can help in placements of students and help them get the job of their dreams. I can use my network and contacts to get employers to recruit from ISB campus. Third, having worked in global markets I can help to increase the awareness of ISB programs in international market both for prospective employers and prospective students considering an MBA. Last, but not the least, I can also contribute to knowledge pool at ISB, using whatever knowledge I have acquired over the years working in the industry.