Joydeep Roy
Class of 2008
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd, Account Manager

 

Previous Occupation: Prior to ISB, I was working as a Project Manager with Infosys
Present Occupation: Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd, Account Manager (responsible for client relations with a Fortune 100 Insurance company)
Sector: IT Services
Work Experience: 12.5+ years
Interests – Professional/Personal:
My personal interests are travelling and sightseeing. I wouldn’t really call myself an explorer but I definitely make it a point to take time out for myself to visit new places – it just puts you at awe to see how beautiful this world can be and how much little we have seen. I also try to take some personal time off for a morning jog every day – just helps you get your thoughts together for the day ahead.

Can you tell us a little about your family background/ history?
I grew up in a middle class working family and roots that help me keep grounded. We never had too much but always enough for a normal lifestyle. Being the younger of the 2 siblings at home, I was perhaps more pampered and also had an elder brother who took me under his wing for all the nice and not so nice things that we ended up doing around the house.
Life was normal till I met a young lady a little over 10 years back and that was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me. Sulagna & I were the best of friends and thankfully she agreed to marry me a few years later. She has been the pillar of my life all these years and we had been blessed with a princess named Aishani a year back.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
I’d list the following as some of my professional achievements in recent past:
Successfully set up and manage a $15M account with a Fortune 100 Insurer based in North America. Drove Consulting and Transformational initiatives to define IT roadmap for a mid-size Insurance company.
Partnering with a Fortune 100 client on their 2020 Transformation planning and implementation initiatives as a strategic IT partner

Tell us about your profile pre-ISB, and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
I started my career as a Software Engineer out of engineering school with Infosys and went up the delivery track during my near 7 years stint with Infosys. A significant part of my tenure at Infosys was spent onsite in various client facing delivery roles and that’s when I experienced the adrenaline of being right in the middle of action. Since then, I have always been involved in client facing roles in some capacity and I have always enjoyed my interactions with various client stakeholders. Post ISB, I have continued on the same path and had been playing mostly Engagement Management / Account Management roles. To me the yardstick for success in such a role is when the client confides in you and treats you as an equal partner in the game. That’s what I strive to do on a daily basis.

Describe your fondest memory of ISB.
My fondest memory of ISB, without any doubt, would be the day when I set foot in the campus for the first time. I remember stepping into ISB with a lot of expectations, a touch of anxiety and a hint of nervousness with my ears and heart open for all that I could gather. It was indeed a great journey where I learnt a few things but made a lot of friends and most importantly came out with some of my best memories – clearly I enjoyed every day on that campus.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?
I think, fundamentally, I haven’t really changed much but I think post ISB, I have become more humble and perseverant. The interactions with the best of the faculty members, a diverse mix of student community and a host of vibrant industry interactions had left a lasting impression in me that there are way too many opportunities out there and failure therefore is perhaps just not an option.
 
How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
Apart from what I wrote above, I feel ISB has really given me the ability to think and strategize broadly rather than just focus on tactical items. Any business decision has multiple dimensions to it in terms of goal, RoI, risks, plan, contingency among others and it’s important that we cover most bases while making a call – to me the ISB experience has really helped me widen my horizons in this aspect.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
Forever

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
The main highlight to me would be the interactions and lessons that you learn from your peers not just inside the classroom but even over the dinner table or coffee breaks or parties outside.

Word of advice for the current class?
My advice to the current class would be that you are the best of the lot (that’s why you are here), so just sit back, enjoy and get the most of your 1 year at ISB – a job at the end is not the goal but the experience along the way.

What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
Wow – that’s a tough one. I really have to struggle to think. I think I really enjoyed most of marketing courses – purely because the examples and real life case studies were so appropriate yet insightful.

Was there anyone during your time at ISB who acted as a mentor for you? Tell us a little about this relationship and why it was valuable.
I’d not really pin point any specific mentor per se. I think overall the experience that the faculty brought to the table was unparalleled and I couldn’t have really asked for more.

What are the areas in which you can contribute to ISB?
I really hope I can contribute much more to ISB than what I have done so far. I have only myself to be blamed for this. While I had been part of few road shows in the past, I’d certainly like to contribute to the school and the current class for any mentoring or experience sharing discussions.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
I work as an Account Manager and the thing that I enjoy most in this role is that you get to be a trusted partner with your client and contribute directly to the success or failure to several C-level folks – to me, that’s a steep ask and you need to be at the top of your game.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Any trends that you can see?
I am working in the Insurance domain and I am fascinated to see how so many SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) based technologies are shaping up the industry.


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