BriefCase: Women On The Cutting Edge Of Technology

A Project Manager who works with cutting edge Cloud technologies, Asamanya Mohanty gives us a peek into her life in the technology sector.

In this series, BriefCase, we meet women at work in different fields, different roles, to gain insight into their lives and work. With more women joining (or aspiring to) join the paid workforce, we live in exciting times, and this is an attempt to chronicle those times, one life at a time.

How would you describe yourself?

On the personal front, I am a devoted wife and a mother of two beautiful girls. I believe in enjoying every moment and living life to the fullest.

Why did you choose this field?

I remember it was in sixth standard when Computer Science was introduced as an optional subject. I immediately enrolled and soon started developing an interest in it. I started scoring the highest marks and from then on, there was no looking back. In my career I have always been craving to work on the latest upcoming technology and Cloud platforms is where the future is. This is a niche area which has promising growth.

Describe your role so that it is understandable to someone who knows nothing about your industry.

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I work as a technical Project Manager with HCL Technologies Ltd. I am PMP (Project Management Professional) certified and I work for customers like TelePacific, AT&T, Verizon, to name a few. My primary responsibility is to provide the best business solution to my customers and drive projects to successful completion.

I help customers realize that cloud technology is an enabler. While their human resources can focus on their core business, we the cloud service providers take care of the infrastructure management, developing cloud software and maintenance, ensuring smooth operation and much more.

What is the most exciting aspect of your role and your field?

The most exciting part of my role is that I get to work with a global customer base having so much of cultural differences, yet they entrust me with all their business secrets, current competition, market trend in their business, etc. Every customer has different business goals and it is my objective to explain the benefits of cloud so that they agree for the switch from on-premise application to cloud-based application.

The shift to the cloud is not just driven by factors like lowering TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), reducing software application development time, etc., but because it frees up enterprises of daily operational hassles and enables them to concentrate on their core business improvement and growth.

What is the most challenging aspect of your role?

The most challenging aspect of my role is to work on projects when the end-users do not understand how cloud systems function. If a customer is already prepared to move to the cloud, handling projects for them is easier as compared to those who are using on-premise application and I need to convince them on the potential of cloud. Also, working on different time zones is a challenge as my work involves regular interaction with customers.

What is the most common misconception about your field?

The most common misconception about being a Project Manager is that he/she simply orders the project team that does the actual work. But in reality the Project Manager bridges the gap between the customer and the project team, takes pains through out the project life cycle and drives the project to closure.

If you had to change one thing about your field, what would it be?

I believe that nothing is permanent in this world except change. Cloud technology is the most happening in today’s IT industry where the future lies. A lot of improvement is being done through research on a regular basis so that enterprises get more robust, scalable, high performing cloud applications.

*Asamanya is related to Diana, who interviewed her for this article.

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