A working day at Wipro Technologies

Aditya Vikram Tripathy developed an interest in MBA while he was studying Mathematics in Hansraj College in Delhi University, directly after which he joined Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) where he completed a dual major in Marketing and Finance. After the first year, he secured a summer internship with Wipro Technologies, which awarded him the 'Best Summer Project' for his work as an intern and also a Pre-Placement Offer. Aditya shares his day @ work in an interview with Serena Kallian.

Could you tell us in brief about your role and responsibilities at the current organisation?
Presently I am working as a Pre-Sales Consultant in the Business Intelligence and Information Management group in Wipro. My role involves: a) Defining the value proposition of our various new offerings and improving the positioning and brand image of our service line. b) Coordinating responses to 'Request for Proposals' to our clients highlighting our competencies, as well as estimating costs for the services. c) Identifying new business opportunities and conceptualizing business intelligence solutions for the same.

What kinds of qualifications/skills are required to carry out the role that you are doing presently?
In terms of qualifications my current role requires a sound knowledge of Branding, Business-to-Business marketing, Costing, Analytics and Business Intelligence. The role is made more challenging owing to the skill-set required. One needs to be really fast and adaptive in understanding new trends and technologies and must have a knack of observing and finding new opportunities. Differentiating one's offering from that of the competitors' for deals valued in millions of USD requires the ability to find gaps in the competitors' offerings and to remove those in one's own which in turn demands both business and technical skills. In the same vein, working in collaboration with large sales teams and technical teams simultaneously calls for a hybrid set of relationship management and people skills.

What kind of challenges /hurdles do you usually face in a day’s work?
The challenges make the job interesting and make me look forward to it. The biggest challenge I face is the coping with the demands of technical knowledge of the IT industry without having a background in the same. One cannot sell anything unless one understands it inside out. From day one I have been learning about new things: new platforms, new solutions, and new technologies. Engaging with clients and internal teams from different geographies means I have resources for new opportunities it is almost same as presenting a B-plan for a new venture in front of investors: difficult, yet more than rewarding, if accepted and successful.

What would you consider your achievements/milestones so far? How has your MBA helped you?
Being the youngest member of my team, one of the important achievements in my mind is the quota of autonomy and responsibilities I have been able to earn, which required hard-work to prove one's caliber and to gain trust from the seniors. Apart from that, being in the top 10 percent of the summer interns where candidates from all the top B-schools in India were evaluated is a major recognition. A skill generally unrecognized by people, imbibed by me during my MBA is the capacity of learning new things faster. Studying the wide range of subjects from accounting to economics to OB to operations honed my capacity to acquire new skills. In today's world; the best competency a candidate can show is one's flexibility and ability to learn different things, at-least in the first few years at work. After that one can choose a niche to become an expert, but it always helps to have a broad understanding of related areas of knowledge. And apart from that, working in diverse groups has made me realize the importance of team-work and respect team-dynamics. More than anything else the 2 years of MBA life were an enriching experience and definitely boosted my self-confidence.

Your advice to aspirants who would want to be in your shoes...
My advice to all aspirants is be open-minded to newer and emerging trends; get out of your comfort zones and break stereo-types. Be open to learning; learn from everything you do, from everyone you meet. And lastly, it is not just the end which is important, the means to the end, and the path followed is equally important. You can't do everything you want to, but ensure to respect and love whatever you do.