Sandy Sharma

Chief Digital Transformation Officer & Chief Marketing Officer, Zensar

Could you please take our readers through your career journey, so far?

Both my parents are PhDs — one in Physics and the other in Child Psychology. So, in a way, I’ve always lived my life at the intersection of psychology and science. I grew up on the lush and vibrant IIT-Delhi campus, and in a very protected environment. After my degree in Computer Science and an MBA in India, I enrolled at the MIT Sloan School of Management for my PhD. However, contrary to my parents’ vision, I subsequently chose to launch a startup instead. This was way back in 1990. Since then, it has been one entrepreneurial venture after another.

What has been your most significant learning from running your startup to now heading Digital Transformation and Marketing at Zensar?

It has come as a relief and also with some frustration. Let me explain.

When you’re running your own company, the buck stops with you, and you’re responsible for everything. As Founder-CEO, you’re responsible for everybody’s wellbeing and ensuring the company thrives, because people rely on you. They’ve chosen to come to you, to be with you, and you’re the one who can potentially let them down. So, there’s a bit of relief in my current role because that kind of pressure no longer looms over me here.

Also, when you are the top boss or owner, you want to and can get things done fast. The frustration now comes from the fact that as part of a larger system, I need to be more patient to work with other people. So the learning here for me is that I’ve become more appreciative of ground realities, and what all it takes to get things done.

The other aspect relates to the differences between a small versus a globally distributed organisation, and a private versus a public company, which brings in many nuances. Those are things one has to be mindful of.

It’s been a year since Zensar’s big brand refresh. What is the pulse of the market now?

Overall, the response has been very positive in terms of how modern and fresh the brand looks. But that’s not enough; the true test of a brand is also about how it feels to interact with. At Zensar, our CEO Ajay Bhutoria, me, the sales team, our website, the Pune office, the Princeton office, all of this constitutes the brand. These constitute what we call the brand’s human, digital and physical touchpoints.

When people engage with Zensar through these touchpoints, they ask, “Does it feel sincere? Does it feel modern? Does the brand care for me? Am I getting what I want out of the brand?” and so on. Those are the emotions people go through and our brand experience should convey positivity in response to such questions, help them like the brand, find it valuable, and make their interactions with Zensar enjoyable.

The second part is when we deliver on those expectations. Are we sincere, are we following up, or are we being professional? Take, for example, Apple. Why do we like the brand? It’s not just the product, or Apple’s vision, or its after-sales support, or how they are seamlessly integrating their products’ usefulness with ease and enjoyment that makes it an iconic brand.

There are three things consumers generally seek from Apple products — they should be useful, easy and enjoyable to use. Trying to achieve these qualities in the moments that matter is fundamental to the success of the brand from, say, unboxing an Apple watch to wearing it, using it daily, and replacing it — all of those steps must be beautiful. I believe that is really where we have to reach as a brand at Zensar too.

What are some of the digital trends that you’re seeing in the industry today?

The essential trend is how digital technologies have been helping improve people’s lives, delivering better experiences, fulfilling business needs, and everything that centres around human desirability. We need to invest in some soul searching for our business, and ask what has the journey been, so far. As technology evolves, how can our business evolve as well, to serve people better, and can we use technology to do that? I think that is where the most significant gap is — people leading with tech versus leading with human desirability.

The best companies are doing it. A classic example is how Microsoft shifted its focus to create a better customer experience with Teams against Skype. They’ve invested a lot in the platform and are consistently improving and taking feedback. If you start a meeting and end it quickly, they’re like, ‘Oh, did something go wrong? How was the experience?’. So, they’re looking at every micro step to see when people are using these products, whether they are getting value, and whether it is easy and enjoyable to use. So, that’s how the digital revolution can help improve lives.

Suppose a small-tier IT firm in the US wants to scale up and join the big league. What does it need to do?

If you grow in size and follow the blueprint of others who’ve already gone down that path, you’re creating yet another commodity entity, and there’s nothing special about it. I feel it is more important to stand out in terms of what you want to be known for.

The second and most crucial aspect is having a standard operating procedure for every function and every process in your company. People have to be trained in it, onboarded on it, you have to measure it, and you have to have the consistency and rigour to pursue it.