Aparna Sundararajan

Manager - Technology Transformation Practice

Aparna Sundararajan recently left a role at Australian IT research and advisory organisation ADAPT as an industry analyst specialising in cybersecurity, data analytics and emerging technologies and is about to take on a consulting role focussing on cybersecurity and digital technologies.

Quite an achievement for someone who eschewed family advice to study IT. After graduating in her native India in 2004 with a degree in economics, Sundararajan vowed she would “never, ever work in IT.” And she confessed just a few years ago to having thought, “I will never track security, it’s boring.”

Sundararajan says, for her, “IT meant engineers and codes. Codes meant algorithms and mathematics. I wasn’t interested in the subject, and I wanted to stay far, far away from it.” So, she joined a marketing agency as a brand manager, but not for long. “I enjoyed my work, but it was repetitive, and the agency culture was getting a bit too much. So, I quit my job and thought about my next career move.”

FROM MARKETING TO BUSINESS RESEARCH

That move was into business research. “These were well paying jobs with great potential for growth and international exposure. For one of these jobs, they were looking for economics students, so I got the call and after a whole day of grilling interviews, I got selected. This job taught me to conduct research through primary and secondary sources to create a trend analysis of a particular market. So, I created market trends and influencers for the financial services sector, manufacturing, automobile etc.”

This role was followed by a move into a global IT market research organisation, but not into an IT analyst role. “The common notion across the team was that, since I did not have an engineering degree, I could never be an IT analyst. However, as my interest grew deeper I kept studying more in areas of cloud computing and enterprise software. Although I thought I understood technology enough to comprehend its business viability I was still working in a backend support role.”

Her elevation to an analyst role came as the result of a confrontation with another team member, considered a top performer. “He was a published author. He had written technical reports that had been published on the portal for leading IT clientele. He was the first from the team to accomplish this. On one of my projects, we got into a very stubborn argument, and it turned ugly. The management sided with him.”

BECOMING AN IT ANALYST

That, says Sundararajan, “was the day I decided I would become an IT analyst, just to prove a point.” She chose the right time, when the interest in data, text analytics, sentiment analytics, AI, etc was growing.

“These areas did not require core technical skills. They were new for most people. So, I took the plunge and worked hard to specialise in data and digital technologies that could remodel and reshape industries. Once I became an IT analyst, I got enough support from the US team. They really believed in me and championed me for the position. I became hooked on technology and have not looked back since.”

Refuting the expectations and opinions of others— family and employers—seems to be a hallmark of Sundararajan’s career journey. Born in India into a conservative upper caste Hindu family she was expected to become a school teacher, “because a teaching job lets a woman work as well as take care of her family,” she says. “If you are a woman, work is considered to be just a hobby, not a serious task.”

Not one to listen to family, Sundararajan took an office job, but with little ambition. That changed as a result of negative feedback.

“A series of disappointing comments about my capabilities made me think ‘Can I really not do this?’ ‘How can this be so unachievable?’ I went for it just to prove a point. This was especially true for both IT and cybersecurity. When I was told I would not be able to understand it unless I was an engineer. I thought, ‘How can the very thing that is built for my use be beyond my capacity to comprehend?’ ‘How did they make it so complicated that the layperson can’t understand it?’ That’s what drove me to achieve more.”

IN PRAISE OF THE IT ANALYST ROLE

She recommends an IT analyst role to anyone looking for a career understanding the implications of technology for business and wanting to get ahead.

“Being an analyst opens doors into consulting, tech strategy roles, product roles and much more. Someone starting out as an analyst would get a lot of benefit from learning basic data visualisation, analysis, report writing skills, primary and secondary research skills, understanding various business analysis frameworks such as PESTLE, SWOT, BCG matrix etc.

“Curiosity to find problems, patterns and solutions, and analysing quantitative and qualitative data are key attributes for anyone who aspires to become an IT analyst or a consultant. Your job is to identify the root cause of issues and find the most effective solution.

“Graduating in business studies, economics or statistics will help. Even if you are a student of arts and are highly analytical you could learn about the topic or subject on the job, but you would have to work hard no matter what qualifications you had.”

GETTING INTO CYBERSECURITY

What finally got Sundararajan into cybersecurity was the increased attention being paid to it by clients. “In the past three to five years, all the data and digital technology conversations have converged into a cybersecurity conversation. Every client I spoke to was worried about the security of their digital assets, network and customers. That intrigued me to think about cybersecurity and I thought it would be extremely important to understand the subject.

“Last year I did the digital transformation course from Massachusetts Institute of Technology because I wanted to be up to date in the top areas in tech today: cyber, AI, data, cloud and blockchain. These are the foundations of future businesses and ecosystems.”

Like many women Sundararajan has faced gender discrimination and male chauvinism, but for her these were particularly damaging. “I faced grave problems in my personal life including clinical depression and an emotionally challenging marital situation,” she says. “These things were aggravated by a hostile boss who did not understand or support my situation. It was quite interesting. While enduring a bad marriage my career took a downturn, but my ex-husband’s career took off. He got far more support at work for his situation than I.”

On another occasion she says, “I had a very male chauvinistic boss who was highly insecure and threatened by me. He was a key reason for me to quit my job. He created a seriously hostile environment for me.”

In contrast, Sundararajan has nothing but praise for her Australian employer, ADAPT CEO Jim Barry, and her immediate superior, Matt Boon.

THE POWER OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK

“Jim hired me just from hearing my story of survival and how I had rebuilt my life. He did not care about anything else. After I joined ADAPT he showed immense trust in me, gave me the best opportunities and always told me ‘Aparna, you are absolutely amazing. You should be proud of yourself.’ No one had ever said that to me before in my career, or my life for that matter. I had been told the exact opposite. This was all so new and refreshing it changed my perception of myself and truly made me thrive.

“With Matt, it was like having the best guide and champion I could ever ask for. He was so patient, accepting and nurturing I felt I healed from my past bad experiences just by working with him. Matt and I were a great team and I think this is where I learnt how we need this balance in the technology industry.”

Sundararajan adds, “We need equal representation not just because we need to create equal opportunities for all genders and races. We need it because it is highly effective and proven. If you can build trust between two completely different kinds of people, you have a solid team with diverse thinking and the openness to accept that thinking. As we built the team, Matt taught me how to accept and work with diverse people.”

Now gearing up for her next role Sundararajan says she wants to further develop her problem solving skills for the benefit of her clients and “keep working on building my industry reputation as someone who can simplify tech speak without taking away its true meaning or purpose.

“I think more organisations are on a path to consolidating their cybersecurity efforts to make a strategic impact on business continuity and resilience. We will see more resource allocation and executive focus on cybersecurity strategy and plans rather than just increased funding for cyber initiatives. Also, there will be more reforms at national and industry levels, especially around data protection and cybersecurity baseline requirements.”

* At the time of the interview, Aparna was in between roles. She now works for one of the big four consulting firms

www.linkedin.com/in/aparna-sundararajan-seniorresearch-strategist-adapt