Mr. Manikkam Subramaniam is Senior Vice President at Heritage Lifestyles & Developers Pvt Ltd, Mumbai. In his current role, he is responsible for the company’s overall operations, corporate finance and information technology functions. Over the course of his 4-decade long career, he has led several high-profile projects and nurtured organisational growth through efficient planning and implementation of key strategic initiatives.
When did you start your professional journey and how has it been so far?
Heritage Group, Snr Vice President 2012 – Present
- Henkel CAC Pvt Ltd, Head of IT 1999 – 2011
- Kilburn Engineering Ltd, Head of EDP, 1992 – 1999
- Kilburn Engineering Ltd, Technology and Commerce Manager, 1975 – 1992
The journey so far has been very exciting! I have gained work experience at different verticals of each organisation I have worked for. I have also gained a thorough understanding of the workings of the Engineering operation at my first firm, Kilburn Engineering.
I have also learned a lot about chemicals manufacturing. Currently, I am associated with the real estate industry, which brings with it its own challenges and learnings.
Every industry has its own ‘flavour’ of operations. Working with three 3 different industries over the course of my career has helped me understand the specific technology requirement of each .
What are some of the challenges you faced during this journey and how did you overcome them?
The immediate challenge facing my IT team is understanding the future business needs of various departments. As the technology landscape continues to evolve, these IT issues have the power to make or break an organisation. The IT team has to be prepared to face and mitigate these challenges so that the organisation is well-prepared for the future.
Research shows that on average, only 22% of company employees believe that the company’s leadership has a clear direction for the future. By staying relevant and continually addressing the issues that exhaust their teams, I drive the organisation towards sustainable success.
What according to you are some critical job skills in today’s work landscape, particularly in your industry?
Demand for tech professionals continues to grow. New technologies, emerging cyber threats and other trends are providing more opportunities than ever before for IT professionals to demonstrate their expertise and prove why they would be the best fit for a particular position. However, staying stagnant too long in the tech industry can negatively impact their profession. Therefore they need to focus developing the following critical skills:
- Effective communication
Being able to speak in an eloquent, understandable way is an absolute necessity for tech applicants. Employers want tech professionals with effective communication skills. These individuals are being asked to work effectively with others, including their own team members, other departments, stakeholders and even customers. A CIO in particular, being a tech professional, should have the emotional intelligence to guide his or her teams through conflicts, and elicit actionable feedback that will help meet shared goals. In general, tech applicants should have effective communication skills that can be tailored to different audiences. This will help them transcend silos and also empower them as leaders within the business ecosystem.
- Data management
Big data has created a number of opportunities for tech professionals. They need to know how to protect this information and turn it into actionable insights to further business goals. Data analysis in particular is becoming a major necessity for modern organisations as they handle huge quantities of information from a variety of sources. Demand for data analysis skills has grown by 82% and many companies are willing to pay well for the ‘right’ candidate. Similarly, demand for candidates with SQL skills has also gone up to support database technologies and better manage company information. As more data is generated, businesses will increasingly look for qualified professionals to manage and analyse it.
- Coding
Even basic programming and coding skills can make your résumé stand out.
Coding can be an essential skill to have no matter what speciality you pursue in your tech career. Basic programming and coding skills can make your résumé stand out from other candidates. They can also help you contribute to varying projects which can take your career growth to the next level. Coding can help professionals get into other areas like mobile development, Agile software development and even User Experience (UX) design. Whether you’re new to the field or a veteran of the industry, coding knowledge can be essential to opening up new business opportunities. There are a number of different options to learn coding from online courses as well as certification exams you can take, that can help expand your knowledge.
Companies look at a number of skills from tech professionals when considering them for open positions. Communication, in particular, is becoming a major necessity as teams become more collaborative and geographically-dispersed. For skills like data management and coding, tech professionals can expand on these areas with certifications and online courses. Certifications will show employers that you’re capable of applying your knowledge for business needs and can help meet company goals. As the tech industry evolves and becomes even more competitive, it will be essential to understand what employers are seeking and where you can learn from in order to broaden these capabilities.
What are some important trends in your industry and how is it affecting India?
Our company has identified five trends that have led us to where we are today. These developments are reflected in the company’s priorities for the year ahead.
- Innovations are coming out in a very big way.
- The open source model is allowing all types of companies to solve common technology problems as a community.
- The demand for data-driven solutions has increased significantly.
- “Platformification” is having a huge impact on financial services and other industries.
- We are seeing rapid adoption and increasing maturity of cloud offerings and the software as a service delivery model.
Where do you see your industry in the next 5 years?
Technology growth would be phenomenal over the next 5 years. In particular:
- AI-as-a-service. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most transformative tech evolutions of our times
- 5G data networks
- Autonomous Driving
- Personalised and predictive medicine
- Computer Vision
- Extended Reality
- Blockchain technology
What is your take on the youth of today and why do you think internship is necessary?
Our young generation of today has both good qualities and deficiencies. This generation has an understanding of certain areas as well as emotions that the previous generations did not possess. Therefore I feel we must always give them the benefit of the doubt.
At the same time, they also have some corrupt thoughts and negative traits which must be removed from their character. If we do not pay attention to these issues, then we will not be able to take charge and remove the intellectual perversions and the negative traits from the future generations. However, it is not possible to remove these traits without keeping in mind and respecting their good qualities such as their understandings, emotions and other noble traits. Therefore, we must show respect to them but also help them improve.
In life, there is no ‘dead end’. In previous generations, the thoughts and minds of people were not as open as they are in today’s generation. These emotions and good qualities were not present in the people of the past, and thus we must show respect to the youth for their noble qualities. In fact, Islam encourages us to respect these traits – a fact that I really admire.
An internship enables individuals to gain first-hand exposure to working in the real world. It also allows students to harness the skills, knowledge, and theoretical practices they learned in university. I also believe that internships provide a nice learning curve for students with little prior experience of the professional world.
What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting out?
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help
- Never say no. Be open to new learnings, experiences and challenges!
- Build good relationships with everyone in the workplace
- Learn anything and everything
- Do not be on your phone when you’re working on important assignment or talking to a senior
- Eat a healthy diet and take care of yourself
- Always be on time
- Never procrastinate
- Have a positive attitude to your work and company
Damini Sawant, 9, January, 2019.
Damini Sawant is an intern at Cynergi Connects. His responsibilities include editorial and operations support, research and marketing.
We welcome talented interns to work on live projects of Case Studies, research work, article writing, videos, operations supports of India’s leading e-Magazine and content-sharing platform – Cynergi Connects! To apply, email admin@cynergiconnects.com with a 1-page CV or call +919819784355.