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Downtime
Raghavendra Joshi, VP and Head IT, VFS Global Services
Title:
VP and Head IT
Company: VFS Global Services
Industry Vertical: Travel
Your age: 39
Your first job: Trainee mechanical engineer with MICO
Bosch, Bangalore
Biggest influence on your career: What I learned during
my time at Citibank (about 4.5 years)
Total experience: 14 years in banking & BFSI related
IT.
The person who has influenced your life the most:
My father
Some of the most important things that you learned from
him: He instilled a value system in me, taught me about rigor of analysis
and professionalism.
Best decision that you ever made as a CIO: I chose
to go with the latest release of a mail solution and new design (though unproven)
in a previous organization despite skepticism from various quarters.
Upcoming technology decision: Productized approach
to the development of key applications
Biggest challenge that you have ever faced: One of
the units in a previous organization refused to cooperate in the implementation
of key software, not realizing the benefits and fearing their "loss of
power".
Secret to meet this challenge: Creating buy-in and
conviction
Your career plan: To move into a business or revenue
generating role
Technology that you cannot live without: GPRS on my
mobile and digital photography
Your most memorable moment: My son Aditya's birth
What do you enjoy doing the most: Helping build my
son's toy sets and fixing broken toys
Favorite movie: Where Eagles Dare, The Good The Bad
and The Ugly, Pushpak
Your obsession: Ecology and water conservation techniques
One thing that you want to change about yourself:
Building patience
One thing you would never want to change about yourself:
Curiosity
The best advice that you ever received: "There
is only one version of the Truth."
From whom: Ex-boss and ex-CIO of Yes Bank, Aditya
Menon
A piece of advice to fellow CIOs: Work hard for sure,
but you have only one life so enjoy it!
-Mexy Xavier
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