Tackling the Company Challenges with Technology

Suprita Vohra is currently working as the Director, Risk Solutions Group at Barclays, Singapore. She is an engineer and finance MBA, from India. Most of her career so far has been in the financial industry, working at HSBC, Citi, and now Barclays. Working across India and Singapore, she has had fruitful experiences in private banking, foreign exchange sales, foreign exchange, and commodity structuring. She attended TLP in 2019 and shares her thoughts about her experience of the program.

WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION BEHIND CHOOSING TLP?

One of the things that has happened in pretty much all the businesses including mine is that every time we talk about a strategy to grow the business, a large part of the strategy is focused on technology. How can we use technology better to be relevant to our clients, and to beat the competition? I realize that I am a domain expert in my traditional area of expertise but I need to be able to speak the language of technology and be able to build partnerships with my technology stakeholders in order to drive solutions that form a part of my strategy.

WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT THE PROGRAM?

When I found out about TLP, I liked a couple of things about the program. First, it’s by MIT Professional Education, the industry leaders in technology. So, I would be directly going to the source of what is driving global innovation today. Second, the program is not a 1-week online program like many other institutes are offering. MIT Professional Education is offering a comprehensive blended program with on-campus and online modules along with project work.

HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE TLP FACULTY?

What I truly benefited from, and which I probably value the most, is the teaching methodology that the professors used. I had the chance to connect with new people, hear from the best professors in the industry, and immerse myself in a deep learning journey. One of the things that I have gained is the learnings that were shared through a sheer range of company case studies and examples showcased during the program. It was an enriching experience through the narration of the professors that they explained the key messages on making us understand how we can become technology leaders and grow our businesses.

WHAT DID YOU GAIN FROM INTERACTING WITH THE PEER GROUP?

The classroom is clearly international and culturally very diverse. There were people representing banking, healthcare, technology, education, etc. including entrepreneurs and technology leaders in the group. It was great to put them all together in a room and see very different kinds of questions and very different perspectives come out during open discussions. The sheer diversity of conversations and perspectives was extremely enriching.

WHAT OBJECTIVES DID YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE THROUGH THE PROGRAM?

I had clearly come to bridge the gaps. The average work experience is 17 years for this cohort. So we are all at a fairly advanced senior stage of our respective professional journeys where we have a pretty clear idea of what we need to do to get to the next step either professionally, as a team, or as a company. My objective was to take some ideas from this program back to my company and implement them in a specific context. The plan and the aspirations were already there, and this proved to be an enabling tool to help me achieve my goals.