On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .
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Prem Ananthakrishnan , Vice President , Products , Druva
wWhat would you describe as your most memorable achievement ?
My most memorable achievement has been playing a role in helping scale Druva get to where it is today . I joined at a pivotal moment when the company was transitioning its business model to a cloud-based operation on AWS . I was tasked with helping build a compelling product strategy by working closely with the leadership team and customers to understand their needs . Since then , we have continued to deliver new and innovative offerings grounded in the simplicity , scalability and security of the public cloud that solves today ’ s pain points and tomorrow ’ s data challenges . We work with thousands of organizations , including 60 of the Fortune 500 , to ensure their most critical asset remains resilient so they accelerate Digital Transformation initiatives and focus on delivering customer value . It ’ s taken a lot of long nights , teamwork and perseverance to get to where we are today , but being able to see this all come to life has been an incredibly rewarding experience .
What first made you think of a career in technology ?
My passion for technology sparked at a young age . I grew up during the dot-com boom , an era that transformed the way the world received and
communicated information . I vividly remember peoples ’ excitement around the Internet as well as their grievances with the slow dial-up speeds that came along with it . Realizing the potential the Internet could bring to how people operated businesses , I was committed to solving this emerging pain point . I went on to earn a Bachelors of Engineering in Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications at the University of Mumbai as well as a Master of Sciences in Telecommunications and Business at University of Colorado Boulder . Soon after completing my education , Amazon created subsidiary Amazon Web Services and the rest was history : the cloud era was born . Yet as more businesses turned to the cloud , data usage increased exponentially . This created a new demand to manage and protect it in a simplified , less complex way , which sparked my interest in data protection . Data protection and management is still one of the largest pain points for customers today and solving these challenges through a simplified , resilient
The last 18 months have taught me the importance of leading with empathy .
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