Shreeranganath Kulkarni, Chief Delivery Officer, Birlasoft
Shreeranganath Kulkarni, currently chief delivery officer at Birlasoft, started his professional journey as a chemical engineer with the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative and subsequently worked with Mastek Limited, Infosys, Cognizant and Accenture before joining Birlasoft.
In his current role, he is responsible for global delivery, global operations and enabling functions. He works closely with his teams to enhance project delivery, creating a robust methodology to enhance the business operations and reputation of clients. He lays emphasis on helping clients maximise their returns on investment by embracing agility, flexibility and productivity. This, of course, gives rise to some challenges, such as managing client expectations and delivering quality solutions for the business.
There are certain other challenges as well in the day-to-day working of the company. “Due to the rapidly developing technology landscape, the team needs to adapt well to new ways, or it gets very difficult to meet expectations. Opportunities like business expansion into diverse new markets is also something to act upon,” he says.
Kulkarni believes that the adoption of technologies such as artificial intelligence and internet of things is expected to pick up pace in the future. “There is an increasing amount of data being generated and stored, so it becomes crucial to protect the data from cyberattacks and breaches, for which the right cybersecurity measures need to be taken,” he says. He remembers the KPIT merger and de-merger as the most memorable moments of his professional journey so far. “This merger was followed by the splitting of KPIT and Birlasoft into two public companies, which led to new opportunities, and access to new markets and new customers. The aspect that excited me was to be more competitive by combining resources, expertise and technology,” he says.
Kulkarni primarily follows a consensus style of management, which allows him to have complete flexibility in the team and ensure effective communication. He feels that this method has been very effective and has helped him make the right decisions by getting inputs from the entire team.
Kulkarni pursued chemical engineering from Karnataka University, after which he completed his postgraduate degree and diploma from the Indira Gandhi National Open University while working simultaneously. His family comprises his parents and his wife. Free time is usually spent being engaged in music, which has been a big part of his upbringing. He also enjoys reading books of different genres.
