If the eleventh ‘Shloka of Chapter fifteen of the Bhagwad Geeta is translated into English, it goes like ‘The Yogi/ni–endeavouring transcendentalists–who is deeply immersed in the universal image of the self-reflective realization could see everything clearly. However, those whose brains and minds are not developed to that level cannot comprehend what exactly is going on in the world. They just make their own version of individual reality and collective truth.’
That means our perception of the world around us forms our experience. Our experiences, level of understanding, comprehending approach, our feelings, beliefs, mentality, and outlook shape our everyday reality. Simply, we make sense of the world through our own prism of preconceived notions.
Or in other words, our perceptions become our everyday reality which we firmly believe in as the truth. However, in reality, it is our version of the truth, though it might be supported by some form of contemporary factual information. As with the changing times, everything keeps constantly changing.
Just like the currently reported factual information that only 30 percent of women can make positions in the IT Marketing industry, globally and in India, this ratio is further slim in the IT marketing world. However, when people–in their own version of fact-based negative reality–call it a male-dominated area, Vandana Mahaur, Associate Director of Marketing, MOURI Tech–in her own version of truth-based positive reality–calls it a skill-dominated arena.
Embracing Immersive Tech-Knowledge
She further says that the reason for success in this area is not just the knowledge of marketing but the in-depth understanding of Technology, Marketing mix and consumer behaviour, sharing, “I was not only a marketer but a person from core IT background who learnt marketing and consumer behaviour as secondary tools and transfigured it into an all-embracing result-oriented marketing strategy.”
Being an avid learner of new things in Information Technology, Vandana started early giving classes about programming languages, databases, and other emerging technologies in 1996. She started her career with Pentasoft Technologies, Mumbai, where she was responsible for handling the western region for their Training & Development SBU.
The year 2001 was a year of turbulence when the IT world was facing challenges of survival, and that was the time to look back into personal life. In 2002, Vandana was into married life, taking a break from her career. Later, she started working with YASH Technologies Ltd, helping the team set up their IT Skill Development Division.
Sparkling Flairs of Innate Capabilities
“If you have flair, it cannot be hidden for a long time, and soon the stakeholders realized that my capacity with the potential of offering more value in varied fields, I started establishing Marketing Department in the company,” She informs.
This was the time when the world of digital marketing was taking shape, and leaders of today were struggling to build a basic framework and infrastructure for this space. Her learning cravings always led the path to discovering new and picking challenges by herself. She was setting up corporate, product and services marketing functions on a global supply scale.
Blessed with two sweet children, her motivation to do more and gain more kept her in driving mode and with support from her husband, mother, and sister, she could balance in between.
Vandana recalls, “I delivered several successful assignments, made it a mature department with a set of processes and practices. It made me pick up what’s new and next. This is where I got to pick some practice implementation and automation assignments to help support other departments in the organization.”
Changing with the Ever-Flowing River of Life
Change is important in life, so in 2018, she stepped out to look for something better and bigger. During this, she got several opportunities for social connect, expanding her network in the region. She enjoyed this in-person connection a lot, as being into the world of IT, screens and virtual connects were more of her routine. “It gave me a satisfying reward as I was able to meet more people and take a dive into social lives,” shares Vandana.
When the world was facing a global crisis at the start of 2020, she started looking for what next, just like others. Then joined MOURI Tech in 2020, and this was the time when the company was looking to set up its marketing department to support growing global demands.
This new assignment involved a lot of new initiatives, setting up processes and practices, building a team etc. “It was a gambit for me, but to do something great, we need to dare to be innovative, and this made the new breakthrough for the company bringing in new customer acquisition, Brand Recognition, Customer satisfaction and balance sheet growth,” mentions Vandana.
An Equalizing Theme of Personal Inspirations
One of the biggest themes that emerged in the aftermath of the women’s movements that swept across the world was women campaigning and supporting other women. However, Vandana feels that this is not the true nature of women. Instead, it’s like creating a gender gap. Women and men can both make this world a better place by supporting anyone who deserves it without any consideration for their gender.
She further that although she was born in a world of gender inequality but feels that parity can never be forced, rather Individual contributions and endeavours that make a difference.
“I never fought to prove myself a successful woman but a successful person. For my family, I can be a mother, Wife, Daughter etc. Still, for the corporate world, my ideas and skill set that matters the most,” she says, adding, “My biggest Inspiration has been Bhagwad Geeta which taught me to concentrate on your work without worrying about the results; if you do everything right then positive result is just the outcome of your efforts.”
Vandana also expresses that family support in tough decision times, even just a positive vibe in an odd situation, takes you far high with your actions. She adds, “My husband has been the biggest source of inspiration and support for this journey and will be the most critical element of my life.” Like all who believe in a social structure, her parents, siblings and even relatives’ support and motivation have made her what she is today as a person. She says, “My kids, who have grown seeing me occupied, compromising even their part of times, are the most emotional support moments and cherishing ever.”
Strengthening Her Faculties by Surmounting Adversities
Speaking about challenges faced by her, Vandana says that every marketer faces different challenges. You must find ways to pivot, adjust campaigns, and address challenges per the changing business environment.
Today, marketing is so fast-paced that it can be difficult to identify which areas you’ll want to develop to facilitate stronger growth. There are three big challenges that we must overcome is, hiring talent, Demonstrating ROI of Marketing activities in order to justify the budget, and aligning the team towards organizational objectives.
Establishing a Mentor-Mentee Relationship
Speaking about the professional values she thinks that her clients admire in her most, Vandana says that it all depends on the relationships one forms. The relationship between the provider of a service and the receiver of service (Client) is like a relationship between a mentor and mentee.
“We must understand their business and make them feel comfortable that they have handed over their business to the right set of people who have the capability to transform and fill the gaps that they could not,” she says and mentions, “My clients and audience value my understanding about their expectations for the given project, because if you do not understand something you will not be able to provide a solution.”
Spellbinding a Team of Strongest Currents
MOURI Tech is well-known for its delivery excellence. Vandana says their clients showed trust for this attribute and have many long-term clients and partners who are still with them.
When they acquire into new markets, it helps them refer their existing clients anytime to share the success her team offers. Team MOURI Tech is a strong force in the success of this organization. Vandana believes, “Our culture and values are deeply rooted in all of us, who are oldies or even who are new but well-connected to the group.”
Advise for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
As an experienced leader, Vandana’s advice to budding aspirants wishing to venture into the IT Marketing world is very unique. She says that every day, Imposter Syndrome is as prevalent in the business world; you may feel that you can be wrong, you must overcome that syndrome, but when you have this feeling of being hit by this syndrome then only you will think out of the box so in some way that negativity can be turned into an opportunity.
On the Future’s Expansion Journey
MOURI Tech has a great vision, and with its paramount workforce, we strive to get better and bigger in every event of our work. Vandana shares, “We dream together and work together to achieve. I have been so fortunate to work with this great organization and easily find my room to contribute to making it grow farther in space. We want expanding and evolving horizontally and vertically. Our employee and customer base is increasing, reflecting that we are set in the right direction, and our leadership has taken a swift take-off for the destination we opted, for the next five years. Our journey is on…”
