Five in five with: Deepak Upadhyaya
1. What’s your background?
I’m a passionate IT professional with extensive experience working with clients on their technology initiatives, whether the focus is risk mitigation or value realization. My area of specialization is digital transformation through artificial intelligence, process automation, smart devices and blockchain, as well as supporting legacy technology. Over the years, I’ve held progressive leadership roles with large and mid-market consulting firms and I was the chief information officer managing a large IT department.
2. What keeps you busy outside the office?
I enjoy reading and I have a lifelong passion for learning. In addition, I enjoy travelling – having visited almost all of Africa, large portions of Europe and parts of Asia, though I have yet to visit South America and Australia – which allows me to apply cultural sensitivity and diversity in both my professional and personal life. I also enjoy playing golf and spending time with my family.
3. In what ways do you serve as the reason your clients succeed?
My clients value my unique experience consulting across multiple industries and leading a complex IT department. I’ve also been in their shoes, ensuring that any advice and recommendations are practical and customized to their unique IT environment. In all my work, I apply cross-functional knowledge from a technology, business and risk point of view and I can combine these perspectives to provide comprehensive guidance.
4. How does your career allow you to influence tomorrow?
I am at the leading edge of technology innovation and this allows me to provide insights on tomorrow’s issues and influence client strategies for embedding emerging technology to drive their business. For instance, we’ve worked with a number of companies implementing machine learning and automation. Just a few years ago, these concepts were reserved for science fiction movies.
5. What can clients do to get more from their advisory engagements?
They should be open to continuous improvement and thinking outside the box. They should also try to become comfortable with innovation, learning from failure and recovering quickly. When you go to the doctor, you should always explain what’s wrong and take professional recommendations on how to get better. The same applies to the work we do, but it’s the health of your business that’s at stake.
Deepak Upadhyaya
Deepak Upadhyaya