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Poojitha Rajapakse
Poojitha Rajapakse stepped one last time into the Microsoft Sri Lanka office at Nawam Mawatha, Colombo on 30 June. He looked around and cherished the memories that have been an integral part of him for the last 12 years. On his final day as the Public Sector Sales Lead, he reminisced the legacy he created within the walls of one of the world’s biggest multinationals’ Sri Lanka office, since he joined as an account manager. He shook hands, bid adieu to his colleagues and left the office for the final time.
After two months, he has found a new love of his life – coaching and mentoring. Poojitha has founded his own initiative called Coaching Runway and he is again on the run, transforming the lives of many hopefuls who he thinks will lead the country forward with a growth mindset. He says: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl. Keep moving.”
Daily FT sat down with Poojitha to have a conversation about the burgeoning topic of digital transformation and his life after Microsoft Sri Lanka. Below are excerpts of his interview:
By Hiyal Biyagamage
Q: After 12 years of extensive work, you bid adieu to Microsoft Sri Lanka. What were some of the life-changing lessons you learnt working for one of the biggest IT organisations in the world?
A: Microsoft is the world largest software company and in my view it is the only company who has the depth and breadth of technologies that can address a diverse range of requirements. Microsoft significantly changed my life in many fronts. When you work with the world’s third most valuable brand, you think and work like a giant; I guess it is an autonomous thing (laughs). 12 years ago, I had a dream to join a tech multinational and I was fortunate enough to be chosen as a Microsoft employee after a very competitive selection process.
During three roles with Microsoft, I had the opportunity to work with a bunch of wonderful people – from leaders, peers to partners. I was fortunate enough to perform under three different job roles which is not a common thing locally. Though you work for a global MNC, local conglomerate or work as an entrepreneur, fundamentals do not change that much. Fundamentals are tightly integrated with basics and we tend to skip them most of the time. To be relevant and updated in this industry, we should know our customers’ business, challenges, the competitive landscape, industry trends and key industry influencers.
Just like you care for your family members, you should always care for your customer as well. This is the least touched strategy I have seen in many organisations. As an enterprise account manager, this is not your choice. When you force yourself to understand your customer better, they will open up about their challenges, which results in forming a robust relationship. I had wonderful managers who pushed me to identify these insights every day, and kept pressing me to ask for required support from available resources to solve business challenges.
Q: During those 12 years, you have had the chance to steer a number of private and public initiatives under your leadership. Out of the many, what were the career-defining projects that come into your mind?
A: I had to undertake some projects without any prior experience on the subject matter but as an Enterprise Account Manager, I viewed them as career defining projects. To be a successful Account Manager, you are required to know about the business of your customer better than the rest of your team members and have the ability to explain business challenges whenever you want help from your peers.
I remember my hiring manager saying that I might not be the best for this job but he gave me an opportunity. I had two options – to disregard any sort of feedback from my superiors and team members and not improve myself or, do the very opposite. You know what I did (laughs). I became an improved leaner to serve customers and was accountable.
When I was given the opportunity to head the retail business, I had no prior experience. The first thing I did under that role was just ‘hit the field’ and understand what is retail business and its dynamics. Prevailing challenges in the local retail market had to be addressed sensitively. I was able to learn from best retail experts in the country such as Singer, Abans and Softlogic. I constantly heard that ‘retail is detail’ and it was all about execution.
One of the most important milestones would be the transformation I steered at Unity Plaza, with the collaboration of several key partnerships. While Unity Plaza was known as the only place in Sri Lanka for purchasing computers and related accessories, we uplifted its profile as a reliable and quality service provider. Retail selling is highly dependent on retail sales personnel (RSP); retaining them was one of the challenging tasks but even more challenging was to sell products out from their lists – products that we really wanted them to push. To retain them, we figured that rewards and recognitions would motivate them further and that is how OEM Sales Academy was born. We have been able to groom more than 1,000 sales professionals since the inception. OEM Sales Academy was the brain child of the country manager of Microsoft at that time and I was able to provide leadership in a different level with his support.
When I took the leadership of Microsoft’s government and education business, it was a huge test for me. At that time both Sri Lankan and Maldives governments were going through major shifts. These changes brought immediate opportunities but sometimes, they lead to prolong delays in decision makings. During this time, my objective was to keep ourselves motivated and meet both short and long term objectives. This journey was very rough but at the end, we managed to push boundaries and win several accolades for the projects implemented Sri Lanka and Maldives, which unmatched the work of other worldwide subsidiaries of Microsoft.
During this period, I was an integral part of business transformation initiatives in a number of Telco projects in Sri Lanka and Maldives. These transformation projects related to enhancing organisational productivity, enterprise project management, business intelligence and customer relationship management. The transformation in retail sector was well appreciated due to the differentiation established on ‘value selling’. I am so proud of some retail sales personnel who transformed themselves and have grown their careers immensely.
Q: You have been a constant preacher of the importance of digital transformation at various local and global events. Why do you put such weight on this subject?
A: Digital transformation is more than an option and has become a necessity now. Even when you look at it in a local context, things have transformed on how we book medical appointments, sort out transportation, check in to a hotel, enable or disable services with operators, purchasing goods and services online, etc. Individuals and organisations are seriously looking at unique strategies to grow their businesses with a minimum capital cost. Technology has become a flexible option and very affordable, easy to scale, minimum wastage, minimum risk and predictable ROI (return on investment). If we are looking at any form of progress, we cannot let go of digital and transformation. Digital transformation means think digital and act digital, connecting internal organisation to external world.
Essentially, there are three major moving forces in this digital transformation framework and I put them into three categories – whole government, private sector enterprise and citizen. Effectively, all these forces need to touch each other and revolve in order to achieve results in digital transformation. Government should have a master plan and make policies and regulations conducive to the related partnering stakeholders.
Q: Digital transformation is not just about embracing new technology; it is about a change in thought and organisation culture. Are Sri Lankan organisations ready to go for that change?
A: As I mentioned, it’s not a choice but a necessity. It is a matter of time and the clock has already started ticking. For some parties, it is retention of existing customers and for some, it is diving straight into competitor share or geo expansions or even exiting from non sustainable business. In this context, we never find the culture to be perfectly fit into implement digital transformation strategy. As we all know there is nothing called an organisational culture; it is all about people’s culture which articulates the entire organisation.
Some industries need to accelerate the adoption rate, mainly due to security concerns, competition from global markets and to reduce staggering overheads. This is a top down on strategic direction but bottom up on executions which will result in impactful outcomes. As long as stakeholders convince technology to be as an investment opposes to a pertaining cost, implementing a strategy is possible. Organisations are looking at innovative ideas to transform their culture.
To attract new talent, technology can be one of the incentives organisations may use. Innovation, increase efficiency, fast to market and faster response time are some of the key leading indicators of growth and profitability of an organisation. If employees convince these indicators contribute to their personal prosperity, a likely organisational culture could be conducive for digital transformation.
Q: It is no wonder that technology suddenly comes into anyone’s mind when you discuss about digital transformation. However there is an idea that technology only plays second fiddle. Do you have any thoughts?
A: Whether it is first or second fiddle, technology has become so pervasive in more than 10% of day to day activities. Look at mobile penetration, social media penetration, volume of rich media content shared? Means of technology adoption has reduced the operational cost and improved the way services are being presented to the end customer. Financial institutions encourage customers to use internet banking and ATM terminals to perform banking transactions. What I see about technology is that it is affordable since it is being served as per the need of a customer; affordable price and ability to detach whenever the service is not required are also key elements when it comes to technology.
Q: According to you, what are some of the challenges Sri Lankan companies are going to face when going through a digital transformation?
A: Digital transformation is a boardroom discussion for private organisations; same applies to state sector and it should be the responsibility of the Head of State and down the line. As a country, we lost a decade of valuable time due to ethnic conflicts. To catch up with time we need highly skilled workforce, latest technology and a great combination of both. Why I am saying this is during the time we lost, technology has transformed leaps and bounds and now it is at a stage where relevant sectors need to get in to the execution mode or rather reinvent the same over and over again. During the execution process further enhancements, innovations, disruptions will get in to the surface as long as country is open to disruptive initiatives, ideas and technologies.
I have been working with the state sector and I see potential drawbacks and risks. Who owns the digital transformation in the country? What is the overall digital strategy? Who funds digital transformation projects? Who are the key stakeholders and will they accept the change and disruption? What are the measurable outcomes and timelines? In addition, how the government is opening up avenues to involve private sector proactively? One of the measurable key indicators of these would be ‘ease of doing businesses’. Today, Sri Lanka is at 110th position without significant improvements whereas some other countries with economic hardships have improved themselves by implementing proactive regulatory reforms.
I remember some time back, one of the ministers mentioned: “We want to implement big ideas for a small country”. What happened to that statement? During this journey, we might start optimistically but at some point, we might fail. We need try again and try new approaches multiple times. We should welcome and encourage these milestones in the digital transformation journey for Sri Lanka to be one of the most innovative and disruptive countries. Change should come from citizens of the country. We all should lobby for these changes and support changes with a positive and developed mindset.
Q: What would the future hold for you after Microsoft?
A: Born and bred in Sri Lanka; my heart always calls for this beautiful country. During my 20 plus years, I worked with the private sector, retail market, government, education and international markets in South East Asia. During this time, I was so fortunate to work under inspiring leaders – locally and internationally, manage teams and individuals in both good and challenging times. I was forced sometimes to act as I did not know anything to be updated about new subject matter. I interacted with multiple levels of individuals at multiple levels, worked with regulatory and industry bodies to transform the overall eco system.
I have a deep passion to work with people and help them to realise their full potential by harnessing coaching and mentoring capabilities inside me. I strongly believe talent can be developed at any stage in our life span. True potentials of humans can be unearthed using coaching techniques rather than putting stress on performance measurement processes.
This a mindset shift of harnessing the humans growth mind set and help individuals with fixed mind set to shift their believes to more impactful and result oriented approach. The results will be explosive. Western world is already moving away from one-to-many training, and testing coaching to gain impactful results. I strongly intend to learn and practice coaching to help individuals to realise their full potential and reach their life goals progressively. Always remember to stand by your own life motto. Say what you do and do what you say; that will keep you moving forward.
