Beating the Pandemic Blues

We talked to Preeta Chandran about how eWandzDigital enables seamless technology operations and huge cost savings for global IT companies and this is what she had to say.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Preeta Chandran: We are all doing well, thank you. I hope you and your family, as well as your team, are all doing fine.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded eWandzDigital?

Preeta Chandran: We both have around 20 years of the digital learning experience, digital media, and technology space. In our last roles, we were Operations Leaders with Genpact. We have worked extensively with global clients like GE, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson Controls, Cisco, NBCU, to name a few. We have also done consulting onsite at client locations across Asia, Europe, the USA, and South Africa. Two and a half years back, we jointly started this company, eWandzDigital, to provide low-cost, high-quality digital learning, media, and technology services to clients worldwide. We are also passionate about finding talent and giving people opportunities across the country, including small towns. We firmly believed that starting this company will help us do that and make a real difference in people’s lives, be they our employees or clients.

How does eWandzDigital innovate? 

Preeta Chandran: Innovation needs the right mix of ideas, understanding the market’s pulse and the customers, including their challenges, and seeing ahead. We look at every employee as a catalyst in innovation, as they work closely with customers day in and day out. We encourage a lot of research and idea-sharing. These practices have enabled us to ensure that we are not just operational executers but partners in customer success. Our customers have become our promoters and thus also our growth agents. 

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Preeta Chandran: The bearing of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is being felt by all organizations worldwide, and we also get impacted. We are focusing on a lot of interrelated issues that extend from keeping employees and customers safe to a very agile delivery system to manage customer’s volatile requirements and process adaptation for quick responding operations. Rapid addressing systems/processes are helping us to manage customers, people, and suppliers.

The speed plays a pivotal role in optimizing the company’s flexibility to manage risk and liquidity while evaluating growth opportunities coming out of the downturn.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Preeta Chandran: We work very closely working with customers and believe in a no surprise policy. We are raising red flags proactively, connecting with customers very rigorously, and acting fast on requirements. The best lesson learned in these Covid-19 times is to act quickly and convert the reactive approach into a proactive strategy.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

Preeta Chandran: There is no one formula to deal with stress and anxiety. Preeta deals with it through meditation, reading, and writing poetry. Pankaj deals with it through workouts and painting. We are also authors and artists. Three books that we have worked on in collaboration have been published to date. Preeta’s writings have been published in numerous anthologies worldwide, and Pankaj’s artwork has been displayed in exhibitions in India and around the world.  

But one thing that we’d like to highlight is that sometimes a little external perspective helps. So we conduct sessions by life coaches and professional trainers from time to time for our team. That goes a long way in managing not just individual but collective stress. This has always been important in organizations like ours, where people work against project deadlines. It is still all the more critical of the pandemic affecting people’s physical and mental health and lives.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Preeta Chandran: Most of the L&D organization and Digital Content Media organizations are our direct competitors. We keep a close tab on them, and we also believe in thinking beyond your direct core competitors. But the main mantra is to keep the key focus on the customer, not on competitors.

As business leaders, we have to manipulate an array of new Technology priorities and challenges of volume spikes, fly decision-making, business continuity risks, employees productivity/transactional productivity, legal and security challenges, and so on.

Agile adoption and adaptation practices are what we believe will be a crucial differentiator in the game.

Your final thoughts?

Preeta Chandran: It is back to the basics. Some things have always been important, but their importance has been reinforced in these unprecedented times. The values of working hard, staying positive, spreading positivity, staying fit, supporting and developing others, and being kind will help us overcome the challenges we face today. This is also a time to play to our strengths and keep a maniacal focus on opportunities, individually and collectively.

Your website?

 https://www.ewandzdigital.com