CxO of the Week: Mr Gaurav Vohra, Co-founder & CEO, Jigsaw Academy

CxO of the Week: Mr Gaurav Vohra, Co-founder & CEO, Jigsaw Academy has over 18 years of experience in the field of analytics and has worked across multiple verticals including financial services, retail, FMCG, telecom, pharmaceuticals and leisure industries. His experience spans leading companies like Capital One Financial Corporation, GE Capital, Symphony Marketing Solutions and Genpact LLC. An IIM-B Graduate, Gaurav has been rated as one of the “Top Analytics Academicians in India” by the Analytics India Magazine.

With CiOL, Gaurav shares insights into the edtech and upskilling industry. Jigsaw is an investee company of Manipal Global Education Services (MaGE). It has shaped the careers of 50,000+ students, spread in over 30 countries and has collaborated with many Fortune 500 companies, across the world. Thus, his views on upskilling for IT Jobs pave a way forward to anyone joining, or in the industry. Excerpt of the conversation here:

1. How are you personally dealing with the pandemic? Are there any new activities that you picked?

I am involved with the Covid management team in our apartment complex. We have been working on organizing test camps, minimizing spread, assisting the affected families, and setting up an emergency care centre in our complex. I have been cycling a lot, especially during the lockdown when Bangalore roads were empty.

2. What were some of the things you miss while working from home? How did you maximize your productivity while working from home?

I definitely missed the lunch interactions with colleagues. Also, Zoom calls are definitely not as fun or as effective as in-person meetings. I have carved out time for calls and meetings and time for working by myself. This ensures I get enough productive time. I am encouraging the whole team to have fixed work hours and not set meetings beyond 6 PM.

3. How did Covid-19 increase the importance of cybersecurity. What will the new normal be?

The lockdown, due to the pandemic, came as a bombshell. Overnight, companies had to redesign their strategies on how to keep business afloat and implement precautionary measures to protect private information. Employers choosing to have their teams work from home is going to be the new normal. As a matter of fact, it already is! And with this will come challenges; a higher risk of data breaches, as employees having access to crucial material to continue working from locations outside of a secure office environment.

4. How is cybersecurity crucial for the growth of the New Digital Era?

While the pandemic forced many industries to wind down businesses that resulted in an alarming rise in unemployment, the job market is still in search of skilled talent who can fast-track digital transformation. And since cybersecurity has become a crucial concern - especially now with most organizations functioning remotely - jobs in Defensive and Offensive Cybersecurity are considered recession-proof. This is primarily because data generation is increasing every passing moment. To secure this data, companies require more expert hands.

5. What does the industry expect from a candidate applying in an AI/ML related job?

Since our world has changed rapidly and will continue to transform, organizations will expect professionals they wish to hire to be more adaptable and flexible. Since Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are advance tech skills that companies are looking for in their new hires, one needs to adapt to the changes to stay relevant. That is what I believe the industry will expect from a candidate in every space, and AI/ML is no exception.

6. While companies are moving towards the cloud, how secure are they with their infrastructure?

While companies are moving their infrastructure to the cloud, they are not following the Principle of Least Privilege. It states that a subject should be given only those privileges needed for it to complete its task. So, any compromises on users’ credentials open the doors of the whole cloud infra to attackers. Companies need to secure their data and cloud infrastructure by implementing required compliance monitoring, IAM best practices, threat modelling, and third-party security audits.

7. What trends will transform the IT industry post-COVID-19?

Before COVID, security and privacy were concerns solely of the security team. But now, the majority of teams in a company like IT, DevOps, network teams, developers are also responsible for safe and secure implementation. Companies can't hire security teams on the same scale as developers. So, security will become a critical shared responsibility across different teams.

8. Does upskilling play an important role?

Upskilling is always crucial to adapt to the changing work environment. People will have to pick up industry-relevant skills in emerging technologies to not only gain a competitive edge over others but to transform the real world we live in.

Read here for the previous CxO of the Week.