Other than the required technical skillsets, one needs to be passionate enough about technology and innovation to sustain in the ever-growing and ever-competitive IT industry. Starting her career in 2009 with Infosys, Niveditha Praveen has come a long way over the years. She has been a part of various domains over the years, honing her technical and leadership skills while gradually climbing the professional ladder. Currently, as the CTO of automated digital publishing solution provider firm INBETWEEN, she has been helping the firm grow both in terms of revenue and infrastructure by leveraging cutting-edge technologies and innovation.

In an in-depth interview with Women Entrepreneur, Niveditha discusses INBETWEEN and the various responsibilities she shoulders at the firm, the various challenges she has been facing as a technocrat and how she mitigates them, and much more:

Introduce us to INBETWEEN. Tell us about the various responsibilities you shoulder as the CTO of the firm.

As a global leader in digital publishing solutions, INBETWEEN has been at the forefront of highperformance dynamic and database publishing for more than three decades now. For the last nine years, the software development subsidiary of the firm has been integral in developing the product and enhancing them in Goa, India. By automating the production of publications from a wide range of data sources, such as Akeneo, XML, Databases, and ERP systems, INBETWEEN significantly reduces costs, effort, and error rate(close to zero) for manually created documents while enforcing the CI throughout for a perfect customer experience.

As the Chief Technology Officer of INBETWEEN, one of my key responsibilities is to develop and execute the firm’s technology strategy, which involves working closely with other leaders in the organization to identify new opportunities, anticipate emerging trends, and make strategic plans and budgets for the company's technology infrastructure. Another important part of my role is to manage the software development team, which includes hiring, training, and mentoring developers. I also take care of setting goals and objectives for the team and ensuring that they are aligned with the company's overall strategy and vision.

As the director of the organization, I also play a critical leadership role in driving the culture and values of the company, and ensuring that all employees are aligned around the set of goals. Finally, as a sound technical contributor, I stay actively involved in the development process and work closely with the development team to ensure that our products are of the highest quality and meet the needs of our customers.

Throw some light on the most critical challenges you encounter as a technocrat and how you mitigate them.

As a technocrat, one of the major challenges that I face is to stay abreast of the latest trends and developments in the technology industry. I try to mitigate this challenge by attending technology master classes, reading industry publications, and networking with other technologists on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date with emerging technologies and best practices. Another key challenge has been building and maintaining strong relationships with my team and other stakeholders in the organization. To overcome those challenges, I work on creating a culture of open communication and collaboration and fostering an environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute their ideas and expertise. I prioritize projects based on the potential impact and ROI in business and ensure that we have resources and support for these plans. To successfully navigate the challenges of being a technocrat, it's important to remain versatile, resilient, and open-minded. Continuously seeking out new knowledge and insights can help you stay ahead of the curve and we can then make informed technology decisions that align with our business goals.

"Success is rare without a journey behind it, and it takes persistence and smart work to achieve your goals."

Tell us about the top three milestones you have achieved throughout your professional journey.

I was in the process of ideation of our Publication Wizard project, which is considered our hero product to date, and was a core member in ensuring the application’s scalability and performance for concurrent user access of the web application working on the same or different sets of publications from different countries. Coming to the second milestone, I led the effort to convert our application from a monolithic architecture to a microservices architecture, making it deployable on the cloud and enabling us to become a cloud-native company.

Lastly, I recognized early on that great user experience is essential to the success of any digital product. To that end, I built a talented UX team and ensured that we continuously improved our product with the latest technologies and UX trends.

What has been your success mantra as a business leader?

My success mantra is to lead by example while staying alongside the latest trends and technologies that would help me innovate and improve our products and services. I have always been committed to providing our customers with the best possible solutions to meet their publishing needs, having invested heavily in setting up the automation team, DevOps, and infrastructure to stay ahead of the curve. At the same time, I have also focused on building good relationships with our customers and partners. Lastly, I have always been open to feedback from our customers/stakeholders and have used this to continuously improve efficiency.

Niveditha Praveen, CTO, INBETWEEN

Niveditha Praveen is an accomplished professional with more than 14 years of experience in a wide range of domains, such as BFSI, retail, and publishing. She started her career with Infosys before joining the automated digital publishing solution provider firm, INBETWEEN, and currently works as the CTO of the firm. A passionate individual with a knack for getting out of her comfort zone, Niveditha also is into writing since childhood and is also an author of romance and mystery novels.

• Educational Qualification: Bachelor of Engineering in computer science

• Awards or Recognitions won so far:

• Goa Innovation Leadership Award in 2023.

• Declared winner of Asia Pacific Business Awards for Leadership in Digital Technology 2023 by IEDRA

•A business leader you admire: Ratan Naval Tata