Meet the Leaders: Suresh Babu, VP of Professional Services, India

This series will give you the opportunity to get to know some of the Leaders at UiPath. They are the ones who carry on a lot of extra responsibilities on top of overseeing projects and processes. They make sure to hire the right people for their teams. They act like coaches and they support you to become the best version of yourself.

We have some talented colleagues in UiPath. They are passionate, they are resourceful and they're willing to create something that’s never been created before.

We are pleased to introduce Suresh Babu. It has been two years now since Suresh started his journey with UiPath. His team’s focus is on key, strategic accounts to guide customers on their full robotic process automation (RPA) journey from process identification through to C- level digital transformation.

Tell us something about you. How long have you been with UiPath? What area of our product do you oversee? What's your team's main goal?

I manage UiPath Professional Services for India and run the Global Delivery Hub, supporting our ever-growing customer base across the globe. My very passionate team is responsible for enabling our customers and partners with RPA Solutions and offerings for accelerating the adoption of the UiPath automation platform and addressing any roadblocks on their automation journey. I manage high-performance and high-skilled RPA technologists, recognized experts, experienced consultants, and services professionals whose main goal is to provide a superior seamless delivery service to our customers.

Tell us a bit about your career journey so far. How did you get to where you are today?

Some say that the greatest satisfaction that a human can experience is the simple pleasure of any small task executed to perfection. I couldn’t agree more with that as I often recall and reminisce about the humble beginnings I had as a systems engineer.

I began my career as a systems engineer working on support for Desktop, Servers and Network Communications. I had found my way to Covansys as an IT Manager managing a variety of Data Center operations globally. I then moved on to Microsoft and worked as a Senior Architect and immersed myself in the deep mystical wonders of technology innovation.

Looking back, I probably made the right move into people management and leadership role right after that in TCS and then WIPRO which in their own conservative ways taught me the principles of excellence and humility.

What was one of the most important turning points of your career? What did you learn from that experience?

I was living a life that any person from modest backgrounds would settle for, a comfortable job at one of the biggest organizations in the world, Microsoft. I did the unthinkable when I quit a sweet rosy Senior Architect position to join as the Head of Digitization in TCS BPS in 2009. Being a technologist, Microsoft had provided me with a platform for learning and opportunity to work on world class products, but I wanted to move to a new nervous phase in my life. I wanted to focus on my leadership qualities around team management, people development, business acumen and solving business concerns through technology. I wanted a job where I could work with youngsters and teach them what I have learnt, but ironically, they have taught me more. 😊

What made you choose UiPath out of all the other tech companies out there?

In all honesty, UiPath captivated me with its bold vision to reshape the workforce for the digital age. The first time I heard, “A Robot for Every Person”, I felt a kick in a rather undisturbed corner of my brain. I knew this distinct kick quite well because I had felt it once before about half century back, when I had first heard a rather geeky guy talk about “One computer for every home”. We went on to change the course of our civilization. I have a feeling that history is going to repeat itself.

I was grateful enough to be a small part of that company in my younger days, and I would like to be part of this one as well. Being part of two historical companies is a nice thing to reminisce about, right?

How would you describe your team? Think of people, projects, mission, anything that somebody looking to join your team should know.

I am quite privileged to work with a young, vibrant, and energetic team consisting of RPA industry-recognized experts, experienced consultants, technologists, and service professionals dedicated to excellence in service delivery.

As solid and world class as our products are, at some points we need quality Professional services to make some of our customers realize the potential of their investment in our products.

Service delivery can be overwhelming for many. There are challenges galore and we face them head on every day and derive absolute satisfaction in solving each one of them. There is a boasting sense of pride and productivity in getting things done which we originally were clueless about. Our rear-view mirror is constantly surprising to us and gives us that ever addictive confidence.

Our life is basically a video game filled with Boss-level battles and it is absolutely enthralling.

What's important for you when choosing a new employee? What would you advise candidates who want to interview for a job in your team?

We would prefer to look for skills, experience and personality fits while looking to add a person to our team. As we are a service delivery organization, making sure the candidate has the right skill set for the job is as crucial as anything else and to make sure that we are choosing the best candidates to meet our business goals.

A required amount of experience is something we would always be interested in since there is no best teacher to understand customers like experience itself. Every customer is a different bird and there are not two birds that are similar.

Personality matching our culture is an important factor that we look at while hiring. Culture fit has the potential to have or break an employee's experience in any business, as well as affect their ability to perform to their potential. Evaluating a personality can help show what kind of person would be good in a high-stress role or a role that involves multitasking. Some characteristics to look for include a good sense of self-assessment, knowing their strength and weaknesses, and dedication to development, both personally and professionally.

Anything else you would like to share?

At UiPath, I and all of us have that opportunity to create something. And nothing is more satisfying than that.