The Digital Change Maker

What limits you is between your ears." A piece of advice that Daisy Chittilapilly received from a mentor a few years ago woke her up to the importance of realising her career path. Daisy has been leading Cisco India and SAARC's Digital Transformation Division for two years now. She has performed several important roles during her 16 years at Cisco such as leading Cisco India & SAARC Partner Organization (90 per cent-plus business of Cisco India & SAARC is executed by partners) where she expanded partnerships and focused on cybersecurity, data centre and bringing new partners. Her initiatives contribute over 20 per cent to Cisco India's revenues.

Daisy has also been at the forefront of driving digital transformation in several states. Her team, along with Teslon Technologies, developed an ICU cart for primary Covid-19 treatment centres in Karnataka to enable remote monitoring of isolation wards.

Daisy, an avid reader, traveller and movie buff, says as a woman leader she "never had a problem finding courage to speak up and having my voice heard". At board meetings or client meetings, she focused on issues and being objective in arguments. "Bringing facts and data to support the argument, that's the way to get heard," she says.