10 MINS READ
Industry
Highlights
- As per the (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce report, women make up an estimated 24% of the overall number.
- The Cybersecurity unit at TCS helps customers traverse the complex ecosystem protecting the enterprise—their users, customers, data, and network.
- Santha Subramoni heads the Cybersecurity business unit at TCS.
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Women in cybertech
I head the Cybersecurity business unit at TCS, and people are often pleasantly surprised to hear that. I don’t blame them—cybersecurity has a bit of a reputation problem. Media representation has led most of us to believe that cybersecurity is the realm of young men wearing hoodies in an intense war-room atmosphere. Well, I am happy to share that the needle has been moving in a positive direction. As per the (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce report, women make up an estimated 24% of the overall number even as more are joining the field—and they are gunning for leadership positions.
Buoyed by consistent improvement in the educational level of women and a substantial rise in women enrolling for online courses, female cybersecurity workers are asserting themselves. And TCS has always pushed the frontiers of what is possible, especially for women. Allow me to present my own case as evidence.
Here’s what I do
Cybersecurity has occupied the front pages for some time, as cyberattacks and defenses keep intensifying almost in lockstep. Without using a lot of cybersecurity jargon, let me try to give you a fair overview of what my work basically involves: when it comes to enterprise sustainability, compliance with regulations, data privacy, and dealing with the myriad threats that are always lurking on the internet, our customers rely on our services. We help them traverse the complex ecosystem protecting the enterprise—their users, customers, data, and network. At the highest corporate level, we effectively assure the board that all is well with the enterprise.
Where it all began
I started my career at TCS as a trainee when I was recruited from campus. Since then, it has been a highly eventful and equally satisfying 24 years. From my first role as a developer, I gradually moved up to customer-facing roles. I have been a program head, pre-sales head, and have been in both delivery as well as operations roles. When the opportunity came my way to grow a new business unit called Business Process Management, I volunteered.
It was a career-changing move because it helped me get hands-on experience setting up and running a practice. From there, I went on to head the Intelligent Process Automation unit. After spending some time in this role, an opportunity opened up through TCS’ Leadership and Diversity (LeaD) program for the role of the head of Cybersecurity, and I was selected.
Look within
I believe being self-aware is crucial, especially for a business leader. Self-awareness extends to being aware of the good and the bad in your ecosystem. This includes giving credit where it’s due, surrounding yourself with people better than you, honing sharp listening skills, conflict resolution, and consensus management. And these things become easier to master when one starts knowing oneself well. Ask yourself—what am I good at, what am I not good at, where do I need help, and when should I ask for help? When you lead by example with such an approach, your team feels inspired, and everybody gives their best—an inspired team is a productive team.
What keeps me going
Professionally, what keeps me going is the knowledge that every day is truly new. There is no telling what you will see in your mailbox the next morning. Technologies change every day, cyber threats evolve every day, and enterprise priorities mature every day. It does not matter what you know and have been doing for the past two decades as long as you are willing to learn, grow, and innovate as you go forward.
Game-changer
Over my substantially long career at TCS, being a woman has not affected my everyday job, but that is just me. Generally speaking, women in tech do need a leg up. They deserve the means to be able to navigate the well-entrenched ‘old boys’ club’ with perhaps an ‘old girls’ club’! One is centuries old, while the other is a few decades old, so you can imagine the gap that we have to close.
That is why we need to foster ecosystems, such as women in tech, women in cybersecurity, and women in data. We need special networking opportunities for women and different ways to express our aspirations and abilities. We need to support one another by sharing our thoughts, personalizing our brands, championing ourselves, increasing our reach, and encouraging fellow women to aim higher.
And all great things start with a small step—exploring opportunities at TCS Careers.
