Interview with Sandeep Rachapudi | Leading Complex Technology Initiatives

Hi, I’m Sandeep Rachapudi, a Technical Program Manager with extensive experience driving complex technology initiatives across industries like banking, capital markets, and payment networks. I specialize in managing end-to-end projects, including QA, development, data engineering, and cloud migrations, delivering impactful results for high-profile clients like Apple and Fidelity Investments.

My expertise lies in optimizing team performance within Agile and Scaled Agile frameworks, implementing best practices to enhance productivity and streamline operations. I’ve led initiatives such as data privacy compliance and integrating advanced technologies like machine learning to drive transformative outcomes. Additionally, I contribute to the academic community as a reviewer for research journals in Financial Technology and Data Engineering.

What inspired me to pursue innovation in my field is a combination of curiosity, problem-solving, and a deep belief in technology’s transformative potential.

TCS is a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, and leverages technology for business transformation. TCS operates out of 46 countries with over $200 billion in market capitalization.

Innovation is about applying creativity, technology, and thoughtful problem-solving to make a tangible impact.

Managing data securely with proper authentication and authorization mechanisms is key to the success of financial systems. The need for accessing production data and performing (Create, Read, Update, Delete) CRUD operations securely based on business needs has led to the development of various processes and tools for financial enterprises.

By carefully developing and setting up data management tools, you can ensure that your financial systems operate efficiently, providing accurate and timely information for decision-making. This foundational work supports reliable data management, reporting, and analysis, which is crucial for financial management and compliance.

By removing the manual approval process and avoiding time-consuming release management processes, we can save time and be more efficient in our day-to-day data management activities. My innovation aims to provide strategies for developing robust data management tools for financial enterprises.

Every financial institution deals with data in various forms. An analyst needs to access the data to perform data analysis. Data engineers work to design, construct, and manage systems that collect, store, and process data. Data interactions are based on the role of the person using the tool.

Traditionally, data manipulation in a production environment required engineering teams to create change requests. Support teams would further process the request to perform the required actions in a production environment on behalf of the requested team.

The process of working with the application support teams, and obtaining approvals from management, (Database administrator) DBA, and Dev Ops teams is a time-consuming process. Even a minor change in scripts leads to another approval process, making it more inefficient to perform data fixes or perform (data definition language) DDL statements. These inefficiencies involved in performing data manipulation can be addressed by developing data management tools based on organizational needs.

The idea behind my award-winning innovation came from observing the real-world pain points of organizations in managing their data, combined with my experience in the field.

Adoption of new technologies, scaling and integration complexities, and data privacy and compliance issues, have shaped my approach to innovation.

Winning this award is both an honor and a reminder of the importance of continuous growth and innovation in my field. It reinforces the value of the work I’ve done so far and motivates me to push even further in my future endeavors.

Mentorship from senior colleagues, collaborative teamwork, and personal drive have been essential to my journey of innovation.

My innovation will contribute to shaping the future of FinTech by driving greater efficiency, scalability, and data-driven decision-making.

Innovation helps solve real problems to create a positive, lasting impact. So, stay curious, embrace challenges, and always keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

Focus on the end goal, breaking down challenges into manageable steps, leveraging collaboration, and nurturing my curiosity, I’ve been able to stay motivated and maintain focus throughout the innovation process.

I believe my innovation will lead to greater efficiency, cost savings, and reliability in the Data Management process.

Being a creative problem-solver, a resilient leader, and a collaborative team player.

The evolution of innovation in FinTech will be driven by advanced technologies like AI, cloud computing, and Machine Learning.

Stay curious, be persistent, and focus on making a meaningful impact.