Soma Ghosh Dutta: An Industry Expert Adding Value To Bfsi Sector With Comprehensive & Revolutionary Solutions
Soma Ghosh Dutta
Business Head - BFSI
What inspired you to venture into the L&D domain?
In the early 2000s I worked in the insurance industry from the ground level. Then I got into the business side of things with ICICI bank, wherein I received a great deal of exposure in terms of understanding industry and business requirements, what it means to be in sync with clients, and how important it is for an organization to understand the future needs of a clientele base that they serve and, accordingly, design, develop, and deliver products. I gradually moved into the L&D section, and the backstory of how it came into my life is fascinating. I believe that most women go through a midcareer crisis; if not, I would be delighted for those who haven't. However, in the Indian setting, you will find women who are at the forefront of their careers, in addition to juggling between a variety of roles. There fore, we need to recalibrate our priorities from time to time.
I chose to take a sabbatical, but as luck would have it, I was offered a training contract that required me to impart training to the clerical staff
of a bank that had merged with a larger bank on work culture and expectations, familiarization with software platforms and other aspects. I didn't hesitate and responded, "Well, this will be a fantastic opportunity to learn about the entire banking domain", and thus was initiated into the Learning and Development space as a Corporate Trainer.
Did you face any challenges initially while establishing yourself as a woman leader in the L&D segment? How did you overcome them to emerge as a successful professional?
One of the initial hurdles was a sense of anxiousness. As an employee, I had exposure to general insurance and retail banking. I knew quite a bit about these industries. But I could be missing out on a slew of others across entire Banking, Financial Services, and whole of Insurance sector. With passage of time, I began to receive more proposals for additional types of BFSI based L&D consultancy and training delivery. Though there was discomfort, as a rule, I never said 'No' to a contract. Instead, I burnt the midnight lamp and worked extremely hard to expand my knowledge set over the entire BFSI sector.
Reflect on the changing roles of L&D Consultants and how technology is intervening across the L&D operations?
Digital disruption is here to stay, and it will affect every institution on the globe, not just L&D, industries, or client cohorts. It's as though it's a worldwide event. Therefore, the greatest thing to do is adopt it, with both arms stretched solely to embrace it. That is exactly what we are doing. We are doing everything we can to position ourselves in all aspects of knowing the client’s requirement by use of various digital solutions. And, as I ponder on this eleven year journey, I've found that corporations are becoming more definitive in terms of what they require from L&D industry be it a
At Wagons, we aspire to be a one stop store for highest standards of learning solutions in order to meet the expectations of every aspiring student, employee and professional learner
Did you face any challenges initially while establishing yourself as a woman leader in the L&D segment? How did you overcome them to emerge as a successful professional?
One of the initial hurdles was a sense of anxiousness. As an employee, I had exposure to general insurance and retail banking. I knew quite a bit about these industries. But I could be missing out on a slew of others across entire Banking, Financial Services, and whole of Insurance sector. With passage of time, I began to receive more proposals for additional types of BFSI based L&D consultancy and training delivery. Though there was discomfort, as a rule, I never said 'No' to a contract. Instead, I burnt the midnight lamp and worked extremely hard to expand my knowledge set over the entire BFSI sector.
Reflect on the changing roles of L&D Consultants and how technology is intervening across the L&D operations?
Digital disruption is here to stay, and it will affect every institution on the globe, not just L&D, industries, or client cohorts. It's as though it's a worldwide event. Therefore, the greatest thing to do is adopt it, with both arms stretched solely to embrace it. That is exactly what we are doing. We are doing everything we can to position ourselves in all aspects of knowing the client’s requirement by use of various digital solutions. And, as I ponder on this eleven year journey, I've found that corporations are becoming more definitive in terms of what they require from L&D industry be it a
specific digital channel of audience engagement like VILT/VELT/RELT or the degree of learner’s enriching experience requirement on the platform like LMS/LXP in a self propelled learning ecosystem, or for that matter extremely involving skill acquisition virtual methods like gamified assessments game based learning solutions. AR/VR, AI/ML technology should not be far away from being the key enabler for virtual remote learnings and skill drills. Especially when Edutainment is the core mantra in L&D today!
How would you define Wagons Learning as an organization and its position in the market?
What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to clients? Today, at Wagons, we aspire to be a One Stop Learning Store for every student or professional learner. And how are we going to accomplish it is, we are going to do it by catering to the diverse wants and desires of my numerous types of learners. Certain learners or professionals may be unable to engage in a traditional learning journey. As a result, we are attempting to provide a variety of eLearning modules, such as virtual instructorled modules, blended learning with pre and post reads, expert led interaction sessions, and many more.
And another significant fundamental feature about us is that we not only want to be positioned as a BFSI L&D Partner that addresses the learning needs of the entire banking and non banking financial sector we want to take the lead in all three subsectors of BFSI, which are capital market, wealth, and the entire lineage. Other is insurance industry we all understand the importance of insurance, particularly in light of COVID Pandemic. The surge in the insurance industry will lead to a demand for capable, skilled people and we want to capitalize on that gap and meet the needs of the entire insurance industry.
Soma Ghosh Dutta, Business Head - BFSI, Wagons Learning
Soma holds a Master's degree in Physics and a Postgraduate Degree in Business Management from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management in New Delhi. She is equipped with more than two decades of wide and diverse professional experience in the BFSI sector. In her professional journey so far, Soma has delivered over 10,000 hours of highly acclaimed programs/ workshops to more than 35 corporate clients in the domain, functional, and behavioral aspects of the BFSI sector.
How would you define Wagons Learning as an organization and its position in the market?
What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to clients? Today, at Wagons, we aspire to be a One Stop Learning Store for every student or professional learner. And how are we going to accomplish it is, we are going to do it by catering to the diverse wants and desires of my numerous types of learners. Certain learners or professionals may be unable to engage in a traditional learning journey. As a result, we are attempting to provide a variety of eLearning modules, such as virtual instructorled modules, blended learning with pre and post reads, expert led interaction sessions, and many more.
And another significant fundamental feature about us is that we not only want to be positioned as a BFSI L&D Partner that addresses the learning needs of the entire banking and non banking financial sector we want to take the lead in all three subsectors of BFSI, which are capital market, wealth, and the entire lineage. Other is insurance industry we all understand the importance of insurance, particularly in light of COVID Pandemic. The surge in the insurance industry will lead to a demand for capable, skilled people and we want to capitalize on that gap and meet the needs of the entire insurance industry.
Soma Ghosh Dutta, Business Head - BFSI, Wagons Learning
Soma holds a Master's degree in Physics and a Postgraduate Degree in Business Management from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management in New Delhi. She is equipped with more than two decades of wide and diverse professional experience in the BFSI sector. In her professional journey so far, Soma has delivered over 10,000 hours of highly acclaimed programs/ workshops to more than 35 corporate clients in the domain, functional, and behavioral aspects of the BFSI sector.