M : “Look to this day, for it is life.
The very life of life and in its brief course lies all
the verities and realities of your existence.” The bliss of growth, the story of
action and the splendor of achievement. For yesterday is but a dream and
tomorrow a vision. There is a reason today is called ‘present’. With this I, Mahima
Sharma along with my co-compeer Pranay Raut, would like to extend a very warm
welcome to our evening filled with stars, the starznite 2019.
P : Starz Nite is the platform where we felicitate our Annual Performance Award
Winners every year in the various pre-defined categories. While we are
celebrating their success, we all know that it would not have been possible
without the love and support of those who have been there with them
throughout their journey. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge
and thank each and every member of the families here. Lets us take a moment to
stand up….and have a round of applause for them ! Thank you for joining us in the
celebrations!
M: I would also like to thank our senior leaders who have joined us tonight, to
make this a night to remember, after all it takes great leaders to get the people to
do the greatest things.
P: For any organization, rewarding its people is incredibly important. At Hitachi
Consulting, The Starznite is one such celebration of talent, success and
achievement. The annual awards is a coveted and prestigious award at GDC, and
it is rightly so because it is a tough competition we see every year! Let us take a
look at the how these celebrations have evolved over the past couple of years.
--------------------------------VIDEO: Evolution-----------------------------------------
P: Wow, that was a beautiful video capturing the emotions and zeal really well.
M: This year we have 21 winners amongst us, in 9 categories , technical
excellence. solution excellence ,functional excellence ,brand evangelist ,faculty of
the year ,customer excellence ,best project manager or Project Manager
excellence, best people manager and leadership excellence. These winners were
selected out of the 90+ nominations that we had received and these star
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performers stood out because of their outstanding contribution in the FY 2018-
19.
P : Each nomination undergoes a panel review and the final winners are then
selected!
M: As we begin our evening, may I request Uday Chander, Senior Vice President,
IDC , to please share a few words !
---------------------------------OPENING THOUGHTS -------------------------------
P: Thankyou Uday for those enlightening words. We request you to kindly stay on
the dais as we start with the celebration for the evening and move on to the first
category of awards for this evening to do the honors
---------------------------------------CUSTOMER EXCELLENCE--------------------------
Our first category for the evening is the customer excellence category.
Hitachi is known for its strong and consistent relationship that it has built with its
customers, today we are here to call out and reward a few of our colleagues who
have gone the extra mile to build and maintain the rapport with our clients.
M: The first recipient of the award loves to paint and is also a self-acclaimed
master-chef. He is a 'go-getter’, a go-to person for any problem, a passionate
techie, a huge Marvel fan and seeks inspirations from character of Tony stark with
his favorite Quote “Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk”, my very dear
friend Dipankar Sonwane.
Before we invite him on stage, let us take a look at a special message from his
manager for him. Can we please have the video message?
---------------------------------------VIDEO: DIPANKAR ------------------------------------------
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Let us all welcome Dipankar Sonwane with a loud round of applause. I also
request his family to join him on stage.
Citation: In the last year Dipankar has created a profile in the domain of smart
spaces with his continuous efforts in the field of AI/ML along with the regular
work which he continues to do efficiently. In the last year he has been involved in
numerous client interactions like RIL, HAIL, DAIL, DMRC, Bharat petroleum,
Raychem, etc.
Q: Well, being his friend I know for a fact that He claims to be a master chef, and
has often stated with pride “mere papa se puchna kabhi mai chai kaisi banaata
hu”. Now that I can ask you this, Has he ever helped you in cooking at home?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M : Next person to receive the award in the same category is a person who has
not been shy of finding many latent talents in himself , in his journey at Hitachi.
Has highly impressed his customers with his all-round skills, quality deliverables,
high availability and his command on technology. An amazing rapper, and a go-to
person , Kunal Kukreja!
Before we call you on stage, we have a special message from your loved ones and
your team, for you. Let’s have a look.
-----------------------------VIDEO : KUNAL KUKREJA--------------------------------------------
Please welcome, Kunal Kukreja. I also request his family members to join him.
CITATION : Kunal worked for the customers Symantec and Viavi Solutions and has
received excellent feedback from his customers. Kunal is sincere, hardworking,
highly committed individual with excellent Techno-Functional and customer
handling skills. Customers are highly impressed with his all-round skills,
performance, potential, turn around times, quality deliverables, high availability
and always updated on latest technologies. He has the right attitude, work ethics
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and willingness to adapt to different project situations. He shows excellent
commitment, dedication and ownership on any task assigned to him. He is always
first to take-up additional challenges and demonstrate the requirements with a
nice and solid Proof of concept which have always won accolades from customer
and internal stake holders. No matter how difficult the task is, his unrelenting
efforts for successful and quality delivery are truly amazing.
Question: We asked couple of questions about you, to know you better, and your
favorite song you mentioned was – ‘apna time aega’ . You have also discovered
yourself as a rapper at Hitachi, now that ‘apna time a gaya hai’, would you like to
showcase your skills to all of us? Ladies and gentlemen, Kunal Kukreja!
P:
Citation: Our next recipient has demonstrated highest levels of critical thinking
and ownership throughout the execution of Guardant Health project. Client has
been very appreciative of her efforts and this resulted in additional business for
key and critical enhancements, which were also successfully delivered by her from
IDC within aggressive timelines.
Guardant Health project’s CFO is very much pleased with her work and has made
it a point to acknowledge her contribution.
This is Kavita Krishna, ladies and Gentlemen.
Before we call her on stage,
---------------------------------------------VIDEO: KAVITA--------------------------------------
Please welcome Kavita Krishna .
She has exceptional communication, analytical, problem solving and trouble
shooting skills apart from strong functional skills .
Question : What interests you to take Reiki as a hobby?
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P:
People say when life throws lemons at you, make a lemonade out of it. But our
next recipient will take those same lemons and make Sprite out of it. That’s
how determined she is to give it all to conquer the challenges that she
stumbles upon.
A shining star of Mount Sinai. She is humble yet confident, humorous yet focused,
tech savvy yet empathetic. An excellent Multitasker and someone who does
everything she can with sheer perfection, she is none other than Shesha Chinta.
-------------------------------VIDEO : SHESHA CHINTA----------------------------------------
She is not present at the event today with us as she is doing what she is best at.
On her behalf, I request her parents to please come on stage and accept the
award
Q: How are you feeling about your sister winning the award?
Thankyou Uday for doing the honors.
May we call upon Mr. Sanjay Khendry , Vice-President Sales India for felicitating
our next set of winners in the same category.
M: The next recipient to win the award is Sheetal Joshi.
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She has demonstrated high levels of critical thinking and adaptability throughout
the execution of CalAmp project till date. She is leading team successfully through
a very dynamic set of challenges. She has exceptional communication and
leadership skills and has extended over quite a few weekends and holidays as well
to ensure smooth execution of major project milestones.
Even the client has been very appreciative of her efforts for this project.
Congratulations Sheetal. Before we invite her and her family on the stage, let us
have a look at what her loved ones and her team has to convey to her.
------------------------------------------VIDEO : SHEETAL -----------------------------------------
Please welcome Sheetal Joshi and her family with a loud round of applause.
Q:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P:
There are flamboyant consultants that sweep the customer off their feet once a
while; and there are the silent, consistent and resilient ones that churn out great
quality work day after day, for many many years.
He is one of the important reasons for Hitachi’s long-standing relationship with
Clopay, one of our toughest and most demanding customers. He plays the difficult
job of an Offshore Project Manager of a large team ensuring all-round success
with great ease. A Gentleman to a fault, he is a fine example for what a Hitachian
should be!
The man is none other than Shekhar Siripuram.
Lets have a look at what his team want to say about him?
--------------------------------------------VIDEO: SHEKHAR-------------------------------------
Please Welcome Shekhar Siripuram
Q: What do you think you should do to be your children’s inspiration?
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M: The last recipient to win the award in the category customer excellence is Mr.
Sivakumar Viswanathan
He is a creator – he incubated Mirai, our Experience Center, which has become a
client showcase, not only in India but globally with clients and partners like Oracle
alike. Ever since he joined fresh from IIT-Bombay’s Management School,
Sivakumar has established himself as reliable team player. He is project oriented
and has taken onus of bringing to fruition the first digital operations project –
right from solution conceptualization, to client sponsor buyin to delivery in a
challenging milieu (less than mature client, vendor partner’s inexperience in
client industry)
Any feedback is considered as opportunity for improvement, and assiduously
worked upon by Sivakumar to present an improved version of himself Sivakumar’s
technical depth and ability to grasp is phenomenal, making him an invaluable
addition to any team
The testament to his commitment and delivery, is that he has just landed from his
client location at Sri Lanka.
Let us quickly take a look at what the people around you have to convey to you.
-------------------------------------------VIDEO : SIVAKUMAR-----------------------------------
Can we invite sivakumar on stage, along with his family members with a round of
applause.
Q:
Congratulations to all the winners.
Thankyou Mr. Sanjay Khendry for doing the honors.
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-----------------------------------------FUNCTIONAL EXCELLENCE-------------------------
P : The next set of awards is for the category Functional Excellence.
In this category we facilitate the employees whose contribution has helped
the function excel in their operational activities, helping them create
employee delight.
P:
I request Mr. Hitesh Sanghavi , Country Director, Finance Operations for honors.
His contribution has resulted in achieving substantial business results in terms of
cost savings for HCC and also significant increase in scope of work for GSS team.
Customers love him for calmness, positive attitude, team spirit and the smile he
carries; these qualities make him stand apart and always approachable.
It’s none other than Mandar Bhagwat.
-------------------------------------VIDEO : MANDHAR -----------------------------------------
Please welcome Mandar with his family.
Whilst excelling in the new initiatives, he ensured his core function of Audit and
P2P have fared on par. He is welcoming to any new challenges within and outside
the purview and goes extra mile to achieve desired results.
Q:
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M: Winning in the same category is a person who has been extremely composed
in the most chaotic situations. It gives me immense pleasure to announce
Shahnaz Khalil for “Functional excellence”.
Let us take a look at what the people around her have to convey to her .
----------------------------------------VIDEO:SHAHNAZ-----------------------------------
May we please have you on stage, along with your family members?
Citation: Shahnaz has been instrumental in streamlining Internal Communications
at IDC and has brought in many new initiatives to drive employee engagement
and enhance our communication practices. The focus of communication practices
is huge externally and internally. She plays an essential role in the collaboration
between the Global function team and Indian team. She is a change evangelist
and is tenacious about digital transformation in her area of work. Her
contributions have made significant impact in the way we communicate.
Q:
Congratulations Shahnaz once again.
Thankyou Mr. Hitesh for doing the Honors.
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------------------------------------Panel Member Felicitation--------------------------------------
- P:
We all must have heard the saying,
“Achhe heere ki parakh Johari ko hi hoti hai.”
And this is absolutely true in Hitachi as well. All the stars being recognized tonight
is the result of the efforts and tireless dedication of our panelists who have spent
3 weeks of assessments & evaluations of the 91 nominations that we received.
This moment of celebration is completely incomplete without felicitating our
esteemed panelists.
May we please call upon Ejaz
Sayed, Director HR Business Partners to do the honors
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P: Thank you , Ejaz
--------------------------------Technical Excellence ---------------------------------------------
M : Moving forward, the next award is to recognize the Unique TECHNICAL Value
Proposition contributed by the employees and the impact it has created in the
existing project and the future business pursuits.
May I call upon Rajesh Devnani, Vice president digital solutions enablement and
Mr. Manoj Jajoo, associate vice president leading the digital line of business
to felicitate our award winners?
Our first award winner in this category believes in challenging and exploring new
technologies. Currently working on GCP (Google Cloud Platform) integration to
SAP HANA. He also is an amazing poet. Let us have a round of applause for Gagan
Bhakshi.
10
Before we invite him on stage, we would like to play a special message from his
team members.
--------------------------------------------VIDEO:GAGAN-----------------------------------------
May I call upon Gagan bhakshi to come on to the dais along with his family
members?
Citation: Gagan has been recognized in the Technical Excellence category. He has
contributed to providing solutions to the challenges undertaken on a technical
level. He has been involved in integrating the UI layer to the backend S4HANA CDS
modelling, which helped bring ERP data to UI5, effectively making the system, an
integrated one.
I know for a fact that you are an amazing poet. Could you please recite a few lines
of any poem you can recall at the moment?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M: Our next recipient has been instrumental in grooming the team into a self
performing unit while focusing and demonstrating his technical expertise. Ganga
has been instrumental in creating and maintaining the highest level of technical
excellence through out the Penske Guided Repair Solution Project.
Let us take a look at what his team at Bangalore has to say.
--------------------------------------------------------VIDEO:GANGA---------------------------
May I call upon Gangadhara Borana to come on to the dais with his family
members.
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This is one of the unique projects that uses an AI/ML based approach to solve
Penske’s requirements. It was a very demanding project and required extremely
demanding efforts, night shifts and a good hold of techno-functional skills.
Q: How was he managing at home , since his nights and most of the days were
consumed entirely in Penske?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P:
So, the very first recipient is a NCG who came to welcome us when I joined Hitachi
a year back.
This award is an accretion to his already decorated award cabinet that includes
Young Data Science Professional Award to name a few. He has represented
Hitachi at Google Dev Fest 2018. He is also an elite facilitator of Google, providing
trainings on Google Cloud AI for 300+ leaders in the technical arena.
He fahs a firm belief that says “I don’t need aggression, my patience does it all.”
----------------------------------------------VIDEO:VASU----------------------------------------------
Please welcome with a big round of applause, Vasudev Maduri
I would also like to invite his family to share this proud moment on stage.
Q:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M: Our next recipient has been the go-to person for the people in his project. His
ideas are well received by everyone, be it his juniors or his seniors.
Ziyual Huk is the 2nd time recipient of the award in the same category. He has
single handily changed the complete application design, learnt and implemented
and developed solution for connected factory, which will turn out to be our
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flagship solution for smart manufacturing. He is a great asset to the team, takes
complete ownership of his work and also guides other team members on their
deliverables. He is the go-to person for the people in his project. His ideas are well
received by everyone, be it his juniors or his seniors.
Before calling upon Ziya, let us take a look at message from his manager.
------------------------------------------video:ziya--------------------------------------------------
May I call upon Ziyaul Huk to come on to the daise with his family members.
A big congratulations .
Q:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P:
Our next recipient, Demonstrated her Data Science expertise in strategic projects
involved in building Dynamic Floor Bid Pricing Model
From being one of the first member to be selected to work on 33 across to being a
key member in building Data Science capability for 33 Across in India. She has
made excellent contributions at every step of the way.
It doesn’t stop there, she has also contributed in Bot Detection Capability for
improving Traffic Quality, has done Exploratory Research on Content and Image
Classification.
Overall it would be safe to say that she is a Data Science super star in the making.
------------------------------------VIDEO:SONAL DUBEY-----------------------------------------
Give it up for Sonal Dubey. Please join us on stage along with your family.
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Q:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P : Solution excellence: Spotting the problem and then finding the solution for it is
the baseline on which all the organizations run on.
But how innovative and effective the solutions are helps us stand out of the
crowd.
In this category we felicitate the employess who have come up with the mostr
optimized and effective solutions.
I would like to share an incident regarding our next recipient. In last year’s
celebrations, we were in the same house. And whenever our cultural captain gave
any tasks, he always uttered just one thing. Yeah sure, why not?
And all of his solutions had the tinge of technology and were oozing with
innovation.
He has always been very determined in providing excellent innovative solutions to
improve practices in Hitachi first by delivering the safe harbor system and now by
developing the Worker – Site safety project. He has been single-handedly
anchoring all the requirements, pre-sales, delivery for multiple initiatives when it
comes to Image Analytics.
Not only that but he is also making sure that the next NCG batches are ready to
make it big by mentoring them.
Breaking all the shackles of a stereotypical millennial, he is a golden era fanatic.
-------------------------------------------------VIDEO:SAILESH---------------------------------
Please welcome Sailesh Patra while he joins the stage to receive the award for
Solution Excellence.
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Q: While you work on all these latest technologies and at the same time you love
these retro songs. I mean why this contrast? Are there other contrasting beliefs in
your life?
Thank you Mr. Rajesh and Mr. Manoj for doing the honors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faculty of the year :
M : For every one of us who succeeds, its because there’s somebody out there to
show us the way as Oprah Winfrey said. Our people excel in transforming towards
futuristic direction, because we have stars like Kiran Arshakota who has been
awarded the ‘Faculty of the year.’
Let us take a look at the video message for him from his team/manager.
May I also request Selina david
___________________________________________________ to please give
away this award.
Let us welcome Kiran Arshakota and his family to the dais with a loud round of
applause.
Citation: Kiran Arshakota delivered 32 hours of Blockchain training for 95
employees in the IDC in FY 2018.
He delivered 30 hours of training for 21 NCGs and 2 hours of Neuron Bytes for 75
employees with an average feedback rating of 4.5 and 4.2 for the courses
delivered for NCGs and Neuron Bytes respectively. Kiran’s sessions standout for
15
his unique delivery methodology. He used a blended delivery approach and
encourage prework in Percipio. He used use cases to teach which helped engage
the audience. He conducted assessments for the training. He is the go to person
and a mentor for NCGs and for the Digital CoP [Link] is approachable, diligent,
well prepared and organized as a trainer and delivers trainings with passion and
professionalism. He conducts hands on training and makes every effort to connect
technology to business cases. He ensured that the learning imparted translated
into strong business impact.
Q
:
Thankyou Selina and Congratulations Kiran.
P : Brand evangelist :
This award goes to the employee, who alleviates the visibility of the organization
by speaking at different national and international forums.
A Brand Evangelist is nothing but the organization personified.
I would like to request Uday Chander to come up on stage and do the honors.
This year’s recipient of the award has successfully collaborated and built
relationships with teams and leadership in all the regions. She has received
16
excellent feedback and has established herself as the go-to person for Oracle
digital requirements.
She has represented Hitachi in a couple of prestigious Blockchain events at
Bangalore and has been recognized in LinkedIn Local for her contribution.
What’s best about her is her 360 degree focus on not only the internal jargons of
a technology but also on the business sense and at last what she serves is a
beautiful blend of cutting edge technologies with their aptness in various Business
case scenarios.
Today she has not just fulfilled her dream of travelling in the space and being
amidst the stars. She has become one of the stars.
------------------------------------------------VIDEO CHANDNI--------------------------------------
Please welcome Chandni Arora.
Q:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P : PM Excellence : Our next category of awards is PM excellence award. In this
category we felicitate the managers who have not only given an excellent
contribution on deliverables but have also brought out the best of their team.
Our first recipient of this award has been the torchbearer of the Overhead Door
engagement from offshore. With his able project management and people skills,
we delivered the Tech Stack upgrade and several rollouts to the client on time,
within budget and with zero defects. His subject matter expertise and client focus
helped to earn the client trust and ability to influence new business win.
------------------------------------------------VIDEO ANAND-------------------------------------
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Please welcome Anand Tiwari and his family. ------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
M: In the same category we have Mr. Ritesh Chandran bagging the laurels.
Ritesh Chandran has always been a tough task master and his ability to track
down the minutest detail makes some of the complicated projects also look
simpler. Ritesh has been selflessly working on multiple assignments and always
ready to stretch irrespective of ambiguity associated with the project or roles.
Best people Manager
P: Our next category of awards is The Best people Manager. As the name literally
suggests, in this category of award we appreciate the manager who stood by the
fact that to lead a team it’s not necessary to stand ahead of them but to stand
with them.
He is seen as a natural leader by the managed services as well all the other teams.
He demonstrates leadership not only in the official areas of work but in all
extracurricular and in-formal initiatives too. He is a very capable leader at work,
leading from the front - rolls up his sleeve and gets to work on the functional and
technical tasks.. He encourages and motivates his teams constantly in upping
their ante and delivering highly satisifactory work to clients.
Please welcome on stage Mr. Sarthak Sharma or Sarthak Bhai as he is fondly
called as at Pune office along with his family.
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Q. There is a very thin line between being a people’s manager and bring out the
bes in team and being over friendly and loosing authority over it. How do you
maintain that?
He is in-charge of the MS teams facing APAC, EMEA and US and balances well his
time, energy and relationship with stakeholders at home and abroad
M:
We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside
ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better, to do better. To make
others do better. A true leader would not shy away from making it happen.
The last category of the evening ladies and gentlemen, is the leadership
excellence award
May I also request Mr Feroze mhd,
___________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________ to join Mr. Uday Chander
on stage to give away this award bagged by Mr Sandeep Seerapu
Sandeep Seerapu has been recognized in Leadership Excellence. Sandeep is
known for having persistence for success, collaboration, stakeholder management
and finally a great team player with a very positive and energetic attitude.
Sandeep has successfully led the re-activation of PES by leading the effort to
closure of Waterline and 33 Across. The project involved close coordination the
key stakeholders of the customers and being ahead of challenges. He ensured
commercial success. AT & T and Nissan are good examples of expanding with
demanding customers while ensuring financial viability. Currently he is leading a
new portfolio of the accounts to the tune of $[Link] has some serious convincing
and negotiation skills, a crtical thinker in the times of crisis.
19
Q:
P: May I request all the winners to please join us on stage once again for a group
photo (Annie will take over)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ending :
M: As every journey must come to a conclusion, I would like to quote what my
father always used to quote to me every night to condition my outlook for a
better and motivating tomorrow. “lets dream and learn to complete..” To keep
our aspirations ignited. With these words, I wish you all the very best for all the
future endeavors, for all the new unlocked achievements.
All titles and designations to be mentioned here : ( for reference)
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