Women in Tech is a widely discussed topic and the difficulty for women to break the glass ceiling has always been present in the industry. At Ericsson however, with their diversity commitment focus on increasing females at all levels internally as well as doing what they can to make more girls and females interested in studying STEM subjects, it is another story.
Let’s meet one experienced, brilliant, and influential woman leader who has brought in path-breaking innovations. Rani Yadav-Ranjan is the Head of Technology & Innovation within GAIA, Ericsson Global AI Accelerator. She shares her inspiring journey and puts forward strong insights into the role of artificial intelligence in the present scenario.
Ericsson is a leading telecom vendor and enables communications service providers to capture the full value of connectivity. The company’s portfolio is designed to help its customers go digital, increase efficiency, and find new revenue streams. Ericsson’s investments in innovation have delivered the benefits of telephony and mobile broadband to billions of people around the world since founded by Lars Magnus Ericsson 145 years ago.
An Innovative Leader Focused on Transformation
Rani Yadav-Ranjan is the Head of Technology & Innovation within Ericsson Global AI Accelerator. She works across the whole company, supporting teams in developing industry-leading solutions that the customers expect. A key part of Rani’s role is driving the innovation strategy for the GAIA artificial intelligence functions, including global operations. Moreover, she works to advocate for AI as something that underlines design elements, product components, and infrastructure at Ericsson.
Rani observes that technology that used to solve problems will be replaced in the coming future. Today devices with new capabilities are emerging all around, and artificial intelligence is driving rapid progress. She says that AI is redefining the way of life enabling machines to do what people once thought only humans could do. Nevertheless, most importantly, it has also revolutionized the way people do business. Rani says that Ericsson is enriching the customer experience by delivering a more engaging solution, transforming processes and businesses to drive efficiency. It is also hiring, retaining, and empowering talents, improving workforce efficiency, and developing intelligent infrastructure, and delivering insights to make better decisions.
Disrupting the Industry with Legacy of Knowledge
Rani reveals that Ericsson’s products are a combination of 145 years of knowledge, experience, and innovation. AI and machine learning are key factors to ensure the company’s products appeal to its key audiences. The shareholders and collaborators have acknowledged the ways Ericsson is using these disruptive technologies to drive business outcomes. Rani says that how Ericsson manages data and builds AI/ML capabilities across its portfolio products, solutions, and networking, security, cloud, analytics on the edge with low latency, is the foundation of the company. This has helped the company in its Operating Support Systems (OSS) or Business Support Systems (BSS) solutions, which provide value to all its customers. With the formation of the Global AI Accelerator, Ericsson is leading the way in transformational change, and 6G, concludes Rani.
An AI-driven World is What Future Looks Like
Although artificial intelligence in its current form is new, it is widely acknowledged to be capable of solving complex problems and taking appropriate actions in real-world issues. Rani says that tomorrow’s leaders solve today’s innovation. Hence, she believes that the methodology and skills that are intuitive to any good software developer translate to today’s big data and neural network-driven world.
According to Rani, the world has changed, and Ericsson has never moved away, from stepping up with innovative solutions to meet customer and global needs. The company has invested heavily in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Radio Access Network (RAN), Business Support Systems, AI-as-a-Service, and its people. Ericsson is in a position to tackle many of the challenges facing the world today, as a major supplier of communications and equipment to the world. The company realized the necessity of networks to connect schools, hospitals, laboratories, small and large businesses.
A visionary who inspires
Before working at Ericsson, Rani cut her teeth with a range of roles at Universities, startups, rapid growth, and global companies. In these companies, she has handled various roles from being the CTO to President and as a Board member. These wide-ranging experiences have presented Rani with a reputation as a technologist with a track record of creating and growing startup businesses into internationally recognized organizations while leading world-class teams. Rani is recognized as a visionary who inspires the innovation that results in product transformation, drives improvements in security and privacy metrics, and addresses gaps and opportunities across product experiences. Rani is a leader in the artificial intelligence domain, who has been creating differentiating assets as well as driving market leadership for products. Rani feels proud to have filed and been issued over 10 key industry patents families. Rani is an industry thought leader and a guest lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, and Merced. Recently she has adorned with the position of an Adjunct Professor at Southwest Law School.
Breaking the Barricades of Patriarchy
During the initial phase of her journey as an entrepreneur, Rani was one of just three women in Silicon Valley looking for funding in the eCommerce space. Rani remembers being in the same room often, with what used to become PayPal. During these early days, Rani admits to being naïve enough to believe that the winning technology secured the most funding. However, today Rani considers the strength of one’s team as the key to winning funding.
At first, Rani worked as a programmer at a consulting firm that converted documents from IBM mainframe to VAX. She says that there were only two women in the space including her. The other woman was senior to her and hence became a mentor to Rani. She taught me how to navigate the business and how to be patient as good things always come around, says Rani.
These experiences made Rani seek out and create safe spaces, which she says has people like her across the table, and knowing her questions will get an honest response. According to Rani the invitation to join C200 was an answer to her prayers in this regard. She notes that it is a group of amazing women who are ambitious, driven, and brilliant. Rani says she learned a lot from these women, including how to be a good mother, team member, mentor, and leader.
Be Yourself and Never Give Up
Rani advises the budding women leaders to never give up. She urges them to find a mentor in a role model that they want to be in 10 or 20 years from the present and have conversations with them. In her words, being brutally honest and not being afraid to state the ambitions are significant. Young leaders should not apologize for their work ethics or choices in life, and young women leaders should own their choices, conveys Rani.
Rani is aware that we all make mistakes and states that they are often doozies. However, Rani believes that life is forgiving, and one needs to learn to forgive themselves. She asks to not turn away the successes as they come and directs to take every opportunity either difficult or easy, as it will shape the personality. Lastly, Rani opines that one should not forget that their family comes first as business issues can be fixed in one or two quarters but neglecting one or family or the team may have impacts on the rest of the life.
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