Sudhindra Balaji: Fostering Digital Innovation & Developing Sustainable Customer Solutions In The Global Banking Sector
Sudhindra Balaji
Senior Vice President
Sudhindra has circa 20 years of proven track record in the banking industry delivering solutions and enhancing customer experiences with a focus on delivering outcomes of value together with business. His professional journey has been dedicated to building, managing, and operating high-performance global delivery teams that foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and inclusivity. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for deliveries in a global setup with key technology experiences that involve a diverse set of digital technologies starting with automation, SaaS, Cloud technologies, AI, partnership with FinTechs and legacy modernization.
With strong expertise in digital banking, IT strategy, and technology risk management, Sudhindra is passionate about creating things from scratch, solving problems that haven’t been tackled before, and working with a great set of peers and team members.
Let’s hear from him!
What is your leadership approach?
In today’s complex environment, I believe leadership agility is very important. As a leader, it starts with two things for me understanding the business/ customers we serve and figuring out how we use technology to anticipate and support their goals in a compliant, operationally, and financially efficient way. Second, how we build and sustain world-
class teams to deliver on this agenda. I have primarily oscillated between different leadership styles depending on the situations and goals I had to deliver.
During the past years I have worked with IT portfolio modernization delivering on key business outcomes working with core banking comes with a unique set of operating conditions, key being you have a large and diverse stakeholder base so you deliver on the modernization agenda while still running the daily show. The contribution here was through a transformational leadership approach time was spent in creating meaningful and outcome based business cases for modernization and changing employee mindset for the technology upgrades. Articulating to the teams the purpose and vision of where we are heading helped them understand the big-picture and retained high energy levels. Keeping an eye on how we can constantly delight our customers and business with technology and delivering those experiences through an outstanding team helped us to deliver on the promises.In today’s complex environment, I believe leadership agility is very important. As a leader, it starts with two things for me understanding the business/ customers we serve and figuring out how we use technology to anticipate and support their goals in a compliant, operationally, and financially efficient way. Second, how we build and sustain world-class teams to deliver on this agenda. I have primarily oscillated between different leadership styles depending on the situations and goals I had to deliver.
Keeping focus on team dynamics and creating a team founded on transparency, equity and clear articulation of expectations was very important, especially when delivering things at scale.
How do you keep yourself up-to-date with ongoing industry trends?
I participate in industry and sector networking events where I get the opportunity to exchange new ideas, and have a dialogue on how business problems can be solved by applying the right technology and processes. This gives us a platform to be curious about what’s new out there. I also indulge myself in reading quite a bit anywhere from the latest happenings in AI/ML and
During the past years I have worked with IT portfolio modernization delivering on key business outcomes working with core banking comes with a unique set of operating conditions, key being you have a large and diverse stakeholder base so you deliver on the modernization agenda while still running the daily show. The contribution here was through a transformational leadership approach time was spent in creating meaningful and outcome based business cases for modernization and changing employee mindset for the technology upgrades. Articulating to the teams the purpose and vision of where we are heading helped them understand the big-picture and retained high energy levels. Keeping an eye on how we can constantly delight our customers and business with technology and delivering those experiences through an outstanding team helped us to deliver on the promises.In today’s complex environment, I believe leadership agility is very important. As a leader, it starts with two things for me understanding the business/ customers we serve and figuring out how we use technology to anticipate and support their goals in a compliant, operationally, and financially efficient way. Second, how we build and sustain world-class teams to deliver on this agenda. I have primarily oscillated between different leadership styles depending on the situations and goals I had to deliver.
Keeping an eye on how we can constantly delight our customers & business with technology & delivering those experiences through an outstanding team is key
Keeping focus on team dynamics and creating a team founded on transparency, equity and clear articulation of expectations was very important, especially when delivering things at scale.
How do you keep yourself up-to-date with ongoing industry trends?
I participate in industry and sector networking events where I get the opportunity to exchange new ideas, and have a dialogue on how business problems can be solved by applying the right technology and processes. This gives us a platform to be curious about what’s new out there. I also indulge myself in reading quite a bit anywhere from the latest happenings in AI/ML and
digital technologies to how companies transform themselves by creating outstanding teams and great work cultures.
What are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
Speaking specifically about the banking industry, I believe, there will be continuous growth in digitalization and enhanced use of digital technologies, meaningful use of AI to reach our customers where they want to bank, in a contextual manner. We will also see a lot more mutually beneficial partnerships between traditional banks and FinTechs the partnerships will accelerate bringing newer and more efficient financial solutions to the market through established foundations of large banks. Embedded finance has some great potential, especially to couple it with the opportunities in the open banking space and providing businesses with banking opportunities within their operating space. Considering the macro-economic conditions there will be more pressure on getting operating costs under control and delivering on cost-income ratios technology will continue to play a key role in making this happen. We need to continuously improve our ability to anticipate these changes and prepare for them. All of this will drive the need for continuous focus on talent development within organizations and the use of GCCs.
What would be your advice for budding industry leaders?
It is very important to understand the business and the customer ecosystem one serves through technology so understanding and focusing on business outcomes is key. Weave the choice and use of technology solutions into business goals. Focus on building great teams I truly believe behind every great leader there are great teams who have grown together and are capable of delivering amazing things. Last but not least, never stop learning and listening to inputs, especially the ones that challenge your thinking thats a great help in growing as a leader.
Sudhindra Balaji,Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo
A global technology leader in the banking industry with strong expertise in creating and executing IT strategies, portfolio modernization, enabling data driven decision making to support business growth, and leading high-performance global teams while cultivating a culture of continuous improvement to achieve business objectives.
•Hobbies: Travel
•Favorite Cuisine: South Indian
•Favorite Book: Creativity Inc. by Edwin Catmull
•Favorite Travel Destination: Kerala, Europe
What are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
Speaking specifically about the banking industry, I believe, there will be continuous growth in digitalization and enhanced use of digital technologies, meaningful use of AI to reach our customers where they want to bank, in a contextual manner. We will also see a lot more mutually beneficial partnerships between traditional banks and FinTechs the partnerships will accelerate bringing newer and more efficient financial solutions to the market through established foundations of large banks. Embedded finance has some great potential, especially to couple it with the opportunities in the open banking space and providing businesses with banking opportunities within their operating space. Considering the macro-economic conditions there will be more pressure on getting operating costs under control and delivering on cost-income ratios technology will continue to play a key role in making this happen. We need to continuously improve our ability to anticipate these changes and prepare for them. All of this will drive the need for continuous focus on talent development within organizations and the use of GCCs.
What would be your advice for budding industry leaders?
It is very important to understand the business and the customer ecosystem one serves through technology so understanding and focusing on business outcomes is key. Weave the choice and use of technology solutions into business goals. Focus on building great teams I truly believe behind every great leader there are great teams who have grown together and are capable of delivering amazing things. Last but not least, never stop learning and listening to inputs, especially the ones that challenge your thinking thats a great help in growing as a leader.
Sudhindra Balaji,Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo
A global technology leader in the banking industry with strong expertise in creating and executing IT strategies, portfolio modernization, enabling data driven decision making to support business growth, and leading high-performance global teams while cultivating a culture of continuous improvement to achieve business objectives.
•Hobbies: Travel
•Favorite Cuisine: South Indian
•Favorite Book: Creativity Inc. by Edwin Catmull
•Favorite Travel Destination: Kerala, Europe