Meet
Business Information Specialist Associate Consultant, Evanston Office
Education
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
M.S. in Computer Information Systems, 2004
Activities at Purdue: Teaching Assistant for Database Management Systems
UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
B.E. in Computer Engineering, 2002
Hometown
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
ZS Career Path
Business Information Specialist, 2004
Business Information Specialist Associate Consultant, 2006
- Moved to the Los Angeles office, 2007
- Moved to the Evanston office, 2008
On the work
"Since I joined ZS, I have primarily worked on projects in two practice areas—Call Planning and Incentive Compensation (IC) Administration. Call planning involves compiling a list of physicians/accounts that sales representatives should visit to promote their products, based on various parameters such as past product/market sales, past relationships with physicians, etc. My role was to implement business rules and come up with an optimal call plan, facilitate rollout sessions with sales reps to get field inputs, and finally communicate the call plan to the field. I did a couple iterations of the project over a year (this is one example of projects that are repeated with most recent data every few months). But as I performed iterations, my role on the project evolved to include mentoring newer associates and increased client communication. This being one of my first projects at ZS, the skills/knowledge I gained from this one on various competencies grew exponentially.
"For IC administration, we implement compensation plans for our clients' sales forces. The plan may be designed by ZS or the client. My role was to track attainments against objectives and deliver monthly performance reports to the field. While deliverables on this project are similar from month-to-month, this project instilled in me a very high level of discipline in terms of meeting timelines, adhering to quality checklists, documentation guidelines and laying out best practices for every task. While these skills are necessary on all projects, I think compensation projects are most sensitive to them."
On ZS values
Treat People Right: "What I like most about ZS is that it offers plenty of opportunities. For the most part, if you're willing to take on more responsibility, there'll always be an opportunity for you to do so. You'll always find people willing to delegate work and to give you chance to prove your abilities. Another value I appreciate is how existing team members consider it a part of their responsibility to bring new team members up to speed. There's plenty of guidance available when joining ZS or joining a new project team. A strong part of my supervisor's success at ZS will be how I succeed under his guidance, and similarly, a strong part of my success will be how newer associates working with me grow."
On life outside work
"In my non-work hours, I enjoy reading, movies, and going back to Purdue when I get a chance."
On the Evanston office
"A few great things about working in Evanston are its proximity to the lake, its many good restaurants, its closeness to downtown Chicago (while retaining a campus-town feel), and its distance from downtown to avoid paying exorbitant parking fees!"