Witad Awards 2021: EDM professional of the year (newcomer)—Saori Fotenos, IHS Markit
Churn is a challenge. First, there’s the technical churn: modernizing development groups to generate faster, more frequent software updates to clients. Then, there’s managing churn associated with hiring, replacing, and retaining staff. Both are significant business challenges, but—if you ask Saori Fotenos, product management executive director for IHS Markit’s EDM solution—both can be overcome.
Fotenos began her career as a software engineer at Bridge Information Systems. The company went out of business in 2001, and its assets were divided between several vendors, including then-Reuters, where she stayed until October 2019—also serving a couple of years as director of Vamos Blogar, a literacy and media training program in her native Brazil—when she joined IHS Markit.
There, she says her technical and product management experience at the intersection of data and technology allowed her to spot opportunities to streamline the vendor’s product management processes, and move from twice-yearly product releases for EDM to six-week sprint releases, accelerating its response to client demand for new features. The other factor behind this was the company’s willingness to embrace change.
It means more churn—both internally, as well as for clients’ IT departments, who need to accept the new releases—but has benefits, including shorter feedback periods and turnaround times for new enhancements. “With those release schedules and the feedback program, we can take that feedback and incorporate it into a release within six weeks,” she says.
During Covid-19, senior management tapped Fotenos and others to lead a Belonging and Inclusion committee to ensure that staff didn’t feel isolated and lose their “sense of belonging” while working remotely.
“You can never do enough in terms of informal reaching out. I’ve been a beneficiary of someone spotting that I’m the only woman on a development team. But that’s not enough—you need a formal network to encourage that at scale,” she says. “IHS Markit has several groups devoted to women in finance, women in energy, and so on. We have a chief diversity, equality, and inclusion officer, and the culture of the company is very inclusive and encouraging.”
That “sense of belonging” has proved important in engaging and retaining employees and preventing staff churn, and the vendor is also going out of its way to identify candidates who have left the workforce and lure them back in, through its IHS Markit Return to Work program, yielding what Fotenos says is “the goal of diversity—different points of view.”
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. Printing this content is for the sole use of the Authorised User (named subscriber), as outlined in our terms and conditions - https://www.infopro-insight.com/terms-conditions/insight-subscriptions/
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. Copying this content is for the sole use of the Authorised User (named subscriber), as outlined in our terms and conditions - https://www.infopro-insight.com/terms-conditions/insight-subscriptions/
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Awards & Rankings
Women in Technology & Data Awards 2024: All the winners
WatersTechnology honored the winners of the 36 categories in the 2024 Women in Technology & Data Awards, who were announced at a sit-down lunch in London on International Women's Day on March 8.
AFTAs 2023: Best new technology introduced over the last 12 months (data & data services)—SS&C Aloha
Northern Trust: Improving transparency across the asset servicing market
Northern Trust won three categories in the 2023 American Financial Technology Awards. Paul d’Ouville, global head of technology solutions and servicing at Northern Trust, discusses his firm’s fourth consecutive win in the Best reporting initiative…
AFTAs 2023 winner's interview: CompatibL
CompatibL won Best new technology introduced over the last 12 months (AI & machine learning) in the 2023 American Financial Technology Awards.
AFTAs 2023 winner's interview: Northern Trust
Northern Trust won Best reporting initiative in the 2023 American Financial Technology Awards.
Best overall technology provider for 2023 winner’s interview: BlackRock
BlackRock won Best overall technology provider for 2023 in the recent Buy-Side Technology Awards
S&P Global: Delivering quality data faster to private market managers
S&P Global Market Intelligence won Best buy-side managed data service at the Buy‑Side Technology Awards 2023. Kevin Guy, head of iLEVEL Managed Data Services at S&P Global, discusses the service, its benefits and key differentiators.
S&P Global’s EDM platform continues its evolutionary course
S&P Global Market Intelligence won the Best buy-side data management product category at the Buy-Side Technology Awards 2023 thanks to its successful EDM offering. Neslihan Yegul, Emea head of commercial strategy for software solutions at S&P GMI,…
Most read
- Women in Technology & Data Awards 2024: All the winners
- Man Group’s proprietary data platform is a timesaver for quants
- Dark horse: Deutsche Börse building dark pool