Dattasri Gogineni

Describe your role and what it is that you do overall and on a day-to-day basis.

I’m currently working as Analytics Lead at Klarna. I never have a rigid set of tasks that I carry out on a daily basis as every day I have a new challenge to focus on, a new problem to solve which makes my work quite enriching, with a steep learning curve.

My work revolves around scaling the operating model to enable a sustainable high-performing organization. Further, it is important that the overall direction in which the company is heading doesn’t get lost in this growth phase, so while designing the target operating model, my biggest focus is on enabling strategic alignment across the various levels of the organization wherein activities of every individual, team and domain reflects the core mission and vision the company has set to achieve.

What interested you most about working at Klarna? What excites you most about your work?

Klarna provides you with a sandbox sort of an environment where you are encouraged to experiment and you are given all the autonomy to come up with new, out-of-the-box solutions. I enjoy having such a non-rigid structure and the ability to propose new initiatives and the support from leadership to own those initiatives and follow them through from initiation to implementation. Having such accountability and responsibility so early on in my career is a great motivator for me.

Where do you see your industry going in the next 5-10 years?

As we move towards a more Gen Y and Z driven world, due to a multitude of reasons, we are heading towards a society where the consumer expects all the services to be provided with less physical interaction and without long queues. The need for physical offices for financial institutions is being greatly replaced with the technological disruption we note. Sweden is spearheading this disruption due to the availability of credible infrastructure and widespread adoption of the BankID. This helps in rolling out one-click solutions for services like provision of insurance, loans, asset management and several such similar services that previously needed more tedious form-filling, numerous physical interactions and long processing times. In the coming years, I believe that most countries in the rest of the world will try to adopt similar models to tap into this consumer pain-point and iterate based on the infrastructural availability in their countries.

What was so appealing about the SSE Masters in International Business program when you were considering where to complete your Masters degree? Or what was so appealing about Stockholm/Sweden?

The CEMS program is quite unique in the kind of international exposure it provides and the emphasis on practicality it carries. Imagine having opportunity to do all of this in just two years: multiple international projects solving actual business problems for companies (Riga, Stockholm, Zurich and Kiruna), visiting a vastly different continent (Africa) to understand their culture and how businesses function there, doing an International Business research thesis where you work for six months at an actual company (I had the pleasure of working at ABB World HQ in Switzerland) and a mandatory international exchange (Switzerland). It wasn’t just the program but also my cohort (with people from about 20+ countries) that helped me learn so much about various cultural contexts and its impact on how business is done in those countries. Further, Sweden and Switzerland are two of the most innovative countries in the world and learning about business and entrepreneurship in these countries in itself is truly enlightening.

How did your time/education at SSE help guide you to the career journey you have embarked on?

Coming from an engineering background, I had very limited knowledge not just of business concepts but also about the opportunities. Surrounding myself with people who have had different experiences both educationally and professionally really helped me understand the benefits and pitfalls in each of the work streams. My time at SSE and the cohort I had helped me realise the various career paths I could take and it helped open many doors of opportunity.

Following your time studying, do you have any words of wisdom or advice you would like to share with our current students?

I think studying at SSE is not about you learning some theories of management or other similar practices but rather about enriching you and encouraging you to think in a creative way to solve business challenges. You go in as one person but at the end of your course, with the experiences you’ve had, you grow to be a different person. Your way of thinking and approaching problem spaces, it definitely sees a paradigm shift.

What are three words that sum up your time at SSE?

Developed innovation mindset.