Dr. Durga Prakash Devarakonda
Staff Vice President & Head of Digital Legato Health Technologies LLP
Currently, at Legato Health Technologies, Dr. Durga Prakash is spear heading the firm as the Staff Vice President and Head of Digital Technology Towers. Founded in 2017 as a fully owned subsidiary of Anthem Inc.,Legato Health Technologies is an IT and business consulting healthcare solutions company that specializes in utilizing digital tools to simplify healthcare. The firm is committed to transforming the world of healthcare through operational excellence, innovation, and digital transformation. Legato is uniquely positioned to enable enterprises & organizations across technology domains including data analytics, digital technologies, automation & AI and streamlined business processes, with robust infrastructure and fluid operational capacity. Legato's claims processing, provider data operations, corporate functions, and delivery excellence are some of the most recognized areas in the industry. As part of this organization, DP has set the momentum of this ...
When Introduced to technology..
DP's love for technology is rooted in his educational years back in school. Born in a small town in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Durga Prakash was introduced to technology as a result of the school's endeavor to encourage students to take up an extra subject like electrical engineering, appliances, and computer science etc for extra credits. From this point onwards, DP was indulged in technology, even so as he picked up FORTRAN and COBOL in his 12th grade. DP recalls how he was blessed with mentors who took personal interest in engaging students, unlike the commercialization of education today. DP set foot on his professional journey in 1996 as he became the youngest Indian to have completed all possible certifications. He was awarded a special recognition of appreciation by Bill Gates, the then CEO of Microsoft Corporation. From that year forth, DP has been on a spree of success playing an important role to position the strengths of Indian technology capabilities to solve the global problems of sectors including banking, financial services, technology, retail, high end tech etc.
In 1996, Microsoft has 11 products. DP was able to complete his certification course for all 11 products in a period of 6 months. Post this, he landed a job in Gemini, Germany (now Capgemini) where he was tasked with building an ERP called JD Edwards on the Microsoft platform. Between 1996 to 2000, DP had travelled across Europe as part of his career. In 2000, while people started heading towards the US for a career prospect, DP decided to return home and contribute here. He joined Oracle India as the 5th employee and begun marking his mile stones innovating products for the global market. 22 years since his return, DP has been setting up global teams. In all his years of venturing with industry giants, DP has helmed the technology orientation of the firms to enable smooth transitions.
'Logic' at the Core of our Education System
Dr. Durga Prakash Devarakonda was a bachelor in a foreign land tasked with building a ERP for reinsurance. Sitting in his large cabin, DP used to code away his days building the project. Interestingly, the genius used to write 15000 lines of code each day on C++, Visual C++. Humble as he is, Dr. Durga gives due credit to his education here
in India. Reminiscing and taking pride in it, DP says, "If you look back, the beauty is, our Indian education system has always been a superior education system, which taught us mathematics and sciences, at depth. We have that logic built into our Indian education system. That is why today, some of the big organizations are now led by Indian Americans. Thanks to our education system, it teaches us to think logically and work and provide the right solutions for the right problems. I'll give the complete credit to my mentors, the education system and the great coaches & teachers who helped us to grow to this level".
Dr. Durga Prakash Devarakonda believes in 'egoless Karma What you don't know, you don't know; what you know is very little. "Every problem is an opportunity to learn. Building culturally sensitive global teams is part of such a challenge that requires every member to be open minded to learn from each other. The key is to work together, collaborate and cherish each day. I believe, one of the important lessons in the ladder of success is to raise a hand and ask for help. There is always some one somewhere, no better than you, who can help you with your problems. So your ability to raise a hand and ask for help will lead you out of dark times, especially in such times of crisis". Rightly so, when the pandemic pushed back the entire world and put a lid on recruitment for a while, Legato perceived this problem as an opportunity to do the best for the global community. Beating all odds, Legato onboarded 12,000 employees since the pandemic. So much so that 50 percent of the firm's current employee strength was gathered in the last two years of crisis alone.
Cognitive technologies like AI, and now Blockchain and Metaverse have potentially changed our approach to solving problems. DP explains how Legato has leveraged the potential of intelligent smart bot to answer clients' service queries. With the implementation, the calls received earlier on a scale of 50-51 millions per quarter reduced significantly, making way for reduced stress on call agents, reduced cost of infrastructure, and zero transaction cost. The chatbots are able to efficiently resolve client queries and clients are still catered with services as per request.
In his previous stint as the Senior VP and head of AI of one of World's largest banking software companies, DP and team built an AI powered teller section. This product featured a human like character powered by Augmented Reality that helped customers carry out their transactions. "The world is slowly changing. Probably, five years from now, when you go to banks, you will see all the digital characters trying to help you with the transactions", says DP.
The Right Ingredients to Becoming Superpower
Drawing from the past, DP sheds light on India's potential to adapt to technologies with time. He points out how during the pandemic, when the world's markets & industries' physical infrastructure was threatened, India too was running USD 200 billion software services industry. However, when the world made a panic stricken move to remote working on virtual infra, India took a rather smooth transition demonstrating that we have a superior digital infrastructure than the physical infrastructure. We're still growing 10.11 per cent. DP adds, "Rather, the emphasis should be laid on ensuring that this digital infra structure reaches the 600,000 villages in India. Digital inclusion should be our next milestone. The pandemic has somehow brought more companies to invest in India. I think, if you're able to connect every single village in the country through information highways and make sure our digital infrastructure is superior automatically, the world opportunities will come and land in India".
"India has the expertise in terms of becoming a digital nation. We can do more wonders and we can be the most advanced country in the next five years. If we understand what is working and focus on it and increase our strengths on the same, it's possible. I strongly believe every single technology that the world is going to need, can be implemented in India. India adoption rates will be extremely steep and faster as compared to the other nations, thanks to the millennials, or gen Z. 250 million people in India will land their first job by 2025. This implies that all these people are born with mobile phones, rather, digital native. Tell me, what is the best thing that any other country has than India does, to become the digital superpower?", explains Dr. Durga Prakash.
Leaders are Made, not Born
Dr. Durga Prakash, being a leader believes that the responsibility he has is to make more leaders. His favourite quote;"Talking is sharing, and listening is caring". He is certain that while the global board rooms are discussing India's importance in the talent pool, there is just as much scope for leaders in India. Given the right push and 'helping hand' with equal focus to build on the tradition of logic based education, India can become the centre of global opportunities.
"Jugaad, or frugal, all these great reverse innovation are what driving the excellence. To quote, for every hundred thousand eye surgeries conducted in India, there are zero failures. No other country has that kind of a perfection, as far as the doctors'capabilities are concerned. So doctors, engineers, logical thinkers, the millennials, gen Z, we have everything right here. And I believe, we need to start behaving as if we have the global responsibility to share this knowledge of wealth and bring opportunities to Indi", concludes Dr. Durga Prakash.
I Believes In 'Egoless Karma'- What You Don't Know, You Don't Know;What You Know Is Very Little. "Every Problem Is An Opportunity To Learn
Dr. Durga Prakash Devarakonda believes in 'egoless Karma What you don't know, you don't know; what you know is very little. "Every problem is an opportunity to learn. Building culturally sensitive global teams is part of such a challenge that requires every member to be open minded to learn from each other. The key is to work together, collaborate and cherish each day. I believe, one of the important lessons in the ladder of success is to raise a hand and ask for help. There is always some one somewhere, no better than you, who can help you with your problems. So your ability to raise a hand and ask for help will lead you out of dark times, especially in such times of crisis". Rightly so, when the pandemic pushed back the entire world and put a lid on recruitment for a while, Legato perceived this problem as an opportunity to do the best for the global community. Beating all odds, Legato onboarded 12,000 employees since the pandemic. So much so that 50 percent of the firm's current employee strength was gathered in the last two years of crisis alone.
Cognitive technologies like AI, and now Blockchain and Metaverse have potentially changed our approach to solving problems. DP explains how Legato has leveraged the potential of intelligent smart bot to answer clients' service queries. With the implementation, the calls received earlier on a scale of 50-51 millions per quarter reduced significantly, making way for reduced stress on call agents, reduced cost of infrastructure, and zero transaction cost. The chatbots are able to efficiently resolve client queries and clients are still catered with services as per request.
In his previous stint as the Senior VP and head of AI of one of World's largest banking software companies, DP and team built an AI powered teller section. This product featured a human like character powered by Augmented Reality that helped customers carry out their transactions. "The world is slowly changing. Probably, five years from now, when you go to banks, you will see all the digital characters trying to help you with the transactions", says DP.
The Right Ingredients to Becoming Superpower
Drawing from the past, DP sheds light on India's potential to adapt to technologies with time. He points out how during the pandemic, when the world's markets & industries' physical infrastructure was threatened, India too was running USD 200 billion software services industry. However, when the world made a panic stricken move to remote working on virtual infra, India took a rather smooth transition demonstrating that we have a superior digital infrastructure than the physical infrastructure. We're still growing 10.11 per cent. DP adds, "Rather, the emphasis should be laid on ensuring that this digital infra structure reaches the 600,000 villages in India. Digital inclusion should be our next milestone. The pandemic has somehow brought more companies to invest in India. I think, if you're able to connect every single village in the country through information highways and make sure our digital infrastructure is superior automatically, the world opportunities will come and land in India".
"India has the expertise in terms of becoming a digital nation. We can do more wonders and we can be the most advanced country in the next five years. If we understand what is working and focus on it and increase our strengths on the same, it's possible. I strongly believe every single technology that the world is going to need, can be implemented in India. India adoption rates will be extremely steep and faster as compared to the other nations, thanks to the millennials, or gen Z. 250 million people in India will land their first job by 2025. This implies that all these people are born with mobile phones, rather, digital native. Tell me, what is the best thing that any other country has than India does, to become the digital superpower?", explains Dr. Durga Prakash.
Leaders are Made, not Born
Dr. Durga Prakash, being a leader believes that the responsibility he has is to make more leaders. His favourite quote;"Talking is sharing, and listening is caring". He is certain that while the global board rooms are discussing India's importance in the talent pool, there is just as much scope for leaders in India. Given the right push and 'helping hand' with equal focus to build on the tradition of logic based education, India can become the centre of global opportunities.
"Jugaad, or frugal, all these great reverse innovation are what driving the excellence. To quote, for every hundred thousand eye surgeries conducted in India, there are zero failures. No other country has that kind of a perfection, as far as the doctors'capabilities are concerned. So doctors, engineers, logical thinkers, the millennials, gen Z, we have everything right here. And I believe, we need to start behaving as if we have the global responsibility to share this knowledge of wealth and bring opportunities to Indi", concludes Dr. Durga Prakash.
