We are the Women in Cloud. We solve problems, see possibilities, and create impact. We are making a difference, from the first day of school to the corner office, and from the farmer’s field to the factory floor. This could be you.
For Dina Hofmann, the wonder of the cloud is easy to describe. She first realized its transformative potential when she held her first smartphone in her hand.
“Even being in the IT industry, cloud for me started as an individual experience, specifically when the first smartphones were released,” Dina says. “This was really when I realized, ‘wow this is the next big, if not biggest, technical revolution. I can access my data anytime, on the go, and on whatever device.’”
As a cloud leader in Germany specializing in large-scale cloud business transformations, Dina’s opinion of cloud is still anchored around the great opportunities cloud presents. “I believe cloud is the greatest technology investment and opportunity that we have,” she says. ” I’m passionate about leveraging cloud’s capabilities to reinvent the way we work and interact with employees and clients. It’s about unlocking the business models of the future and making an impact on clients’ businesses, industries, and our society.”
But what’s cloud’s secret sauce? More than 15 years after those first smartphones, it’s still all about the data. She explains: “Cloud is the enabling layer that allows you to leverage your data in a way that you can deliver the right information, at the right time, in the right format, to the right person, so strategic decisions can be made.“
One of Dina’s past projects demonstrates cloud and AI’s game-changing powers. When upcoming regulatory changes around data privacy were looming, threatening one of her clients’ revenue streams, Dina and her team helped the client design, build and launch a highly secure and compliant cloud analytics platform that not only solved the client’s problem, but grew into a marketplace for companies facing similar issues.
As an 11-year old, she discovered her passion for technology and decided she wanted to become a telecommunications engineer. The fact she didn’t entirely understand what it was only made her more determined to explore the possibilities technology can bring. After achieving her masters in Telecoms Management, a globetrotting career ensued, first in the telecoms industry and later in consulting. What excites Dina about Deloitte is the powerful ecosystem of people, alliances, business and technical capabilities she can connect with, helping to drive innovation and identify solutions for clients’ challenges.
For young women on the cusp of a career in tech, she gives this advice: “It's important to have a vision about what you really want to do, certainly being passionate about it, and to have a clear focus and perseverance to make this happen. Competence is gender neutral, and it is up to each one of us women to understand our strengths, develop the needed skills, establish our credibility and focus on bringing our best self to the job we have chosen, and having fun while at it.”
She adds: “Diversity of thinking is of utmost priority when you want to solve complex problems, because if you don't bring different kinds of people and different kinds of thoughts to the table, you're not really fostering innovation. Our society is diverse, our clients are diverse, and our teams need to reflect this diversity in order to maximize the positive impact we can jointly make on the world.“