Harsh Vardhan Singh

Briefly explain what you do at Deloitte. 

I’m a Manager in the Deloitte US-India Offices Delivery Center based in Bangalore, India. My team is focused on enhancing and managing client enterprise-wide technology applications and systems. Our goal is helping optimize and propel their critical operations forward in areas such as IT, HR and finance—to help standardize and scale how they support their organizations and end customers. Internally, I also manage teams in our Delivery Center, supporting project resourcing and delivery excellence across a full spectrum of Deloitte’s Operate services.

How would you explain what you do to someone who knows nothing about Operate services? 

For me, Operate services are about going beyond just addressing the ongoing operational needs of our clients and their technology. Its about responding with agility to continuous business disruption and change and incorporating continuous process improvements like driving technology modernization, which clients often find hard to move fast on without dedicated technical expertise and experience.

Tell us about an Operate services project you're most proud of working on in your career.

There’s a Government & Public Services project that comes to mind because it is one of the largest and most challenging projects I’ve worked on. The client is not based in India and 80% of my support team are here. Often clients prefer their delivery centers to be located in their headquartered country, so I spent considerable time upfront building trust with my client stakeholders, reinforcing that Deloitte US-India Offices could still meet their service expectations with offshore support on the other side of the world. Ultimately, my team not only brought stronger technical expertise than the client envisaged, but also greater cost efficiencies.

What does a typical day of work look like for you?

I spend a lot of time with my team ensuring their projects are on track, giving them coaching and support to help identify potential service delivery risks, drawing up mitigation plans, and working toward optimal efficiency. During the overlap in time zones between India and the US—the latter are where most of my clients are based—I spend time with client stakeholders, managing live projects, and identifying where process improvements need to happen. 

How did you end up in Operate services? 

I joined Deloitte 11 years ago as a campus hire straight out of university. During this time, I have enjoyed multiple roles in areas connected to Operate services such as technical development and integration and most recently solution delivery. I have also worked with clients all over the world in several sectors including Technology, Media, & Telecommunications and Life Sciences & Health Care. Most recently, I’ve been working with Government & Public Services clients, where I feel really at home. 

What excites you most about your role? Why do you do what you do?

If I was in a traditional professional services role after 12 to 18 months if think I’d be looking for a new challenge, but there are so many curveballs and opportunities for transformation both personally and professionally working in Operate services. From managing delivery teams to interacting and building relationships with clients and stakeholders globally, every day is exciting. 

What's the most challenging part of your job?

Juggling priorities. This is a challenge at times but is also enjoyable and I like to drive the right balance with my teams. We are often dealing with different priorities and requests—managing expectations between the client and our internal teams, to provide optimum coverage for clients’ critical systems.

What's a common misconception about working in Operate services?

Someone who doesn’t have a real understanding of Operate services might think that the work is just “keeping the lights on” where we receive client requests and resolve concerns. But it’s a lot more than that. Operate services really focus on driving value enhancement opportunities for our clients across their organizations, like embedding automation, data insights and integrating new technologies to build solutions that make a measurable impact to their operations. 

What advice would you give your younger self about working in Operate services?

Look at Operate as a pathway for learning. Build your own networks for opportunity within Deloitte. Use the experiences offered to work with different types of organizations and technologies and don’t limit yourself to just one. Invest in yourself, take up challenges, and explore everything Operate has to offer—you won’t be disappointed.

What do you like to do outside of work? And why is it special to you?

I’m a huge sports fan. I played cricket for a state team when I was young, and I still take time out on the weekends to play club cricket. I’ve also developed a love for soccer. Apart from that, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, traveling, and exploring new places. Being a foodie, I also love trying my hands at new cuisines—native Mughlai being one of my favorites. 

Note: The services and experiences described herein are intended to demonstrate Deloitte's experience and capabilities in these areas, however, due to independence restrictions that apply to audit clients (including affiliates), Deloitte is unable to provide certain services based on individual facts and circumstances. Therefore, the experiences and descriptions would not apply to services to audit clients.