Aarthi Subramanian, currently an executive director at TCS, to become the first to hold the newly-created position of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at Tata Sons. 

Tata Sons appointed Aarthi Subramanian as the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for the company, says a news report. Subramanian, who is currently an executive director at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), will take her new role beginning next month. 

The current chairman of Tata Sons, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, former MD & CEO of TCS, said in a statement, “As the group chief digital officer, (Subramanian) will play a key role in driving digital adoption across group companies as well as the group's digital initiatives. Having worked with (her) for many years, I know that her experience and commitment will be very valuable in building a Tata Group that is ready to rise in the digital economy.” The appointment is likely to intensify the company’s move towards digitization and investing in technologies to leverage big data and analytics and build software competencies.

Aarthi Subramanian brings with herself over 26 years of experience in the global technology sector and started her career with TCS itself, according to this report. She graduated from National Institute of Technology, Warangal and did her master’s in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas.  At TCS, she has been responsible for propelling the organization’s digital operations, customer engagement and delivery governance. She will continue to serve as a non-executive director on TCS’ board after taking up the new role. She is the first to hold the newly-created position of the CDO at the company. 

The appointment, however, did not clarify the future role of Gopichand Katragadda, the current Chief Technology Officer at the group, analyses this news report. He was hired by the ex-chairman Cyrus Mistry from GE Technology Centre, where he was the Managing Director, in 2014, to devise technology strategies and policies for the group. His appointment saw the creation of the post itself. After the much-publicized exit of Mistry, most of his senior level appointments were also removed soon after.