Disa Mohidi, Partner Account Manager, Dell EMC, Indonesia

Data&StorageAsean: How did you get into this part of the industry? Was it intentional?

Disa: It was a mix between coincidence and opportunity. Although my major in university was more on voice telecommunication, my professor suggested me to take data communication as the topic for my thesis. As a result, when I graduated I got a job offer from Indonesia-based SI. They were interested in my thesis because, at that time, there were quite a lot of opportunities in IT due to the Y2K issue.

Data&StorageAsean:  Has there been any resistance you have felt being a woman in a male dominated industry?

Disa: I wouldn’t call it resistance, but I feel there are still lack of confidence and largely people find it hard to believe that a woman can be as good as - if not better than – man, especially in technical aspect. An example, prior to my time with Dell EMC, in an event in Surabaya a few years ago, I had to do an enablement presentation to local partners on storage solutions - all participants were men. One of them “tested” me by asking definition and detailed solution of RAID, which I clearly and concisely outlined, from definition to its levels to implementations and benefits a customer can get. In the end, I managed to demonstrate expertise and gained partners’ and customers’ confidence, which resulted in positive market outcome in Surabaya. To-date, I’ve contributed to Dell EMC Indonesia’s revenue increase, new partners enablement, and winning new strategic customers, which were acknowledged by the company with several excellence awards, including Silver Awards in 2014 for contributing to growing distributor revenue to double digit and nurture new partners, and winning the first All Flash Storage Deal in Indonesia, Silver Award in 2016 for marketing contribution and Platinum Award in 2016 for contribution in closing important deal in the electricity industry. To me, those awards were more than company’s appreciation to my achievements, it acknowledged a woman’s knowledge and expertise in the IT industry.

Data&StorageAsean: What keeps you motivated day to day?

Disa: My experience in this industry is invaluable and can’t be replaced. IT business is very dynamic and always changing, while every year there is always a new trend and new things to learn. This world is even more dynamic than fashion industry. While we may find “recycled idea” in fashion industry, we will always find new trend, new concept and new technology in IT industry. Some “WOW” ideas a few years ago become common today.

Data&StorageAsean: Do you have a role model in the industry?

Disa: Steve Jobs. He was a visionary, able to think outside of the box and had excellent capability to market his idea. And more importantly, he did not just give up if the idea was rejected but instead tried to find a way to make it better.

Data&StorageAsean: Any advice to someone interested in the industry about what to look out for in the data / storage?

Disa: We are living in information era which means more and more data will need to be kept and stored. This means we will always find new concept, technology and trend. However, learning about the products, technologies or concepts are only the first step. We will also need to understand about the who, what, where, why and how in relationship to the usage of data/storage, which means we need to learn about the businesses and needs of our customers and their clients.