Data science is all about storytelling, and the narrative for Mala Anand is one driven by passion. One of a handful of female executives at software solutions provider SAP SE, Anand has written her own story of success and offers three key steps for other women seeking leadership positions in enterprise technology:

“I think, number one thing is passion. First, you’ve got to be really clear that this is exactly what you’re passionate about. Second is building a team around you that you can count on, you can rely on, that is invested in your success. And then, thirdly, is just to ensure that you are confident,” Anand said.

From a young age, Anand was always passionate about software and analyzing data, and now she leads one of the largest products for the multinational company as the president of SAP’s digital innovation system, Leonardo. Anand recently spoke with Lisa Martin (@LuccaZara), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Global Women in Data Science Conference in Stanford, California. They discussed diversity in the workforce and changing business processes at SAP.

Women in leadership at SAP

SAP had set a goal for by 2017 to fill at least 25 percent of its leadership positions with women, according to Anand.

“We’ve got an aggressive goal to be at 30 percent of women in leadership positions by 2020, and we’re really excited to achieve that … both within Leonardo and data analytics as well,” she stated. “Diversity is fundamental to our growth and, more importantly, to the growth for the industry. I think that’s going to be fundamental.”

The demand for diversity within data sciences is reflected in SAP Leonardo’s own system, as a digital transformation product comprising machine learning, big data analytics, and the “internet of things,” all running on a solid cloud platform with in-memory databases like Kana, at scale, Anand explained. This intermixing of skills and technologies presents opportunities for women to excel in data science as a storyteller.

“The ability to storytell … with the right domain expertise opens up such a massive opportunity for different kinds of participants in this field. And so within SAP itself, we are very driven by driving diversity,” Anand concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Global Women in Data Science Conference. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Women in Data Science Conference. Neither Stanford University, the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE