Ajay Maheswhari – SCN Member of the Month November 2012

Ajay Maheshwari is the SCN Member of the Month for November 2012. I’ve known the name “Ajay Maheshwari” for a while now; it started almost like a legend. A couple of years ago, I was discovering our new reports in BusinessObjects Explorer and I spotted Ajay’s name. He had so many points in the Financials area that it was hard to believe it, and I was wondering if our reports were displaying accurate data or not 😉

But this is all true. Ajay has been very active in the community for over two years now, responding to  forum questions on a daily basis. He’s been helpful to many and he’s learned a lot on the way. He told me how SCN has helped him professionally and how he loves to connect with people from all over the world here.

Ajay, can you tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, who you work for, and other things you would like to share with the community (hobbies, fun facts)?

I come from Hyderabad, a city in South East  India. I hold a commerce (B.Com) and management accountant qualification (ICWA). I’ve been working with IBM India for six years now and I like working there. It’s a very exciting company, I lead a team of 7 people and my Management supports my engagement in SCN. I’m actually one of the top IBM contributors on SCN 🙂

My domain of expertise is FICO; for my job I have delivered 5 full cycle implementations and 2 AMS assignments. In addition to contributing on SCN I’m also very active inside IBM, encouraging people to be active in our internal community, mentoring them, and building a strong FICO community.

On a personal level, I like travelling and discovering places in India because it’s  a beautiful country in many aspects. I also like to listen to old Indian music, the type of slow music (here is a link to a song I really like, called Chalte Chalte Mere Ye Geet Yaad Rakna).

In one of your threads you once mentioned that you were not a very technical person, but myself I find your content fairly technical 😉 Most of the time it’s “all about business” and helping people. No time for jokes! That was just a funny comment on my side… In your profile bio you mention that you are a free-lance trainer and are also involved in pre-sales, so it seems your job is more functional than technical. Can you elaborate on this?

It was said in a context. I know the SAP functionality and the way of enhancing it, i.e. I know which enhancement option can help in a given business situation. But if someone asks me the minute details of the BADI, exit, then I may not be the right person to comment on them.

I work as a freelance trainer for FICO and do conduct online trainings in my free time. Within IBM I am involved in some pre sales activities apart from developing courses for the FICO practitioners, mentoring the community and assisting various projects in their delivery as a subject matter expert.

Note from Laure: I think it’s pretty exceptional to have people on SCN who have both business and technical skills. They are what Thomas Dulaney considers the most successful consultants.

When did you become a member of SCN and what brought you to this community?

I registered in 2008 for trouble shooting. I started contributing in June 2010, in my free time, and slowly it became a passion as I was learning and contributing at the same time. I feel I have had an awesome journey on SCN as I got to know many people, gained a lot of respect worldwide. It has helped my career growth at IBM.

Every recognition from SCN encouraged me along the way. I was first a “Top 3 contributors in last 30 days” in the forums, then became “Active Contributor Bronze” then Silver, Gold and Platinum. And I finally landed as a “Topic Leader” in the Financials category and “SAP Financials Expert”. My passion just kept growing as I was getting rewards for my contributions.

Note from Laure: Yes, no edits on my side. Ajay really said that the point system and the different levels of recognition motivated him to be regularly active and level up. That’s the best compliment I can hear, knowing that people do appreciate the efforts we make towards recognition and reputation of our members!

Ajay and I also talked about moderation and how important it is for the quality of a space, especially if there is a lot of activity. Eli Klovski and Christian Ortner are two active moderators in the Financials area and I managed to get help for them!  Ajay is interested in becoming a Moderator in the FICO area. Gali Kling Schneider will be happy!

How does SCN help you in your daily activities?

SCN has helped in multiple ways, from trouble shooting when I joined four years ago to contributing and learning more by doing so. I gained a lot of respect within and outside IBM thanks to my contributions in the forums. I believe it has helped me in my career. And when I attend interviews now, many times I hear that “we have no question to ask you, you know everything”. 😆

It’s also nice to meet people in person, after having interacted with them online. A lot of people approached me at TechEd Bangalore last year, that was nice. I also met with Jim Spath there and he encouraged me to start blogging, which I haven’t done yet.

Note from Laure: I definitely would like to see Ajay start blogging!  I  have a very easy assignment for him: Blog It Forward. He promised he would do soon. @Moshe will be happy!

How do you find the time to contribute on SCN?

If you love to do something, it becomes your priority and you can very easily find time for what is important. I log in every day, I actually get an email notification whenever something is posted in the Financials area, so I come in and help people when they ask a question.

What do you like most about the community in general?

Knowledge sharing and the willingness to help even strangers!!

In addition to SAP ERP Financials, are there other areas of SCN that you follow and like to get updates from?

Not many. I check About SCN from time to time, but that’s it.

Note from Laure: I’d say Ajay is a FICO addict! Maybe he should get his own badge for that 😉

If a new member came to you and asked you for advice on how to be an active and respected member of SCN, what would you say?

SCN is a great place for networking as well, people should use the opportunity. Also, they should make the time to be active and engaged, they will learn a lot that way and the rest falls in place. Whether you come on SCN for trouble shooting, learning or contributing, there is something in it for you.

Is there an SCN member you admire (OK… you can name a few)?

Eli Klovski and Christian Ortner, both SCN Moderators who have a lot of knowledge and do an amazing job moderating the Financials spaces.

Mangalraj Senthamaraikannan who is very active in the Logistics area and Maria Luisa Munoz who is a very active Moderator. Both of them step in whenever needed and are a great help in the forums. They consistently provide high quality answers to the community.

Declan Curley, a guy who at first was not very active but helped me back in 2008. Now we have more and more interaction.

Maria Luisa and Declan are both from SAP.

Easy question: Mac or Windows?

Windows

And no, I haven’t checked out Windows 8 yet.

Are you on Twitter?

Yes, I’m ajaycwa1981

Every month, a member of the SAP Community Network is recognized for exemplary behavior: sharing knowledge with peers, being helpful and taking on additional tasks to support community engagement. See the list of previous SCN Members of the Month.