Inside Illumio: Chandni Adiani

Inside Illumio is a monthly series that highlights the exceptional individuals behind Illumio’s world-class products. Each post will take a peek behind the scenes to spotlight a member of our team. Come get to know us a little better and learn more about what makes Illumio’s culture so unique.

This month, meet Chandni Adiani, Illumio’s Senior Manager of Revenue Operations, who’s based in California. Hear about her first four (completely remote) months at Illumio, her career advice for her younger self, and her favorite TV shows.

Tell us about yourself. What do you do at Illumio?

As the Senior Manager of Revenue Operations, I am responsible for inspiring innovation and executing scalability to the lead-to-cash lifecycle. This means, ensuring efficiency in our business processes that begins with marketing and ends with revenue collection.

A bit more about my history -- I have 10 years of experience at both big and small companies in the areas of finance, sales strategy and planning, sales operations, program management, and partnerships. Because of this diverse experience I’m able to lead or lend a hand with other projects at Illumio (some of which have already commenced, others that are on the roadmap), such as designing the sales compensation plans, building an onboarding framework for new hires in sales, and operationalizing our Channel strategy.

What does a day in the life of Chandni look like? What are you working on that excites you?

Truthfully, no two days looks the same for me, but this is normal for revenue operations. Typically, I’m working on projects that will make the company more efficient and make it easier to scale, which involves a lot of strategizing to figure out what will drive the best behaviors in our teams, how we can go to market in the most efficient way, and how to keep our data as clean as possible.

I find a lot of my work exciting! One of the bigger projects our team worked on recently was an overhaul of our territory model and territory management in Salesforce. The revenue operations team worked closely with the business applications team in rolling out a redesigned territory model, both structurally and operationally. We are in the middle of phase 3 of the project, where we are introducing automation around account ownership based on our territory model. This increases our efficiency in routing leads to the right person in our sales organization. Ultimately, efficiency in processes is what will allow us to scale operationally with ease.

Another project that excites me is the redesign of the delivery notification our customers receive when they place an order with us. Taking on a project like this only a month after I started at Illumio allowed me to familiarize myself quickly with all our product offerings.

How do you stay illuminated during the workday?

I try to learn something new every day, even if it’s something small. I’m lucky in that I get to interface with a lot of bright and talented Illumineers, so we’re always learning from each other.

Our people team also works hard to make sure we have the resources we need to stay energized while we’re working from home. For example, during our virtual wellness fair, all Illumineers received a 5-minute guided stretching video every day to encourage us to take a stretch break. My manager also encourages us to step away from our laptops every couple of hours to get outside and refresh our minds. I appreciate the little things - they definitely go a long way!

What’s your favorite TV series?

Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones are my all-time favorite shows, but like many people staying at home these days due to quarantine, my number of streaming hours has increased! I’m now caught up on so many documentaries, movies, and even enjoyed reminiscing on some 90s TV shows, but recently I’ve particularly enjoyed watching Schitt’s Creek. It’s fun and light-hearted, which we all need in 2020. And, it’s super relatable since this year we’ve all had to come to terms with being confined with loved ones in a small space. After all, just like the Rose family, we have to remember to lighten the mood a bit – life is too short!

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned at Illumio so far?

I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what your title is – everyone here is truly a leader! You’re hired into Illumio because you know how to bring your A-game and you want to inspire others based on your own experiences.

One of our core values is leveraging differences, which means that you listen, learn, and weave together everyone’s unique knowledge, perspectives, and experiences to come up with the best solution possible for the company and our customers – it’s an intangible that’s not easy to find!

What career advice do you have for your younger self?

Don’t be afraid to get thrown into the deep end. I’m lucky in that most of my managers during my career have challenged me in this way, but if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have done it. It’s okay not to know everything all the time; part of running toward the fire is fueling your growth while also helping you differentiate between what kind of work excites you and what doesn’t.

What are you passionate about outside of your career?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved Bollywood dance. I remember learning so many routines and performing them at annual functions and special events. Now, I choreograph routines for family members to participate in during weddings; it’s a lot of fun!

I’ve also been bitten by a real travel bug, so staying in one place during the pandemic has been challenging. My last major trips were to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, and the UK. I’ve also been to India, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The list goes on... I was fortunate as a kid because my parents wanted us to get to know the world, so as an adult I really enjoy exploring new places. There are many countries I still want to visit (Greece and South Africa are at the top of the list), but also so many I’d love to see again!

Recently, my other interests include real estate, the stock market, and a good wine tasting session (which is difficult not to love when you’re living in the San Francisco Bay Area). Randomly, I also tend to re-arrange furniture in my house every few months, but I need to determine if that’s a passion, or simply an attempt to keep things fresh!

Which Illumio core values resonates with you most and why?

Quite frankly, they’re all important! After all, it would be hard to be successful in any role without building trust, running to challenges, seeking truth, leveraging differences, bringing our best, and moving onwards together. But, if I have to choose one that resonates with me on a personal level, it’d be run to challenges. Shying away from challenges will only limit your potential for growth.

You started at Illumio about four months ago. What has it been like onboarding while the company is completely remote?

Starting a new job is already an exciting change, but starting a new job in the middle of a pandemic certainly has its own set of challenges. One of the most obvious challenges is connecting with coworkers remotely, when everyone else has already had the opportunity to meet each other and build meaningful working relationships through coffee runs, lunch meetings, face-to-face collaboration sessions, and so on.

I’ve learned that connecting does get easier with time though, and I have my fellow Illumineers to thank for embracing each other (and me) like family! Collectively, we all make a conscious effort to catch up during the first few minutes of each meeting and continue to build on those connections. It’s more challenging virtually, but we’re all going through this together. Whenever we do get back to the office, it’ll be exciting to finally be able to meet everyone in person!

What do you want people to know about working at Illumio?

We all secretly bleed orange!

Jokes aside, Illumio is full of high-powered, results-oriented teams. In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve seen Illumineers move mountains, help each other out, not be afraid to ask questions, and all share the common goal of making Illumio one of the best places to work! Team work makes the dream work!