What we talked about
Sravanthi Gondi is a PeopleSoft Finance Consultant at Saicon with nearly two decades of ERP experience spanning PeopleSoft Financials, HRMS, and Oracle Cloud. She currently serves as Finance Deputy Lead for the Cardinal Production Support Project at the Commonwealth of Virginia, overseeing the entire finance system while leading a major PeopleSoft upgrade in parallel.
Show notes
Sravanthi Gondi started her IT career in 2007 with no computer science degree and no prior coding knowledge, and she spent a year of sleepless nights teaching herself to code from scratch after landing a job at Oracle India. Nearly two decades later, she is managing the finance systems for an entire US state government while simultaneously leading a major ERP upgrade.
What we covered
- Breaking into IT without a computer science background required Gondi to self-teach everything. After facing what she describes as “several failures,” she secured an offer from Oracle and spent her first year learning to code from zero. Within that year she was building production systems.
- At Accenture, the career-defining moment came when she was named security automation lead for a statewide HCM implementation with over 100,000 users. Manually assigning roles at that scale was impossible, so she led an automation of role assignments through single sign-on, a project she describes as requiring extensive rehearsals, sleepless nights, and close coordination across teams to monitor each automation run.
- She draws a hard line between PeopleSoft and Oracle Cloud consulting: in PeopleSoft, “we were builders” who wrote custom PeopleCode for everything; in Oracle Cloud, “you are a configurator.” The mental shift is not about learning new screens, it is about unlearning the instinct to customize, and instead guiding clients toward industry-standard configurations.
- On integrations, where she says things most often go wrong, Gondi points to data format mismatches as the root cause of most failures. When System A sends data in a format System B does not expect, the entire chain breaks. She experienced this directly during Okta integrations, where misaligned data mapping caused authentication failures and locked users out of the system.
- Her view on AI in ERP consulting is specific and practical: she describes a scenario where AI analyzes a new PeopleSoft image after an upgrade and identifies exactly which of 500 custom test scripts need retrofitting, turning a month-long task into a single day. “AI won’t replace the consultant,” she said, “but the consultant using AI will be 10 times more valuable.”
- She arrived in the US seven months pregnant, without family support for the decision, and her husband gave up his job to accompany her. After two to three years of difficulty, they settled, and she describes the pride she feels in having taken that step, even given how hard it was. Her core advice to anyone navigating a difficult transition: “Never get comfortable.”
About Sravanthi
Sravanthi Gondi is a PeopleSoft Finance Consultant at Saicon with nearly 19 years of ERP experience across PeopleSoft Financials, HRMS, and Oracle Cloud. She currently serves as Finance Deputy Lead for the Cardinal Production Support Project at the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sravanthi-gondi-15865317
- Website: https://www.saicon.com
Episode 151 of the PreVetted Podcast.
Full transcript
Federico Ramallo (00:00) Welcome back to the pre-vetted podcast where we spotlight extraordinary people and remarkable talent reshaping our world. Today, I am joined by Sravanti Gandhi. She’s PeopleSoft Finance Consultant at Seikon. She has over 19 years of IT experience across PeopleSoft Financials, HRMS, and Oracle Cloud.
She’s worked her way from Oracle India through 11 years at Accenture and now leads complex ERP implementations and integrations as a senior consultant. Sravanti, welcome to the show.
Sravanthi Gondi (00:38) Thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here and share my journey from building in PeopleSoft to leading finance teams in the cloud. I am an IT professional with close to 19 years of experience in ERP applications like PeopleSoft and Oracle Cloud. Currently, I serve as the finance deputy lead for the Cardinal Production Support Project at Commonwealth of Virginia.
I have recently transitioned from leading a specific module to overseeing the entire finance system. My day-to-day activities involve coordinating across multiple teams to ensure not only that production is stable while simultaneously leading people’s soft pump upgrade tasks.
Federico Ramallo (01:19) It’s such an amazing journey that you’ve been through, I’m impressed. Congratulations.
So how did you first get into ERP consulting and PeopleSoft back in 2007?
Sravanthi Gondi (01:31) As you mentioned, my journey began in 2007 after I graduated in production engineering. Entering IT was difficult because I did not have a computer science degree or prior coding knowledge.
After facing several failures, I finally secured an offer from Oracle. I spent a year of sleepless nights teaching myself to code from scratch, essentially translating me into the ERP world.
Federico Ramallo (01:59) Interesting. think that back then, learning to code was a big, difficult skill, right?
Sravanthi Gondi (02:06) Yes, so I started with zero coding knowledge and a pile of rejections. One year later, I was building systems for Oracle.
Federico Ramallo (02:15) Amazing. And what was it like starting your career at Oracle India? And what did that experience teach you?
Sravanthi Gondi (02:22) I would say Oracle was my first professional home. As I mentioned earlier, it took me some time to get a job. Getting into Oracle was a dream for many and I joined with immense pride. It was a transformation from being a student to a professional. The boot camp was intense.
But it wasn’t just about technical skills. It taught me the discipline of late night support and the importance of being a team player. I developed a unique habit there. When I see a quality in my colleague that drives success, I adapt into my own workflow so that adaptive mindset started at Oracle India and has kept me going for 19 years.
Federico Ramallo (03:05) Amazing.
And what drew you into PeopleSoft Financial specifically over other ERP systems?
Sravanthi Gondi (03:14) When I was recruited by Oracle, I was given boot camp training on PeopleSoft application. I actually started my career in HCM.
but I was eventually pulled into PeopleSoft financials and I got hands on in AR, AP and GL modules. I started liking the data flow. In finance, every transaction has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line.
Back then, I chose PeopleSoft over Oracle applications because of its unmatched flexibility. You could truly customize business process to meet customers’ unique requirements. Even today, in a world of SaaS, PeopleSoft’s highly customizable nature makes it the gold standard for complex organizations that need more than a static business model solution.
I chose finance ERP because I wanted to be where the money moves.
Federico Ramallo (04:07) Interesting, interesting. And how did your role change when you moved to Accenture as an associate manager?
Sravanthi Gondi (04:15) I moved from Oracle and I joined Accenture in 2010 where I shifted from a developer to an associate manager.
I moved through various roles such as Sir Coordinator and a system test lead. But the record breaking moment of my career was serving as the security automation lead for a statewide HCM implementation project. We had over 100,000 users. Manually assigning roles was impossible. So I led the automation of role assignments using a single sign-on.
And when you deal with security at that scale, handling contractors versus employees and higher determination cycles, there is a huge risk there. Successfully implementing that automation was a massive win. And that required many sleepless nights, extensive rehearsals, and intense coordination between the teams to monitor and track the automation runs.
Federico Ramallo (05:12) Interesting. And what does a full PeopleSoft implementation actually look like from start to finish?
Sravanthi Gondi (05:19) I see an implementation as a journey from requirement gathering to fit gap analysis. This stage is critical because you must clearly define what the software can and cannot do. Then comes the design phase followed by build. But the real heart of the project is system testing.
This is where we ensure every requirement maps perfectly to a business process. We iterate through testing cycles until every requirement is met and all the defects are resolved. In parallel, we develop training materials for these validated processes so business users are prepared for the transition.
And finally on Go Live Day, the application is deployed and becomes the new standard. Ultimately, we aren’t just building a system, we are designing the future business processes that people will rely on every day.
Federico Ramallo (06:14) How does it feel when you switch the PeopleSoft implementation into production?
Sravanthi Gondi (06:21) Of course, it’s not an easy task and it is not going to happen overnight. So we plan accordingly, right? The go live date is planned well ahead of time. We do a lot of move to productions just to make sure things are working fine. And during the go live, we just release the environments.
to the business users, but before that, whatever we have executed in the prior move to productions, are going to deploy that based on our previous cycles, we are just going to deploy that. And it involves too many rehearsals, you know, we are not going to just deploy it all at once. So it involves a lot of communication, coordination, a lot of effort from different teams, assemble it together and be prepared.
for the good life.
Federico Ramallo (07:09) Amazing, amazing. How has PeopleSoft evolved over your 19 years working with it?
Sravanthi Gondi (07:15) I have seen it all from the old peoples of 8.8 days to the modern 9.2 environment.
We have moved away from those big bang upgrades that took 18 months and cost millions. Now we use the pump model. It’s continuous improvement. We also saw the shift from classic menus to fluid user interface. It is not just a facelift. is about making the ERP as intuitive as a smartphone app with inbuilt tools that can help users make decisions instead of just entering data.
Federico Ramallo (07:48) Right.
And what does managing integration projects involve? Where do you think most often go wrong?
Sravanthi Gondi (07:56) In my current role, integrations are where things most often go wrong. Whether you are connecting to a third party banks or external systems, it’s all about the handshake. If system A sends data in a format system B does not expect or if system B isn’t ready to accept the transmission, the entire data chain breaks.
As a security automation lead, I saw this often during Okta integrations. If your data mapping is misaligned, authentication fails and users get locked. You have to look for the details and logs to fix the issue.
Federico Ramallo (08:31) and how do you stay on top of multiple large projects at the same time?
Sravanthi Gondi (08:35) I currently balance production support with ongoing PAMA upgrade project. And how? You can micro manage if you are managing multiple projects. You have to trust your resources and manage through prioritization.
In my current role, I use resource utilization trackers and maintain a one team mentality across my functional and technical resources. This is to ensure resources are not burnt out by non urgent tasks and remain focused on our highest priority milestones.
Federico Ramallo (09:08) So how did you make the transition into Oracle Cloud? And how does it compare to PeopleSoft?
Sravanthi Gondi (09:14) I served as a security lead for Oracle Cloud Financials on a Virginia State project. And it was a total mental shift. In PeopleSoft, we wrote custom people code for everything. We were builders. In the cloud,
You are a configurator. You follow the standard. The transition isn’t just learning new screens. It’s unlearning the habit of saying we can customize that. You have to become a consultant who guides the client to the best industry standard rather than just building whatever they ask for.
Federico Ramallo (09:49) Interesting.
What does Oracle Cloud Security involve and why should organizations take it seriously?
Sravanthi Gondi (09:57) In cloud or in any application, your user role is the most powerful tool you have. If you give someone too much power in cloud financials, they can see the entire state’s lecture from a coffee shop. Security isn’t just an IT thing anymore. It’s the most critical financial control an organization has.
A single mistake in the security console can be visible globally in seconds. That is why it has to be taken seriously as it protects the integrity of the entire organization.
Federico Ramallo (10:31) Right.
How has AI started showing up in ERP consulting and how are you thinking about it?
Sravanthi Gondi (10:37) I am an OCI generative AI certified and I’m already looking at how this changes our world. I don’t see AI replacing us. I see it handling the repetitive manual tasks just like help us to get troubleshooting or drafting complex system test scenarios.
Imagine a pump upgrade where AI analyzes the new image and tells you exactly which of your 500 custom test scripts needs retrofitting. It turns a month long task into a day. AI won’t replace the consultant, but the consultant using AI will be 10 times more valuable.
In short, AI isn’t taking your job, it is taking your busy work so you can focus on strategy.
Federico Ramallo (11:23) Right, right. We can use AI to help us improve our productivity, right?
Sravanthi Gondi (11:29) correct and it is a time saver right it’s more I mean we are are productive in multiple ways but it helps in time management
Federico Ramallo (11:37) Right, right. And you can actually use, you can use AI to help you analyze a lot of data, ⁓ make low level, low complexity tasks so you can focus on the strategies, right?
Sravanthi Gondi (11:44) That’s it.
Yeah, all the manual tasks that takes lot of time today can be fixed, can be reduced by using AI.
Federico Ramallo (11:57) Right, right. Sometimes I had issues where I will try to use AI to automate something and it will take me so much more time than I was expecting, right? Yeah, but most of the time it is a life, a time-saving tool, yes, for sure.
Sravanthi Gondi (12:20) Yes,
that is true. It is like one time setup. You just have to learn how to train your AI model and it will do the things that help you actually.
Federico Ramallo (12:31) What skills matter most for someone started in PeopleSoft or ERP consulting today?
Sravanthi Gondi (12:37) With AI in picture, you still need the technical basics, SQL and people code. But that’s no longer enough. You have to be a business translator. You have to explain to a business user why a new feature helps them. If you can’t explain to a stressed accountant at month end why a new feature makes their life easier, they won’t use it.
You need to be able to draft job aids, update training materials and communicate the business value. Technical skills get you the job, but communication skills get you promoted. If you can’t explain why to user, the how doesn’t matter.
Federico Ramallo (13:14) Right. Right. That makes a lot of sense.
What is one thing you wish more people understood about what ERP consultants actually do?
Sravanthi Gondi (13:24) you
People think we just click buttons in the software. We are business translators. We translate messy human business into logical processes. We analyze how a state agency or a business operates and provide advisory services to make those operations more efficient. In short, we don’t just implement software, we improve the way people work and live by making their daily tools more efficient.
Thank
Federico Ramallo (13:53) Right, right. That makes sense. And it’s a different dimension of skill than technical skills, right? Because it’s communications and understanding people, right?
Sravanthi Gondi (14:04) Yeah, you just have to connect the dots. If you have understood the data flow, then it makes your life easier and your thinking shifts and you think as a business user and you do things that helps them work more efficiently.
Federico Ramallo (14:06) Right.
Right. So changing topics a little bit, what was life like growing up in India?
Sravanthi Gondi (14:24) Of course, the life is not the same like here, right? It was a good transition, in a good way, right? In India, things were a little difficult. So when I grew up as a kid, my life was not a bed of roses, right? So I was dreaming to achieve something big.
So it all started there. So I used to dream to come to USA one day to earn money so that I have the financial independence to support my family financially. So that is the main reason why I had to come to US and when it comes to life, the life is totally different back in India.
We have everyone nearby, right? Though we struggle every day, you have people to support in India. You have your parents, you have your family, everybody nearby, right? But the only thing that we were lacking was the financial stability. And that made me travel and…
settled in the USA.
Federico Ramallo (15:20) Right, right. And how did that experience shape who you are today?
Sravanthi Gondi (15:25) It’s not a one day thing. Of course, I I have I had a lot of stories. I I actually wanted I have actually shared with my friends and my family. persistence like I as I told you, I used to dream big, though I was not in a position to to actually do things to make it.
I mean to fulfill my dreams I actually had to put on lot of effort from my end to achieve my goals. I grew up in a family where my mom was not that educated and my dad used to travel all along. So I had to learn things myself and then my hard work.
my self-learning skills, observation from other people who are being successful, way they actually, the discipline techniques that they have incorporated to achieve their dreams. I try to incorporate everything into my own lifestyle that way.
When I run for something big, those things actually help me and my continuous thinking of what I want to achieve actually made my life going and then made me achieve things as I wanted it to be.
Federico Ramallo (16:41) Right, right. I think that your your journey, you know, going through difficult times makes you more resilient today. Right. And you also appreciate more everything that you achieved so far. You appreciate it more because, you know, because of all the experiences you had. Right. And
Sravanthi Gondi (16:47) Yes. That is correct. Yes. Yes.
That’s it.
Federico Ramallo (17:04) that allows you to be more focused and have, it’s hard to, it’s hard to express that sense of hunger to do more, to achieve more to somebody that hasn’t been through hard times, right?
Sravanthi Gondi (17:18) Yes,
that’s true. So I am not, I am a person who does not fall back in difficult times. I take it as a positive thing, like, okay, I got this. Now what should I do to come out of it? So maybe that thinking of me made me survive, I would say. Like I was never fallen back.
with the things that I have encountered, you know, and I was never afraid of the struggles that I had. So I always suggest everybody, whoever is around me, I always tell them, don’t be afraid, don’t be scared when you have a difficulty, when you have a difficult situation, just think of how you can…
resolve it and come out of that one instead of thinking like why did it occur to begin with why am I in this situation so that kind of thinking should not be there that’s what I have learned from my personal experiences so you cannot avoid it right you have to face it no matter what
Federico Ramallo (18:18) Right, right. And I’m being able to have that cool head through difficult times allows you to go through challenges and be able to overcome them more. I wouldn’t say easier, but, you know, being able to more successfully go through those difficult times, right.
Sravanthi Gondi (18:35) Yes.
Federico Ramallo (18:36) So what is your happiest memory from your childhood, from your early years in India?
Sravanthi Gondi (18:42) The happiest I would say is to spend with my family. I have my grandparents, my mom and dad, my cousins, everybody back in India. whenever I achieve something big and whenever I meet them, that gives me lot of happiness, know, the things that I, the things to share with them, the, the,
The support that they provide is the happiest moment that I always experienced from my childhood. So even today, that is one of the things I miss being here far away from my family. But that is the only thing that keeps me happy.
Federico Ramallo (19:18) Right, right. What was the biggest culture shock when you moved to the US and how did you adapt to it?
Sravanthi Gondi (19:26) So I came to US when I was 7 months pregnant. So the reason behind it was to come to US was my dream.
Federico Ramallo (19:34) wow.
Sravanthi Gondi (19:41) My family was not supportive of my decision because of my health condition. So my husband has to sacrifice his job to accompany me to come to US. So that is one of the big shocking things I would say. So he had to stay with me for couple of years without job just to fulfill my dream.
And yeah, after coming here, it was not easy, as I thought. So we initially struggled for two to three years, and then we learned, we settled, and all that stuff happened.
Federico Ramallo (20:14) That’s amazing. I mean, that requires such courage, right?
Sravanthi Gondi (20:18) and I am so proud of it that the step that I have taken actually gave me lot of satisfaction even though we struggled.
we came out of it.
Federico Ramallo (20:27) That’s interesting. Is there something about Indian plays or ritual, a flavor that you will still carry with you no matter where you are?
Sravanthi Gondi (20:35) So we follow rituals in India. have so many festivals. So there is a different ritual for each festival, you So it’s hard to explain. It’s hard to explain that. But yeah, more than the ritual I always enjoyed.
doing it with my family, with my friends. So I always enjoyed the company of people around me, especially when we meet during festivals and do the rituals as a group, rather than doing it alone.
Federico Ramallo (21:03) Right.
Yeah, I mean, in Argentina, we don’t have as many rituals, but in Mexico, they have more rituals in Argentina. And, you know, there’s there’s always a celebration wherever you go. know, they have, you know, you can go to a town where they have a party for, you know, a birthday or some celebration and they they open up.
they extend invitation to you even though you could not be from that place. So they always welcome people as part of their community. So it’s very nice to be able to join those celebrations. And that’s the closest I can think of from India.
Sravanthi Gondi (21:28) No.
Yeah, so I’m from southern part of India. every state in India is a little different. They have their own rituals. So we are diversified. So we have so many things that we do within the state. And when we travel to a different state, we try to…
get adapted or learn the new rituals there. So India is all about diversity.
Federico Ramallo (22:12) Right. Right.
And what advice would you give to young people that are thinking of moving from India to the US that could go through a similar journey than yours?
Sravanthi Gondi (22:28) So back then situations were a little different, but now after COVID things have changed drastically, right? And I am on H1B, so things have changed even for H1B and cost of living has also increased. So back then it was not this case, right?
you get paid more. mean there are chances where you can save more back then but now with the cost of living and what not it’s hard to save much like you used to do before. So for people who are traveling from India
pursue their dreams or career I would say it is going to be quite challenging with a a state that has changed a lot right so and even in India things have changed like you are able to earn more even by staying in India so yeah so wherever you are my only suggestion would be to not get comfortable
Federico Ramallo (23:17) Right.
Sravanthi Gondi (23:23) just struggle. So this is my theory. You need to struggle first and then get adapted to the situation wherever you are, be it in India, be it in the US or be it in any other country. You start with the struggle. You then learn and then…
you then share that knowledge with people who are in the similar stage, right? And then, only then you will get settled and reach that comfort zone. So my advice would be never get comfortable.
Federico Ramallo (23:50) Right, right. you know, aim for, you know, aim for your goals and work through them, right? Yeah. Right.
Sravanthi Gondi (23:56) Yes, yes, everybody has their own goals. So
I may not sound correct, like I cannot tell them don’t come here because things have changed. But if their goals are in such a way that they have to come here and they have to pursue their dreams by following a different route, then I would recommend them to try it out. Only then you will know,
Federico Ramallo (24:20) Right. I don’t remember which book talks about this, the idea of the definition of happiness is a mountain that is significant to you personally. And the definition of happiness is walking up towards the top of that mountain. Right.
it’s not about getting to the top of the mountain because once you get there you should look for other mountains to climb up
Sravanthi Gondi (24:52) That’s true. Yeah.
Federico Ramallo (24:53) And the climbing up is an effort, right? It’s hard, right?
When you have that effort, it could be uncomfortable, it could be challenging, but if you have a purpose, that weight doesn’t feel as heavy. And then when what you’re doing gives you immediate gratification because you’re having fun doing, then when you…
Sravanthi Gondi (25:02) Yes.
Yes.
Federico Ramallo (25:18) when that gratification, it’s from an activity that has purpose that the gratification multiplies by 10. ⁓
Sravanthi Gondi (25:24) That is true. Yeah, I like that.
So you just have to find your purpose. And no matter how difficult it is, you just have to face it. And eventually, if not today, someday you will reach your goal.
Federico Ramallo (25:37) Yes, yes. So yeah, I think that your advice of just follow your dreams, I think it’s very important.
Sravanthi Gondi (25:45) Always dream big and follow your dreams.
Federico Ramallo (25:48) Yes, yes, I completely agree, yeah.
Sarvanti, truly appreciate you being here today. I’m honored to be able to talk about your journey and share it with our audience. Any final remarks, any final advice before we wrap it up?
Sravanthi Gondi (26:01) Thank you.
I just want to thank you wholeheartedly for having me here and then I’m obliged to take part of this one and share my experiences.
Federico Ramallo (26:17) Yes, thank you, Sravante.
Sravanthi Gondi (26:19) Thank you.