By Mark Emmons
Our “5 Minutes With” profile series highlights business thought leaders, their view of the world, the projects they’re working on, and the extraordinary things their organizations are doing — and their hot takes on food integrations.
It’s rare when someone has a role where they can see all the inner workings of the critical operations at an industry-leading business. But Prexa Dave has that insight as a senior integrations manager for cloud-computing giant Nutanix.
“We touch all the business functions,” Dave said. “Marketing, sales, finance, accounting, manufacturing, operations, professional services, support, and HR. We’re responsible for pulling the business together, which is why I enjoy integration. I get to know all of the organizational functions, and that keeps me passionate about Nutanix because I’m seeing all that we do.”
Nutanix has become a leading provider of software solutions for managing cloud and on-premises digital infrastructure – all on one, simplified platform – because the business moves fast and constantly evolves.
Dave wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Since I joined the company, we’ve changed our business model a few times,” she said. “Those kinds of projects always come with a high urgency and tight timelines. Those are things I enjoy, working under a little bit of pressure on challenging projects.”
Dave, who grew up in the western part of India and came to the U.S. in 2011, sat down with us to discuss her interest in technology, why integration is more critical than ever, and her love of cooking. Here are some lightly edited portions of our conversation.
First, our most important question. Give us your favorite food combination and why that integration works for you.
Prexa Dave: I feel that I’m a good cook. At least the food I make is healthier than at restaurants. In the kitchen, I like to integrate Thai and Indian food. I just try mixing some of the different ingredients. Mostly it’s Thai curry paste mixed with Indian spices to make some fusion. Sometimes, I also use Mexican food. It’s a nice combination.
Spicy?
Prexa Dave: Oh, very spicy. I cook mild food for everyone in my family to enjoy. However, I have a side of Thai chili for myself.
How would you explain your role to a neighbor?
Prexa Dave: In simple terms, I would say that we integrate all of our business functions and various applications that we are using at Nutanix. My team integrates all these systems within Nutanix as well as integrating with systems outside of Nutanix where we’re interacting with partners, our manufacturers, or vendors.
Why have modern integration platforms become essential?
Prexa Dave: Business models have become very complicated across all industries. There are so many systems, yet no single system can handle everything you need. You want an ERP (enterprise resource planning) that’s best in the market and fits your needs. It’s the same for a CRM (customer relationship management). They may provide all-in-one solutions but still not specialize in the areas you need. So, integration gives any organization the ability to go with the software of their choice, which is best suited for them to run their businesses efficiently and still stay connected with other systems like the ERP and CRM. If you do it manually, it brings inaccuracies, inefficiencies, and a lot of manual effort. So, having integration in place helps you run the business the way you want and do it seamlessly. It breaks the silos between different organizational systems.
Is it harder to keep everything connected today when there are more systems and applications than ever?
Prexa Dave: I wouldn’t say it’s harder. There were lots of problems with the legacy integration systems. But I think what’s changed is that people’s expectations are higher now. Because everything can move so fast, people want everything fast. They don’t want the business to run at that legacy time. Today, when we order something online, we don’t want to wait for a package to come a day later. It’s the same with businesses. They don’t want to wait. They want to run their internal systems more efficiently and have everything moving fast-paced. That’s why integration is now more crucial than before.
Can you give some examples of how Boomi connectivity helps you?
Prexa Dave: Sure. Think about all the places and systems where data needs to flow in employee onboarding. Information about them must go to the HR system, cost centers, and their departments. When it comes to the actual onboarding and offboarding processes, we have integrations built so that they are activated or deactivated automatically in the right systems, like Workday. But it goes even further than onboarding. For example, when people move between departments, they need to take away access or enable access to various systems. We have integrations for all of those.
What about your quote-to-cash process?
Prexa Dave: Integrations are very important in our sales process. We have a Boomi API, so our business sellers and distributors can submit their purchase orders to us. In turn, we create sales orders in our Salesforce instance. That sales order eventually has to go into the next feed, which is our ERP system for fulfillment and invoicing. When you think about it, that’s the most important process for any business. For me personally, it helps you understand how the business runs. What I enjoy the most is helping manage all of the different intricacies involved.
Few of us have a straight line in our career trajectory. What journey led you to where you are?
Prexa Dave: Do you want an honest answer? I always wanted to be in finance. My parents, like everybody in my family, have a math background. But I wasn’t interested in taking math as a college major, and computer applications was starting as a new program. So, I got into computers and fell in love with programming. I got involved in a lot of programming competitions, even winning some of them. My first project was in B2B/EDI when I started working. At that time, I was not even sure what B2B or EDI (electronic data interchange) was. But I learned and found it really interesting. That’s how I wound up in this whole world of integrations. At Nutanix, we utilize Boomi to do all the integrations for A2A and B2B needs.
What is it about technology that interests you so much?
Prexa Dave: Technology touches everybody’s life now. Technology is so embedded into our lives. Our daily life revolves around technology. Think about how far we have come in the last decade or so, and we still have a long way to go. Technology has the power to touch lives and can help in almost every sector of our economy, such as healthcare, food, travel, entertainment, and communication, to name a few. Now, looking at the evolution of AI, it’s really fascinating, and sometimes it’s terrifying as well. That’s why I think we all need to play a major role in making sure that as technology evolves, it’s something we can trust and helps everybody.
Up Close With Prexa Dave
Home: Bay Area, Calif.
Career: Deep technology background includes several integration roles in her nearly six years at Nutanix
Interests: Cooking, gardening, and going on walks with her kids
One Cool Thing About Prexa: She enjoys coding. “I don’t really get tasked to do it much now because of low-code platforms for integration like Boomi, but I love exploring programming languages when I have free time.”
Learn how Nutanix is using the Boomi platform in our Boomi + Nutanix case study.