Women in Tech at Elsevier: The power of diverse perspectives in product development
November 2, 2024
At Elsevier, we strive to create an environment that brings the power of inclusion and diversity to life. We recently invited some of our women in tech to share their thoughts on why inclusion matters to them and how it can improve the experience for the people who use our products and services.
The power of diverse perspectives in product development
One of the core ways to deliver better products lies in having diverse product development teams. By embracing diverse perspectives, organizations can tap into a broader range of insights and experiences, ultimately leading to more innovative and user-centric products.
Speaking on the popular Women In Tech podcast by Espree Devora, Jill Luber, Chief Technology Officer, Elsevier, discussed her career journey as a woman in technology, and her philosophy on leadership and mentorship. She also touched on the Diversity at Elsevier campaign, the importance of inclusion and how this helps drive product innovation, and the exciting work we are doing around GenAI.
Podcasts
An Information Analytics Business: Women In Tech, Georgia
Tune in to hear Jill Luber on the latest episode of the "Women in Tech" podcast! Jill opens up about her career path, culture at Elsevier, and the importance of maintaining work-life balance.
Diverse Teams Build Better Products
Tune in to uncover how embracing diverse perspectives leads to ground-breaking products and a competitive edge. Listen to this enlightening discussion with Neela Das, VP Technology Optimisation. Listen now on Spotify
Speaking on a Diversity at Elsevier podcast, Elsevier’s Vice President of Technology Optimization, Neela Das, explained why diverse teams make a difference for the people who use and benefit from Elsevier's products and platforms. She recalled her experience in 2008 with the development of a major new health app, which launched with substantial fanfare.
"You could track every aspect of your health. And the people around me were saying, ‘Isn't this amazing?’ until someone pointed out that 52% of the world could not really use it effectively because it had absolutely no options for any kind of menstrual cycle data, which most women would want to track. There was a health tracker from one of the biggest tech companies with absolutely no mention of any kind of women’s health."
Neela contrasted this with her experience of how product development has changed. An emphasis on including a diverse team of technologies means that companies will rarely make such mistakes.
"When I contrast that to one of our Elsevier products like Complete Anatomy, which helps train the next generation of doctors, I see that it has the most advanced female anatomy available. It helps improve the learning outcomes for future health professionals. It gives me so much pride that as a company, we’re doing that, but also it speaks to me about the journey that we’ve been in on technology. Because in some ways, I’d like to think no large company would ever make that mistake again — release something for everybody with half the population missing."