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With over 15 years of experience in subscription and cloud commerce, Narayanan Venkiteswaran has helped reshape how businesses manage their subscription services. His expertise spans major companies like LinkedIn, AppDirect, and Deutsche Bank. Armed with a Master’s in Computer Science from Columbia University, Narayanan blends technical knowledge with business insights, earning recognition across the industry. He is also a senior member of IEEE and a fellow at the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce.
At LinkedIn, Narayanan leads a team that processes more than $10 billion in transactions annually. His work in distributed computing has been instrumental in building systems that ensure secure and seamless customer interactions. One of his key achievements is the LinkedIn Admin Center, a platform that streamlined billing, account, and license management for over a million users, improving overall efficiency by consolidating multiple tools into one.
Beyond LinkedIn, Narayanan contributed significantly at AppDirect, where he led the development of shopping cart microservices and an app marketplace. These tools simplified how users explore, purchase, and manage subscriptions, resulting in improved conversion rates, reduced churn, and resulted in fewer support issues. His focus remains on simplifying processes while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.
Strengthening security and building reliable systems
Narayanan prioritizes security as essential to maintaining customer trust and safeguarding sensitive information. He has implemented encryption techniques and multi-factor authentication to keep customer data protected during transactions. These measures have not only strengthened user confidence but also reinforced LinkedIn’s and AppDirect’s reputations as secure platforms for managing subscriptions. His expertise in security earned him a judging role at the Globee Awards in Cybersecurity, further establishing his prominence in the field.
In addition to security, Narayanan has focused on building reliable, fault-tolerant systems that perform seamlessly, even during technical disruptions. His event-driven architecture allows transactions to proceed uninterrupted, even when facing network or system failures. This system simplifies error management and offers a dependable framework for teams to rely on. Narayanan was invited to present this innovative approach at the Beam Summit 2024, highlighting how it prevents backend issues from impacting user experiences. Today, it is a core part of LinkedIn’s ability to offer consistent services.
Narayanan’s influence extends beyond LinkedIn and AppDirect. He actively shapes industry standards by participating in key events like the Cloud Transformation TechEx Summit, which drew over 7,000 attendees. At the summit, Narayanan shared insights on cloud subscription commerce, stressing the importance of collaboration among industry leaders to create better solutions for the subscription economy. His commitment to fostering open dialogue reflects his drive to advance not only his own systems but the broader subscription commerce ecosystem.
Narayanan’s vision for the future of subscription commerce
Narayanan is focused on applying artificial intelligence and machine learning in subscription services to create more personalized and efficient customer experiences. By incorporating these technologies, he aims to make platforms more intuitive and responsive, offering tailored solutions that exceed traditional models. His strategies address the evolving demands of the market and subscription commerce.
Committed to customer satisfaction, Narayanan continually refines systems using his technical expertise. He recognizes that the future of subscription services requires balancing emerging technologies with user-centered design. By combining advanced tools with practical solutions, he is shaping how businesses will meet their customers’ needs.
With his vision and experience, Narayanan stands as a leader in subscription commerce. His ability to merge cutting-edge technologies with practical customer solutions is redefining the industry, ensuring businesses and consumers benefit from more streamlined and secure services.
