Anil Nair started his career with Bradma India, a Tata company, in the sales department in 1980. Two years later, he was running marketing services and training sessions for the company. His field experience helped him set up systems for sustainable sales success while he simultaneously handled product management at the national level.
Between 1986 and 1989, he worked with Megaware Computers where he set up a dealer network for computer sales and a computer education franchise. His team played a pioneering role in India in dealerising PC sales and setting up a franchised chain of computer education centres. ?Both these assignments were the first of their kind in the country at the time,? he says.
After three years with Megaware, Nair was asked to return to Bradma in 1989 to turn the retail automation division around. In a year?s time, Bradma emerged as the top player in the business with 70 per cent market share in retail automation solutions and a firm foundation for future growth. His second stint at Bradma was till 1997.
He joined Tata Telecom (now called AGC Networks) in 1997 to head the western region, became director, sales in 2000 rose to the position of vice-president, sales in 2003 and then in 2007, became president of the company.
?This journey gave me very meaningful exposure to HR, the supply chain, projects, services, IT and finance, in addition to my already considerable experience in sales,? he says. In early 2009, he took up his current role.
AGC Networks is the India market leader in unified communications and contact centre solutions, representing the best brands and serving marquee clients. Nair says the company?s leadership position is a consequence of its ability to ?co-create? solutions with customers to address their enterprise communication-related pain points. AGC was recently acquired by the Essar Group.
?We ensure that we don?t sell platforms or technology only for technology?s sake. We aspire to guarantee returns on technology investments and set the highest standards of responsiveness and genuine customer care, combined with green benefits,? he says.
It is his goal to turn the company into a world-class solution integrator of choice. AGC Networks is firmly on the trajectory of profitable growth with a wider solution span and is reaching new geographies and customers with enhanced competencies and new go-to-market models like managed services, outcome-based pricing and other solutions.
An MBA from XIM Bhubaneswar, Nair went on to do an advanced management programme from the ISB-Kellogg Business School, Chicago. From the very outset of his career, it has been his ambition to build institutions rather than just do a job. He has always aimed high ? setting benchmarks and best practices, and nurturing future business leaders. ?This sort of goal involves setting the highest standards, working real hard at living up to them and leading by example so that others are inspired to do the same,? he says.
The inspiration for such high ideals came from his father, who worked as director of sales at Nestl?. The family came from Kerala but Nair spent his early years with his parents in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. He attended St Xavier?s in Delhi, Campion School in Mumbai and Bangalore Military School.
His father instilled the right values in him along with the firm belief that clear thinking and sharp execution would always produce results. ?I recall one incident vividly from my college days when I was to receive an award for ?outstanding contribution to leadership and service?. When they also called my father to the podium, the look in his eyes made me realise the responsibility we all have in fulfilling the legitimate expectations of our parents and well-wishers. Just attempting to do that raises our performance bar substantially,? he says.
One of his major achievements has been creating leaders at various levels who believe in excellence and work discipline, and set an example for those they lead. His definition of a leader is someone who builds leaders who know the job better than he does and executes it better than him.
?That demands being straightforward and unyielding in areas that brook no compromise,? he explains. ?It is about delegating, but it is as much about being consultative. It is about helping people realise their ambitions in line with their skills and talent while honing their aptitude.
Over the years, Nair has learnt how strategy remains in the realm of the imagination or on paper unless it is appropriately resourced and moved step by step to execution readiness. He says that one lesson he has learnt is that process and optimisation are sciences that promote excellence.
If he were pushed to describe one of his drawbacks he says it would be impatience with those who refuse to take responsibility and blame others. Another thing that irks him is people who do not realise that positive outcomes are a matter of relentless hard work and undiminished energy.
According to him, his current job is easily his best so far. When he took over, AGC Networks had just made a loss, albeit a small one, because of the global economic slowdown. This presented him with a challenge, one that he embraced enthusiastically. He made sure that AGC focused on creating value for its customers and helping them accelerate their business with its solutions.
Customers rewarded AGC with more business at improved margins. Moreover, its employees were so deeply engaged with the challenge that the company?s profits in the first nine months of this financial year have rallied to show a five-fold improvement over the same period a year ago. ?It taught us to focus sharply on creating value across all elements of the value chain to create positive outcomes,? he says.
As MD, it is his responsibility to ensure a holistic commitment to what he calls ?the triangle of equity? ? creating sustainable value for shareholders, customers and employees through quality. That translates into profitable growth emanating from customer loyalty because every commitment is met and an enduring value delivered through employees who see their work as a mission, not a job.
Asked to name AGC?s real strength, Nair replies, ?its customer-focused people?. He adds: ?Our advantage is our open meritocratic culture that promotes integrity, leadership and innovation. Our challenge is to continuously raise the bar, ensuring that the short-term decisions of the organisation at large never compromise our long-term equity or vision.?
About the near-term trends in the telecom sector, Nair says that the enterprise communication sector involves telecom service providers (TSPs) and enterprises. TSPs face challenges relating to falling ARPUs and RPM, and the shift of target markets from urban to ?rurban? (rural and semi-urban).
?Our solutions help them penetrate markets at lower costs. More importantly, we collaborate with them to offer genuine end-to-end play that gives TSPs an edge in satisfying their enterprise customers? needs, which AGC does best,? he says.
On the enterprise side, AGC has ?verticalised? its solution offerings so that communication needs are comprehensively served. For instance, it helps banks leverage technology for their branch expansion plans; it helps insurance companies use technology to enlist new clients and ensure policy renewals even with a compact sales force; and it helps hospitals with remote OPDs that help them reach rurban clients more efficiently.
?Combining our solutions for enterprises with offerings from TSPs creates credible, viable, alternative go-to-market channels, a win-win for both enterprises and TSPs, accelerating their business,? he explains.
In his spare time, Nair likes to read, travel (especially in the countryside), practise yoga and watch films. At work, he typically has a 12-hour day and has to be available 24×7. ?My family must believe I?m doing something interesting,? he says smiling, ?which would explain why they are so tolerant about my absence owing both to travel and a tight and exciting schedule,? he says.
