Agendra Kumar, managing di­rector (MD), Esri India,

Agendra Kumar, managing di­rector (MD), Esri India, has been associated with the company since 2013. An industry veteran with over three decades of experience in the IT industry, Ku­mar has been promoting the use of geospatial technologies in India. Under his leadership, Esri India has partnered with various government and private organisations to execute critical and transformative projects using Esri’s geographic information systems (GIS).

As the MD of Esri India, Kumar has built a strong leadership team, which is focused on helping both the go­vernment and private organisations solve great challenges in areas such as mana­ge­ment of water and other natural resources, forestry, land man­a­gement, mapping, disaster management, sm­a­rt cities, sustainability, utilities, telecom, manufacturing, BFSI and transportation. “We have been able to create a wide partner ecosystem to su­pport our initiatives,” notes Kumar.

In addition, Kumar is the president of the Association of Geo­spatial Industries. Earlier, he served as the MD of Silicon Gra­phics in India and MD of Veritas India. After Veritas’ merger with Symantec Corporation, he took on global account management responsibilities for the Asia-Pacific and Japan region.

According to Kumar, there has been a massive adoption of GIS over the past 20-25 years. GIS leverages new technologies such as internet of things, artificial intelligence/machine learning, better computing power, cloud, high-speed networks, etc., to deliver better location analytics. “With better availability of geo­spatial data, the use of location services will significantly inc­rease in the private sector for better decision-making, higher efficiency in operations and superior customer service. This is a huge untapped opportunity for the developer community in In­dia, an opportunity not to be missed,” Kumar asserts.

Kumar holds master’s degrees in mathematics and management studies from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. With regard to his management style, Kumar likes to have a clear understanding of productivity from a context perspective. “Today, leaders have to ensure that communication channels are always open. They need to be in touch to know what’s going on in the team members’ minds and the way progress is being made,” notes Kumar. “There has to be a connection bet­ween the heart and the mind. Everything cannot simply be driven by business outcomes. We need to empathise with people in these times and trust them. They need to be empowered to deliver. Again, a decentralised approach is required,” he adds.