Interview with TTSL’s Harjit Singh Chauhan

 

Tata Tele Business Services (TTBS), a leading enterprise communication service provider, is playing the role of technology catalyst by offering small and medium businesses (SMBs) a suite of products and services focusing on voice, data, IoT, cloud and SaaS. In an interview with tele.net, Harjit Singh Chauhan, president, enterprise business, TTSL, talks about the company’s focus areas and growth plans…

How is TTBS addressing the evolving SMB market requirements?

TTBS has a progressive approach of partnering with SMBs in the capacity of a technology enabler/subject matter expert and providing them with differentiated ICT solutions. Our SMB growth trajectory has been ahead of the industry. This has been achieved by an unwavering focus on product innovation and customer-centricity, continuous investments in rolling out a high capacity, high resilience fibre network, and the deployment of the latest IT tools and business applications. Last, but not the least, we have the largest channel partner network, which is all set to meet the requirements of our customers.

What growth opportunities do you see for the company in the Indian market?

The contribution of the SMB segment to GDP can potentially double in the next five years. Providers like us can play the role of technology catalysts in making this kind of growth a reality for SMBs and, in turn, experience unprecedented progress.

SMB customers want advanced ICT solutions that are scalable, easy to deploy, and are available in an asset/capex-light model. It is our endeavour to develop products and solutions that enable our customers to compete and win in their respective business segments. Our focus is as much on building digital connectivity highways as it is on building horizontal and vertical business applications across the industry segments that we serve. We cover a wide range of industry segments such as IT/ITeS, BFSI, media, services, manufacturing and logistics. We also pay very close attention to the needs of start-ups.

How is TTBS placed vis-à-vis other telecom operators/enterprise communication service providers?

Our strategic focus as a service provider has been on delivering higher business value to our customers rather than offering deeply discounted plain vanilla products and services. One of our key differentiators is our deep understanding of the SMB segment and this is reflected in our product innovations that have been widely recognised in the industry, be it Ultra Lola for the broking segment, SIP Channel on Demand for marketing and service use cases, or SmartOffice.

What are your growth plans and strategies?

Our growth plans are centred on strengthening our portfolio of services especially in the areas of SaaS, IaaS, IoT and cloud while at the same time enhancing our network and sales reach/capability to cover as much of the SMB footprint as possible. We have recently introduced SmartOffice amongst many other innovative offerings. This is an award-winning product and has received an overwhelming response from SMBs. It is literally an office-in-a-box, which integrates voice, data, storage and applications in one device and saves the customer the time, effort and complexity of working with multiple service providers to set up an office. It is as appealing to a start-up as it is to an established organisation looking to open a branch office. Our Smart VPN solution helps SMBs stay hyperconnected by effectively removing physical, geographical and technical barriers. It supports the ‘work-from-anywhere” culture of mobility and collaboration for today’s any time, anywhere, any device workforce.

What are your views on the adoption of next-generation technologies such as IoT, AI, cloud and big data across enterprises?

IoT, AI, cloud and big data present unprecedented opportunities for both large and small businesses across India. These technologies give organisations the ability to develop new business models or undergo digital transformation, thereby offering endless benefits such as improved real-time interaction with customers, accurate insights, better inventory management, higher employee productivity, better resource allocation, and effective forecasting. This enables more efficient business decisions. IoT is viewed as a key enabler for driving digital transformation for unlocking operational efficiencies. AI, coupled with ubiquitous connectivity, is enabling exponential value being generated by IoT. As machines and objects communicate directly with each other, real value of data is getting generated, enabling automation, predictive analytics, and ultimately better and faster decision-making.  Over the past few years, cloud computing services and delivery models are being embraced by organisations across the country for their numerous benefits, which include better collaboration, higher data availability, flexibility, greater business agility and higher cost savings.

In the enterprise segment, we are witnessing a significant growth in the adoption of these new-age technologies. We are working with our partners to roll out a robust cloud and SaaS portfolio for our customers. TTBS already has an IoT practice focused on location-based services like fleet management, asset tracking, workforce tracking and fuel monitoring. We believe the IoT market will grow exponentially. We will continue to strengthen our IoT services as per our customers’ requirements.