But life had other plans that included top jobs in the IT and telecom sectors. Today, he is director, strategic industries, with Alcatel-Lucent India, a leadership role which envisages his steering the company on a robust growth path. His key responsibilities include vertical portfolio alignment, and growth of the company’s vertical solutions business.

According to him, rapid urbanisation and the swelling middle class will drive the growth of smart community solutions built on high capacity and reliable telecom infrastructure. He also sees broadband moving to 100 Mbps/1 Gbps to cater to demanding digital entertainment and collaboration applications. In addition, transport and public safety will need strong telecom-based solutions.

Recalling his early days, he says, “I started my career with the onset of the personal computers business in India. That was in the late 1980s and the IT boom continued till the late 1990s. After having worked with companies like Siemens-Nixdorf and Epson, I moved to the telecom sector and was associated with brands such as Reliance Infocom, Tata Communications and Siemens.”

Having worked with diverse companies across the information and communication industry, he has a 360-degree perspective on the sector – from the service provider/ system integrator’s viewpoint to the original equipment manufacturer’s.

Dhaundiyal’s management style too is very varied. He believes that a manager does not have to have a stereotypical approach to every task, because different situations demand different solutions.

Looking back, Dhaundiyal says that almost all of his assignments have been extremely challenging and full of excitement. He recalls his first assignment, which saw him start branch operations for his company as a one-man army with the sales, commercial, pre-sales, installation, training and service functions all rolled into one. His current assignment at Alcatel-Lucent too involves building a strong business unit ground up. According to Dhaundiyal, all these experiences have helped him develop expertise and gain market insights, think out of the box, build sound business strategies and flawlessly execute these.