Heramb Ranade has had a long and successful innings in the telecom sector, spanning 23 years. During this time, he has worked with firms like Reliance Communications, Hughes Telecom, Tata Lucent Technologies and Tata Telecom. He is currently chief marketing officer (CMO) at Tikona Digital Networks (TDN) and is responsible for revenue and growth, product development, marketing, and business strategy.

In a capital-restricted environment, achieving growth is indeed a challenge. Ranade intends to accomplish this by leveraging the company’s existing assets and market coverage. “The main task before me is to strike a balance between the pace of growth and cost efficiencies,” says Ranade. “I am focusing on preserving competitive product positioning, fulfilling changing customer expectations and competing with new players and products/technologies in the market.”

For Ranade, working at TDN has been a particularly exciting experience. “Unlike an established organisation where a lot of things are taken for granted, at TDN, I faced the challenge of starting things from scratch. We had to arrange for licences, develop infrastructure and establish the brand. It was a huge responsibility but gave me entrepreneurship experience.”

To identify new opportunities, Ranade keeps an eye on industry trends. According to him, desktop PCs are giving way to mobile data devices, marking a shift from a shared utility to a personal gadget. Over the next few years, the industry will see a majority of users connected with affordable smart devices. It will witness tremendous growth in the consumption of video and multimedia content and applications. “In a few years,” he points out, “voice is likely to become a very small component of the overall network traffic, though it could continue to make a reasonable contribution to the overall operator revenues. Data will be the next big thing along with e-governance and e-education.”

As a leader, he believes in creating a sense of ownership in every team member. He likes discovering solutions to issues by questioning and exploring different options, and then arriving at a consensus with his peers and team. As a professional, he values diversity and candour. Ranade lists his strengths as a penchant for innovation, clarity of thought and strong customer insights.

He unwinds by exercising and listening to music. He enjoys travelling and spending time with his family and friends.