Arun Shetty has over 20 years of experience in the networking and communications industry. He has donned several hats in the fields of sales, technical systems engineering and global networking projects. He has led businesses in both the enterprise and service provider verticals to deploy new and emerging technologies and solutions like multiprotocol label switching, unified communications and data centre technologies.

Currently, Shetty is head of Avaya’s unified communications, sales and consulting vertical for the Asia-Pacific region. According to Shetty, increasing economic pressures, changing work patterns and consumerisation of IT have led to a major change in clients’ expectations. “Today, customers want more out of less. We are focusing on solutions for the mobility and video collaboration segments. In the latter segment, we are focused on personal video, as opposed to video-based telepresence, since over 80 per cent of our clients are opting for these services,” he says.

Moreover, Shetty says that large enterprises are focusing on updating their existing networks to new platforms and technologies, as well as outsourcing network services. This bodes well for Avaya. The company is signing managed services contracts for three to five years to tap this opportunity.

Going forward, Shetty says that the company plans to enhance its cloud-based service portfolio, which is currently available only for its customers in the US. The company plans to begin offering these services in Asia Pacific as well. Shetty is of the view that cloud computing and BYOD are the key emerging trends in the telecom industry. “These technologies enhance productivity but entail several challenges as well,” he comments. “Any unsecured gadget being used in the enterprise segment poses security threats to the network. This presents lucrative business opportunities for unified communication service providers to develop technologies to help customers handle such threats.”

As a leader, Shetty believes it is necessary to empower his team to enable them to take appropriate decisions. He also underlines the need for employees to strive to deliver a satisfactory customer experience. A firm believer in the “walk the talk” concept, he makes sure he practises this in his professional dealings.

Time away from work is spent with family. A frequent traveller, Shetty says he particularly enjoyed visiting Scotland and Maldives. He unwinds by gardening and watching soccer and comedy shows like Everybody Loves Raymond and How I Met Your Mother.