Syed Sajjadh Ali brings 30 years of experience in the electrical industry to his new job as managing director (MD), India, electrical sector, Asia Pacific with Eaton. The firm offers power management solutions for various industries. For the telecom sector, it manufactures, sells and supports unified data centre solutions incorporating Eaton UPS products, enclosures, advanced power management and reliability solutions, as well as world-class services.

Ali sees the telecom sector as a major growth opportunity. “With encouraging growth expected in the telecom sector and the infrastructure development space, Eaton’s diverse product portfolio will play an important role in building up these industries. We will continue to focus on developing contemporary products for the power, IT and telecom sectors,” he says.

In the past, Ali has worked with organisations such as GE, Alstom, GEC and English Electric. Prior to his current job, he was MD of Cooper Bussman, India, a subsidiary of Cooper Industries Plc., which was acquired by Eaton in November 2012.

Ali believes he is strongly positioned to leverage the synergies between the products of the two companies. A key focus area for him in his new role is product innovation and improvement. He underlines the fact that clients today are much more exacting and companies need to innovate in order to fulfil their business requirements.

Looking back at his long career, Ali says he had the opportunity to work on many exciting and challenging projects. However, he terms his association with Cooper Bussman, India as one of his most memorable. In particular, he recalls the setting up of a world class manufacturing facility by the company at Puducherry. According to him, the plant has helped dispel the myth that India only supports low-cost manufacturing. In fact, apart from being competitive it can also be a centre of excellence for manufacturing quality products delivering to a global customer base.

Ali sees himself as a team player; he believes that it is not an individual but the collective effort of a team that brings success. Elaborating on his management style, Ali says, “I make an effort to ensure that business goals percolate to the bottom of the organisation. Irrespective of hierarchy, every individual should feel that he has a role to play in the success of a company. Such an approach would encourage employees to take ownership for work and motivate them to perform better.”