An engineer by training, with a degree in electronics and communications, Sathish Gopalaiah worked for a public sector company in the defence sector for more than two years after his graduation. Thereafter, he completed his MBA degree and got placed in Arthur Andersen from his campus. He then moved to Ernst & Young and subsequently joined KPMG in 2004. He spent about three years working at its UK office, but later moved to KMPG India as he wanted to provide consulting services closer home. Gopalaiah predominantly focuses on the telecom sector and provides consulting services to various operators across a variety of areas including Customer Service, Revenue Assurance, Telco Analytics, Pricing and Marketing.

Gopalaiah has a wealth of experience in the telecom industry. During his career in consulting, he has worked with several telecom operators in more than 25 countries. His most memorable assignment is designing an analytics-enabled decision-making solution, which he conceptualised in 2010. This solution is being used by a large operator for handling its entire analytics function. The assignment was memorable because a small-scale solution developed by him became so successful that there is now a dedicated team of over 30 people delivering it to various clients.

Commenting on the Indian telecom sector he says, “Operators are gradually moving away from voice-centric to data-centric solutions to drive profitability and revenues. In the future, mobile money will be one of the most important wireless applications. It will also be important to see how the government and operators take m-commerce to the next stage, to provide these services to the rural population.”

Gopalaiah leads a team of over 150 people, who deliver relevant solutions to clients while meeting their changing requirements. Describing his management style, he says he gives his team enough freedom to pursue new opportunities and win business. As building customer trust is important to the business, he assesses his team members on behaviours rather than outcomes. He believes if right behavior is depicted by the team through understanding the client and providing a solution what the client wants, business will definitely come to KPMG.

Gopalaiah believes that his biggest strength lies in understanding the requirements of clients and gaining their trust. He strives to form the most appropriate team, which can work on solving clients’ issues. He claims that his “ability to think big, dream big and sell big” has helped him deliver to important industry players. He is also confident of his ability to successfully run businesses.

Gopalaiah treasures time spent with his eight-year-old daughter and his 20-month son. He also enjoys watching movies in his spare time.