Sunil Kumar Makkena was part of the seed team of Cyient and has been instrumental in the growth story of the company, from a start-up in 1991 to a $447 million company today. He is currently the company’s senior vice-president and head of the global operations unit for data transformation, networks and operations (DNO) business. In this role, his key task is to make this a nimble unit that exceeds customer expectations and responds with value-added solutions. Cyient focuses on two main areas within the industry: telecom infrastructure, and operations, service management and insurance.

Outlining the major challenges faced by the communications industry today, Makkena says, “Service providers have huge networks to manage and maintain. They need to be able to beat their competition by running networks efficiently. The shortage of trained  field engineers is another challenge that will drive them towards automation and discovering ways to increase field force productivity.” He believes that service providers need to focus more on improving customer experience management. Going forward, Makkena anticipates that there will be huge investment in fibre networks as a result of the growing broadband penetration. However, the existence of coaxial and copper cables will continue to be challenged by the ever-growing demand for future services. Moreover, software defined networking and network functions virtualisation technologies will play a critical role in the next generation of communications. Eventually, these will make networks more agile, increase the pace at which new services are launched and optimise network resources.

Makkena is an electronics and communications engineer from Andhra University and has an executive management programme certification from the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. During a career spanning over 28 years, he has served in a range of leadership positions across the operations, business development, pre-sales, account management and marketing functions. In the past, he has worked with Suri Software and Infotech Enterprises Limited.

Makkena describes himself as a people’s manager, an effective team builder, a coach and mentor, with the ability to build consensus among individuals and groups with seemingly competing interests in a matrix environment. He constantly tries to drive his teams towards operational excellence.