Delivering Success

Shali Thilakan cherishes his childhood memories of Mumbai. He spent his first 12 years in the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) quarters in the suburb of Chembur and the rest of his childhood in south Mumbai at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), where his father was an employee.

His parents were hugely instrumental in shaping his views towards work, education and relationships, and so was the environment at BARC and TIFR. "You can imagine growing up among the children of scientists," he says. Thilakan went to St Joseph's, Colaba, and did his 11th and 12th grades at K.C. College in Churchgate.

“The most memorable part of my school years was the cycle ride with my friends around the coastline of south Mumbai. The long walks at Nariman Point, where we'd watch BMWs and Audis roll by while sighing out loud. The ice cream at Rustom's, the tandoori chicken at Delhi Darbar and the pizzas at Pizzeria were to die for. When it came to street food, the keema baida rotis behind the Taj were something we all looked forward to," he recalls.

After obtaining a degree in engineering (electronics and telecommunications) from the SSVPS College of Engineering, Thilakan worked for some years at Nariman Point and remembers the traditions of his social circle at the time.

“We were always at the Cafe Mondegar on Friday evenings where the jukebox was legendary and the crowd was a good mix of advertising professionals, college students, accountants and fast-moving corporate honchos. The most popular number played then was Hotel California'," he recalls.

His initial ambition was to be a telecom engineering expert and although he did a stint in this, he soon realised that he was better at managing customer interactions; he had a knack for instilling confidence in them. He also did well in his project management assignments.

Thilakan has more than 12 years of experience in the telecom industry. Prior to joining Cable & Wireless Worldwide (C&W Worldwide), Thilakan worked with Telecom Italia. He has been a part of C&W Worldwide for more than nine years and has held various leadership positions in the organisation.

Until recently, he was director for enterprise sales in India. He played a key role in securing ILD/NLD licences for the company in 2009. As managing director for C&W Worldwide's India region, he is responsible for refining the company's global delivery framework, focusing on increasing client satisfaction, building on a burgeoning domestic market opportunity, and further developing the talent pool in India.

As someone who knows the Indian market well, he is only too aware of how customers are on top of the technology curve while also being acutely cost conscious. “Our customers look to us to optimise and improve their communication assets and as a result, we're bringing to the market a rich portfolio of services that serve our customers' needs," he says.

His company's strategy is to serve the largest users for telecom globally by providing them with high quality managed IP services. He wants C&W Worldwide to be famous for delivering a great customer experience so that the solutions it provides are valuable for customers. “Within that, India is a very important market for us and we want our customers to be able to leverage their international footprint in and out of India," he says.

C&W Worldwide provides high bandwidth connectivity and value-added telecom solutions such as managed video and voice solutions so that customers can link up their complex global business value chain. In addition, it provides a dedicated network operations centre to offer support services to close to 4,200 global customers roughly 50 per cent of its total customer base from its Centre of Excellence in Bangalore.

“Our focus on delivering solutions is paying dividends and we are witnessing a significant growth in orders placed in the region. In Asia-Pacific as a whole, we saw a 60 per cent increase in the number of orders placed in the third quarter this year versus the same time period last year," he says.

Previously, C&W Worldwide invested $200 million in Asia to develop a next-generation network and multi-service platform (MSP) capability in the region. It has also invested in initiatives such as the Europe India Gateway (EIG) consortium. “This is our latest investment in building greater capacity in India and is designed to meet the needs of companies across the globe. When complete, the EIG will span more than 9,000 miles and will be fully operational by the end of 2010," he says. "The EIG cable system has a special resonance for us, as we were responsible for laying the original UK-India cable in 1870, which follows an almost identical route to the EIG system."

As for current trends in the sector, Thilakan sees three big ones: an increased demand for next-generation IP-based solutions; a need for multinational companies to have greater flexibility and agility in their global infrastructure; and the need for companies to become more efficient and cost effective by making better use of communication solutions.

“For the first time ever, east to west' telecommunication has emerged as the primary driver of growth as enterprises expand their business across Asia and Africa. Indian multinationals are also going global while Western multinationals are investing and expanding across Asia and we are well positioned to help them with that," he says.

Another important trend for Thilakan is network consolidation. A lot of companies are trying to merge all their networks instead of having networks in silos and are trying to reduce the number of vendors they work with, from eight or nine to around two or three. There is a lot of interest in the hosted model, he says, and it is not only the medium-sized companies that are opting for this but also large companies. C&W Worldwide has recently engaged three large BPO customers for hosted data centre services.

In India, the key challenge for the company is to differentiate itself from the rest of the pack. Thilakan points out that it has been ahead of its rivals on many counts in India. For example, it was the first multinational company to get all clearances for long distance licences; it launched a multi-service platform ahead of its competition; and now the company is launching new bandwidth products in the marketplace.

Earlier in his career at C&W Worldwide, he was director of operations but he moved into sales to stretch himself and get out of his comfort zone. He believes this move helped him tremendously in preparing for the larger assignment that he has today. “My managers were crucial in shaping my decisions and supporting this change," he says.

One of his most memorable experiences was an assignment in Hong Kong where he was responsible for delivering a huge infrastructure project on behalf of a large multinational bank in more than 20 countries. “It gave me a broader view of the global market," he says. “The project had unique challenges and it compelled me to explore many less travelled roads."

If you ask him about leadership, he replies with a quote from C&W Worldwide chairman, John Pluthero: “Leadership cannot be cut and pasted." He elaborates: “Different teams and times require different styles of management. I am extremely hands-on and approachable but I am also conscious when I work with different teams on their working styles. I do not micro-manage but at the same time, I have high expectations from colleagues to deliver on their commitments."

He describes his ego as “right-sized", which means that he can see beyond his own point of view, accommodate others' views and admit to his mistakes.

A typical day for Thilakan starts with helping his wife get their daughter ready for school and then taking his Dalmatian, Momo, for a walk.  When in office, the better part of the day goes into meetings with colleagues and customers, and video-conferencing with colleagues abroad.

“We have a very young workforce and most of the day is spent in working towards improving our customers' experience whether it is in relation to a pre-sales engagement or a post-sales service challenge," he says. “In India, our biggest strength is our people. We are really fortunate to have a young, dynamic and talented set of colleagues."