When it comes to meeting tight deadlines and professional targets, Jatin P. Zala believes in a collaborative and consultative approach.

He started his career as a research and development (R&D) engineer with the Gujarat government's telecommunications arm. In that capacity, he was also responsible for technology transfer at C-DOT exchanges. Thereafter, he joined the Global Group of Companies in 1995, and worked in various divisions, including R&D, projects, pre-sales and business development.

He recalls his most memorable assignment as the time when he had to set up an independent business vertical at GTL. He says, "Four years ago, I was assigned the task of setting up the operations and maintenance vertical. I was given complete freedom to design the product, its offerings, pricing, operations methodology, etc. Looking back, I am happy to have been a part of the journey and thoroughly enjoyed the assignment."

Currently vice-president and global practice head, operations, maintenance and energy management at GTL, Zala's portfolio continues to be challenging. He is responsible for putting forward GTL's cross-regional and cross-technology experience and expertise to customers. In addition, Zala has to oversee the development and growth of the business practice stream in close coordination with international regional directors.

Zala's core strength is his ability to take decisions based on facts, figures and analysis. "Although this takes more time, the general outcome is within one's expectations and you do not come across major surprises," he says. However, he admits that at times this strength acts as a bottleneck, especially when decisions are taken irrespective of whether adequate information is available or not.

Going forward, he says that the biggest challenge for him is to have a clear knowledge of project-specific geographies, so as to ensure that realistic service level agreements and key performance indicators are committed to, delivered and met consistently.

He believes that in the industry, customer retention will emerge as the biggest challenge before operators. "There is tremendous pressure on average revenue per user owing to falling call rates and the entry of new operators in the telecom space. This, in turn, will put huge pressure on operators to retain and add customers," he says.

When not busy with work, Zala enjoys watching movies and television sitcoms, especially comedies. He also enjoys travelling.