As head of services sales, India at Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), Samar Mittal is responsible for developing and growing NSN’s services business in the country, with a special focus on managed services.

To achieve this, he adopts a team-centric style of management. “I believe in delegation and working as part of a team with a common vision,” he says. His many years of work experience across diverse industries also help him to get the job done. Prior to his current position at NSN, he served as head of NSN’s operations in the Asia south subregion during 2007-08. In this capacity, his main focus areas were consulting and system integration.

He earlier worked as product manager for intelligent networks at Ericsson India and before that as senior engineer for mobile network with the  company. He was also a consultant with Openwave Systems.

Despite having worked on “several challenging assignments”, he says his current stint at NSN remains his most memorable. “Working as head of services sales has been humbling, as I am part of a team of about 74,000 dedicated professionals in more than 150 countries. As a team, we are committed to help communication service providers transform their networks and operations, and ultimately, their business, to deliver a unique experience for end-users.”

Going forward, NSN’s focus will be on helping operators transform their customers’ experience by utilising their assets to the fullest. “We offer operators the opportunity to outsource non-core activities, thus allowing them to focus on their key strategic objectives,” he says.

Mittal goes on to say that transformation will enable operators to continuously improve the services they offer and reduce their time to market. “Today’s short service lifecycles quickly erode the potential of a particular service to make a profit, so a continuous cycle of new offerings is essential. Yet, even service innovation is not enough. Services need to be more attractive for customers,” he elaborates.

That said, there have been many achievements too. “Amongst the most notable of these, I would credit my team for growing NSN’s services business in the past few years. Today, we empower our people, create innovative solutions, and serve our customers with the utmost dedication,” he says.

So amidst all this, does he get time for a breather? “Yes,” he says. “In my spare time, I like watching plays and listening to music.” A sports enthusiast, he plans to take up golf soon. “Golf allows you to combine work and play. It is a good opportunity to network and pick up business lessons too.”