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A
hard-core techie who opted to get into business development, Ruchir
Godura, Country Manager & Director, South Asia Operations, UTStarcom,
tells Punita Jasrotia how his technical background has helped
in dealing with customers and colleagues better
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| Ruchir
Godura, Country Manager & Director, South Asia Operations,
UTStarcom |
UTStarcom
has made a major impact in the Chinese communications market and
Ruchir Godura plans to emulate the success story in India. The company
offers an integrated suite of switching and access network solutions,
including broadband and wireless access networks, soft switching
and 3G solutions.
Godura
gives the reason behind his confidence: “The hard-earned success
written in the Chinese telephony market, and of course a good financial
and management backing.” He points out that by leveraging on
this experience, the company plans to make a mark in other growing
markets like South America, Southeast Asia, Russia and the Middle
East. “UTStarcom’s objective is to become the world’s
leading provider of broadband, wireless, IP-based switching and
3G network equipment in high-growth communications markets. Our
strategy has always been to meet market needs by developing innovative
products and technologies that deliver the greatest possible value
to our customers,” he says.
Born
and brought up in Durgapur, Godura completed his schooling from
St Xavier’s School in the West Bengal town. He did his BTech
degree in Computer Sciences from IIT, Delhi. Later, Godura went
to the US to pursue his MS degree from the University of Delaware.
He got his first career break with AT&T, where he started working
as a trainee in the system engineering and networking department
of the company.
Involved
in the development of the network management system, Godura says
that working in a very large corporation was a major learning experience
for him. During 1995-96, the whole industry was undergoing a change
and Internet as a phenomenon was just emerging. However, inspite
of suggestions from the technical team, the company was just not
ready to understand and continued to work on Novell Netware. “The
worst thing was that after putting in hard work of nearly 12 months
and an investment of US $ 25 million, the project was scrapped off
a month before its launch. This proved to be quite a blow for many
employees working on the project,” he says. This, and many
other reasons (instances of efforts not getting a proper recognition),
forced Godura to rethink whether all the effort was worth it and
where was he heading in his professional and personal goals. “If
I wanted I could have stayed and continued with a stable working
environment. However, a big company has its own ups and down. I
needed a place which not only provided a lot of freedom, but where
I could also make an individualistic difference,” he says.
Which, according to him, was just not possible in AT&T as there
were many hierarchies and a bureaucratic way of operation.
Things
however changed after AT&T was divided into three companies.
In 1996, Godura decided to make a change in his career path and
moved to UTStarcom. Although he had another offer from a similar
well-known communications company, Godura decided to opt for UTStarcom
(which proved to be a decision well taken as the other organisation
closed down during the economic slowdown).
Joining
as a product manager for their broadband venture with Philips (which
was at that time into cable telephony system and UTStarcom was providing
the voice and data services). In 1998, when Philips closed down
its broadband service, he took over as director, Global Customer
Support Division in New Jersey. Talking about this change from a
technical profile to a marketing and business development head,
Godura says that it was more a voluntarily change than a career
option. “I believe that coming from a technical background
has only helped me in understanding things better. Not only could
I understand the strengths and weaknesses of a technical team and
to what level one can commit in the market, but also the art of
managing and making people work. I believe that business development
is like a funny logic where you just go with the predictions, as
you do not really know what the future holds for you. It is more
about following your instincts,” he says.
After
China, the company has identified India as a focal market and is
rapidly investing in its operations here. Commencing its Indian
operations six months ago, UTStarcom has set its target to become
a complete solutions provider for basic service operators in the
country through the introduction of three major product lines PAS
(its widely deployed and highly successful wireless access system),
WACOS (the IP-based softswitch) and AN2000 (broadband multi-service
access platform). The company’s aim in India is to bring the
latest and most cost effective technologies to the rapidly growing
telecommunications market, while at the same time adding value locally
through cutting edge development at its R&D centre. Another
highpoint of its Indian operations has been the setting up of a
global R&D centre in the country. The company has already signed
contracts with MTNL, BSNL, HFCL, Shyam and Hughes. While the company
is planning to spend somewhere around US $ 5-6 million in the current
financial year, it is understood that R&D will take a major
pie of US $25 million in the coming years.
Godura
points out that this is proof enough of the company’s long-term
commitment in the Indian market space.
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