India is among the top ten markets for the US-based technology company Avaya in terms of turnover. The telecom equipment giant has been steadily diversifying its offerings in recent years to include software and services rather than rely on only hardware. In India, the tech major has seen good growth – “in the teens” (between 13 and 19 per cent) – in the last three years and hopes to continue on its growth path, says Nidal Abou-Ltaif, President, Avaya-International.

In an interview to BusinessLine on the sidelines of Gitex 2016 in Dubai, he talks about the India prospects and the changing market dynamics. Edited excerpts:

What is your take on the Indian market?

We as a company feel that the changes in India fit very well for us. From our side, we do believe that our growth (in India) will continue to be on the rise. We have set the right model.

So where would you like to see India in terms of contribution to your global revenue?

The US still accounts for 50 per cent of our global revenues. But, I don’t think this is about numbers. I think, in India we want our customers to be a part of the journey of moving towards digital through both services and software. We definitely want to grow. But we haven’t pegged a number to that.

What are the sectors you see driving growth?

Anything dealing with communication, connecting people and connecting businesses will grow. And if you think about the fastest growing segment, then it is definitely video and messaging.

IoT (Internet of Things) is becoming a reality. How is it shaping up in India?

First of all, I personally feel no one can be an end-to-end IoT solution provider. But the real IoT is how it impacts our lives. Like, how I can secure my life; get the alerts about air pollution or an emergency and so on. This is the level of automation that Avaya is going after.

Our plan in India is to make lives better (through IoT), improve public services, more safety and so on.

Today, IoT is seen as a luxury. Is Avaya working to break this?

We have to. Developing countries are keener, more eager to adapt these technologies. Other countries, like the West, have built various islands of IoT. Look at how India transformed contract centre and customer service to become the service hub of the world.

So I think that if the governments get their act together and public and private sector join hands for the sake of citizens, it will work.

But it doesn’t answer how technology will become affordable.

If the government builds the infrastructure, it will.

Is that infrastructure building happening?

Yes they are building it now. Look at Hyderabad. They have explained how they are using a single method for not just installing water pipelines in rural areas, but also laying fibre optic cables.

IoT or ICT does not have the last-mile connectivity. And this has been its biggest criticism. Your comments.

IoT is just two-to-three years old. Eventually, technology will catch up and there will be some service provider doing this connectivity.

Do you see India as an easy place to do business?

I have to say that it has been easy for us to do business in India. The government is flexible and customers are always easy. I cannot complain. I do see the direction (of the government) change and I didn’t see bureaucracy in the last few years.

The flip side of the automation story is joblessness. Your comments.

When the automatic teller machines (ATMs) were introduced, they only dispensed cash. Then other functions such as cheque deposit were added.

All this, we thought, would lead to a reduction in recruitment at banks. But did it happen? No, it didn’t. What I feel personally is all this (artificial intelligence & automation) will lead to the creation of new stream of jobs.

How will the revenue break-up be for you between hardware and software & services?

We think software and services will contribute close to 75 per cent and the remaining 25 per cent from hardware for the year ending September 2016.

(The writer was in Dubai

recently at the invitation of

Avaya-International)

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW