Based in New Delhi, Sudhir Narang has been managing director, British Telecom (BT) Global Services’ India operations since December 2007 and is responsible for all the business operations and India strategy. He also leads the Network and System Integration Practice for Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
Narang has over 28 years’ experience in the Indian IT/telecom sector, with a strong grounding in all aspects of business operation, sales and business development, and customer delivery and service. A graduate of BITS Pilani, he was chief executive officer of Tulip IT Services, a data telecom service provider and IT solutions company, before joining BT. He also held various leadership positions, including that of senior vice-president, India and SAARC, at Cisco Systems.
Narang is pleased that BT has been able to get into various market segments with a broad portfolio of offerings. “We are introducing a few more propositions, especially the cloud of clouds, which is proving attractive to many multinational and Indian organisations. They are looking at our vision. They are looking at our plan for execution and they are looking at how to integrate their various cloud services,” says Narang.
The telecom industry, he says, is not local or domestic but global, with everyone integrated into the global network through their mobile phones. What is happening, he says, is that organisations are looking to find their spot in the changing industry, which is becoming increasingly more controlled by the hand-held device that the consumer is working with, be it voice, video, or data.
Narang says, “If you look at my career, my style is more entrepreneurial than anything else. I strongly believe that everyone has an entrepreneurial spirit and that innovation should come from the bottom rather than it being a top-down approach,” he says. He is a core committee member of the British Business Group and a member of the European Business Group’s Regional Council. He is also a member on the board of Katha, a leading non-profit organisation dedicated to providing education to children from the weaker sections of society.
At home, he relaxes by spending time with his wife, a public prosecutor with the Delhi government; his daughter, who has just graduated in the UK; and with his, son who is in Class 12 at Modern School. Another way of relaxing for Narang is to listen to music of the 1970s and 1980s. And dancing – he loves dancing and knows many dance forms.