Background
Sundaram is an electronics and communications graduate from REC Tiruchirapalli.
He has held various positions in sales, product marketing, and global accounts
in Digital Equipment. He was the country manager (solutions and alliances) in
pre-merger Compaq. He has been instrumental in setting up several solution
center initiatives across the country, including the finance industry expertise
center in Mumbai and the eCommerce Lab at IIT, Mumbai. Prior to driving
solutions and alliances, Sundram served as the country manager for large
programs for four years.
Current assignment
Currently, he is the country marketing manager for HP Services. He drives
marketing and strategy for this division in the country. He also drives the ‘go-to-market’
initiatives–with a clear charter of growing the business in consulting and
integration, managed services and customer support, and is also responsible for
driving alliances with global partners.
Challenges at work
Keeping the team motivated and sustaining the long cycles involved in large
programs.
Turning point in career
A career shift in 1990 from selling Test & Measuring Instruments in
Hewlett-Packard, now Agilent Technologies, to a career in IT in Digital
Equipment (I) Ltd.
Philosophy of life
"Always keep your chin up in trying times. Be self-motivated." An
eternal optimist, his motto is focus on where the rubber hits the road.
Greatest achievement
Setting up a dinancial industry expertise center in pre-merger Compaq in
2000 in Mumbai, from virtually the drawing board to a full-fledged operational
center in a record time of two quarters. The assignment was unique in every
sense, since it involved dealing with challenges in execution at all stages.
As told to TV Mahalingam in
Bangalore