Hot Seat

Making a difference

Remember listening to the schoolteacher tell her students how they should not rest on what they have already achieved and instead aim for better performances? Soumitra Agarwal, Marketing Director, NetApp India not only heard it right, but also made sure that he followed the idea as much as he could. He talks to Rishiraj Verma about his life.

Soumitra Agarwal’s father is a retired chemical engineer. His sister is settled in the US. His wife works with the Risk Analytics Group at Citigroup Global Services India. He also has a four-year old son. Born in September 1967, Agarwal says that he likes to spend a lot of time after work playing with his growing son.

He says that his parents have been the most important source of inspiration and encouragement in his early days. “Also, my teachers helped me by way of appreciation for my academic performance.” They, according to him, were his pillars that would go on to support him in his career later on.

The formative years

Agarwal studied in St Andrew’s High School in Bandra (Mumbai) after which, he went to GN Khalsa College in the same city for his junior college. In 1989, he completed his BE (Electrical) from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Engineering, Allahabad.

And this was not the end of studies. He went on to the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta for two more years of MBA studies. And it wasn’t just studies all the way. The man remembers some instances from those years. “I think the transition from school to junior college and then to engineering college was memorable.” He says that it was the sheer level of competition in the academic arena that etched those years in his memory.

Looking at the bright side of things, he remembers that the entire idea of the pressure of competition from all sides was one of the biggest motivating factors for him. “That was the time when the will not to rest on existing achievements was instilled in me,” he says.

There are other memories of the good ol’ college days too. Just from the memories he shares of his student days, it can be said that Agarwal was, and is one person who likes to make sure that there is fair play all around. This quality, if taken to work, can act as one of the biggest parameters to judge the ‘team player quotient’ of a person, and also to determine his leadership skills. And one can rest assured that Agarwal sails smooth in those tests.

Planned moves

Planning is one of the key facets of Agarwal’s life, and it shows in the fact that his education too, as he says, “It was by design and not just an occurrence in my life.” It was during his studies at the IIM Calcutta that he had decided to take up a career in the B2B sector, which would include industrial or technology related products.

He had taken the decision to be different again. He would not take up the more preferred careers related to consumer products or banking. However, he issues the disclaimer right away. “It was a personal choice and does not reflect my opinion on the other career options that were available to people.”

Many milestones

Soumitra Agarwal began his career in 1991 with a start-up office automation company called Hindustan Office Products. After this, he moved on to Wipro Infotech in 1992. Sprint RPG in 1995 was the next move where he handled channel sales for messaging services.

Having handled all these positions, in 1998 he shifted to 3Com where he was the Sales Manager, West and Marketing Manager, India. At 3Com, he bagged a number of enterprise wins, including campus networks at all three plants of Tata Motors and a 3Com router sale for the Kotak Mahindra Bank WAN.

From 3Com, Agarwal went on to Reliance Infocomm in 2000, and stayed there till 2005. He says that his position there was by virtue of Reliance Infocomm acquiring Gateway Systems, which he originally worked for. According to him, the biggest challenge at Reliance Infocomm was to make customers believe in reasons for using what he calls ‘another ISP’ when there was already the looming presence of VSNL and others. His success at the organisation can be seen in one large number—Rs 90 crore per annum. That was how much the business reached in his nine months of working at the company.

He is currently the Marketing Manager for NetApp India. The job profile there, according to him, is to identify more sales opportunities and ensure that potential customers are made aware of the company’s strengths.

The driving forces

Agarwal says that he has one major professional goal that he has been able to achieve at all his jobs—to think differently about ways and means to achieve a result. And that is just half the thought. He also believes in doing everything possible to get to the goal.

According to him, it is this school of thought that has been the reason for him being successful at all the positions he has so far held. Making a difference and being recognised for it have been his mantra for success always.

Talking about his company, he says that he has one important dream for them—“sustained market leadership”.

Team effort

While being recognised for his endeavours may be one of Agarwal’s goals, he makes sure that he also builds that all important team for the work to go on smoothly. He talks about the various teams that he has worked with and says, “I have always believed in the power of teamwork and the fact that different opinions and ideas need to be reconciled so that everyone has a shared buy-in to the goal.”

Agarwal had built a majority of the teams for Gateway Systems by recruiting and training a number of sales professionals. At Sprint RPG too, he trained a number of new sales teams for their fax service related products.

Relaxation therapies

Agarwal reveals that he does not have one particular hobby. But he generally tries to catch up with news on a daily basis. His most important relaxation therapy seems to be his four-year-old son. “Spending the rest of my time with my growing son is an everyday activity,” says he.

From all that he has done in life, holding the numerous positions, to convincing software companies to consider his class for placements, to building teams wherever he went to playing with his son everyday, Soumitra Agarwal seems to be one man who gives equal importance to everyone and everything in his life. Looks like listening to a schoolteacher helps.