Meet Vikas Sharma, our new Business Development Director.
Vikas, who has recently joined the Stacuity team has an extensive background in mobile networks, telecoms and connectivity solutions, having held a variety of senior roles across various geographies. Here he discusses his career to date, his new role, and why he believes Stacuity’s unique proposition has arrived ‘just in time’.
Tell us about your career to date?
“Following obtaining my Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering, in August 2001, I started my career selling Test & Measuring equipment, with a channel partner of Tektronix, to reputed organisations in India. In 2003 I joined Huawei as a Network Planning Engineer. I was later selected to lead their partner development programme in India and the APAC region.”
“Nortel Networks in India was carrying out a major expansion for a government operator, BSNL. To benefit from my SI base, they brought me on board as their Supplier Relationship Manager, working in their Global Network Field Services department. I was also given an additional role of Bid Management in which I was part of the Nortel’s Global Bidding Team.”
“Following this, in 2009 I joined Indus Towers (a JV of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular), where I managed their top 10 TSPs who contributed to 70% of the total TSP spend. Then in 2013, I had the opportunity to move to Saudi Arabia as Telecom Sales Head of Zamil T&G, a flagship of the reputed Al Zamil Group, who needed an experienced professional to sell their Telecom street infrastructure to operators and NEPs in the GCC.”
“I returned to India in April 2019 and launched a proprietorship to promote cutting-edge solutions from global mid-sized companies and start-ups to my long-term customers in the GCC, India and ASEAN region. I had the privilege of working with reputed companies such as Wireless Telecom Group and Finnish telecom consultancy, Omnitele.”
What attracted you to Stacuity for the next stage of your career?
“Stacuity’s proposition is unique, and I would say ‘just in time’. With the maturing of 4G/5G networks, IoT deployments are expected to increase. MNOs need specialised partners like Stacuity to effectively address their customers’ varied needs around security, redundancy, remote access, troubleshooting, etc.”
“The foundations of Stacuity were laid by MNO veterans, who during their long tenures with network operators, realised the gaps between customer requirements and what could be offered by traditional network architecture. Stacuity targeted the most under-utilised part of the operator network viz, the mobile core. Stacuity has reinvented the traditional “mobile core network” empowering the operators to deliver customer centric, differentiated services, with reduced cost to serve and improve profitability.”
“The Stacuity portal built upon its proprietary API provides access to the Stacuity global software defined network, allowing MNO IoT customers/providers to create v-slices in the network as per their individual needs. Each v-slice can have any number of endpoint groups, and these can further be programmed to make them operate in a manner most suited for them. The IoT providers without the intervention of the MNO team, can create policies around network steering, routing targets, local breakouts, event maps, etc. They can also remotely access the IoT devices, monitor them, troubleshoot and much more.”
“I am excited to be part of the Stacuity team and hope to continue serving my MNO, Towerco, NEP and Enterprise customers by delivering cutting-edge solutions for their growing IoT customer base.”
What will you be doing at Stacuity?
“As Business Development Director, at Stacuity, my focus will be on selling and integrating Stacuity’s platform with MNO customers in the GCC, India and ASEAN regions.”
“The platform will provide huge benefits, enabling easy and cost effective on-boarding of enterprise customers, giving MNO end-users unprecedented agility and feature rich connectivity suitable for their varied and specific use cases.”
“I will also be involved in on-boarding quality channel partners/SIs who provide IoT solutions to various enterprises in Asset tracking, Smart Cities/Smart Metering, Critical Communications, Agri-tech, etc.”
Who do you think benefits from Stacuity solutions?
“I believe Stacuity’s solutions will be of immense value to Mobile Network Operators, IoT solution providers and MVNOs. The solutions are versatile, and allow operators to address its end user’s requirements of connectivity much more effectively. The solution comes packed-up with powerful features such as v-slice, traffic routing, packet tracing, enhanced security and so much more.”
What are you most looking forward to?
“I have spent the majority of my career in the so-called ‘brick and mortar’ of telecom, with my focus being primarily on addressing the inefficiencies in the RAN network. Stacuity on the other hand touches the Mobile Core Network, something which has been relatively neglected and not exploited to its full potential.”
“Stacuity’s Mobile Core Network-as-a-Service opens new and never seen before features which drastically improves the operators’ proposition to its enterprise customers, reducing their time to market, providing opportunities for engineering cost reductions and cost avoidances. Alongside this, it also provides them a platform which can be used by their customers, to control connectivity in a way suitable for their unique use cases.”
“Operators now are looking beyond the consumer mobility business and focusing on solutions for their B2B segment.”
“IoT/IIoT enterprises which are fuelling growth in the SMB segment for operators need vertical driven intelligent connectivity solutions from carriers, however most of the telcos in my region find it hard to execute this. I look forward to addressing this critical gap, through Stacuity’s unique next generation Network as-a-Service platform creating a win-win proposition for everyone involved. The end user by using Stacuity solution can use the connectivity provided by the operator in a manner most suited to it. This would enhance customer experience without the operator needing to invest in lengthy and costly project executions for meeting their customer needs, thereby increasing customer loyalty and an increased market share.”
