Surajit Sen

Global Systems Integrators, Strategic Outsourcers, and Cloud Service Providers are playing a critical role in helping Enterprise customers drive transformation and embrace cloud strategies. I am responsible for driving the Storage Platform & Solutions (SPS) business in APJ with Global Alliances and Cloud Service Providers, and Globally for the India-based GSI partners.

Customers across APJ are leveraging technology to drive business transformation. The Storage Platforms & Solutions business is helping customers Modernize Datacenters & adopt Cloud technologies. I was responsible for ensuring that we grow the business profitably across all Geos in APJ, gain share, and establish Dell Technologies as a leader in Cloud.

After the biggest-ever technology merger between Dell & EMC, we needed to build a new way to go to market. I was responsible for transforming the way we go to market, which included Sales Transformation – Help the sales team upgrade their skills to address changing customer needs in a dynamic market, getting disrupted by technology, macroeconomics, and Geo-politics. Sales Programs – Design and run sales programs, which drive sales efficiency & productivity. Cross-Functional Collaboration – Enable communication and collaboration between Core sales teams, pre-sales, Specialty sales teams & Inside sales. Act as the bridge between corporate teams, and the sales team in APJ. I represented the field back to corporate and vice-versa. Coach and mentor top talent. Study Industry Trends and identify new opportunities, and potential threats. Manage relationships with Strategically Aligned Businesses like VMware & Pivotal.

South East Asia is one of the most complex regions in APJ. The business is fragmented across several countries each with different languages, regulations, currencies, and cultures. The EMC business was struggling at this time. My responsibility was to help the SEA President turn around the business, as the COO for the SEA business. In less than a year we successfully transformed the business to make it the most successful region in APJ.

The various EMC Specialty businesses like Data Protection, All-Flash, Converged Infrastructure, Enterprise, and Mid-Tier storage & Advanced Storage, were at a different stage of maturity, and my goal was to ensure that the strategy and execution for each business, whether it needs to be sustained, re-aligned, accelerate, or startup, is aligned to the right goals and objectives. I was also responsible for building synergies between all these businesses so that the EMC sales team can take full-stack solutions, instead of point products, to market.

This Backup & Recovery Systems business Unit had gone through some challenging times over the years and had lost its relevance in the market, and within the overall EMC business in India. My goal was to turn around this business and convert it into a growth engine for EMC. After I joined; the team delivered a 36% YoY growth in 2012, & a 55% YoY growth in 2013 & 32% YoY growth in 2014.

NetApp wanted to drive better synergy in its GTM efforts by integrating Channels, Marketing & Alliances. My team's goal was to develop and manage the go-to-market strategy for India, drive synergy across all functions, and get the most out of every budget dollar. I was a mentor & coach to many members of the sales team. I also played a broader role in evangelizing NetApp technology by speaking regularly at Industry events, publishing articles, and writing blogs.

The revenue growth opportunity for NetApp far exceeded our team's ability to manage on its own. We needed to expand coverage through channel partners. I took up the responsibility to build the channel ecosystem for NetApp, which laid the groundwork for long-term scale and growth.

The West & North markets in India are a study in contrast. The west is dominated by Banks, Financial institutions whereas the North is dominated by the Public sector and Government customers. This was a fantastic learning experience, where we made phenomenal breakthroughs, and successfully grew the team and business several times.

NetApp's success was built around Technology & Internet companies. The challenge was to take this fantastic technology to Enterprise customers like Banks, Stock exchanges, Media houses, and Telcos. We did this with aplomb and grew the business manifold.

NetCache was one of the hottest products during the internet boom. Bandwidth was scarce, and NetCache was solving a critical business problem for all internet companies & service providers. The challenge was to take this great technology from an unknown brand (at that point) to one of the most competitive markets in the world. This is where I learnt my Channel Management 101.

I was responsible for managing the Enterprise Product Portfolio which included Sun Microsystems, Clariion, Veritas, etc. In this role, I discovered my love for selling complex technology solutions and developed the art of articulating technology benefits in business terms.

I was responsible for managing the business in Large Enterprise Accounts. This experience was fantastic groundwork to develop and hone my Enterprise selling skills.