Challenges and problems are a part of one’s life. While most of the time challenges seek us, there are a few skilled problem solvers who seek challenges to grow and thrive. When Atin Agarwal started his career as a trainee with a reputed firm, most of his batchmates were happy to have secured a job. Atin, on the other hand, realized that there’s got to be more than the current job profile in him. He wanted to work with machines and explore more tools and instruments. That’s when his journey of working across several industries, spreading knowledge, and creating the next line of leaders began.
From Trainee to a Global Consultant
Atin quickly switched his job profile from a software trainee to a career in systems programming at SEDL, a manufacturing firm. This gave him an opportunity to learn about automation related to SCADA and instrumentation, as well as mechanical and electrical engineering. He was part of a very small team of 10 which grew to 300 when he left in 2004. “To say the least, 2004 was a very crucial year for me, both professionally and personally. On October 28, 2004, I received the ‘IT Power User Award’ from Intel and CIOL, and on the personal front, I became a father. However, the pain was that I wasn’t there when my son came into the world,” shares Atin.
His next stint began with DSM, a European conglomerate, where he was entrusted with helping the team to connect their Chile and Egypt businesses to India, roll out SAP, and fix their technology protection issues. The project got Atin recognition from the chairman and the top management. It was also the time when he got an offer from Airtel and took over the responsibilities as Global Head—IT Governance, EUS, and SMO. He experienced tremendous growth as he handled the responsibility for all their business lines across India, Africa, and South East Asia. He also managed their $800M IT budget, including their contracts with IBM, Avaya, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Amdocs, Oracle, KPMG, and other small partners, and their deliveries as well.
“As a tech leader, I was able to thrust my drive into my team. I received the ‘Chairman’s Award’ and sponsored education at ISB Hyderabad,” says Atin.
In 2018, Atin took up the role of an entrepreneur moving to Delhi and establishing his own consulting firm, where he was associated with well-known consulting firms for technology and parallel to them working with some manufacturing, telecom, and FMCG companies to consult for their technology roadmaps and current bottlenecks. In the meantime, just at the start of the first phase of Covid, he joined PN International (KARAM), a PPE manufacturing company as Global CIO. This was a new challenge for him. He observed various bottlenecks in terms of network, ERP, digital transformation, and others which required immediate attention for better productivity and efficiency. In less than 18 months, he achieved the goals and in the next 6 months the whole organization and processes were fixed, all major bottlenecks were addressed which were then appraised by ‘Manufacturing Today’ and ‘Business World CIO’ in their editions in May 2021.
At the start of 2022, Atin was awarded ‘Strategist of the Year 2022′, by Alden Group, and in Apr 2022, he joined Hitachi where his responsibilities included Strategizing HSIL’s traditional SI Box business towards cloud and making the right alliances with Cloud and related SaaS, PaaS providers also transform the existing traditional customers to the cloud technology by convincing them with his own varied industrial experience and challenges faced and cost optimization.
In April 2023, Atin took up his current role as VP and Head – IT Governance, at Vodafone Idea Limited.
Traits of a Leader
The three key personal qualities that have made Atin a successful leader – are his ability to simplify problems, collaborate, and innovate. He believes that finding simple solutions can save time and money, as they do not require major changes or huge costs. He points out that people often complicate problems more than they need to, resulting in unnecessary expenses and delays. By simplifying problems, he has been able to solve them efficiently and cost-effectively.
Talking about collaboration, Atin says that working with the right people or organizations can save time and boost efficiency. He stresses the need to trust people with the right skill set and outsource when needed. He advises people to have confidence in themselves and their skills but to ask for help when needed to get the best results.
Atin emphasizes the need to think outside the box and try new things. He believes that to cope-up with the evolving technology, one needs to generate fresh ideas to solve problems. He encourages people to think beyond what they have learned from books or past implementations and to try something new.
Staying Updated with Latest Technology
Keeping up-to-date with the latest technology is an absolute must for Atin and he advises the same for other leaders in the making. He concurs that there are many resources online to learn and get certified, but he likes to learn from his team.
Atin opines that technology can be a blessing, but it can also bring challenges during implementation and deployment. He says that change management is the main problem that arises with technology selection and ownership from business stakeholders, workflow customization, end-user expectations in terms of UI/UX, and proper UAT before going live. Atin has found that proper planning and communication are key to solving these problems and ensuring a successful implementation.
Extending his Services and Expertise
Besides his role as the VP, Atin is also working on his own venture, Narayan Teknologies. The company offers consulting, technology, and services to small and medium enterprises worldwide. The company was incepted during the pandemic and Atin’s initial idea was to bring the expertise of 3 generations -his dad, him, and his son – together. Narayan Teknologies aims to reduce the manpower cost at the IT leadership level/ other operating costs and provide all IT services as a one-stop shop. The company’s main offering is vCIO, which gives a 3-year roadmap to organizations and helps them implement all the technologies that are part of the roadmap to increase efficiency at the lowest price with better choices available in the market. The company’s mission is to share the learnings from bigger enterprises and implementations and to do the same for small and medium organizations at a very low price. In fact, at the price of an IT Manager with 8-10 years of work experience.
While formulating strategy Atin’s fundamental idea is that it should be simple and easy to handle. He divides it into three parts: what my business wants, what cost we can shell out for it, and how user-friendly it should be. Businesses should operate smoothly and at the optimal operational cost within their budget. Also, technology should be introduced to make people’s jobs easier. It should be designed in a way that makes users feel like it’s their own, and they should be the owners of that technology. Finally, every product that is created should be user-friendly and have auto-learning. “People have started using terms like AI / ML /Geo-Fencing/ Block Chain, but they are just part of the above 3 points I mentioned in strategy, what technology will be used depends only on business requirement and budget,” he says.
Sharing his Mantra
Atin Agarwal has learned a valuable lesson from his professional experience, which he considers his mantra. He believes in working for the organization rather than just a person. He thinks that delivering quality work and meeting the company’s expectations should be the main goal, and there should be no disputes or blame later.
He urges individuals to concentrate on their work and let their results show their worth, which is a great way to build a successful career. His success mantra is to focus on delivering with a clean mindset, even if your competency does not allow you to take on a task. He encourages aspiring leaders to be open to new challenges and opportunities and to let their results speak for themselves.
Aiming for the Future
Atin’s work ethics and values reflect his dedication to his profession and his commitment to achieving success in a fair and transparent manner. Known for his innovative and pragmatic approach toward new technologies, he believes in taking calculated risks, keeping in mind the business requirements and the trust of his customers. As an innovation leader, he supports new entrants and gives them a chance to show their value, but not at the expense of risking the business. For him finding a balance between applying well-known and industry-tested systems and pioneering products is the key. Looking ahead, Atin has his eyes on a technology leadership position in any of the FMCG/ Manufacturing/ Conglomerate Industries.
“In the next five to seven years, I wish to contribute to people where I can use all my experience (again I am not using heavy technical terms.. ERPs/ IoT /BI / AI /VPS, etc…that all depends on business requirement) and learning to the Enterprise and SMB of any industrial sectors and pass them on to the next line of leaders and organizations to flourish. I foresee leveraging my experience to further grow the MSMEs that need such expertise. I want to contribute the right set of technologies at the right time and at the right price to help them grow faster and more quickly. The technology sector is not a constraint to me as you must have seen in the last 25 years I had worked with all major industrial sectors be it Manufacturing, Pharma, Telecom, FMCG, BFSI, Conglomerate, and ITES, and the smallest one had been with ITES,” concludes Atin.
Quote1: “With the right mindset and approach, anything is possible.”
Quote2: “When you remain committed to your goals, things will eventually work out, and appreciation will follow.”
