A golden journey coming to an end with Huawei

Before I joined Huawei India all I knew was, that I had enormous passion for Android. My understanding of the OEM space today has strengthened working with Huawei for 3 and half years.

It’s been a golden journey....as all my passion, aspirations, desires, ideas all started coming true here. I could actually write a book, if I have to describe the learning’s that I got here....But I shall keep it limited to a post for now & just share some of the key projects I worked on:

MBB Landing Page:

Working as a business developer, partnered with some amazing companies to bring in some cool discounts, gifts, offers for our datacard users. The first web landing page we started monetizing by bringing real value for our customers. Total WIN-WIN

Huawei Club:

The new era of marketing is all about empowering your core fans to talk & advocate your brand. We travelled to many cites, visited colleges, met young minds, engaged with them & as a brand tried to bring in a small difference in the way they learn/adopt technology. Through the club we wanted to make fans feel honoured of being who they are & aspire to be who they wish to be. During this phase...I relived my college days!

RCB:

The power of fans can take you anywhere..That’s what we witnessed during our partnership with RCB. We were all there in all the possible new channels, newspapers. Getting to meet all the RCB players was a dream comes true for me.

EMUI:

Being in this Smartphone space, I leant that hardware is going to get saturated. The game changer will be the experience an OEM will bring on to their consumers hand via the device. EMUI stood for making user experience simple & make touch more meaning full. Engaging with EMUI users across the global made my belief stronger about the power of social media. The power where you can get your ideas spread across with not limitations.

Honor Launch Event

So grateful to end my journey with some very sweet memories, all that was created during our recent Honor launch event in Delhi. I will forever be a fan of Huawei products & people who inspired me during this journey.

I take this opportunity to thank Huawei for making this journey remarkable & for all the beautiful memories which I will cherish for lifetime.

This is the perfect time, I am ready to finally say goodbye to the corporate world & embrace the start-up life. I will see all my loved ones on the other side...where my life takes a 180 degree twist. 

Huawei India as principal sponsor of RCB this IPL7

The coming together of Huawei India and Royal Challenges Bangalore!

Suresh PR head of Huawei India kickstarting the partnership with Royal Challengers Bangalore's Russels Adam 

Mr Cai, CEO of Huawei India & Russel Adams, RCB with new Jersey 

RCB captain Virat Kohli showing new RCB team T-shirt with Huawei India as principal sponsor of IPL7

Me and my team from Huawei Club is getting all set to reach out to Fans with lots of fun events, IPL Tickets & RCB Huawei Goodies!

Life bit away from Blogging

Firstly I deeply owe apologies to my lovely blog & to my blog subscribers. Yes! I know it’s been really long since I have updated this space. So let me try to justify this 3 months of my life away from blogging.  The following things had kept me engaged:

1.     Travelling to Delhi, Coimbatore, Cochin, Mangalore-

This was the first time I was visiting these cities. I feel in love with the Delhi cold climate, street shopping, Punjabi family culture and not to forget the variety of food that got me to gain 2Kg of weight.  Coimbatore, Cochin, and Mangalore – the tier 2 cities took me by a surprise when I passed through huge malls, Audi showrooms and wide Akers spread universities. These trips made me realize that as a marketer we are totally missing out a huge potential market which lies in the Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities.

2.     Friends destination wedding @ Jodhpur –

That was one of my dear friends wedding and how could one resist when it’s happening in the blue city of India. My trip to Jaipur & Jodhpur was incredible; pics coming soon. The Forts, Palaces, food & not to forget the shopping experience is something that I will remember for the life time.  

3.     Swimming classes –

One of my resolutions for 2014 & to summarize my training, I grade myself C. I felt like I was on moon when I learnt to float – I know it sounds crazy, but that day was the best day of the Feb month J I know how to back float…. I have a long way before I call myself a swimmer – but I don’t know how many feel that this earth is a much calm, peaceful, stress less, beautiful when you are in the water.

4.     Huawei Club expansion –

My work is my passion. “Do what u love & believe in” -That’s what I preach to all the young students I meet during my college visits.  Huawei Club is the project I have been working on for more than 8 months & trust me, never did I felt like I am working (I know my boss is reading this ;))

It’s a project where we are trying to build smart engineers & managers for tomorrow, nurture students ideas & passions, trying to bridge the gap between Academics & Corporate.

It’s a privilege of being a part of such an imitative. I get to meet young super talented students whom I can motivate & in return learn & get inspired from them.

Life @ work is beautiful.

5.     Data Science –

If you have been following my tweets off lately, it’s easier to say that Data Science is not my crush any more; I am in love with it J  Big Data is something that I am learning all by myself & every time I educate myself, my belief gets stronger, that this is the next big impactful technology in the coming years.

6.     Calm person within me-

With time I have encountered quite a bit of calmness in me. It’s so powerful – it lets you handle people & situation smartly. In this new change, I am trying to figure out if expressing yourself is a sign of weakness or strength?

Help me get some conclusion on the above question that’s on mind, till then I say goodnight to the beautiful people out there reading this.

Stay happy & safe till I come up with my new blog update. 

UnMetro – The Markets driving India

It was my absolute please to attend Dainik Bhaskar UnMetro Conference on 13^th Dec. A platform where I got to hear some inspiring UnMetro Case Studies from Marketers, incredible panel discussing the future of India being the UnMetros. 

Some take away & quotes from the event:

People nowadays are migrating from smaller towns to cities like Pune, Lucknow and Ahmedabad to earn their livelihood, whereas the rate of people migrating to the so-called metros has fallen sharply.

The non-metro customer today, demands the same luxury packages such as spas, five stars & international vacations that any of his affluent metro counterparts demand.

Trust is the key to success in the unMetros markets and people are open to talk and learn about new things.

The trend of e-commerce players partnering with retail brands is yet to evolve in unMetros

Consumer in future will reject a user inappropriate product. Affordability is no longer an issue for unMetros

5 reasons for the change in nonMetros – increasing awareness for education, health & wellness, growing need for personal grooming, improving hygiene & increasingly eating out & experimenting with food.

60% of my brands revenue comes from non-metro India

Women & Children in UnMetros India have become powerful as far as purchase decisions go.

The advantage in a small town is that the news spreads very fast, brands need to spend money in cultivating loyalty

Products must be hackable & customizable. Customers are getting smarter. They will not buy products just because their favorite celebrity is endorsing it.

Puma – “We have closed 7 stores due to unprofitably, all from Metros”

DHFL – “We target lower middle income group. We have differentiated Business Model to cater to different segments in Market”

CCD- “We are not in the coffee business; we are in the Time pass business. CCD is a place where people want to spend time with their loved ones, beverages accidentally surround them”

Toyota – “By the year 2015, non-metros will account for more than 60% of our sales!”

Puma – “e-Commerce allows us to reach 800 towns that we would have never had reached. It serves a long tail of towns”

Titan – “In the coming 5 years, e-Commerce will be big, Localization will be critical & technology will help us identifying customers with their name & purchase history”.

We at Huawei have always believed that making a common man a brand ambassador & word of mouth is the best marketing strategy. Thus Huawei Club where we are building an eco-system, engaging with Students, Developers, Designers to enrich our customers experiences.  

A brand essence doesn't and will not change, from market the way the message is communicated at times need to be tweaked accordingly to be effective. After the end of the conference, for it’s really difficult to distinguish metros & unMetros into separate categories.

In fact India outside the metros seems to be the emerging India.

Learning’s from the Corporate World

It has been a long day yesterday…. Right from interviewing some inters joining my team to attending Bangalore Barcamp - listening to some amazing talks by my friends. Barcamps hold a special meaning in my life and to prove that statement, I started blogging after attending Pune Barcamp 2007 which happens to be my first Barcamp.

As you would know I have been blessed to work with some amazing companies like Oracle, IBM, Motorola, Teleca & Huawei. Barcamp has thought me the art of sharing & learning, thus let me share with you’ll key lessons that I have encountered & adopted during my 6 years of corporate experience:

•   Truly believe in the company & project you are part of. Until and unless you are not passionate you can never give your best
•   Instead of your manager, Plan & Strategies your own work
•   Set targets & benchmarks for yourself. Timely keep a track on our scores
•   If you feel insecure it’s time to learn & work hard in improving your skill sets
•   Do things the way no one ever can do it the way you do
•   Instead of working hard, work smartly
•   Network & build your brand
•  Take ownership
•  Help people working for & with you to grow, they will help you step ahead
•  Present yourself & your work in the best way possible to management
• Let failures never define you, but help you get one step closer to success
• Last not the least – Learn, Share, Contribute, Support & Inspire people around you.

 You will never be remembered in a company for your contributions, but for the way you treated people around.  So have a true beautiful heart and don’t ever forget to carry a smile on your face no matter what the situation is.

Yesterday across the dining table one of my friends said, “You sound very corporate”.

Well I take it as a compliment because my Dear friends I know my business very well.

4G: Strengths & Challenges in India

These days there are a lot of talks & announcements from all the major operators about 4G.It’s too exciting as Fourth generation, or 4G technology offers mobile internet access at three times the speed of 3G.

4G offers:-

• Higher bandwidth with a very quick access to the internet
• Easily watch TV, streaming videos, albums, and also get access to social media, information, entertainment and online stores
• Valuable Service: Multimedia games, HD videos, e-commerce, mHealth, mCommerce, mobile vault
• Video conference
• M2M (Machine to Machine)

4G Top challenges:-

• Voice and SMS not supported on 4G
• Uses USIM (Universal Subscriber Identification Module) which is different from current SIM since it is a 128 KB SIM thus needs a change in mobile number
• Launched in only few citied of India eg: Blore, Pune, Koltata etc
• Limited area coverage; 4G roaming    
• Lack of connected devices; few 4G supporting handsets & datacards

I are very optimistic about the networking market in India in the coming years. We at Huawei are already seeing increased demand for networking products owing to the new trends in the Indian market. 

It will be very exciting to see the incredible changes that 4G can bring into India....I can’t wait to see!

New Role, New Responsibilities, New Goals with Emotion UI

I believe “that the best things that you receive in life are those things you never asked for”.

Being enjoying my role as a Business Developer for Strategic Alliance at Huawei Devices; much satisfied I couldn’t have asked for anything better…but destiny proves itself every time.

This month I officially took up a new role -“Business Operation for Huawei Devices Global ROM Emotion UI”

Emotion UI:

Emotion UI is a skin over the base android that would define Smartphone experience on all Huawei Devices. It provides various features such as, interesting navigational experiences that can be easily customized based on one’s personal needs, rich pool of personalized themes that bring a more vivid visual experience with interactive animation that can be changed by simply shaking the phone, pre-installed performance enhancing functions, easy Widgets management, and Presets for driving, attending meetings, and outdoors.

The surprise element in the UI is the way applications are managed (moved, installed, or uninstalled) directly from the home screen without using an app launcher. Widgets can be easily added by pressing and holding a blank section of the wallpaper.

My favorite feature is "Me Widget" - a folder of grouped widgets that the user can customize as a single unit providing quick access to favorite contacts, photo galleries, or music player.

Major responsibility of my team would be to:-

• Brand Emotion UI: Show how apart from hardware Huawei is also very serious about software innovation
• User Engagement: Get most of the current Huawei Smartphone users to experience Emotion UI
• Android Upgrades : Release latest android upgrade along with enhanced user experience with Emotion UI
• Community building: Creating & building fan clubs who will help us in making Emotion UI the best design for smartphone in the coming days.

Like the fact that Emotion UI was not designed to make users say “wow”, but to make them say “wow that's nice and I did that!”

Yes! I am very excited and getting all set to deliver my best in this new role.

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Huawei leads in 2012 - Smartphones & Datacard

IDC's latest report on global smartphone shipments for Q4 2012 is out.

I am super happy to share the excitement as Huawei's market share jumped by 89.5 percent over the year higher than any other smartphone maker.

Huawei is now ranked third among smartphone vendors with 10.8 million units shipped last quarter.

We continue to lead the Datacard market in India for 2012.

Wifi Hotspot

Innovative Dialer skinning

Cloud + services

6k worth VAS

All the above features not only kept Huawei ahead of innovation but it was interesting to receive amazing feedbacks from our customers.

Today we get around 2 million page views for our landing page and this is going to grow bigger

Taking this opportunity to thank all my business partners for believing in Huawei & working with us in making this success story for 2012. 

And now you would know why I love my job so much... its always worth working for a company like Huawei which is amazingly growing year by year. 

Be ready for 2013 as Huawei is getting ready to set a new benchmark!

A year with Huawei - An incredible journey

For all those who know me, would also know that completing a year working in Huawei is such a big milestone in my life :-)
Yes, not only does this make me feel happy sharing this news in public…but the fact is that in last one year working for Huawei has been an incredible journey for me.

AND I AM STILL SO MUCH IN LOVE WITH MY WORK!

Aug 2011 is when I joined this Chinese Company and I still remember how bad I was in pronouncing Huawei. Now I m good at it… well this is how we say Huawei and not “Who are we”

Joined as a R&D Tools Leader in Quality team and now currently working as a Business Developer for Huawei devices. So what do I do here…hmmm LOTS:
- Alliances & Partnership for Huawei Devices:
- Identify and qualify strategic alliance partners for Smartphone & Datacard products
- Product Manager for Huawei Datacard Landing Page
- Looking after embedding third party apps & solutions into devices

The best part of this role:
- Getting to meet & talk to some awesome entrepreneurs each day.
- Working closely with R&D Engineers, testers, designers & lawyers which helps me learn new things each day from each of these fields
- When I bump into customers and get to hear good stuff about the products that I work for
- Getting an opportunity to talk business with brands that I am personally a big fan off
…. And many more reasons

Nothing is always perfect on this earth, as in my case I hate when I have to sell rejections to most of the business proposals, feel bad when products don’t do well in the market and face customer’s feedback when the products don’t meet their expectations.
But all this becomes worth-it, when I wake up with tons of things that goes in my mind which drives me to office every day & going to bed with a satisfaction that the work done is taking my company closer to its goal.

More importantly what I enjoy best is working with an amazing team, boss & business partners who make me a better person each day….and the journey shall continue.

Now as a Business Developer for Huawei Devices

It’s a BITTER-SWEET!!! feeling

"SWEET" Cos I’M back into the android word as a Business Developer for Huawei Devices &

"BITTER" Cos today I Bid Adieu to my Quality team at Huawei, where I stepped in 6 months back.

Looking back I must say it was a great journey, which gifted me lots of good memories that I will carry. Will for sure miss the smiles and laughter that I shared with my team. Don’t know how to thank them for organizing such a brilliant Farwell party today. Had no idea that they were planning something this this for me, and seeing so many best wishes filling my inbox & nice set of books as a gift from them … felt nostalgic.

It was great getting to know each of them. I’m proud of the days that I spent in, the role I had and the work I did. During the farewell when each of them spoke, I was zapped to know what I meant for each of them and how I touched their lives.

Some like the way I speak with ascent,

Some like the way I smile with watery eyes,

Some like the way I get things done

Some like the way my sandals make noise while I walk

Realized we all leave some footprints in others life... the question is how you do what to be remembered is what will determine your behaviour.

Time to windup all the memories & emotions & move on you start a new journey in my career as a Business Developer.

Thanks to all my friends & online followers for the best wishes … I hope to bring in the difference. Will be in-charge of Marketing, Branding & Business Development for Huawei Smartphones in India from tomorrow :)