Subodh Vardhan is MSSSI Vice President & Managing Director South & South East Asia.
Prior to this appointment, Subodh was Senior Director and Head of Motorola Solutions’ business in Emerging Asian countries, including India.
Subodh started with Motorola in 1994 and was part of a CEO sponsored Leadership Development Program called Cadre 2000 Plus. He spent two years in the US (1994- 95), rotating through various Motorola businesses and was posted in India in 1996, in the Cellular Networks business. He worked in various capacities in the Cellular Networks business and by 2006 he was running the entire private cellular operators’ business for Motorola.
Subodh is an Electrical Engineer (1985-89) and an MBA (1991-93) and has also worked as a Computer Engineer in International Data Management (IDM) (1990-91) and as an Area Sales Manager in Unilever (1993-94).
Arya Communications and Motorola share a relationship that goes back 30 plus years.
In conversations with Tidings, Subodh Vardhan, MSSSI Vice President & Managing Director South & South East Asia shares the developments and challenges in the Indian market and why the partnership with Arya Communications continues to remain solid.
Q: What is your view about the Indian market for Motorola products, services and solutions?
Ans : The Motorola brand in India is synonymous with high quality products and great customer service, thanks to the dedication of long term partners like Arya Communications.
We have a strong presence in all major verticals like the police, paramilitary, defence, railways, metros, airports and oil and gas etc. which continues to grow.
There is definitely a threat from lower cost competitors but our discerning customers value our products, services and solutions and understand that we offer better lifetime value than all our low cost competitors.
Of course, as sellers, we have to encourage our customers to evaluate us on our lifetime value rather than L1 price, and this can be a challenge especially in government procurement.
Over the last few years we have completely transformed our offerings and now, besides radio communications, we offer a comprehensive suite of video solutions and analytics as well as software solutions for control rooms.
I believe we will continue to be very relevant for the Indian market, as India needs to make major investments in upgrading technologies around public safety, military and transportation, which are all highly relevant markets for us. Besides, the outlook for the economy is strongly positive, which will drive growth in commercial markets like airports, seaports, manufacturing, llogistics, retail etc.
We have a strong local team in India, committed partners like Arya Communications, as well as a number of local facilities like local product development and service, which no other company in our domain can boast of.
Q: What are the technological changes that will impact safety & security business requirements?
Ans : The growing threat of cyber security poses real challenges for all organizations, reinforcing the need for highly secure and proven technologies to maintain organisational resilience and security.
The need to upgrade legacy systems without compromising private data.
Greater need for inter-operability between radios systems and 4G/5G based systems, as well as video.
More intelligent systems, which will reduce dependence on human intervention e.g. AI enabled cameras remove the burden of watching LIVE security feeds and can help detect security breaches proactively and help respond in the most effective manner.
Migration to cloud based systems, making them more flexible, scalable and reliable.
Q: Please tell us about the latest trends in technologies and Motorola’s plan & offerings to address the need.
Ans : We recently undertook a major global research study in partnership with Goldsmiths University of London that examined the impacts of the global pandemic on public safety and enterprise organisations across 12 countries. This uncovered many examples of how technology is being used in innovative and unimagined ways to combat new threats to safety and security.
The research also identified 4 major technology trends that were seen commonly across all global markets.
Growing demand for video security solutions:
Many new use cases including bodyworn video cameras is supporting supermarket retailers and ensuring safety and accountability in interactions between shoppers and staff.
Broader use of cloud based solutions:
With COVID-19 stimulating a greater need for decentralized and remote operations, multiple interviewees discussed how their increasing investment in cloud services is helping boost their organizational responsiveness, resilience and flexibility.
Greater need for interoperability and data sharing:
Many organisations remain constrained through a lack of interoperable technology - in other words, technology that does not allow them to communicate or share data with other agencies, as well as incompatible systems which don’t communicate with each other.
- There are two key aspects to interoperability:
- Enabling greater communication and data-sharing between different agencies.
- Breaking down the silos within an organization’s existing systems to enable greater access and maximize the value of data.
- Reliance on resilient communication
Our research interviews found that organizations globally continue to depend on mission-critical voice communication as their foundation for operation-wide collaboration and resilience. Unlike cellular networks, the infrastructure is hardened for resiliency and reliability, and organizations control their radio networks and can scale them to provide additional capacity for secure, team-based communication. Communication systems are also evolving through integration with other technologies, such as mobile broadband.
Q: Your partnership with Arya Communications & Services Pvt. Ltd. spans over 30 years. How has Arya helped Motorola set up their business in the Indian market?
Ans : Arya communications has been a very valuable long term partner for Motorola. From helping us set up shop in India in the early years, to helping us build close customer relationships, helping us with regulatory guidance and remaining a strongly ethical and professional organisation in all our dealings.
Q: Can you please list three concepts or solutions which can potentially transform operations in the port/logistic sector?
Ans : A solution we can propose that could redefine and improve the operational efficiency of ports is our automated container code recognition solution that combines our industry-leading Optical Character Recognition (OCR) with advanced data management and analytics software to enable automated, ‘hands-free’ identification and locating of assets. The OCR algorithm can either be deployed on an existing camera system or through the installation of our purpose-built cameras. Beyond providing visibility of equipment at key points of work, our solution can also initiate processes or workflows to ensure a more seamless flow of goods.
We would be happy to engage with customers to develop some concepts and then undertake proof of concept trials.
Q: What is the impact of 5G and WiFi 6 technology in the communication domain with respect to Motorola’s offerings?
Ans : Communications technologies will continue to evolve and it is important that our customers evolve with them. While private radio systems offer unparalleled range, reliability and redundancy, they are narrowband. So the use of broadband technologies like 5G etc. is critical as a supplement to the radio system. Spectrum is scarce, so it will also be important to share spectrum and make the best use of this scarce resource.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
Ans : To be successful in India, we need to think out of the box. Instead of trying to sell products at the lowest price, we have to develop solutions that provide the greatest value to our customers. With the increased focus on Make in India, we have to also seriously explore building more of our solutions in India, with strong partners like Arya Communications.
We have to also start thinking outside of radio. We have a much broader portfolio now, with video solutions and analytics, control room software, cyber security and managed services.