CHANNEL CHIEF
Managing global
cultures and
vendor partners
Avinash Advani enjoys the challenge of expanding into new
global markets and investing into bleeding-edge technology
vendors. By Arun Shankar.
Avinash Advani is
Senior Vice President,
Strategic Alliances and
International Markets
at StarLink.
A
s Senior Vice President
of Strategic Alliances and
International Markets,
Avinash Advani’s job role is to manage
and nurture executive relationships
with vendor partners. In addition, it
includes launching and developing new
geographical territories for StarLink and
driving strategy across the organisation.
Advani’s sense of job satisfaction comes
from managing across multiple cultures,
and working with best-of-breed and next-
generation technology vendors.
However, Advani does point out
that his job satisfaction and the
challenges of the job are also closely
linked. “Expanding into new markets
is extremely exciting, but a lot of hard
work goes into replicating external
success locally. Keeping your finger on
the pulse of bleeding edge technology is
fascinating but ensuring you make the
right investment choices into vendors is
a challenge that must be overcome, if you
are to be recognised as a thought leader
and trusted advisor,” he explains.
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Advani first encountered technology at
the age of 8 when his father bought him
an Apple Mac IIc, and then a PC a few
years later. Advani then proceeded to take
apart the PC and over time by the age of 11,
finally built his own PC. “It struck me then
that I wanted to study something related
to computers,” he reflects. In high school,
he pursued all the computer classes
that were possible and then completed
his undergraduate degree in Computer
Engineering at Purdue University in
the US. It was then Advani realised that
technology was a passion.
In 2005, Advani left an engineering role
at Cisco in the San Francisco Bay area to
move to Dubai, to pursue not just developing
technology but also to sell it. Looking ahead,
he believes machine learning, automation,
and software-defined-everything, are the hot
technology talking points.
Keeping your
finger on
the pulse of
bleeding-edge
technology is
fascinating.
Advani describes his management style
as setting smart goals, defining strategy,
and executing with plans. He tries not
to micro manage unless necessary,
and instead aims to provide guidance,
direction, leadership, and rewarding
strong performers. “As a management
style, I am most like The Pacesetter. Since
achieving excellence and high standards
are fundamentally important to me when
I perform my own tasks, I do so with
passion to instill motivation into the team
and nurture self-direction.”
About his work style, Advani describes
it as, “definitely democratic.” He puts
trust in his employees and empowers
them to make decisions. “I prefer to
delegate authority to my team members
to encourage their leadership skills
and then listen to their feedback.” To
make this happen Advani requires
communication and makes it a point to
often meet one-on-one with employees
and as a team.
Advani manages the demands of his
work-life by effective time management
and prioritisation. He firmly believes in
this philosophy: Without planning, plan
to fail. Regardless of how much time and
effort is spent at work, the key is to achieve
a balance between work and life, while
ensuring there is sufficient time and effort
given to life, he feels. During his time-off
Advani enjoys movies, traveling, food,
skiing, golf, and reading.
Issue 11
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS