Mumbai: The economic prosperity and business environment in the entire South East Asia (SEA) region has seen a tremendous growth in recent years. SEA’s bustling economies spanning from India to Indonesia, China and Japan are making global software vendors and technology companies to rethink their business strategies.
The SEA region will rank as world’s fifth largest economy by 2020, as per WEF data, while the combined total GDP of this region, including the ASEAN countries is estimated to be more than $20 trillion as per IMF data. These numbers are quite staggering and the global software and technology industry can no longer ignore them.
Over the years, businesses and enterprises across verticals in this large region have increased their dependency and investment in technology. They have realized what technology means for their business and are willing to invest more in IT and security solutions.
For the software and technology vendors, this trend translates into more business opportunities and demands as well as more customers.
And in a bid to tap these opportunities in this large region, many of the companies, particularly, the mid to small players are highly active in appointing dedicated and experience top staff to accelerate sales, marketing, revenues and other functions. These executives are tasked to strengthen and grow their respective company’s local business operations.
For instance, the US based cloud data management player Veeam Software has appointed Alistair MacIntyre-Currie as VP of Field Marketing for the APJ (Asia Pacific & Japan) region. Alistair has been working in the marketing, communication and management roles for over two decades and in the past, he had worked with major tech companies like Nokia, HP and Riverbed Technology.
In his new assignment, Alistair has been given the role to lead Veeam’s marketing team across APJ. He will work in close collaboration with the APJ Sales and Global Marketing teams and be a key member of the APJ leadership team.
Besides, he will be responsible for driving brand awareness, activating sales and growing market share for Veeam’s APJ portfolio. “At Veeam, I will be working closely with the wider team, to ensure our marketing strategy marries with business challenges and drives positive change,” Alistair said in a company statement.
Commenting on Alistair’s appointment, Veeam Software’s SVP – Global Marketing, Brian Bakstran said that his impressive skill set and experience in technology marketing are sure to accelerate Veeam’s marketing strategy and performance.
“We have a huge opportunity in the region to further grow Veeam’s Cloud Data Management leadership, and I know that Alistair will be a great addition to an already world-class team,” added Bakstran.
Like Veeam Software, another global technology company Avent has appointed Prince Yun as President for its multi-billion dollar business in Asia Pacific Asia. In this new role, Yun will be responsible for the region’s sales, supplier relationships, product marketing and business operations.
“This is a time of tremendous opportunity for Avnet to extend our best-in-class solutions across the industry. We support customers at every stage of their product lifecycle to reduce the time, cost and complexities of bringing products to market,” said Yun.
Yun has been working with Avent for over two decades and until recently, he was leading the role of Regional President for Taiwan and South Asia. He possesses strong business acumen, deep knowledge of the industry, sales expertise, and experience managing a multi-million dollar business in this region.
“Prince knows this industry well, has built great relationships, and will create new forms of value for our customers and suppliers by leveraging the unique capabilities of our ecosystem. This is a well-deserved promotion for Prince, and I know he will have a strong impact on his new role,” said Phil Gallagher, Global President – Electronic components, Avnet.
In addition, some companies are inducting new staff for specific functions and markets. For instance, Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and antivirus (AV) brand had recently appointed two new members in the Asia Pacific region to augment its team and support the cybersecurity landscape in India.
These two members include Saurabh Sharma, Senior Security Researcher – Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT), and Sidharth Mutreja – Enterprise Solution Architect.
Infor, a global business cloud software provider last month created India specific business unit namely India Business Unit (IBU). It’s a new, separate region comprising India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan — to further push company’s progress and tap growth opportunities in this vast market.
The US based software company also appointed Ranga Pothula as MD and GM for this new IBU to drive the next phase of growth. “India has long been a strategic market for Infor, one that is instrumental to the growth of our overall business. With an IPO in the cards, India and other regions need to fire on all cylinders,” Charles Phillips, CEO – Infor had said in a statement last month.
Likewise, Endurance International Group, a major cloud-based platform and solutions provider that helps small and medium-sized businesses move online had appointed Manish as MD of Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Dalal’s role is to oversee the existing APAC business and designing and executing a growth strategy through new markets, products and business opportunities.
These executive appointments clearly indicate SEA region’s growing business and economic importance and its emerging markets, among the global software and technology companies.
(Image source – Nations Online Project)