Guest Speak of this Month : Yogesh Sawant, Director, Partner Sales and Field Alliance Organization, India, Hitachi Data Systems

Yogesh Sawant Director, Partner Sales and Field Alliance Organization, India, Hitachi Data Systems

In what capacity have you been serving the IT industry?

Its been 3 years I have been associated with Hitachi now. Before this I have worked with HP, Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment, to name a few. I have worked both in a Channel environment as well with Direct Sales, responsible for revenue generation and marketing activities. I have also engaged myself with the Retail vertical that has been quite a budding industry.

While you have been working with the Channel all these years, what kind of a relationship do you share with them?

It is kind of a symbiotic relationship – a relationship of mutual benefit and dependence. We both have acknowledged the years that we have together worked with by having created new opportunities and new areas of growth, which have been beneficial to both of us. My engagement with the Channel has been from a mere 30 -40 % to a complete 100 % channel oriented business.

Besides IT, what are your other areas of interests?

While IT happens to be my Bread and butter, I have developed some interests in other areas as well.  When not working, I enjoy watching a movie, going on long drives and listening to classical music. I have also taken to playing golf very often nowadays and this has grown out of my passion for this game which I had it for a very long time. I wish to continue with this passion in my free time, as long as IT does not keep me busy.

Any message you would like to give to today’s budding entrepreneurs.

I would take mention of a beautiful quote from Mahatma Gandhi here that sums up of what should be the top priority for an entrepreneur today - “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us but we are dependent on him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”

Likely said, a customer forms the basis of your business and it is he who should be most important. Rest depends on whether you like to see your Customer as a partner or just as an end-user.