For many, the future is a wondrous and mystifying unknown that brings excitement and new experiences. When times are good, people look forward to a bright future, much like a young couple might look at their budding relationship, with hope. At present, the future holds a mystifying unknown basted in fear. Nevertheless, at the end of the tunnel Tata Communications (News - Alert) sees the light.

 

Recently, TMCnet.com and Srinivasa Addepalli, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Strategy, Tata Communications spoke about the current state of the economy, what businesses should expect in the future and how they can survive. Addepalli, responsible for strategy formulation and execution at Tata Communications, manages growth plans, entry into new markets and mergers & acquisitions.

 

“I particularly believe that we will have good times again,” he stated. “I think that there’s a lot of uncertainty and fear, at this point in time, of what might happen and it will probably take some time before something occurs, but I believe, particularly in many of the economies and markets where we work, people--whether it’s the number of people working or the number of opportunities there are to drive business and consumption--I think those power us to continue.”

 

Mr. Addepalli believes the telecommunications industry will play a very important role in supporting and enabling enterprises because of the role it can play in helping customers manage their businesses, however not just manage, but also prepare them for the good times he foresees in the future.

 

So what should companies do to stay afloat in today’s failing economy? In the past, the quick fix was to cut costs but, according to Tata’s VP of Communications and Strategy, the key to emerging stronger is “growing into new markets, strengthening supply chains and developing innovative business models.”

 

“China is a good example. China is a very big market for communications and a lot of our customers want to get to China but it’s also a tough market to be in and compete because of the strong domestic players. The availability and the environment is not as liberal as it is in many other markets so on this we find a local player, and we have found this strategy to work—who understand that market, who has capabilities in that market and who have customers in that market and we basically created a joint venture with them so that we can create and bring our capabilities but also leverage what they have done over several years.”

 

As we are heading into a deeper intertwined and more complicated global economy enterprises must begin to think outside the box and transform ideas into spherical collaborations. In the end, companies have only each other to lean on and bring the world into an advanced technological age where ideas can emerge and fail in seconds but, it will be those who collaborate that will be best fit to survive.

 

“We cannot stop the world from growing,” he continues. “Today I think the collaboration with other companies has been a significant part of our strategy particularly in the telecommunications space. Where interconnection or being able to help communicate and network across the world is critical to a customer. You cannot be everywhere and it doesn’t make sense to be everywhere so one has to find the appropriate set of partners to work with to provide the reach and capabilities that is needed without necessarily having to risk all the investments and getting into new markets and new technology.”

 

At present, the economy is a roller-coaster ride that no one can predict where it’s headed. That’s life, the future is uncertain. Nevertheless, according to Mr. Addepalli, now is not the time to be afraid of taking chances of developing in new markets. “The appetite for risk has reduced and therefore collaborating is a great way to reduce risk of doing something new and you get the best of both worlds. You use your capabilities and you also use your partner’s capabilities to create something new,” he concluded. Change clearly brings uncertainty but the remedy to ease the nauseating feeling that comes pre-attached is for industries to come together.

 

Tata Communications recently collaborated with Cisco (News - Alert) TelePresence, being the first company to launch the video conference rooms for the public on a pay-per-use basis. The conference rooms are available in the Taj Hotels as well as in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, India.