Anand Kumar - Take the Situation as It Is Rather Than Complaining, Cribbing or Repenting (CEO - Team Viba )

Always take suggestions, consultations, information from others, but remember that it is YOU who will be making the decision and it is YOU who is responsible & accountable for your organization or for your professional job!

Tell us about your background, journey, and upbringing.

I had done my Economics Graduation and Masters in Management from ITM-Bangalore and my professional career started with jobs within sales and marketing domains for over 7 years. 

 I had worked in IT Software & Hardware Solutions Sales domain and worked in companies like HCL, Sierra Atlantic, Mithi Software & Indian Express Group(Bombay). After that, started my long-time wish of being an entrepreneur in 2004, along with my wife, and set up operations in Hyderabad. 

Later formalized the same in 2007 as Vibatel, and from then, running the same successfully. We provide Business Support Services to all our clients and the main servicing sectors are from BFSI, Agro & Hospitality domains.

The journey of 14 years as an entrepreneur was happiest, relishing, and satisfying for me. We had made our Vibatel an organization, which is reputed in the services we provided to our esteemed clients who are major within their products & services across the country. 

 We are always committed to our philosophy of focusing upon the pursuit of Excellence and Quality in offering our services. VIBATEL is well equipped with the resources and infrastructure required to meet the existing and future business challenges and requirements. 

 We are now accredited with ISO 9001:2015 & ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certifications for our Quality Management System in the areas of BPO & Call Centre Operations.

When and how did you get clarity on what you wanted to do?

As my father was an entrepreneur, I always wanted to follow him to become like him but he always used to suggest I first work and gain the experience of being a worker, and then it would be easy to manage the workforce as a Manager. 

I was not clear and serious about what he said at that time, but later, when I had done the same, clearly understood what he said was perfectly right and how much important and necessary it for an entrepreneur. 

And this is the main aspect, which majority of present entrepreneurs are missing due to which, they r not exactly into their business workings they are into, for which, they depend a lot on others for core functions of their businesses. And that is resulting in either late or no growth/sustenance within their businesses.

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What does your typical workday look like?

What I had learned in my entrepreneurial journey about a typical working day is – it will be comprised of two main work types, one is planned and one is unplanned. Both need to be done and both are important and I should always be ready for both. 

Also, I have to make sure of not leaving/postponing either of any between each other, which might affect my entire work balance and desired results for the day. Within the same working day, I also need to work out for tomorrow’s planned works also. 

Overall, my typical workday comprises of, today’s planned and un-planned works and planning works for the next day and execution of those for getting the desired results/outcomes for the day.

Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?

I fully agree with this. Formal Education is not a must these days for success as that has become of no use now due to their non-updation, and for the easy availability of the information same everywhere at any point of time. 

It is the self-education and the capability of learning on his own from the outside available resources which are making the people more successful these days, but not the typical formal education which is stage-wise. 

Also, for becoming successful these days, I believe it is the result which is no more important, but time-based-result which is important!!

How do you handle someone who has lied on their resume?

The first aspect I would be serious about in handling a person who had lied on their resume is, not letting my emotions get better than mine. It tends us to go in that way, but we need to control the same so as to assess those situations. 

If the person is within the interview stage and still not got recruited by us, then I will confront him/her in a way to highlight the same and then suggest not to repeat with any other which might affect their entire professional career. 

And if the person had found lied after the recruitment had happened, I weigh my options carefully with my team, understand the situation and then take necessary action like confronting him/her, either cut his compensation or rank accordingly as per his actual qualities and qualifications, asking him/her to consider further training if required necessary and as the last option, ask him to leave.

What are some of your typical challenges and how have they evolved over time?

I had faced challenges in my entire entrepreneurial journey, and at each stage, they were different, new, and unique. Thus, I had learned the habit of seeing any problem as a challenging situation and then start thinking about the solution. 

This approach always helped me in being positive, take the situation as it is rather than complaining, cribbing or repenting, which waste more times and energies and delay the decision-taking and solution-formulation processes. 

One of the best typical examples of the challenge which I can never forget in my career was to learn that it is not only putting the eggs in different baskets is important in our businesses to mitigate the business risks, but is it also equally important the baskets need to be of different types!! 

In our case, it is of not depending only on one domain like BFSI but also concentrating on other sectors. I had faced this challenge and suffered badly but later understood this and recovered by venturing into other domains, which made us sustain during the challenges within those particular sectors.

                                

  

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs looking for funding or those eyeing the top job?

My advice to both are- First, treat yourself as a worker, learn how to work within your business, and then become a manager or an owner. This gives u more clarity about your workings, business which any of the investors or company management looks.

Always work to make your own business or venture sustain on its own, rather than sustaining on others’ monies. Only for growth or expansion, those monies need to be utilized but not for your own business survival or sustenance.

Always take suggestions, consultations, information from others, but remember that it is YOU who will be making the decision and it is YOU who is responsible & accountable for your organization or for your professional job!

Which is your favorite book and why?

I don’t have any particular favorite book as I keep reading many books and learn from them thus, all those are favorites to me. Recently, I had read the book ‘The Goal’ by Eliyahu M Goldratt, which is excellent and made me understand to conceive the very transformation of management thinking right from what to change, to what to change to, and how to cause the change.

Bio - 

Marketing Expertise with broad experience in aspects of Sales, Marketing, Cross-Sales, CRM & Customer Support Management specialized in BFSI, Agro & Hospitality sectors. Interested in expanding the operations and make the Organisation a Decent, Successful and a Reputed Business Entity.