In this insightful interview article, we have the privilege of engaging with Prakash Krishnamurthy, the CSO (Chief Sales Officer) of FVC. With a remarkable track record spanning over two decades, FVC has firmly established itself as a leading distribution platform in the dynamic Middle East and African region. Prakash provides valuable insights into FVC’s inception, the driving force behind its success, and the strategic decisions that have propelled the company forward. He also shares his personal career journey, offering advice to newcomers entering the industry.
Throughout the interview, Prakash Krishnamurthy emphasizes the significance of employee energy levels, the importance of realistic goal-setting, and the agile nature of FVC in navigating challenges. Additionally, he highlights the pivotal role of technology in shaping businesses and fostering growth. We delve into FVC’s commitment to innovation, the adaptation to digitalization, and the comprehensive range of cutting-edge services and solutions that the company offers. Join us as we gain unique perspectives from Prakash Krishnamurthy, shedding light on FVC’s remarkable journey and its vision for the future.
What’s the idea behind FVC?
FVC is a more than 20-year-old organization. In the year 2000, we recognized
a tremendous potential in the conferencing industry, encompassing both Video and Audio conferencing. The senior leadership team aimed to capitalize on the strategic location of the entire Middle East and African region, which prompted us to establish a distribution platform. This decision was further fueled by Dubai’s emergence as a prominent Trade Hub, serving as a motivation to expand our business to unprecedented heights. Today, FVC is a highly esteemed distribution entity, conducting operations in over 50 countries, with local offices strategically located throughout the MEA territory. Additionally, FVC has successfully diversified its operations into four divisions: UCC, AV, Cybersecurity and Cloud & AI Services.
How did you begin your career journey? Do you have some advice for beginners?
My career began in 1991 in Mumbai when Fax Machines and Xerox Machines were considered great technological innovations. Telephone PBX systems were also widely accepted as the best communication tool at that time. After gaining 10 years of techno-commercial work experience in India, I seized the opportunity to further enhance my career growth in the Middle East and African region by joining FVC in 2002. Over the past 20 years, I have been actively involved in various technological domains, including Videoconferencing, Network Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, RPA, Big Data, and Cloud Solutions. Most of my experience in these areas has been through the value-added distribution (VAD) network.
Personally, I strongly believe that today’s generation is exposed to a vast ecosystem of technological advancements. The opportunities in Cybersecurity, Big Data, RPA, Video Conferencing, and AI are immense. If individuals remain focused on building their careers without distractions, they can undoubtedly achieve a fulfilling and successful professional growth.
What’s the goal of FVC?
Our goal is to maintain our position as one of the leading distribution platforms in the MEA region by introducing niche and innovative technologies and solutions. FVC is dedicated to developing a wide range of highly skilled, committed, and empowered channel communities. Following a strong growth of 30% in 2021 and 25% in 2022, we are now positioned at a juncture where we aim to achieve an aspirational revenue growth of 40% year on year, propelling us forward exponentially.
What makes a team successful in your opinion?
A successful team is always backed by a group of empowered and highly motivated leaders. Every company needs to build a “path of progress” within its environment, which will instill passion and ambition in all the employees. This systemic enhancement generates an immense amount of momentum, leading to consistent growth.
How important are employees’ energy levels to the success of FVC?
Energy levels of employees are of paramount importance. These energy levels depict whether the environment is charged and electrified or negative with despair and hopelessness. Happiness and motivation are contagious. If senior leaders are ebullient and enthusiastic, it automatically percolates down to the entire breadth and depth of the employee community.
How do you plan to motivate your team to go an extra mile?
There is no need to push employees to go that extra mile – if we can keep the motivation levels high then automatically the employees will try and achieve the extra mile and much more. This also means that if employees are given realistic targets and goals (KPIs), they will be automatically motivated to overachieve and willingly take on bigger challenges and responsibilities.
What keeps FVC moving forward even during challenges?
One of the greatest strengths of FVC is its agility and flexibility. Being a growing establishment with a lean top management team gives us the ability to make fast decisions and react quickly to market changes. During challenging times, it was easy for us to empower our leaders to shoulder additional responsibilities. This way, we could not only overcome challenges but also thrive in a highly competitive environment.
How do you think technology is leading to changes in businesses? Do you feel it’s helping FVC grow?
Technology has always been the biggest contributor to building innovative solutions across all industries. As a technology company ourselves, we have consistently led the way in introducing unique and niche solutions in the Middle East region. Our team deeply evaluates technological affiliations, and we only proceed with an association when we see tangible value in the offering.
How is FVC adapting to digitalization?
Digitalization helps generate new opportunities for growth. It enables capturing and retaining customers and potential customers directly. We are also exploring avenues to build a user-friendly marketplace as a step towards facilitating “ease of doing business” with FVC.
Do you use innovative ideas to be unique?
Ideating and innovating have become necessities in today’s competitive world. As technologies continue to evolve, they automatically provide us with the expertise to create unique solutions. We strive hard to offer something distinctive to our customer and partner community.
What are the services/solutions or products offered by FVC as par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services?
FVC consists of four business units: UCC, AV, Cybersecurity, and Cloud & AI Services.
In UCC (Unified Communication and Collaboration), we have established partnerships with industry-leading technologies such as Poly, Logitech, Lenovo, Yealink, Jabra, Zoom, Remago and Microsoft Teams.
In AV (Audio Visuals), we have strong collaborations with organizations like Barco, Smart, Prysm, Yamaha, Biamp, Absen, Inogeni and Legrand.
In Cloud & AI Services division, we are building strong relationships with vendors like Montycloud, BitTitan, Liveplex, Kore, Uipath, C-Zentrix, Abby and Zvolv
In the IT IS (Infrastructure and Information Security) division, we offer fantastic products such as BeyondTrust, Netscout, Invicti, colortokens, Sangfor, Cyble, Logsign, Malwarebytes and many more upcoming niche technologies.
Would you like to say anything else to our viewers?
We at FVC are continuously innovating, ideating, and introducing unique solutions to the Middle Eastern market. Visit our website at FVC.COM to stay updated with the latest industry trends.