WashingtonExec had the opportunity to interview Adesh Jain, Vice President and General Manager of Avaya Government Solutions, about everything mobile. Jain discussed the impact of Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel’s “mobile first” announcement on his business strategy, where we are in the technical progression of mobility, and why big data will rapidly change the landscape of government contracting.
WashingtonExec: Please tell us a little bit about your background and role at Avaya.
Adesh Jain: I started my career as a software developer about twenty years ago, and have since continued my passion for technology and business. I lead the software engineering and innovation division at AvayaGov, and we provide systems integration, life-cycle software development, business intelligence, collaboration, and mobility solutions to government agencies.
WashingtonExec: Did Steve VanRoekel’s, Federal CIO, announcement of a “mobile first” strategy change your business plan? How so?
Adesh Jain: Federal CIO’s mobile strategy affects our mobility business priorities as our business focus on federal government. In addition to adopting the “think mobile first” concept in our software design patterns even when we are developing PC applications to solve business issues, a couple of components of my mobility business plan include 1) providing innovative collaboration and telework solution using virtual world technology (www.avayalive.com) and 2) be able to seamlessly embed one touch multi-model communication capability in a mobile application.
WashingtonExec: What do you mean by “think mobile first”?
Adesh Jain: It means different mindset from what developers were used to when building applications. Things like usability and appearance of user interface, enhanced user experience based on a context like identify or geo-location, ability to access information from any location or device, able to collaborate with others without having to switch hardware, etc.
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“In my mind, big data is vast amount of different types of data coming from variety of sources at a speed that’s beyond our current capacity to handle. It’s disrupting the marketplace because many organizations may not be used to or equipped with handling such a fast growth of data most of which is unstructured data yet the data could hold important business intelligence.”
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WashingtonExec: Do you view mobility as another technology trend or a fundamental shift? Where are we in the technical progression of mobility; the beginning, middle or end?
Adesh Jain: Mobility is here to stay primarily because mobility has given us so much flexibility in terms of accessibility to information. I’ll use my wife as an example- ever since she got a Smartphone I hardly see her working on the laptop unless she has to do something very intensive word processing or such. Most of the emails and even accessing information like classes and activities for the kids done through Smartphone. On business side, partly because of mobility, individuals are expected to be highly responsive. Definitely mobility will continue to make our life easier and that’s why mobility is going to continue to stay relevant. Regarding progression- on mobile devices side we are quite a way ahead but on enterprise adoption side, we are likely in the beginning phases of it.
WashingtonExec: How do you define big data and how is it changing the business landscape?
Adesh Jain: In my mind, big data is vast amount of different types of data coming from variety of sources at a speed that’s beyond our current capacity to handle. It’s disrupting the marketplace because many organizations may not be used to or equipped with handling such a fast growth of data most of which is unstructured data yet the data could hold important business intelligence.
WashingtonExec: How does unstructured data work? Why is there suddenly a need for unstructured data to be structured?
Adesh Jain: Unstructured data is everything but structured data. It’s like all the data on internet, social media, blogs, documents, faxes, voice and video recordings etc. In order to analyze and create right and relevant information almost on a real-time basis, out of this vast unstructured data from multiple sources that are beyond one organization’s control, we need information extraction models and computing power. Semantic web and Hadoop are possible technologies to solve such complex issues.
WashingtonExec: Do you think telework increases overall work productivity? Has your opinion changed?
Adesh Jain: I do believe telework increases overall productivity as well as employees’ morale and retention. However, proper steps shall be taken to ensure productivity remains consistently high. For example, a teleworker may miss office environment and social interaction with his/her colleagues at work for building better trust and company loyalty. Video conferencing and virtual worlds based collaboration have helped to fill that gap significantly in recent years. Additionally, having a few office days on regular basis can help make best of both locations.
WashingtonExec: How would you describe your leadership style? What makes a good leader?
Adesh Jain: My leadership style is very flexible and usually based upon building consensus among teams. Leadership is about influencing people around you, and it can be at any level within an organization. You are a leader mostly because the people around you either follow you or trust you to hold the leadership position that you hold. Leadership is tough, very personal and an ongoing learning. It is personal because you have to create your own style based on your own strengths and values and what makes you most comfortable in a situation. You also have to very familiar with your weaknesses so that you can complement those with others around you. To me, I’m constantly reading various business and leadership books and learning from my own experiences with others. A big part of leadership is constant learning – the more we interact with the people we learn from those experiences and form our own leadership style based on that learning.
WashingtonExec: What is on your summer reading list or what book has inspired you the most?
Adesh Jain: I’d like to read Willpower by Baumeister. I bought it but have not started reading yet. I’m also looking forward to go to Philmont, NM adventure hiking trip with my son and other boy scouts this summer for once in a lifetime experience, at least for me. I was most inspired by my first read about 20 years ago- Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
