From coordinating an account to examining the enterprise it implies

Mandate

Define the operating commitment behind adjacent-market and growth proposals

Outcomes

• Withdrew a ticket-engine proposition after separating integration from replacement demand
• Connected seasonal receipts with continuing support and liquidity planning
• Revised migration sequencing and bounded archive and offline-reading pilots

Decisions in context

I became CSO in January 2022 and lead 12 colleagues through three leads, reporting to CEO Naina Qevsuri. My ₹4.8 crore function expense supports strategy and partnership work; it is not authority to approve every investment I recommend. I work with CTO Thomas Zevqari, finance and operating leaders to make the enterprise commitment behind a proposal explicit. The ticket-engine case required withdrawing a direction I had supported when most reviewed venues wanted an incumbent connection instead. Other cases concern the calendar of support, the room-level migration unit and the permissions or technical boundaries of pilots. These choices changed scope and sequence while preserving expense and unfinished work. The role asks me to distinguish a customer need from the particular business we propose to build around it. I hold no statutory appointment and do not present executive reporting as equivalent board service.

Reason for the move

Continuing strategy leadership while assessing a first outside contribution

Mandate

Connect market choices with their resource and operating implications

Outcomes

• Brought product, commercial and finance assumptions into one planning account
• Examined differences between customer counts and units of delivery work
• Developed the investment perspective used in the subsequent CSO role

Decisions in context

The commercial-planning appointment widened my responsibility beyond developing opportunities. I led nine colleagues through three leads, managed ₹2.9 crore annual expense and reported to the CEO. The company had 135 employees and ₹43 crore FY 2017 revenue. I needed to explain what a market choice would require from the organisation after the initial sale. That involved working with finance on timing and with product and implementation colleagues on the unit of customer work. I learned that a clear commercial total could conceal an uneven operating commitment, and that the same customer label could describe different planning populations. My role was to connect those accounts rather than claim the authority of each specialist function. The work prepared me to challenge a proposal's assumptions before its growth story became more persuasive than its delivery account. I moved into the CSO remit in January 2022.

Reason for the move

Promoted to CSO in January 2022

Mandate

Understand which customer workflows the software could usefully support

Outcomes

• Moved from event-service accounts into a software product business
• Distinguished feature interest from a commitment to a different operating model
• Built cross-functional relationships around customer-workflow questions

Decisions in context

I joined Tavzuni in September 2010 and moved to Jaipur. The 75-person company recorded ₹18 crore FY 2011 revenue. I led six colleagues through two leads with ₹1.1 crore annual expense and reported to the CEO. The move required me to understand how a software product could organise work without owning every part of the customer's production process. A request for another feature might reveal a useful connection, or it might imply a different service and support obligation. I learned to investigate that distinction before treating every adjacent request as a market-entry opportunity. My earlier account experience helped me ask about the arrangements behind the request, but product and engineering colleagues supplied expertise I did not hold. The role developed my interest in the enterprise consequences of a proposition and led to the broader commercial-planning appointment in 2016.

Reason for the move

Promoted to head of commercial planning in June 2016

Mandate

Make the commercial account specific enough for delivery planning

Outcomes

• Took responsibility for people and a defined expense remit
• Improved the handoff between customer requests and operating arrangements
• Developed judgement about commitments concealed by broad service labels

Decisions in context

I became planning account lead in May 2002, with nine colleagues through two leads and ₹1.4 crore annual expense. I reported to the commercial director in a 120-person company with ₹27 crore FY 2003 revenue. The task was to turn a customer's request into an account that delivery colleagues could plan against. A convenient label could hide several rooms, different production needs or responsibilities held by another provider. I learned to explain those distinctions even when they complicated a proposal that initially sounded simple. The role did not make me the owner of every operating decision, but it made me responsible for the clarity of the commitment carried through my account team. I left in August 2010 with an interest in how software might preserve that clarity across changing plans and a wider set of participants. The next appointment brought that question into a product company.

Reason for the move

Joined Tavzuni in September 2010 to work in production-planning software

Mandate

Maintain the connection between programme proposals and practical arrangements

Outcomes

• Learnt to preserve operating questions in a commercial handoff
• Observed differences between venue, room and production commitments
• Built the account foundation for later planning leadership

Decisions in context

My first appointment began in July 1995, one month after completing the commerce degree. Zavqemi had 48 employees and ₹6.8 crore FY 1996 revenue. I worked in a five-person coordination group under the commercial manager, without direct reports or spending authority. My work concerned the account of what had been proposed and the questions needed to organise it. I saw that a venue name did not always describe one room, and that a customer could expect several providers to retain different parts of a programme. I was not authorised to resolve every difference, but I could keep it visible instead of allowing the handoff to imply agreement that had not occurred. That habit became important when I later managed proposals and people. The 2002 promotion gave me a defined team and budget through which to take greater responsibility for the clarity of an account.

Reason for the move

Promoted to planning account lead in May 2002