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'India is more than just a research power centre'
He is an entrepreneur at heart and that's how he treats his job at Adobe too. A perfect combination of flexibility and an intense accountability gives Umang Bedi just the ideal platform as the South Asia Marketing Chief of the firm.
With a high quotient of motivation to deliver, Umang looks to golf to calm nerves and keep the business on course. As he says, looking at fairways is "almost like meditation". Umang Bedi, talks to Shaili on ET NOW's golf show, Tee Time with Shaili Chopra.
Does India rank high in your hubs within emerging markets, how does India rank?
One third of all R&D for Adobe globally happens out of India. So it's clearly a big deal. It's one of the hottest growing markets because ten years ago we started a hub of innovation in Noida outside Delhi, which we later expanded into Bangalore.
We have filed over 200 patents and we endeavour to develop new products here as well. Plus, one never forgets that India is not just a research power centre but also a compelling market.
There is also the big market opportunity since India is so strong in terms of growth and sheer buying numbers are impressive.
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'India is more than just a research power centre'
How are you changing the approach of Adobe given that there is always competition in tech sector, more importantly the market has been volatile thanks to a global crisis?
I look at the total go-to-market for Adobe in South Asia and the part we are right now revamping is the enterprise space in India.
We see a multi fold increase in spends by technology sector in general and ITES in particular.
We are also moving into interiors like tier-2 cities. That's a new approach and now the market too is receptive. Even a small photo booth in small town India may be found using PhotoShop.
There is a dramatic shift in which even the smallest denominator in tier-2 cities are using adobe products and since there is such a low penetration across the country's small cities, the opportunity is only going to rise.
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'India is more than just a research power centre'
Is the idea that today technological life is all about 'Apps' entrenched even at Adobe? There is an App for everything thanks i-phone, i-pad or Android devices. How are you cashing into it?
We believe the creative process in technology will continue to change and evolve. These devices that run Apps are getting powerful and giving multiple choices to its users.
We at Adobe are constantly engaging designers and developers who are out there on the field using such new devices.
We have been launching Apps that give the consumer the power to use them to build their own creative platforms like a full website for a example.
Also interesting is digital publishing space, which is seeing a big revolution and it's spreading in India in a big way. We have had over 1200 magazine titles published on our platforms. We are building on e-cloud and touch app strategies.
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'India is more than just a research power centre'
Whether it is our products or our go-to-market strategies, innovation is at our core. We are focusing on two areas i.e creating content and helping digital marketers run their e-marketing services today.
We are constantly innovating on digital marketing side, for our customers and employees at Adobe are at the heart of the company infrastructure.
Any switch in jobs must be steady and you have now worked with firms like Symantec and last were the Managing Director at Intuit. How has work life changed with Adobe?
I was with Intuit as CEO before and the shift to Adobe was pretty interesting. I was originally only focused on servicing smaller clients in my previous job. Here in Adobe, more than 50 per cent of the revenues come from North America. I was fascinated because at Adobe, you are a part of a truly global firm.
The way it is structured, it's almost like you are running an entrepreneurial venture on your own where you have complete flexibility to run your business but with a high amount of accountability.
We have been reworking our verticals a bit, getting our investment plans together we have been realigning some parts of the biz and focusing on departments like telecom, financial services, IT-ITES and retail.
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'India is more than just a research power centre'
My first time at a golf course was some time back though I had not volunteered for since we were in Shanghai and it was -2 degrees on a really windy and cold day.
It was a beautiful links course and I remember shooting 18 over par on a chilly windy day almost without a jacket and fewer golf balls.
That's pretty good going for a day one, your friend must have been envious?
It wasn't bad at all, I didn't have anything to lose but going without enough warm clothes certainly cost me a little (laughs)
Where would you like to go next in your game?
It's not just play, it's learning. It's a game that helps you bring a humility check, it helps you detox by looking at the fairways and the greens. It's a big focus driver, it helps me maintain disciple.
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