Case for Product Management in India

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Business Case for HavingProduct Managers in India

Sanjeev KumarVP & MD, Informatica India

Adaptive Marketing Networking EventAug 2011

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Agenda

• Personal Background

• Product Creation – Internal & External Factors

• What is a Product Manager?

• Case for Product Managers in India

• Challenges Product Managers face in India

• Survival Tips for PM’s & Stakeholders

• Q&A

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Personal Background

• Formative years at The Doon School

• CS studies at BITS, Pilani & Rutgers Univ.

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Personal Background

• Formative years at The Doon School

• CS studies at BITS, Pilani & Rutgers Univ.

• 1990 to 2006 in Silicon Valley• Three start-up’s in OODBMS – roles in QA, Perf, PS & Pre-sales

• Four years at Oracle – Product Management & Dev Management

• Two further start-up’s – Engineering Management, learnt to scale

• BEA – Engineering Management to General Management

• 2006 onwards – Bangalore, India• BEA – Product GM & matrix management

• Informatica – matrix management, innovation

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“Advert” – Informatica at a GlanceThe Independent Leader in Data Integration

• Founded: 1993

• 2010 Revenue: $650 million

• 6-year CAGR: >20% per year

• Employees: 2,125+

• Partners: 400+

• Major SI, ISV, OEM and

• On-Demand Cloud Leaders

• Customers: 4,280+

• ~70% of the Global 500

• Customers in 82 countries

• Direct Presence in 26 countries

• # 1 in Customer Loyalty

(5 Years in a Row)$150

$200

$250

$300

$350

$400

$450

$500

$550

$600

$650

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Informatica enables organizations to reduce cost and gain a competitive advantage in today’s global information economy by empowering them to access, integrate and trust all their information assets.

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“Advert” – Informatica at Another Glance!

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Disclaimers

• Strong Silicon Valley slant & mind-set

• Experience relevant to MNC R&D Centers

• Focused on selling to enterprise customers (B2B)

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Product Creation – “Outside looking in”Externalities / Eco-System / “Hygiene”

• Access to (local) markets and customers

• Perception of value in intangible products and software

• Propensity of customers to buy IP-driven products

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• Venture Funding

• IPO’s of product / OPD companies

• Persistence Software, MMYT, …

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• Venture Funding

• IPO’s of product / OPD companies

• Persistence Software, MMYT, …

• Means for Incubating Start-ups

• Licensing of IP from academic institutes – IIT’s, IIIT’s, IISc

• VC firms offering a range of support services / functions

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Product (IP) Creation – “Inside looking out”

• Access to (local) markets and customers• Understanding what adds value and what to build

• Interactive process: relevance, novelty & credibility

• Business vs. Consumer focused businesses

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• Talent availability for business + product mindset• Senior-level engineering talent to drive product ownership

• Business-oriented product management to own business plan

• Track record of delivery and earning of trust

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• Talent availability for business + product mindset• Senior-level engineering talent to drive product ownership

• Business-oriented product management to own business plan

• Track record of delivery and earning of trust

• Cross-functional representation in a single place• “The Trinity” – PM + Architect + UX Engineering

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Product Manager – Who, What & Why?

• A mini-CEO for the product• “What to build” – customers, competitors & “secret sauce”

• Cross-functional leadership ability, a sense of “the possible”

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• Traits of a Product Manager• Combination of “hard” & “soft” skills – “all-rounders”

• A sense of “where the puck is going to be” – domain expertise

• Powers of persuasion – responsibility without authority

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• Traits of a Product Manager• Combination of “hard” & “soft” skills – “all-rounders”

• A sense of “where the puck is going to be” – domain expertise

• Powers of persuasion – responsibility without authority

• Why – “Glue” for a Product Team• Only role with holistic view of product and its value proposition

• First step to being a “general” or “product line” manager

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Case for Product Managers in India – Pro’s

• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership• Eight years of sustained growth across all R&D functions

• In-bound product management being done meaningfully

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• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India• Half-day overlap with bulk of BRIC & other growing economies

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• Increase in spending on software / IP-driven products• Scale getting large enough that systems cannot be “winged”

• Growing number of Global-1000 companies in close proximity

• Product roll-out in Indian market as blue-print for others

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• Increase in spending on software / IP-driven products• Scale getting large enough that systems cannot be “winged”

• Growing number of Global-1000 companies in close proximity

• Product roll-out in Indian market as blue-print for others

• Competition from (state funded) companies in China

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Case for Product Managers in India – Con’s

• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India• Not yet consistent with geographical distribution of customers

• Lack of access to the product & value-creation feedback loop

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• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership• Tough to interact with field & sales org in US – longer cycle times

• Cultural differences leading to communication challenges

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• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership• Tough to interact with field & sales org in US – longer cycle times

• Cultural differences leading to communication challenges

• Increase in spending on software / IP-driven products• Negotiation and sales cycles are longer than other geographies

• Software piracy

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Challenges for PM’s in India• Customer / Market Access

• Too many PM’s in India “burning the mid-night oil”

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• Engagement Model between HQ and India• Degree of empowerment for senior folks in India R&D center

• Shadowing -> Component Charter -> Global Product Charter

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• Critical Mass• Lack of strong peer connect, locally or remote

• Identification with engineering leadership – growing

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• Critical Mass• Lack of strong peer connect, locally or remote

• Identification with engineering leadership – growing

• Career Path• Function is new enough in India that it lacks role models

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Survival Tips – for PM’s & Stake-holders• “Burning the mid-night oil” is ok to establish yourself

• Need support from family, immediate manager & co-workers

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• Big, new ideas easier to handle than incremental ones• First rev can be developed without much feedback

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• Understand & adjust communication flow from field• Stakeholders at HQ can refer field inquiries to PM’s in India

• Must get face-time with key field / sales personnel

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• Understand & adjust communication flow from field• Stakeholders at HQ can refer field inquiries to PM’s in India

• Must get face-time with key field / sales personnel

• Career Value-adds• BAP Cases & Analyses – Build-Acquire-Partner

• Cross-functional Management (“making of the hotdog”)

• Brand Analysis – attach-rates, “cross-sell”, “up-sell”, pull-through

• Go-To-Market (GTM) Planning – “sell-with”, “sell-through”, “sell-to”

• Leadership Skills – decision w/o complete information, be the generalist

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Q&A

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Case for Product Management in India

Technology

strong peer

system hygieneaccess

close proximityproduct

incremental

doon schoolcs

inexternalities

level engineering

establish