Nexus Telecom, Pakistan

EVOLVE: Let us know the road map of your professional journey since inception?

Ammar A. Khan: I had been involved in the Telecom Test market since 2000 before joining Nexus Telecom AG at the end of 2006. I worked with Industry leaders like Wandel & Goltermann and JDSU (formerly Acterna GmBH) and we were marketing Nexus portfolio as local re-sellers. As the cellular market showed tremendous growth, Nexus decided to enter the market directly and started its operations in 2007. Being unique in its portfolio, competitiveness and strong local support gave Nexus a good kick start. I always believed in my team’s competence and gave them full freedom to work their way through projects. We worked with almost all cellular operators as a trustworthy partner for their QoS needs. Being local gave us an edge against our conventional competitors and even today, when the market is seeing a huge challenge, we are able to stand strong.

EVOLVE: What made you choose a certain path which led you to this profession? 

Ammar A. Khan: It was a coincidence to work in the test and measurement industry, but as the time passed, I enjoyed my work. Got a lot of exposure to the changing telecom trends and kept me updated with technology innovation. I got various opportunities to work with mainstream telecom solution providers, but I knew I would be lost in the crowd, so decided to stay in a small but very niche industry.

EVOLVE: Nexus Telecom is a member of the SYSTEMICS Group. Please share with us the main tie-up between the two? 

Ammar A. Khan: Nexus is well known for its QoS products around the Core Network segment. SYSTEMICS comes with a very strong services based portfolio around Wireless Access network Segment. Both the companies decided to collaborate and complement each other, to provide 360 coverage to our customers. 

EVOLVE: Being the global provider of telecom network management software solutions, what is your credo of preparing and managing your human resource to build up these relationships? 

Ammar A. Khan: I had no issues working in Pakistan. The country is full of talented and hardworking young engineers. I picked the resources with the right skill set and kept investing in their growth. I am proud to have a team who has been with the company for several years and well accepted by my customers. The same team performed equally well in overseas projects too.

EVOLVE: How effective do you perceive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? 

Ammar A. Khan: I strongly believe that education is the only way we can transform our society and produce responsible citizens. We at Nexus Pakistan have switched to solar energy as an alternate source for our office basic infrastructure. In addition to it, I am actively mentoring various young students at NUST, on projects of waste management and water conservation. We must secure our environment for future generations to come.

EVOLVE: Is there any particular practice that you want to share with the world in order to make business more productive? 

Ammar A. Khan: Never be content with your performance. Keep doing critical analysis and keep learning from mistakes.

EVOLVE: How do you deal with the cultural issues that arise within the company? Kindly share with us the measures that you take in order to ensure the environmental preservation and how Pakistani companies can be benefited by these noble Swiss practices? 

Ammar A. Khan: Mutual respect for everyone is the first lesson we teach at our company. We never encourage any cultural discrimination and therefore never have an issue arising related to it. Switzerland has demonstrated its commitment towards environment protection by educating its citizens right from childhood. I believe more and more companies in Pakistan are getting aware of their social responsibility towards the environment, but there is a long way to go. People and Govt. has to work together to achieve this common goal. I personally think that this awareness can only be created right from schools, colleges, Universities and using electronic media to educate masses. Unfortunately, our electronic media is not fully on board for such a critical issue.

EVOLVE: What are your observations while working here in the Pakistani environment? How do you relate it with global service sectors? 

Ammar A. Khan: It’s a big advantage to work in Pakistan. A country of almost 200 Million people, variety cultures and user behavior, gave us a lot of exposure to multiple technology trends. Despite all political and security issues, our IT service sector has flourished over years and become quite mature. You will find a lot of engineers working in the USA, Australia, Canada, UK and Middle East at par with their international colleagues.

EVOLVE: How do you transform challenges into opportunities and what according to you is the formula of achieving long-term success? 

Ammar A. Khan: Challenges are always the source of real opportunities. It’s all about not giving up and not looking back to your failures. If you are able to work hard and keep learning from mistakes, you will achieve success in the long term. I had to change our sales strategy due to change in our customers’ needs and we were not able to win all projects. We remain focused and keep evolving our portfolio and services, and still doing very well in today’s challenging telecom industry.