After leaving the Office of the Governor of Georgia
where he had served with distinction under Roy Barnes as Director of Business
Development, Irving Mitchell – one of the most highly respected and
well-connected men in the Georgia business arena – had a plethora of
opportunities from which to choose. In accepting the position of VP, Business
Development at Avion Systems, Inc. Mitchell demonstrated the high regard he
holds for Avion and its auspicious young CEO and President, Kanchana Raman.
"I had the good fortune of becoming acquainted with
Avion Systems when I was working in the Office of the Governor of Georgia,"
states Mitchell. "That experience was one of the most enlightening of my
professional career because it enabled me to meet an amazing array of highly
qualified and motivated minority and woman owned businesses. These were
businesses that did not need to seek an advantage based on gender or race
because they made a value proposition that was irrefutable. Certain of those
businesses stood out even more, primarily due to the leadership within the
company. Avion Systems was one of those companies. Kanchana Raman exudes a
quiet charisma that makes one want to be a part of her vision of building a
world-class information technologies company. We are on our way to becoming
just that and I am thrilled for the opportunity to help make that vision a
reality."
Conditioned to Succeed
Kanchana Raman founded Avion Systems in 1996 while in
her mid-twenties. Mentored by her father, being a success was Kanchana’s only
option. In speaking of her father, Raman said; "He always wanted me to excel
in my endeavors. Be someone, make a difference. I always knew I had to do
something. So when the time was right in 1996 during the boom, I started Avion.
"Being a professor he is like a motivational speaker and
has just filled my head with cliché’s like ‘reach for the star and you will
get to the top of the tree’ since childhood. In my younger days his research
scholars would come home and I would hear him tell them to make it big. Just
being raised in an environment like that made me want to become someone
noteworthy."
During the past decade Kanchana Raman has become
noteworthy indeed. Under her guidance, the Roswell, Georgia-based company has
grown exponentially from what began as a simple purveyor of contract services
in the telecommunications industry. Avion Systems core competencies have since
expanded to offer a wide array of telecom and technology business services,
solutions and innovations. Avion successfully delivered projects in the areas
of hardware engineering, datacomm and network deployment encompassing network
design for both wireline and wireless networks.
The current focus is broadband wireless networks
utilizing 3G (third generation) technologies such as Ev-DO, Edge and UMTS
(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). Skill sets in the IT arena
include, but are not limited to, Web-enabled business software development,
application re-engineering and re-architecting. Avion’s Innovation Center
leverages emerging technologies to solve domain specific business challenges.
Current areas of concentration include Knowleged Discovery, Sense and Respond
Network Intelligence and Automated Optimization. Raman however was quick to
offer some insight into that often-elusive thing called success.
"Sometimes being a success can be a matter of timing.
You have to be cognizant when the time is right to do something. Had I tried
to start Avion in 2000 instead of 1996, chances are we would never have
survived. I know there are many business people out there with good ideas, but
the timing was wrong. As a result people think their idea was flawed and lose
confidence in themselves, when in fact, it was simply a matter of bad timing."
Having successfully weathered the tech downturn of 2000
and the post 9/11 malaise, Avion Systems has grown to global proportions. In
addition to its Roswell headquarters Avion, an organization of over 500
employees, has offices in Houston, Texas, Brazil, and India. The company has
completed projects in 14 different countries, with telecom customers such as
Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nortel Networks, Nokia, Ericsson, Sprint PCS,
Cingular Wireless, Telcordia Technologies. Technology customers in North
America include Accenture, UPS, Bell South, GEFA, Georgia Port Authority,
Hewlett Packard, and Nextel.
Staying Ahead of the Game
Avion maintains strong footing with its customers by
recognizing and adjusting to ever changing and evolving market forces, staying
on the leading edge of technological advancements, and parlaying that
knowledge base into their service offerings.
"Initially all our work was in wire-line networks, says
Raman. "The primary focus was also services. As the communications industry
evolved, our focus shifted to 3G wireless networks. We see that it is now
shifting more towards converged communications. With advances in devices and
communications technologies, we are moving towards seamless communications to
bring voice, data and video whenever, wherever we want through advanced
multi-function devices."
"Avion is a pleasure to work with," remarks Ken
Mizushima of Accenture. They understand not only the technical skill sets, but
also personal traits and culture fit, and Avion is sensitive to cost
constraints as well. I am particularly impressed with the president of the
company, Kanchana, who sets a good example for her employees with her can-do
attitude."
The value of supplier diversity initiatives that allow
M/WBEs such Avion to prove their mettle is not lost on Raman. She spoke in
particular of the Cingular Wireless supply Chain team. "This team has been
responsible in making Avion a vendor with Cingular. With the opportunities and
references this team has provided, Avion is able to demonstrate our value in
the planning and deployment of 3G networks on the Cingular Networks side.
Avion also has been providing services and solutions in strategic enterprise
projects (ERP) like Equipment Planning and Logistics (EPL) project for the
Cingular Information Technology group. Avion’s Innovation Center is in
discussions with Cingular on voice of the customer knowledge discovery and
automated network optimization to reduce churn and gain operational
efficiencies. We could not have done it without their support and guidance."
Not surprisingly Raman, who is known for her humility
and generosity, is quick to bestow much of the credit for Avion’s success on
her team. "I have been very fortunate to have met some very key people in
[sic] the right time. Irving Mitchell, our VP, Business Development has made
such a significant difference to the company in terms of vision and strategy.
Doug Hall our EVP in Texas helps me with growth strategies in the telecom
industry. He was Vice President of Network Services, President of Motorola SMR
Inc, Vice President of iDEN
Raman is also grateful for the relationships she forged
outside of the company through her affiliations with organizations such as the
Georgia Women’s Business Council (GWBC) of which she is a member of the Board
of Directors. It has been through her affiliation with organizations such as
GWBC, WBENC, NMSDC, MTECH and the Women’s Leadership Exchange (WLE) that Raman
realized how invaluable relationships formed through networking can be. When
asked who her role models were, Raman’s answer revealed how important her
organizational affiliations have been to her professional growth.
"I have many. I pick up positive traits from everyone I
meet. From my customers, from people in my office, from the board at the
Georgia Women’s Business Council, also corporate representatives and other
women business owners. People are strong, and in an ever changing environment,
I learn a lot from people I meet all the time."
However, she reserves a special debt of gratitude for
current and past Board Chairs of GWBC, Roz Lewis of Delta Airlines and
Rosemary Jones of Turner Broadcasting System who showed her the value of
certification, and is helping her grow within GWBC.
Raman lists several fundamental rules as a prescription
for success for prospective and beginning WBEs:
· You have to be passionate about what you do. Give it
200% and always be there for your customers. No matter how big we become we
should be reachable. That will distinguish us from the big companies.
· Have strong domain knowledge. We must know what we are
selling.
· Network extensively.
· Get certified. It has enriched my life and the WBE
groups are really support groups. You can ask any questions and there are
always valuable answers. Looking back I wish I had this in 1996. Maybe I
would have worked smarter, rather than working harder.
· Getting certified "opens" the doors quickly, but
offering a compelling value proposition is still WBE’s responsibility. Create
a unique and compelling value proposition to your clients helping them to
attain their goals and objectives.
· Make it easy to do business with you and your company
by being responsive 24 by 7 by 365. You have to be there for them when they
need you anytime, anywhere.
Raman is beginning to receive increased recognition for
her work within the business community. In 2004 she was chosen to be a
panelist on Project Tsunami, a roundtable held at Georgia Tech focused
on accelerating women’s entrepreneurship. She was the recipient of the Georgia
Women’s Business Council’s Shining Star Award for her exemplary
commitment of time and energy to the GWBC. She was also selected to serve on
the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council’s (WBENC) Leadership forum
and also received the 2005 Quiet Storm Award for Technology at this
year’s Women’s Power Caucus held in Atlanta.
In November 2005 Motorola is providing Raman with the
unique honor to join a US delegation to South Africa to partner with companies
there and in helping them to do business with the United States.
Kanchana Raman is very clear in her vision for Avion
Systems. "I want Avion to play a leading role in the next generation of
converged communication systems. Advances in technology are going to
fundamentally change the way we communicate at work and home. The distinction
between computation, communication and entertainment are blurring. Avion’s
proven expertise in communications and information technologies is one of the
key differentiators in the emerging market opportunities. For example, Avion
is currently partnering with Motorola on a nationwide deployment of VoIP
(Voice-Over-IP) services for Comcast to offer telephony services.
"I would like to see people in all developing and under
developed countries to be able to afford the advances in communications to
improve their living standards. For example the 3G wireless network we built
in Asia is helping farmers in remote places to negotiate better prices for
their crops by eliminating the middle-man."
EVP Doug Hall was very succinct in expressing his
feelings on the Avion experience.
