JASJIT SINGH: DRIVING A HARD MARKETING PUNCH!

One would imagine a marketing professional, particularly in an IT organization to be high profile and tough talking. Not so, Jasjit of C-DAC, Delhi, tough as nails he may be and drives a hard bargain, but his capabilities far overshadow his quiet and understated personality. Atul Puri spoke to him and presents the real Jasjit Singh.

He is one of the most sought after persons from C-DAC in Delhi circles, ranging from the Parliament to IOCL, GAIL or EIL..... the list continues. This multidimensional Aquarian is always eager to lend a helping hand at any hour. Meet Jasjit - Team Co-ordinator GIST Marketing (North), operating out of C-DAC Delhi.

Jasjit has been with C-DAC since July 1996 and has successfully been winning customers and generating goodwill ever since. This is what he has to say about the activities at C-DAC. ‘C-DAC’s activities in the market were in a state of infancy when I joined. Gradually these activities started increasing by the day and soon we were yanked into a high intensity Roller-Coaster drive. We were a very small team, up against a very large market with stiff competition’.

‘Fortunately we had a dedicated, hard-working and very aggressive marketing team with the added advantage of the whole-hearted support from the R&D. With excellent co-ordination amongst members of the group, we were able to sweep the competition clean within a very short span of time. Eventually, we were able to get our products standardised across government organisations, PSUs and banks including the Parliament.’

‘Looking at C-DAC’s aggressive marketing strategies and tactics, people started having doubts about our Government status. With a new exciting product every 6 months, we had the media including Video Channels like Star TV and Zee TV seeking us. We were suddenly in the limelight. It was a totally different experience that I can never forget in my life.’ he adds.

Jasjit’s tryst with GIST began at Applied Electro Magnetics Ltd. (AEM) R&D labs. He got the opportunity to write a self-running demo program for showing the GIST Card’s capabilities on a PC. Later, he ported the program to UNIX for the GIST Terminal as well. Ever since, there was no stopping him. Once the technology got commercialised, he was firmly entrenched into the Marketing & Customer Support for these products. In fact, he was responsible for the installation and support of the first 60 GIST Terminals at the various centers of NIC in the North.

This in short, marks his entry in C-DAC. Although at AEM, he was involved in many projects like Multi-lingual SFMSS for the Communications Network for Army and DoT, he thought he would be able to contribute better to the technology by being at C-DAC.

Jasjit is in the fifteenth year of his career. He prefers to describe himself as a ‘Jack of all trades’. This description has a lot to say considering the vast experience he has. He started his career as a trainee in the production department of Applied Electro Magnetics Ltd. (AEM). During his tenure of more that 9 years at AEM he worked his way up, the most noteworthy being the one when he was in-charge of the Test & Repair Centre for a Ground-to-Air Communication System designed for the Indian Air Force. Other than work, work and work Jasjit loves to spend time with his son - Raghav. That his son is the focus of his life is evident from the way his eyes light up when he is mentioned. Jasjit gets to spend about an hour in the evenings with him during weekdays and they have a gala time together. Since he is the only child, Jasjit tries to play the dual role of a father as well as a companion to him. He is happy with this effort, as he has been successful more as a companion with the usual arguments and fights.

On being asked about his favourite get-aways, Jasjit did not sound very cheerful, as according to him, Delhi is a tough city with an extreme climate and hardly any pleasant get-aways. His favourite get-away happens to be home which is around 20 Kilometres away from office. Occasionally on Saturdays, they go to a joint nearby called "The 32nd Milestone" that houses the famous "Fireball" discotheque and an open-air restaurant where he enjoys draught beer with reasonably good food while his son enjoys Go-Carting and other activities with children of his age group.

So the ‘Jack of all trades’ has managed to weave a great fabric out of his life, hectic as it may be, but nonetheless he’s managed to make it enjoyable and comfortable.