The world’s leading enterprises are working hard to transform their businesses to meet the increasing demand of the digital world. Orient Group being one of Pakistan’s largest consumer electronics manufacturer & a key player in the IoT & E-commerce space apart from providing innovation-led products & helping organizations transform digitally, has also positioned itself for sustained growth in the digital economy.

The growth of any business is determined by the capability and to-do attitude of its human resources. Under Mian Abdul Rehman Talat’s proficient leadership, Orient Group is witnessing massive annual growth because of his farsighted approach in terms of “Choosing the Right Guy for the Right Job”.  

Mian Nouman Talat’s role at Orient Group was formalized back in June 2016 as the company’s Director Customer Experience. His organizational role at OGC comprises of responsibilities such as strategy, roadmap, product lineup feature definition, marketing, client relationships, financial performance forecasting, advertising, supply-chain, industry competitive analysis, product vision derivation, value deliverance and profit and loss (P&L) analysis.

From strategic to tactical activities, Nouman provides the best of cross-functional leadership to OGC by bridging gaps between different teams, most notably engineering, marketing, sales and support. Apart from this, Nouman integrates digital assets across analytics and mobility to help OGC’s customer drive growth and create new sources of value. He also focuses on leveraging the full breadth and scale of BlueEast’s IoT platform- Mevris and its global delivery network to help clienteles and verticals to transform their business.

Today, I’m pleased to have him on the blog for an exclusive interview.

I hope you find our conversation interesting.

Sharoon Emmanuel: We are pleased to have you on our blog, could you please give our audience a brief intro?

Nouman Talat: I have done a Bachelor’s degree in Sciences from the University of Melbourne. I also hold a post graduate diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the same institution. Following my Masters, I moved back to Pakistan to add further value to my family business & decided to pursue my career in the Consumer Electronics, E-commerce, and IoT industry. Well, I think that’s pretty much about me.

SE: What’s the experience like working at an innovation-led enterprise such as Orient versus your run-of-the-mill industrial groups?

NT: So far it has been a wonderful journey serving OGC.  The leadership, intellectual and organizational challenge that I face on a day to day basis helps me prove my ability and learn new things from different situations put in front of me. Orient Group has no comparison when it comes processes, environment, innovation, benefits and learning. I would like to highlight the learning part the most as traditional companies rarely provide chances to their employees to enhance their knowledge base, whereas OGC makes every effort to make sure that their employees are well versed with industry’s best practices and are compensated accordingly.  You’ll be surprised to know that we are soon transiting to CMMI level 5, so yes our organizational processes are highly matured comparing to others alike.

SE: There are a lot of fresh grads who look forward to joining OGC, what advice would you give to them and what kind of skillset is important for not only finding a job but to ultimately succeed?

NT: Firstly, they should believe in themselves and develop a positive attitude because skills can be built over time but not the attitude. So, the right attitude and the ability to embrace changes will help them in the long run. Now coming to the technical part, OGC offers a number of exciting careers from Enterprise Mobility, Strategy & Planning, Administration, I.T, Engineering, Product Development, Offline & Digital Marketing, Communications, Support, HR  and what not. We at Orient Group always encourages fresh talent and we’d love to them onboard to contribute to our success and add value to the organization.

Based on their interest, they can visit our official websites to find the perfect career path. The best part about of our onboarding process is that we also provide on the job training to make sure they properly fit in.

My advice to Pakistani youth is that they should follow their interest and believe in themselves and most importantly, keep updating yourself with latest trends, techniques and technologies to always stay ahead of their game.

SE: What is “Success” for you?

NT: I define success in a different way, like for me, I don’t measure success in terms of monetary benefits but by the self-satisfaction you feel when you have accomplished a certain task. That feeling of standing victorious in even the toughest situations and overcoming every obstacle is success for me. Being successful requires more than just being mediocre, you have to do something extraordinary to get to that point. It is more like the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of commendable goals and the positive the difference you make in your lives and the people around you.

SE: One quality you are admired and hated for?

NT:  The quality I think I’m admired for is accomplishing tasks on time & developing a friendly reputation with my subordinates. I believe that your subordinates should be comfortable communicating with you and communication is the only way you can better understand the situation and act accordingly. At OGC, we have an open door policy, regardless of where one stands at the organizational ladder, we listen to people and help them and that is what makes us operate efficiently. Orient always encourages their teams to come up and share ideas & suggestions as we believe that collective wisdom brings out the best results.

The quality I may be hated for is making sure deadlines are strictly met. For me, the accomplishment of one member is the victory of our unit as a whole and vice versa so we encourage a helping environment to accomplish even the biggest of challenges.

SE: Who’s your inspiration?

NT: My grandfather Mian Muhammad Fazal is my inspiration, starting from nothing he made the Orient Empire just by working hard and enduring sleepless nights. Today, the Group has a huge production setup, a sprawling dealer network and is investing in technology & other ventures.

Everything established is firstly due to the grace of God Almighty and because of my grandfather’s unbreakable will. His success story inspires me and keeps me motivated even at times when I’m down.

It is often seen that today’s youth look up to successful entrepreneurs in immense awe, craving for the authority and lavish in their life, what they don’t understand is the story behind their success. Entrepreneurship runs in my blood and I’ve learned to never back out even in the toughest of situations.

SE: What's important to you as the Group’s Director?

NT: I’ll make this one short and sweet, ensuring compliance to SOPs and getting things done.

SE: Tell us something about OGC’s “Next Big Thing”?

NT:  BlueEast our technology development wing being one of the largest IoT/ E-commerce enterprise in the country has recently introduced their latest IoT enabled home automation platform-Mevris. Mevris is the reflection of BlueEast’s Founder & C.E.O, Mian Abdul Rehman Talat’s digital vision, leveraging this innovative platform, people to people, device to device and machine to machine connection is becoming a reality.

SE: In the last 7 years, E-commerce has pretty much taken over all forms of purchases. How do aim to make certain the success of your clients considering the tough competition?

NT: Well, it is quite true that many brands have plunged into the Pakistani E-commerce market and maintaining a reputable position is a tough job. Our strategy here at BlueEast is to always sustain customers through our quality products and services. We aim to deliver impeccable customer satisfaction and I think that is the key to survive in a competitive e-commerce eco-system. Orient, having the first mover’s advantage in terms of deploying an e-com business model helped us gain enough knowledge and experience to develop another venture by the name of clickmall.com where we bring thousands of products for the customers at highly competitive prices.

Do let me know if need anything, clickmall.com has got special discounts for the team as well.  :-D

SE: Where do you see Orient Group of Companies 10 years down the road?

NT: That's a great question. We have been expanding at an amazingly rapid pace. In the coming years, I see the group achieving much bigger landmarks in the consumer electronics industry as well as the IoT and commerce domain. Our company’s mission statement is to innovate the lives of people by offering state of the art product whether they be physical or digital. For us, the client is always in the driver’s seat, we empower them to achieve more.  Considering the performance-based sales growth, I see the Group changing the perception of how people think and transforming industry norms.

SE: What do u think you will leave here with the company at your tenure’s end?

NT: Hahahahaha! This is my dream job and I don’t think I’m leaving any time soon. By the time I leave, Orient Group will be more competitive in the digital-based environment. With the spirit of job done, I will pass the baton on to my successor and move on to bigger things.

SE: Before someone steps into the company for their first day of the job, what three things would you recommend them?

NT: Participate, question things and learn.

SE: What metrics matter most in the company to deploy key manufacturing excellence parameters? Is there a certain criteria for determining the magnitude of attained excellence?

NT: As per my opinion, the key metrics for manufacturing excellence are customer satisfaction, delivery and cost. All these parameters are interlinked and should be addressed in parallel. The reality is that excellence by definition is never achieved, it is more like a continuous process of improvement, one can reach higher levels but there’s always room for improvement.

SE: Teams may express resistance when acclimatizing to changes in terms of new processes and technologies. How do you ensure the workforce embraces necessary changes required for optimal excellence?

NT: I do agree with you on this, people have a hard time adapting to certain changes but the thing is that our ultimate goal is always excellence.  In order to produce best results, we ensure a smooth transition for both the employees and the company. Preparing someone mentally to adapt to a new procedure is tough but not unachievable.

SE: Thank you so much for your time, hope you enjoyed our conversation.

NT: It has been a pleasure.