BlackBerry India head Sunil Lalvani has exited the company, says a report from Firstpost. After heading the unit for over two years, Lalvani quit the job to explore opportunities outside BlackBerry, said a spokesperson confirming the exit of the executive.
BlackBerry still to name a replacement
“I can confirm Sunil Lalvani has left his position as Managing Director, BlackBerry India to explore opportunities outside of BlackBerry,” the spokesperson said.
Before heading up the company’s Indian operations, Lalvani was the head of BlackBerry’s enterprise business, and in his shadow, the Canadian company transformed to become more relevant in the global enterprise space. Before working as head of enterprise sales for BlackBerry India, Lalvani worked with top-notch networking and enterprise players such as Cisco, Nokia, SITA-Equant and Global Telesystem in networking and telecom sales to enterprise customers.
For the time being, Matthew Tonkin, VP of Carrier Sales and Distribution for the APAC region, will head the Indian operations. According to the spokesperson, the Canadian company will announce the new head soon, adding that India is a crucial territory and that the company is committed to customers in the region, who demand the most secure and productive mobile communications.
As of now, there is no word from Sunil about the exit, but citing sources, the report says that he is looking for better opportunities after serving Blackberry India for a long time. At present, Lalvani is serving his notice period.
A big blow to BlackBerry
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company will become vulnerable in India after the exit of Lalvani because he is one of the few executives who have a strong experience in the enterprise and business technology space rather than consumer-focused sales. Also Lalvani’s industry relationships and his in-depth know-how of the Indian enterprise market was a strong benefit for BlackBerry India as the company transformed itself, focusing more on enterprise mobility management solutions built upon BlackBerry’s security USP.
Just a few weeks ago, Lalvani talked about the company’s surprise profits last quarter, saying that BlackBerry India is heading towards maximizing revenues from software sales, a strategy that is in line with BlackBerry CEO John Chen’s defined objectives for turning around the company. Lalvani told Firstpost that BES12 is gaining more ground compared to other enterprises and that BlackBerry India has won new clients in the enterprise space.
On Wednesday, BlackBerry shares closed down 2.31% at $9.32, and year to date, the stock is down by over 15%.
